Second-Chance Romance
Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us, #9 on our trade paperback list, is the “raw and moving second installment of the Skyland series,” according to our starred review. “This sexy and mature romance is another hit for Ryan.” (In addition to the nearly 9K print copies that landed it at #9 on our trade paperback list, a B&N exclusive edition sold 5K print copies.) Like the new book, its predecessor, Before I Let Go, received a starred review from PW. It’s sold 111K print copies since its 2022 release.
Lyla Sage self-published her first novel, Done and Dusted, in June 2023. It resonated with BookTok and with Dial Press, which scooped up the contemporary cowboy romance and three more books in the author’s Rebel Blue Ranch series. Dial’s edition of Done and Dusted pubbed in October; book two, Swift and Saddled, debuts at #10 on our trade paperback list, and November sees the release of book three, Lost and Lassoed.
The Light of Day
The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson emerges at #9 on our hardcover fiction list. In spring 2022, the bestselling SFF author announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication of four new titles, dubbed the Secret Projects, in formats including a
premium hardcover edition. The initiative went on to raise almost $41.8 million, the platform’s most successful campaign to date, and the first books shipped in early 2023. In April that year, Tor began releasing commercial editions; The Sunlit Man is fourth in the quartet. Sanderson has a new crowdfunding project, on the BackerKit platform, where within days of launching he’d raised more than $16 million.
In Clubland
Good Morning America Book Club tapped Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera as its March pick. Our review called the YA author’s adult debut “the outstanding story of a young woman haunted by rumors that she killed her best friend,” predicting that “readers will be hard-pressed not to wolf down this intelligent page-turner in a single sitting.” It debuts at #14 on our hardcover fiction list.
NEW & NOTABLE
The House of Hidden Meanings
RuPaul
#3 Hardcover Nonfiction
The mononymous drag performer “excavates his childhood, early romances, and rise to fame in this unvarnished personal history,” per our review. “Fans looking for dishy Drag Race drama will be disappointed—the volume ends well before the show’s premiere—but readers eager for a peek behind RuPaul’s glamorous persona will get just what they came for.”
The Hunter
Tana French
#5 Hardcover Fiction
“Edgar winner French’s slow-burn sequel to 2015’s The Searcher underlines her knack for setting and character development,” according to our review. “While this isn’t quite up to French’s best—the gears of the plot take too long to start turning—it’s a pleasure to spend time with her finely drawn characters.”
