Fiona and Jane
By: Jean Chen Ho
Release Date | January 4
Genre | Fiction
Told through two alternating viewpoints, Fiona and Jane is a collection of short stories that tell the story of female friendship and the multitude of layers it can encapsulate.
Fiona and Jane follows Fiona and Jane, friends since grade school, as they grow throughout life both with and without one another. This novel is an open account of what friendship between two Asian women can mean within the confines of America and how joy, can transform that meaning.
Find the full review | HERE | for Fiona and Jane
Disclaimer (yippie!): Aster's Book Hour is an Amazon Associate. It earns a small commission from qualifying purchases attached to the Amazon affiliate links in this post.
The High House
By: Jessie Greengrass
Release Date | January 4
Genre | Science Fiction
The High House is precariously located on a sloping hill, overlooking and far away from the small town by the sea. The house has a mill, tide pool, a veggie garden, and most importantly, a barn filled with supplies. It is home to Caro, Pauly, Sally, and Grandy, and it is this home that is keeping them safe, so far, from the slowly rising sea that threatens to destroy the town.
Caro and step-brother Pauly have just arrived to the High House after their father and stepmother fell victim to a different climate disaster in seek of refuge with their grandpa, Grandy, and his granddaughter, Sally. This new home is where the pairs learn to live together but despite the elevation and supplies, there are limits to their safety and The High House asks, how can you make a home in the midst of a forever changing environmental disaster?
The School for Good Mothers
By: Jessamine Chan
Release Date | January 4
Genre | Science Fiction
The School for Good Mothers is Jessamine Chan's debut novel in one of my favourite genres, so am I excited for this? Yes, yes I am.
Frida Liu is struggling. She feels her career is not worthy of the sacrifices her Chinese immigrant parent's made and her husband refuses to stop seeing his mistress; her life is difficult and the one thing she has, the one thing she believes is of perfection, is her daughter Harriet. Harriet is all she has, but Harriet is enough.
That is, until Frida has a horrible day. A day that causes the state to turn its eyes to Frida, eyes that watch all mothers to ensure no lapse of judgment occurs. And after her horrible day, Frida now must await judgment from those eyes to find out if she qualifies for an external home that measures her fitness to be a mother.
Faced with a future without Harriet, Frida must live up to the standards set for all mothers, to prove that she is good at being at mother and if not, that she can learn to be.
Where the Drowned Girls Go
By: Seanan McGuire
Release Date | January 4
Genre | Fantasy
The seventh novel in the Wayward Children series turns a corner into another new world - well, a world set in the same space as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children but one vastly different indeed.
In Where the Drowned Girls Go, you visit the world of the Whitehorn Institute, another home for those that return from other worlds but a home nothing like Eleanor West's. The Whitehorn Institute is a place for those whose time in another world was not joyful, a place to receive help and for Cora, where she think she needs to go to obtain a different prophecy. What Cora doesn't know is that the Institute is not safe and that not all doors are welcoming.
The Last House on the Street
By: Diane Chamberlain
Release Date | January 11
Genre | Historical Fiction
This was meant to be their dream house, the home they lived in with their four-year-old daughter, the home they created memories in, the home that would be the foundation of their future - a life that could never occur after Kayla's husband's fatal accident whilst building their home. In his now gaping absence, she must remain strong for their daughter except, their home is no longer one of dreams but one of tragic memories. It is also why, when a random elderly woman suggests they not move in, Kayla almost agrees.
It is clear to her the woman has a connection to the area and potentially Kayla herself. The woman is Kayla's new neighbour, a kind lady who is more than welcoming to the grieving family but also someone who seems to be hiding secrets and Kayla has to wonder if her friendliness is an attempt to right the wrongs of her past and more importantly, if her house is key to that journey.
Diane Chamberlain wrote one of my favourite novels of 2019, Big Lies in a Small Town, and although I should keep my expectations low as to not be disappointed, I cannot help but be excited! I am eager for a new read that blends two time periods with mystery into an enticing read which is what I think The Last House on the Street will be.
Chloe Cates is Missing
By: Mandy McHugh
Release Date | January 18
Genre | Mystery
How High We Go in the Dark
By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
Release Date | January 18
Genre | Science Fiction
The Village
By: Caroline Mitchell
Release Date | January 18
Genre | Mystery
Ten years ago, Ivy Cottage was abandoned and the family inside, gone. The Harper family's cottage was found with the water running, oven on, and television playing cartoons but no family; the doors were locked from the inside. Their disappearance transformed the village from a sleepy town into one of infamy, now known for the unsolved mystery and the perfect place for speculation and crime junkies to visit.
The case for Naomi, a crime journalist, is an obsession and when Ivy Cottage is listed for sale, she jumps at the opportunity to mount her investigation from the inside. Her family doesn't need to know the history behind their new home... right?
Except, the village isn't what she expected. Underneath isn't a sleepy town filled with welcoming people, it's a town where nobody will talk to her and as time goes on, a town she realises is hiding something. As she digs deeper, Naomi comes to the realisation that the case may be more dangerous than she imagined and that her family could be the next victims of Ivy Cottage.
The Accomplice
By: Lisa Lutz
Release Date | January 25
Genre | Mystery
Owen and Luna - an inseparable pair. Everyone around them wonders what drives their tight friendship, why they never dated, and why those around them continue to end up dead.
Owen and Luna are vastly different. Owen is continuously disappointed with life, is privileged, and oozes charm to those around him. Luna has a pragmatic attitude, prefers to keep to herself, and is cautious of everything. Their friendship formed in college and continued to stay strong even after an unexplained death shocked their social circle.
Years later, they are still best friends. When Luna finds Owen's wife murdered, the police investigation starts to shed light on their relationship and long-hidden secrets but, not the mystery of who Owen is. To find out what truly happened, Luna must dig up the one secret in her past she has spent her life burying.
Road of Bones
By: Christopher Golden
Release Date | January 25
Genre | Horror
The Road of Bones is a 1200 mile long-stretch in the heartland of Siberia, where temperatures in the area can drop sixty below zero and where the road is littered with Soviet gulags that bring with them their history of pain and thousands of prisoner deaths; pain and bodies that are currently buried underneath the road.
Felix Teigland, or "Teig," is a documentarian who recently learned about the Road of Bones, or Kolyma Highway as its properly named, and realised the untapped potential it contains for a phenomenal documentary regarding the history, culture, and mythology behind the road. But when the team arrives at Akhust, the coldest settlement on Earth to film. part of their documentary, they find the village abandoned minus one nine-year-old girl. Chaos of paranormal and dangerous nature then ensues.
