“That is one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs.”
With the weather beginning to turn and the clocks leaping forward into daylight saving time, spring is a great time to dive into some new reads. Whether it’s reading outdoors, inside a cute coffee shop or within the comfort of your home, we here at What We Reading thought we would pull together some of the best upcoming and latest books to read this spring. All these titles are set to/have been released between March and May 2024 and cover all genres across the world of fiction. So, from hilarious enemies-to-lovers love stories, profound works of historical fiction, and suspenseful young-adult mysteries to gripping sci-fi adventures, join us for the best 2024 spring books!
Real Americans – Rachel Khong
First up on our list of the best 2024 spring books is Real Americans, a profound historical fiction story exploring identity and how inevitable our futures are. The story begins on the eve of Y2K in New York City, where unpaid intern Lily Chen meets the enigmatic Matthew, the easygoing heir to a sprawling pharmaceutical chain. Despite their wealth of differences, the pair quickly fall in love.
Fast forward to 2021, and fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt he belongs on Washington island he has grown up with his mother, Lily. Spurred on by the feeling that his mother may be hiding something from him, he sets out to find his biological father on a journey that ends up raising more questions than answers. Delivered in immersive and moving prose, Real Americans is an intimate tale of trust, forgiveness and finding a home that weaves together elements of class, race, visibility and family.
You Know What You Did – K.T. Nguyen
Heralded as the Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of 2024, You Know What You Did is the debut novel by K.T. Nguyen, perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Lisa Jewell. Despite growing up poor, Annie ‘Anh Le’ Shaw appears to have it all: a devoted husband and daughter, a nice home and the dream career. However, her life quickly begins to unravel following the death of her mother, a Vietnam War refugee.
After an eminent art patron vanishes, the investigation quickly turns to Annie. Racked with self-doubt and spiralling out of her carefully curated existence, she distances herself from her friends and family, only to later find herself waking in a hotel room next to a lifeless body. A harrowing mystery-thriller and a profound examination of refugee experiences and the bonds between mothers and daughters, You Know What You Did is undoubtedly one of the most exhilarating books to release this spring.
Floating Hotel – Grace Curtis
The Grand Abeona is home to the finest foods, top-notch service and the most stellar views the cosmos has to offer. Across the year, it moves from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, catering for guests for as far as the Milky Way stretches.
But this pinnacle of luxury houses plenty of intrigue. Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many imperial spies are on board? And, most crucially, who is driving the ship? Grace Curtis’ 2024 sci-fi book Floating Hotel is a cosy read that follows Carl, a former stowaway and now manager of the Abeona whose life becomes intertwined with the interweaving mysteries and secrets being housed by the guests on board. As forces beyond his control converge on the ship, he is forced to grapple with when it is time to let go.
Ghost Station – S.A. Barnes
Psychologist Dr Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS – a space-based condition, the most infamous case of which led to the brutal murder of twenty-nine people. She eagerly joins a small exploration crew on an abandoned planet, keen to make a difference. However, upon arrival, she quickly realises that her crewmates are hiding something.
The group are far more interested in uncovering the eerie mysteries behind the planet and its former coloniser’s hasty departure from it. That is until their pilot is killed in a grizzly manner. Is this a wave of ERS-fuelled violence and mental deterioration? Or something far more sinister? Ghost Station is the 2024 book by S.A. Barnes. Like her bestselling book Dead Silence, it once again blurs the lines between sci-fi and horror, making for one of the most exhilarating, claustrophobic-feeling and terrifying reads for Spring this year.
Funny Story – Emily Henry
Serial bestseller Emily Henry returns with another uplifting opposites-attract romance book in Funny Story. Daphne always loved how her fiance, Peter, told the story of how they met. He was superb at telling it, up until the moment he discovered he was in love with her childhood best friend, Petra. This is how Daphne finds herself stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, struggling as a children’s librarian and proposing to be roommates with the only person who can understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles.
Miles is the polar opposite of the buttoned-up, put-together Daphne, and the roommates initially steer clear of each other’s paths. Until one evening, when drowning their sorrows, where they hatch a plan to post photos of their summer adventures together. Of course, it’s all just for show. There’s no chance Daphne would allow herself to fall for her ex-fiance’s new fiancee’s ex, right?
Where Sleeping Girls Lie – Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Having been home-schooled all her life, Sade Hussein is set to start her third year of high school at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school. Despite seemingly being a magnet for misfortune for most of her life, she never expected her roommate, Elizabeth, to disappear after her first night. Gossip begins to follow Sade over whether she had anything to do with Elizabeth’s disappearance, and she is soon pulled into the popular girls’ group known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’, led by the enigmatic Persephone.
