Top 5 new authors of 2021

Hello bookworms!! Welcome to Top 5 Tuesday!! This week’s topic is top 5 new authors of 2021!! Yes, we are in the final weeks of the year, which means we are in wrap up mode. *thank goodness*

I don’t know about you all, but I am hanging out for my work to finish this year. I am exhausted. And I just want to sleep for 4 weeks. But alas, I only have 8 days off and I can’t even sleep for all of those. Why is Christmas so busy?!! Also, I need some more time to finish my alphabet challenge… Oops?!

But where were we? Oh yes, new authors. Of course, new authors doesn’t only mean debut, it could be a backlist author that you haven’t read before too. Just so long as they are “new” to you. I’m fortunate that I made a column on my reading spreadsheet to mark whether or not I was reading a “new” or “old” author to me, so this week’s prompt was relatively easy!! Which is super good news because I feel like I’m still catching up on life things.

If you missed the October-December topics please see this link. Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, and is now being hosted here @ Meeghan reads.

top 5 new authors of 2021

Sarah Hogle

I absolutely ADORED You Deserve Each Other when I read it a couple of months ago. I really loved the synopsis when I first saw it, but I was having trouble finding it in bookstores here. Then I was going to buy a copy online but I got distracted… So when I finally got a copy, it was the mass-market paperback version (which is fine). And then of course I absolutely LOVED it, and I bought Twice Shy immediately and I’m (only a teensy bit) annoyed because, of course, they are different sizes.

I got way off track with that. But the main point of the story is that Sarah Hogle is now an auto-buy author.

Sarah Hogle is a mom of three who enjoys trashy TV and provoking her husband for attention. Her Dream is to live in a falling-apart castle in a forest that is probably cursed. You Deserve Each Other is her debut novel.

Lyndall Clipstone

Am I taking a very easy way out because Lakesedge was sitting in this exact spot last week? Maybe. But also, Lyndall absolutely deserves this spot for the AMAZING world-building and atmospheric story that she published this year. For a debut novel, this one certainly packs a punch. Forestfall has quickly become one of my most anticipated books for 2022, and I’m so excited to see where this series goes — and what else Lyndall writes!! Not only that, but Lyndall herself is an absolutely lovely person.

Lyndall Clipstone writes about monsters and the girls who like to kiss them. A former youth librarian who grew up running wild in the Barossa Ranges of South Australia, she currently lives in Adelaide, where she tends her own indoor secret garden. She has a Bachelors in Creative Writing and a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Management.

Emily Henry

Sometimes you find an author who writes from the heart so well that it rips you in two. Last year it was Beth O’Leary. This year it’s Emily Henry. I don’t even think I can do justice to how I felt when I was reading Beach Read ― and I still can’t believe I left it so long. Kind of like how I’m kicking myself for not having read People We Meet on Vacation (aka You and Me on Vacation). I even have some of her YA books on my wishlist: A Million Junes, and Hello Girls (with Brittany Cavallaro). All books I plan to read in 2022!

Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read, as well as several young adult novels. She lives and writes in Cincinnati and the part of Kentucky just beneath it.

Kerri Maniscalco

It’s funny ― after hearing a lot of my friends talk one way or the other about Maniscalco’s Stalking Jack the Ripper series, I decided I wouldn’t read her books. They just didn’t sound like they would appeal to me that much and I had heard a lot of not-great things about how the series ended.

Fast forward to 2021 and one of my best friends (@booksaboutem) yelled at me to try the Kingdom of the Cursed series. Then the Bookish Collision discord group were all “we’re going to buddy read it” right around the same time. So I caved. I am so I glad I did though. I’m not sure if I will go back and read the SJtR series, but I will absolutely devour anything else Maniscalco publishes!

Kerri Maniscalco grew up in a semi-haunted house outside NYC where her fascination with gothic settings began. In her spare time she reads everything she can get her hands on, cooks all kinds of food with her family and friends, and drinks entirely too much tea while discussing life’s finer points with her cats.

Ali Hazelwood

I’m still not entirely sure what kind of witchcraft Ali Hazelwood used on me this year, but I now want to read absolutely everything that she has written ― shopping lists included. The Love Hypothesis is an adorably nerdy, awkward, STEM-based, fake dating romance knocked me off my feet by providing everything I love ― all wrapped up neatly in this cute-AF story. Seriously, this book ticks off nearly every single one of my fave tropes, and then some. The only thing that made it even more exceptional, is the banter and the fact that I ugly cried while reading it. Ali Hazelwood is now an auto-buy author.

Ali Hazelwood is originally from Italy, has lived in Japan and Germany, and eventually moved to the US to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. Oh, the sheer dread of being entrusted with the care of young minds!

When Ali is not at work you can find her binge-watching shows with her feline overlords (and her slightly less feline husband), running, or eating candy.

honorary mentions

I would be completely remiss if I didn’t mention 3 others who were SO CLOSE to making the list this year. In fact, they started on the list, then as I went through more of my books I bumped them off… (Sorry!!)

• C. M. Karys — authors (Chiara and Maria) of Ilahara: The Last Myrassar. So, this was on a technicality as I have read beta books (Ilahara included) from them in previous years. I do add beta reads to my ‘read’ list, but keep them quiet until we know about publication.
• Annabeth Albert — I read two books in the True Colours series by Annabeth this year — and both were so good. I love the friendship groups and how detailed the world building is for a contemporary. These are some of the most fun, nerdy queer romances I’ve read.
• Adrienne Young — I read the Fable duology this year, but also on a technicality I bumped Adrienne off. I had started to read Sky in the Deep a couple of years ago when it came in a book box… but put it aside for something else, and then never came back to it. So, I have also “technically” read her books before. But, the Fable duology is fantastic.

Can I also just take a moment to say, LOL. Not sure if you can see the patterns in the books I chose, that I didn’t even notice until I got to the end.

• Two books have the word “Lore” in the title.
• There are two Hades and Persephone retellings
• Two are modern-day Greek mythology retellings
• Actually, all of them are retellings in some form or another

I wonder if this has influenced my choices, or if this is just what I’m drawn to. It’s very interesting.

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What are your top 5 new authors of 2021?