Best of 2017 has come and gone, now here are the most anticipated books of 2018, according to major media:

Entertainment Weekly — 50 books we can’t wait to read in 2018

THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert
One of the most anticipated debuts of the year — having set off an auction frenzy — THE HAZEL WOOD is a contemporary fantasy of an aggressively literary bent, centered on a 17-year-old whose mother is stolen away.

LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE by Sloane Crosley
Crosley may have put essays aside for her 2015 novel THE CLASP, but she returns with her particular brand of sardonic wit in this new collection. The tone, she told EW, is “somewhere between jaded misanthrope and easily amused child.”

A HIGHER LOYALTY: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey
What will James Comey reveal in this anticipated memoir? Publisher Flatiron Books isn’t giving much away, just saying that the former FBI director promises to give a vital lesson on sound leadership, drawing on his own experiences to provide a manual that certain world leaders desperately need.

USA Today — 10 big books to kick off 2018

THE WIFE BETWEEN US by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
What it’s about: In this twisty psychological thriller, a woman dumped by her rich husband is determined to prevent his remarriage to her “replacement.”
Why it’s hot: Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, which brought THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN to the big screen, has picked up film rights for THE WIFE BETWEEN US.

A HIGHER LOYALTY: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey
What it’s about: The former FBI director, famously fired by President Trump in May, writes a book about leadership based on his own experiences and observations in government.
Why it’s hot: According to the publisher, Comey’s book will examine what “good, ethical leadership looks like and how it drives sound decisions.” The burning question: What will he say about Trump?

The Washington Post — Leadership Books to Read in 2018

A HIGHER LOYALTY: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey
The former FBI director — fired by President Trump and now, some say, a Zen-like master of throwing subtle shade on Twitter and Instagram — inked what was reported to be a multi-million dollar book deal in August. The book’s publisher has said the book by Comey, also a former Justice Department official and lawyer, promises to give readers “unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in leadership itself.” Comey, who frequently uses social media to share quotations about character, justice, leadership and power, tweeted an image of the Statue of Liberty on Dec. 5, saying he was in New York to meet with his publisher, with the note: “Hope leadership book will be useful. Reassuring to see Lady Liberty standing tall even in rough weather.”

InStyle — Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018

THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
A Vietnam POW returns from overseas and opts to relocate his family to a remote area of Alaska, far removed from the threats of war-torn societies, for a fresh start. All seems well until his PTSD kicks in during the harsh winter and turns their tiny cabin dream into a living nightmare.

LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE by Sloane Crosley
If accolades from Steve Martin and David Sedaris are any indication, Sloane Crosley’s new collection of essays delivers, with hilarious takes on fertility, mingling with swingers, and her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo on Gossip Girl.

Esquire — The 27 Most Anticipated Books of 2018

OLIVER LOVING by Stefan Merrill Block
Oliver Loving has been paralyzed and locked in his own mind for nearly a decade, the result of a shooting in his small Texas town. In Stefan Merrill Block’s psychologically astute novel, the damaged people that surround Oliver try to piece together their own versions of what happened that night and since then, even as doctors prepare a new treatment that might help Oliver communicate again.

THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert
Here is one of those rare young adult fantasy novels that holds a self-contained world in only a few hundred pages. So much world-building, so little space. If the novel’s heroine is a teenage girl, then her story will appeal to readers of all ages, with its intrigue and strange fairy tale magic and very grown up writing.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? by Marilynne Robinson
Even in her fiction, Marilynne Robinson has a nonjudgmental, earnest way of writing about religion that could make an atheist long for spirituality. President Obama is a fan. In this essay collection theology and current events and philosophy take center stage, and it’s through the clarity of Robinson’s words that hope in times of political strife feels appropriate and urgent.

SOME HELL by Patrick Nathan
A heartbreaker of a book, Patrick Nathan’s debut novel captures the hell of adolescence under particularly dire circumstances: Colin is reeling from his father’s suicide even as he navigates coming of age as a gay teenager. As they are wont to do, sex and death dominate Colin’s thoughts as he makes his way, in agony but with an eye towards a hopeful future.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
Look out, Angela Carter. There’s a new feminist fairy tale queen in town, and her imagination is as sharp as her wit. Ortberg, co-founder of the beloved website The Toast, takes her column “Children’s Stories Made Horrific” to new heights in this collection of twisted tales that will shock and delight you.

Elle — 19 of the Best Books to Read This Winter

THREE DAUGHTERS OF EVE by Elif Shafak
From the most widely read female writer in Turkey, here’s a novel that sees violence and nostalgia vie for one woman’s attention on one intense night. In Istanbul, a relatively minor crime—an attempted robbery—sparks a wave of memories as the wealthy Peri ponders an old photograph of her college friends. As terrorist attacks break out, the religious and cultural differences between the three women demand her attention in the fraught present.

WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
Patrisse Khan-Cullors co-founded one of the most vital activist groups of recent years. Now, get to the heart of Black Lives Matter with her account of how the movement began, and marvel at the brilliance and persistence of her mission despite a continuing lack of understanding and compassion from many.

PEACH by Emma Glass
In the wake of a horrific sexual assault, titular protagonist Peach attempts to navigate a life that has tilted on its axis. As accounts of sexual assault and misconduct have arisen in recent months, our inability to reckon with such events and their aftermath has only become more clear. This short novel—under 100 pages—confronts the enormity with impressionistic grace.

FORCE OF NATURE by Jane Harper
Wow, this crime novel just gave me my newest nightmare: Five colleagues go on a hike (first mistake), and one doesn’t return. Four different stories makes it hard for Agent Aaron Falk (whom we met in Harper’s debut, THE DRY) to discern the truth. Don’t read this one during the workweek.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? by Marilynne Robinson
Equipped with a heart and mind that seem more capacious than ours (though she might have a match in fan Barack Obama), Marilynne Robinson has made a career out of writing life-expanding novels and wonderings, like Pulitzer Prize–winning novel GILEAD. Soon, she’ll give us a new set of essays about faith, life, and culture. readmoreremove