20 of the best books on shelves this January

Is your New Year's resolution to read a book a week or month? Then this list will help you know where to start. From cookbooks to crime thrillers, quasi-Victorian fantasy novels to historical fiction, these are some of the best books out on shelves right now.

The Dead Girls Club

by Damien Angelica Walters

This supernatural thriller tells the tale of Heather Cole and her friends, who together founded the Dead Girls Club, in which they swapped stories of ghosts and monsters. But, one day, it all goes wrong when fiction turns out to be fact, and one of the girls get killed.

Regretting You

by Colleen Hoover

The number one New York Times bestselling author is back with a heartwarming novel about Morgan Grant and her 16-year-old daughter, Clara, who want to be nothing alike. It's a touching mother-daughter tale that explores family, first love, grief and betrayal.

The Wicked Redhead

by Beatriz Williams

Set across two US cities and times – in New York, 1998 and Florida, 1924 – this follow-up to The Wicked City features a redheaded flapper, a Prohibition agent who loves her and a divorcee who's simply trying to reinvent her life.

The Wonderful

by Saskia Sarginson

Steeped in Cold War history, this bittersweet coming-of-age novel follows Ruby, who think she's left her desolate childhood in Norfolk, England behind when she marries Todd, an American fighter pilot. But they soon move back there with their twins, and a complex, multi-layered and moving narrative begins to unravel.

How Not to Diet

by Dr Michael Greger

From the bestselling author of How Not to Die comes this new book that explores the latest science behind long-term weight loss success. The renowned nutrition expert goes beyond food to identify factors that maximise our natural fat-burning capabilities – so we can diet in a healthy, sustainable way.

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker The Visual Dictionary

by Pablo Hidalgo

Just as the Skywalker Saga comes to an end, this visual guide explores the world of Episode IX in great detail, featuring characters, planets, vehicles and aliens.

Smoothie Project: The 28-Day Plan to Feel Happy and Healthy No Matter Your Age

by Catherine McCord

Almost 100 recipes for nourishing smoothies are laid out in this book, with a plan that simply asks you to try one every morning for a month. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar said the book turned her whole family onto the magic of smoothies.

Why She Ran

by Geraldine Hogan

When nurse Rachel is found murdered in the hospital kitchen where she works, the small Irish town of Corbally can't quite believe it. Detective Iris Locke vows to find the killer, no matter what it takes. It's a gripping mystery thriller.

The Network

by LC Shaw

Investigative journalist Jack Logan is surprised to receive a visit from US Senator Malcolm Philips, who's convinced he's about to be killed. When he turns up dead days later, Logan races to uncover the corruption and lies at the deepest levels of government and media.

A Trace of Deceit

by Karen Odden

This is a new novel as part of Odden's Victorian mystery series, this time following Annabel Rowe and the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating Rowe's brother's suspicious death, and how it's connected to a valuable French painting that's also gone missing.

The Measure of Our Lives: A Gathering of Wisdom

by Toni Morrison

The great American novelist, who died in August 2019, imparted a lot of wisdom over the years. “We die,” she said in her 1993 Nobel lecture. “That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” This compilation of her best quotes comes with a foreword by Zadie Smith.

Meg & Jo

by Virginia Kantra

From the New York Times bestselling author comes this contemporary retelling of Little Women. What happens with the March sisters are brought into modern day? The two eldest, Meg and Jo, are forced to reflect on what's important when their mother suddenly falls ill.

The Adventurous Eaters Club

by Misha & Vicki Collins

This book is jam-packed with fuss-free family meals that both children and parents will love. TV star Misha and his wife, journalist and historian Vicki, have compiled their favourite child-pleasing recipes and tips on how they got their little ones to be more adventurous in the kitchen.

The Binding

by Bridget Collins

Bridget Collins’s first novel for adults is a fantasy that’s set in a quasi-Victorian world in which books are dangerous. Here, people visit book binders to help rid themselves of painful memories; once their stories are told and bound between the pages of a book, their memories no longer have power over them.

Ryan’s Christmas: A DCI Ryan Mystery

by LJ Ross

DCI Ryan and his team of homicide detectives are enjoying the festive season when a freak snowstorm forces their car off the road. When they have to find shelter in England’s most haunted castle, one of the guests is murdered, leading to a fast-paced whodunit.

Anyone

by Charles Soule

The author of The Oracle Year uses his knowledge and wariness of technology in this piece of speculative fiction set in a future where a female scientist has discovered how to transfer human consciousness between bodies. What begins as a botched experiment changes the world – for better and worse.

Such a Fun Age

by Kiley Reid

A piercing social commentary about America's racial divide, this striking debut tells of Alix Chamberlain, a mother, and Emira Tucker, a babysitter. When Emira is accused of kidnapping Alix's child in a supermarket one evening, both their lives are upended.

The Wives

by Tarryn Fisher

New York Times bestselling novelist Tarryn Fisher brings us this new fast-paced suspense novel about Thursday, a woman whose husband has two other wives. She agreed to it because she's crazy about him, but soon she discovers something horrifying about the man she married.

The Playground

by Jane Shemilt

Eve, a bougie mother with a trust fund, Melissa, a successful interior designer with an abusive husband, and Grace, a young Zimbabwean immigrant trying to make ends meet, become fast friends – before tragedy strikes and evil seeps into their family dynamics. It's been described as "Big Little Lies meets Lord of the Flies".

The Power of Bad

by John Tierney and Roy F Baumeister

Social scientist Roy F Baumeister and his team went on a mission to look for situations in which good events made a bigger impact than bad ones – and they couldn't find a single one. This book is about our brain's negativity bias and how it impacts everything, from politics to relationships and our education.