The Best Books Coming Out in February

Dr. Nadia Amin publishes an article on how rehabilitating ISIS brides is a possibility, which brings the UN to her door. They offer her a chance to lead a deradicalization program for ISIS-affiliated women, which would take her to Iraqi refugee camps and far away from London and the painful breakup she just experienced. But when she gets to Iraq, she realizes that her being a newbie isn’t exactly well-received. There are also talks that the methods the program uses are unethical. With everything looking bad, Nadia decides to visit the camp with her team—the lawful good (and annoying) Sherry, and Pierre, the perpetual Grindr scroller. Once they get there, Nadia is immediately drawn to Sara, a low-key rude young woman from East London. She’s determined to get Sara home, and the decisions she makes to overcome the obstacles could lead to consequences she never imagined.

“The third and final book in the Las Leonas trilogy, Tropical Rebel brings us back to Paris, where Aurora is running an underground women’s clinic. When she finds herself in the protection of Duke Apollo César Sinclair Robles, the pair become unlikely confidantes. Unfortunately, neither is in a truly safe position in the city of Paris, so Apollo whisks Aurora off to the French Riviera, where they have nothing to focus on but each other.” — Jessica Pryde

“This is the new sci-fi novel from the author of Mickey7 (now being republished as Mickey 17, so fans of the film can find it.) It’s about a man named Dalton Greaves who is beginning to suspect that he got suckered into taking a representative position for the Unity Confederation. He’s getting that feeling because the other confederation members seem to hate him, the peace he is supposed to be helping the confederation wage isn’t working, and now that he’s stuck on a planet with few survivors, he’s sure that he’s going to be the first to go—and not in a “surrender your torch and pack up” way. What is a hero to do?” — Liberty Hardy

“In this Cinderella/Little Mermaid-inspired fantasy tale, a young woman dissatisfied with her life finds romance, glamour, and danger beyond the walls of her home. Set in France in the eighteenth century, Upon a Starlit Tide follows Luce, the daughter of a wealthy shipowner, who longs to go beyond the walls of her town. When Luce rescues a mysterious drowning man while secretly learning to sail, she is transported to a world of lavish parties and faerie magic. But things long-hidden in the depths of the ocean are also rising to the surface.” — Liberty Hardy

“I would not be me if this weren’t the first February book I mentioned. You would have to ask if I was the one who was kidnapped by aliens if I didn’t. This one sounds very much like a sci-fi version of the irreverence we were able to laugh through in Lemming’s Mead Mishaps series, and I am here for it. In the wildest what-in-the-Wizard-of-Oz abduction story, wildlife biologist Dorothy is being chased by a lion when she (and the lion) get abducted by aliens, as it says. They manage to escape, only to end up with different aliens, both of whom would make excellent love interests. They are also dinosaurs? I think? There’s a lot going on, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” — Jessica Pryde

“For fans of translated novels looking for a noir detective novel that doesn’t follow the mystery genre’s rules.

Cristina Rivera Garza won the Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography for her true crime memoir (Liliana’s Invincible Summer) about her sister’s murder which also highlighted the femicide in Mexico. It’s a fantastic book and I’m thrilled to see she followed it up with a novel. Still focusing on gender violence—along with poetry, art, authorship, text— the novel follows a professor and a detective obsessed with poetry as they try to solve a series of cases of murdered men.” — Jamie Canavés

“The woman who discovered Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen and helped usher in the Harlem Renaissance isn’t as well known as W.E.B. Du Bois, but she should be. Jessie Redmon Fauset, literary editor of The Crisis under Du Bois, helped the magazine thrive, finding now-renowned writers and increasing subscriptions until the magazine was synonymous with excellence in African American writing. She dreamed of becoming editor of the magazine, but her complicated relationship with Du Bois, her boss and lover, risked everything she hoped of for both herself and The Crisis.” — Rachel Brittain

“In this historical horror novel, we follow 16-year-old Junie, who has been enslaved at Bellereine Plantation in Alabama since she was born. When wealthy guests from New Orleans come to town and threaten to take Junie away from the only life she’s known, Junie does something out of desperation that awakens the ghost of her dead sister Minnie. Now Minnie’s spirit will remain in a state of unrest unless Junie can find a way to free her.” — Emily Martin

“Drawing inspiration from the real-life Great Smog of 1952, The Order of the Circle tells a dark supernatural tale of a woman who uses the smog as cover to get revenge against a magical organization that sent her innocent husband to hell on false charges. What will she—and all of London—find when the skies clear?” — Eileen Gonzalez

“Eve. L. Ewing argues that the United States’ public school system is a fundamental aspect of the system that creates inequality for Black communities today. Ewing discusses how the public school curriculum minimizes the horrors of American history and reinforces the racial hierarchy.” — Kendra Winchester

“I’m a big fan of Ravena Guron’s YA thrillers, so I can’t wait to read Mondays are Murder. Seventeen-year-old Kay left her old town behind after her friend’s death, but has to go back to stay with her cousin — and when she arrives in her new bedroom, she finds an anonymous letter on her bed, warning that she will be killed next Monday. Kay has a week to find out who sent the letter, and what’s been going on in her old town, before it’s too late.” — Alice Nuttall 

“Mizzy, a 12-year-old girl with Down syndrome, dreams of being a detective — but instead, it looks like she has a dull summer ahead of her, with no one around except her older cousins who constantly underestimate her. However, when she finds her late great-aunt’s diaries and realises that she was murdered, Mizzy decides to take the opportunity to launch her own investigation — and find out which of her family members is the killer.” — Alice Nuttall