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I am a list maker. And some of my favorite lists to make are lists of books I want to read in the coming year! Here are some I’m looking forward to that are being published in 2022. If you’re interested in one, make sure to request it through the library so you’ll be the first to get it when it hits the shelves!

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

Publication date: March 1, 2022

Alex Finlay wrote one of my favorite psychological thrillers of 2021, Every Last Fear, so I’m looking forward to his next novel! It’s New Year’s Eve 1999 and at a Blockbuster Video in New Jersey, four teenagers working late at the store are attacked, and only one survives. Fifteen years later, more teenagers are attacked in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive. In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre; the brother of the fugitive accused, who’s convinced the police have the wrong suspect; and FBI agent Sarah Keller who must delve into the secrets of both nights to uncover the truth about the murders.

Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton

Publication date: March 7, 2022

I don’t read many James Patterson books anymore, but how can I resist one co-authored with Dolly Parton? Set in Nashville, Run, Rose, Run is a novel about a young woman who comes to country music’s capital city to pursue her music-making dreams. The source of her heart-wrenching songs is a brutal secret she has tried desperately to hide, but the past she has fled is reaching out to control her future—even if it means destroying everything she has worked for.

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

Publication date: April 26, 2022

McMahon’s books are what I would describe as “horror light” – ghost stories that aren’t too scary. I really loved her previous novels Winter People and The Night Sister. Her upcoming genre-defying novel, inspired by Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein, brilliantly explores the eerie mysteries of childhood and the evils perpetrated by the monsters among us.

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

Publication date: May 3, 2022

This is the second book in the “Meant To Be” series, which features updated and contemporary takes on classic Disney princesses. I loved the first novel in the series, If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy, which was a modern retelling of Cinderella. In this spin on Beauty and the Beast, editorial assistant Isabelle volunteers to confront Beau Towers, a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn’t there before. 

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Publication date: July 19, 2022

I really enjoyed Center’s romantic dramas Things You Save in a Fire and What You Wish For. In The Bodyguard, Hannah is hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his stalker. Jack dropped from the public eye and went off the grid a few years back in the wake of a family tragedy. Now Jack’s mom is sick, and as he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out, he doesn’t want them to know about his stalker, or the bodyguard thing. So Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. 

Jen Pace Dickenson is the youth services librarian for Polk County Public Libraries. For information about the library’s resources, programs, and other services, visit polklibrary.org or call 828-894-8721.