Recent Fave New Author Discoveries

Every year, we look back on the previous year’s books read, and pick a few new-to-us authors that we’d like to read more books from.

Old Favorites

✩ KIM ✩

Last year my favorite new author discoveries were debut authors! I can’t wait to read more of A.J. Finn (The Woman in the Window), and C.L. Polk (Witchmark.) I also discovered, and enjoyed the writing of, Justina Ireland (Dread Nation) and Fonda Lee (Jade City.)

✤ TANYA ✤

Last year I discovered Frederik Backman when I read A Man Called Ove thanks to Kim’s recommendation in Reading From the Best Sellers List + Movie Review {A Man Called Ove}. I went on to read Beartown, Us Against You and Britt-Marie Was Here. All were fantastic and I’ll definitely go on to read more books by Backman in the future.

quirky characters in books — [3 Contemporary Books With Quirky Characters]

I also discovered Shari Lapena when I read The Girl Next Door – it was one of my favorite thrillers read that year. She has since put out 2 other books – A Stranger in the House and An Unwanted Guest – and while I haven’t read either of them yet, they’re on hold at my library so I’ll be getting to them soon.

New Author Discoveries

✩ KIM ✩

The new to me author that I loved the most from last years reading was Martha Wells. I read her novella All Systems Red and really enjoyed it. I currently have the next two books in the series sitting on my nightstand.

✤ TANYA ✤

So I took a look at my picks on the The Best Books We Read This Year [The 2018 Edition] and realized that most of the books were by authors I’d read previously, like Laini Taylor, Nnedi Okorafor, M.R. Carey, Tayari Jones and Stephen King.

But there are 2 authors on that list that are new to me. Imbolo Mbue had my favorite book of the year with Behold the Dreamers, and I’ll happily reach for more novels from her, although it doesn’t seem like she has a novel coming out this year – and Behold the Dreamers is the only novel from her so far.

The other author, Tomi Adeyemi, who wrote Children of Blood and Bone, is also a debut novelist. Her next book is going to be the 2nd book in the CBB series, Children of Virtue and Vengence. This is on my “must read as soon as it comes out list”!

Which new to you authors did you fall in love with last year?

Fonda Lee, Frederik Backman, Imbolo Mbue, Martha Wells, Shari Lapena, TBR, Tomi Adeyemi

Kim and Tanya

Kim is a librarian - professor - ancient history nerd - mom to 2 little boys - Utah native - digital archivist - British comedy and detective show junkie - outdoor lover. Tanya is an avid reader - teenage boy wrangler - husband tamer - adventure seeker.