Hands up if you love a debut! If you get excited when you discover a new book that reaches inside your thoughts and makes you feel alive, if you are thrilled when you realise you've met a new author to cherish, then you’re just like us! We of course love all things books, and debuts are right up there on our list of favourite things. So I looked back to the debuts I reviewed in 2021 and have highlighted ten to recommend to you.

Back in 2020 debut authors we raved about included the wonderful Chris Hauty, Beth Morrey, Richard Osman, Polly Crosby, and Stephen Spotswood, all have since written their second novels, and all have been included as LoveReading Star Books. Two of these are due to be published in 2022, and feature on our 2022 preview of exciting new books. The absolutely gorgeous Beth Morrey appeared as our Debut Author Judge for 2021’s LoveReading Very Short Story Award, and one of the author’s from my current list is our judge for this year. I will let head judge Joanne Owen introduce them in due course, but I can confirm that their book is one of my favourites from 2021.

The list below is just a small selection of my favourite debuts from last year, and I wanted to include a real variety. The ten books that sit below contain an award-winning non fiction title, and we have novels from feel-good, relationship, and humour right through to fantasy, dystopian, crime, and thrillers. We travel to several countries around the world, and through time into the future and the past. 

These books are in no particular order, each though is a treasured LoveReading Star Book, so I can recommend them with my heart and soul.