We're always on the look-out for the best new books to share with you and shout about so December is a busy time for us as we look forward to the brilliant upcoming releases of 2021. Scroll through our preview at your leisure to see what books we're beside ourselves about. 

And oh my, there’s a lot to shout about, including must-read thrillers like Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner, The Castaways by Lucy Clarke and Trust by one of our faves Chris Hammer. There are plenty of new books that will keep you on the edge of your seat. 

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird is speculative fiction at it's best and Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky is an absolute whammy of a read so if sci-fi is your bag, keep an eye out for these fabulous novels.

If feel-good fiction is your thing, then our Reviews Editor Liz Robinson has your back: "If you’re looking for a unique, transportive, immensely satisfying read then I’ll wave frantically and recommend you stop right here" with Keith Stuart's The Frequency of Us which Liz calls a "mesmerising read full of love and hope". And of course we just have to mention Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray: "a huggable, squeezable, gloriously uplifting debut".

Perhaps you're looking for something historical? NICK by Michael Farris Smith takes another look at Nick Carraway in times before The Great Gatsby. While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart is a beautiful and compelling debut full of love and hope during and after the Second World War. And let's not forget Last Flight to Stalingrad a recently awarded Star Book which Liz called an "intelligent, intricately plotted, and fabulously readable foray into The Second World War from a German perspective."

Liz cannot stop talking about the recently-read Mrs Death Misses Death that she has said: “It’s so different, so powerful, so fabulous that I’m experiencing reading elation after finishing it”. It's firmly on the rest of the team's to-be-read piles!

Our Content Manager, Charlotte Walker is also very excited to read Beth O'Leary's The Road Trip after reading and loving the CWIP shortlisted debut The Flatshare and her follow up The Switch this year.

As well as the exciting news of releases from authors we know and love, there's also plenty of new authors on their way to us in 2021. Girl A by Abigail Dean is an intensely powerful book that's coming to bookshelves near you in January, and We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan, which our Editorial Expert Joanne Owen called an "eye-opening and heart-wrenching, always elegant and absorbing" emotionally rich read - also on the way in January.

At the top of the list are books we've already read and adored despite them not being published until 2021. Do look out for these as they are all beauties. Further down, we've shared some titles that are firmly on the team's to-be-read pile and we can't wait to dive in to them. Keep your eyes peeled as the months go by for our highly recommended selected titles.

2021 is going to be a storming year for books so keep reading!