5 intriguing books to read in January

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If you want to read more in 2024, you've got plenty to look forward to in January. Whether you're seeking a way into BookTok's romantasy craze or to supplement your nonfiction collection, here are five great books coming out at the top of the year. 

'Sanctuary of the Shadow' by Aurora Ascher (Jan. 9)

Romantic fantasy is one of the more popular genres on BookTok, combining spicy plotlines with mystical fantasy elements. Aurora Ascher's upcoming "Sanctuary of the Shadow" is a "spell-binding and gripping enemies-to-lovers" romantasy that will be "the quickest you've devoured a book since Fourth Wing," Refinery29 wrote. The story is set in a circus where Harrow hides her prophetic abilities. She finds herself drawn to a winged monster and starts to draw the attention of her enemies as she works to find out more about the creature she falls in love with. Preorder here. 

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'Martyr!' by Kaveh Akbar (Jan. 23)

Acclaimed poet Kaveh Akbar's semi-biographical debut novel is finally coming out next year.  In "Martyr!" Akbar "explores the allure of martyrdom" in an "electrifying" story of a poet in the Midwest grappling with addiction and grief, per a Publisher's Weekly review. The story revolves around an Iranian immigrant who just got sober and a terminally ill artist who lives in a museum. The former shares some similarities with Akbar, who was born in Tehran and is in recovery. The novel "captures the bond between the unlikely duo, punctuated by Akbar's lyrical prose," Time mused. Preorder here. 

'Come and Get It' by Kiley Reid (Jan. 30)

Kiley Reid returns this year, after her New York Times bestselling 2019 debut "Such a Fun Age," with her new novel "Come and Get It." Her forthcoming book, set at the University of Arkansas, follows a struggling student and residential assistant (RA) and her complicated relationship with a professor and the five undergrads who live next door. Struggling to make ends meet, Millie, the 24-year-old RA, accepts a questionable offer from the visiting professor Agatha Paul, who wants to eavesdrop on her neighbors. In what Kirkus Reviews called "another sharp, edgy social novel" from Reid, the author draws on themes of class and power as the relationship between the two grows more complicated. The "guilty pleasure" of "Come and Get it" is how the author "nails the characters' speech styles, Southern accents and behavior and her unerring choice of products and other accoutrements to surround them with," the review noted. Reid is "a genius of mimicry and social observation." Preorder here. 

'Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections' by Emily Nagoski, PhD (Jan. 30)

Sexual wellness educator Emily Nagoski is back with a follow-up to her New York Times bestseller "Come As You Are." In the new book, "Come Together," Nagoski explores how we create sexual connections with others. Nagoski presents practical tools and solutions for building a healthy and enticing sex life with a partner. "Solving sex problems isn't all therapy and feelings," Nagoski stresses in the forthcoming work. The author's prose is "spry and inviting" as she uses research and anecdotes to "dispel notions of 'normal' sex, ban sexual expectations and judgments and advocate 'liv[ing] with confidence and joy' in one's body," Publisher's Weekly noted.  Preorder here. 

'Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World―and How You Can, Too'  by Ijeoma Oluo (Jan. 30)

Ijeoma Oluo has established herself as one of the most prominent voices teaching about the history of oppression and racism with her previous two releases, "So You Want To Talk About Race" and "Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America." Her latest book illuminates how people create lasting change in our structures, decidedly coming at the issue of antiracism from a place of joy. In "Be a Revolution," Oluo introduces people working at the intersection of systemic racism and "education, art, the environment, abolition, gender justice, business, disability justice and more," she listed on her Substack Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book.  The new work "has forever changed how I see community, how I see love, how I see revolution and how I see myself in it all," Oluo mused.  "And I know it can do the same for you." Preorder here.