Between the disappearance, attempting to keep up with Persephone and dealing with the myriad of tragedies in her family life, Sade has plenty to deal with. And then one of the school’s students is found dead. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s 2024 YA mystery book Where Sleeping Girls Lie follows Sade as she investigates this mysterious boarding school, unearthing the dark secrets and coverups hiding behind every corner and classroom.
Darling Girls – Sally Hepworth
Another one of the best thriller books you have to read this Spring comes from Sally Hepworth in Darling Girls. For as long as anyone can remember, Jessica, Norah and Alicia have all been told how lucky they are. Having all been saved from various family tragedies, they were adopted by Miss Fairchild and given a second chance at a happy life on her picturesque farming estate.
Yet, life with Miss Fairchild wasn’t as idyllic as most believed. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be erratic. And Miss Fairchild was never someone to find yourself on the wrong side with. Whilst all three girls found a way of escaping, she left an imprint on their minds that they could never escape from. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the three foster sisters find themselves at the centre of the investigation. But, as this page-turning mystery reveals, are they the key witnesses, or the prime suspects?
James – Percival Everett
James is the electrifying and acclaimed 2024 reimagining of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Percival Everett. Told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim, the story follows him as he overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans. Fearing that he will separated from his wife and daughter forever, he hides on Jackson Island until he can come up with a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his death to escape from his father. Thus begins a famous and dangerous journey down the Mississippi River to the promise of the Free States and beyond.
Told with profound observations and harrowing commentaries, this Pulitzer Prize finalist flips one of the most iconic pieces of American literature in a way that is smart, subversive and superbly delivered.
The Familiar – Leigh Bardugo
Toiling away as a scullion in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses her magic to get through the day. But, when her powers are discovered, her mistress demands she use her gifts to better the family’s social standing. What begins as a series of harmless bits of amusement for the bored nobility soon takes a dangerous turn when Luzia is noticed by Antonio Perez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. With the country still reeling from the loss of their Armada against England’s heretic queen, the crown is eager for any advantage, and Perez will stop at nothing to deliver one.
Luzia suddenly finds herself plunged into a world of alchemists, seers and holy men, where the line between magic, science and fraud in Spain’s Golden Age is a thin one. She will have to use all her wit, will and skills to survive as her notoriety grows and draws the attention of the Inquisition’s wrath. From the bestselling author of Ninth House and the Grishaverse series, The Familiar is a historical fantasy novel by Leigh Bardugo that is perfect for reading this spring.
Just For The Summer – Abby Jimenez
Whilst the summer may not be here just yet, Abby Jimenez provides one of the escapist reads of the year with her 2024 contemporary romance book, Just for the Summer. Justin has a curse and, thanks to a viral Reddit thread, the whole world knows about it. Every woman he dates goes on to find their perfect partner the very second they break up. So when a woman DMs him with the plan of dating each other and breaking up, their curses will cancel each other out and they will both find the love of their lives.
For Emma, she hadn’t planned on her next assignment as a travelling nurse in Minnesota. But, she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially as it means being able to rent out a beautiful cottage on Lake Minnetonka. That is until her toxic mother arrives and Justin is forced to take guardianship of his three siblings. What begins as a simple summer fling soon leads to the pair having to weather far more complex things – including catching real feelings for one another.
I Cheerfully Refuse – Leif Enger
Set in a near-future America, Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse is the story of Rainy, an aspiring musician who sets sail on Lake Superior in search of his deeply beloved, departed bookselling wife. He seeks refuge in the fog, the small islands and jetties of the inland sea on his quest, encountering apocalyptic storms, rising corpses from the depths and illiterate people, desperately attempting to escape from a billionaire ruling class and a lawless society.
As his private adventure in search of love inadvertently turns him increasingly into a rebel, Rainy’s journey turns into something far greater than he ever could have imagined, sweeping up friend and foe alike. I Cheerfully Refuse is an accomplished 2024 dystopian book by Leif Enger that offers a haunting and all-too-real commentary on elitism, classism and the environment.
If Something Happens To Me – Alex Finlay
For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relieved that one terrible night. The car door being ripped open, the blow to his head, his girlfriend Ali’s screams as she is taken. Five years on, during a summer trip to Italy, he receives a call from his father saying Ali’s car has been found. Inside are two corpses a note with five words scrawled on in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me. Then, halfway around the world, Ryan sees the man who has been haunting all his dreams since that night.
Thus begins a thrilling race across the rolling fields of Tuscany, through a rural village in the United Kingdom and finally to the glittery streets of Paris for the truth. Alex Finlay’s If Something Happens to Me is a breathless tale told from multiple perspectives where heart-pounding twists all converge for one of the best thriller books to read this spring.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
