Debut Authors: 2022 Week #20

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This is a new weekly post which will show some of the debut authors UK releases each week.

Some of the books will come from a spreadsheet I received from 2022 Debut Stars on twitter.

Others will be ones I have come across whilst browsing various sources.

Debut Author Releases from 2022 Debut Stars:

💜 That Green Eyed Girl – Julie Owen Moylan

Genre: Historical Fiction/LGBT

Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph

Publishing Date: 12.05.22

Synopsis from Goodreads:

1955: In a cramped apartment on the Lower East Side, school teachers Dovie and Gillian live as lodgers, unable to reveal the truth about their relationship. They guard their private lives fiercely – until someone guesses their secret.

1975: Twenty years on, in the same apartment, Ava Winters is desperately trying to conceal her mother’s fragile mental state from the critical eyes of their neighbours. But, one sweltering July morning, Ava’s mother escapes.

Alone after her mother’s departure, Ava takes delivery of a parcel. The box is addressed only to ‘Apartment 3B’, and contains a photograph of a woman with the word ‘LIAR’ scrawled across her face.

Seeking refuge from her own crisis, Ava determines to track the owner of the photograph down. And, in so doing, discovers a shocking chain of kindnesses, lies and betrayals – with one woman at the centre of it all…

Goodreads rating: 4.19

💜 Wild Fires – Sophie Jai

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: The Borough Press

Publishing Date: 12.05.22

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The only things Cassandra knows about her family are the stories she’s heard in snatches over the years: about the aunt and cousin she never got to meet, about the man from the folded-up photograph in one of her aunt’s drawers, and of course about her cousin Chevy, and his troubled past – but no one utters a word about them any more.

When a call from one of her sisters brings Cassandra news of Chevy’s death, she has to return home for the funeral. To Toronto and the big house on Florence Street, where her sisters are hiding more than themselves in their rooms, where the tension brewing between her mother and aunts has been decades in the making, and where sooner or later every secret, unspoken word and painful memory will find its way out into the open.

Moving between Toronto and Trinidad, Wild Fires is a vivid and compelling story exploring the ways we mourn and why we avoid the very things that can save us.

Goodreads Rating: 3.28

💜 The Storytellers – Caron McKinlay

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Bloodhound Books

Publishing Date: 16.05.22

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Trapped between life and the afterlife, three women meet and share their stories while discovering the truth about the men in their lives—and about themselves.

Suspended in an eerie state of limbo, an entity called the Gatekeeper tells Nikki, Ronnie, and Mrs. Hawthorne they are on the cusp of entering the afterlife—but only if the women can persuade him that in their earthly lives, they knew the meaning of love.

Fragments of their memories return, plunging them back into their pasts, and forcing them to face the desires, disappointments, addictions, lies, and obsessions they battled in life.

But before time runs out, will they find the answer to the ultimate question: what is love?

Goodreads Rating: 4.84

Other Debut Authors Releases:

💜 Make Me Disappear – Jessica Payne

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publishing Date: 16.05.22

Synopsis from Goodreads:

By the time I realized the truth about Daniel it was too late. But the truth about me? He never saw that coming…

Dr Daniel Ashcroft was perfect: handsome, romantic, protective. I thought I was so lucky.

But then I heard the rumors about his previous girlfriend, that she had vanished without a trace. That’s when I found the cameras in my apartment.

I was trapped. Daniel made it clear I couldn’t leave him, not without risking everyone I loved. I had to disappear, so I arranged my own kidnapping.

I should have known Daniel would never let me get away that easily. But he could never have predicted what I’d do next…

Goodreads Rating: 4.14

💜 The Daughter – Liz Webb

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Allison & Busby

Publishing Date: 19.05.22

Synopsis from Goodreads:

‘I lean in and whisper the question I have never let myself utter in twenty-three years.
‘Dad…did you murder Mum?’

Hannah Davidson has a dementia-stricken father, an estranged TV star brother, and a mother whose death opened up hidden fault lines beneath the ordinary surface of their family life.

At thirty-seven, Hannah is losing her grip on both her drinking and a cache of shameful secrets. Now the spitting image of her mother Jen Davidson, and the same age she was when she died, Hannah is determined to uncover exactly what happened to her mum, but soon the boundaries between Hannah and her mother become fatally blurred.

Goodreads Rating: 4.06

💜 A King’s Radiance – L.R. Schulz

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Independent

Publishing Date: 21.05.22 (E-Book)

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The sun’s light shines bright over the land of Zapour, and only a select few can harness its power. But all power comes with a cost, and the world is not kind to those who refuse to pay it.

Raiz Glaive, a strong shine wielder, was born into royalty, though even royals have to answer to someone. When the King-Radiant sends one of his precious underlings to the Kingdom of Trost, Raiz quickly learns who holds the true power in the realm. After his sister is taken prisoner simply for having the violet eyes of a mystic, Raiz swears vengeance. But when an unwilling father stands in his way, Raiz promises to take revenge into his own hands.

Dazen Glaive remains heir to the throne of Trost, and a sworn defender of the King-Radiant, but he has not forgotten what happened to his sister, and will not forgive their cruelty.

Forced to be the centrepiece of her “master’s” twisted human art gallery, Isha remains a prisoner. Though she has not lost hope. Finding friends among fellow captives, she begins to formulate a plan for escape. Though what she discovers has a much more sinister bearing on the fate of all of Zapour.

Goodreads Rating: 4.52

Congratulations to all the authors and publishers with releases this week.

Hope you find something you like on the post?