Best books for summer 2023: Colleen Hoover, Pip Drysdale, Celeste Ng, Dave Grohl, Paul Hogan and more

Whether you’re one of the lucky ones still in holiday mode or are simply looking for a new book to kickstart your 2023 reading list, there’s no shortage of options to suit every taste.

While we wait for Prince Harry’s hotly anticipated memoir Spare (out on January 11), here are 15 of the best new and recent releases to dive into this summer, from light and fluffy finds to gripping tales you might just finish on one summer’s day.

Halifax: Transgression

Roger Simpson

He’s the man who gave us some of Australian television’s most iconic crime series, and now Roger Simpson has turned his hand to books. After some 50 years of creating dramas like Halifax f.p. and Stingers, Simpson has brought the former’s formidable heroine from the small screen to the page with his debut novel, which follows Dr Jane Halifax on the trail of a brazen and brutal new killer.

Alone with You in the Ether

Olivie Blake

The TikTok hit (the hashtag @alonewithyouintheether has more than 31 million views) is the latest from the Los Angeles author behind YA smash The Atlas Six. It tells the story of Aldo and Charlotte, who, after a chance meeting, begin falling in love as they each battle mental health issues.

Stella Maris

Cormac McCarthy

Sixteen years after he last released new material, the Pulitzer-winning American novelist behind such literary classics as No Country for Old Men and The Road published not one but two books in late 2022. The first was The Passenger, in late October, followed by its companion, Stella Maris, in early December (which has been said to be his final work). Both concern siblings Bobby and Alicia Western, with Stella Maris made up of a series of conversations between Alicia and her therapist at a psychiatric hospital.

The Next Girl

Pip Drysdale

The latest thriller from the bestselling Perth-raised author (The Sunday Girl, The Strangers We Know) centres around Billie, a young paralegal on a mission to bring down the accused surgeon her firm just helped acquit.

No One Left to Come Looking For You

Sam Lipsyte

The early-90s Manhattan music scene forms the backdrop for this page-turning mystery, which was released last month. Its protagonist is young rocker Jack, who goes on a search for his modestly successful band’s lead singer after he suddenly disappears right before a big gig.

Australia According to Hoges

Paul Hogan

The ultimate Aussie larrikin has penned what’s billed as part history lesson, part love letter to the land Down Under. The Crocodile Dundee icon’s “little wander though Australia, past and present” ranges from the origins of our nation and our famous love of sport, to a “dinkum dictionary” of Aussie slang and a roster of the colourful characters who helped shape the nation’s identity.

The Make-Up Test

Jenny L. Howe

Released last month, this frothy debut for fans of Lessons in Chemistry introduces us to rival university students Alison and Colin, who are not only battling to win a highly coveted career opportunity — they’re also exes.

It Starts With Us

Colleen Hoover

If this viral smash somehow passed you by last year, there’s still time to find out what all the fuss is about before Hoover’s newest title, Heart Bones, is released later this month (January 31). It’s easy to see why the long-awaited sequel to 2016 smash It Ends With Us has been one of the biggest books of 2022.

A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carre

Edited by Tim Cornwell

Edited by one of his sons and made up of hundreds of handwritten letters to everyone from actors to real-life spies to lovers, this collection of correspondence offers an intimate glimpse into the inner workings of one of the literary world’s most famous figures.

Lucy Checks In

Dee Ernst

Released in that hazy week between Christmas and New Year’s, it was easy to miss this fun and frothy romance but it’s worth seeking out. After her career as a high-end hotel manager in New York implodes, Lucy makes the move to France and the rundown but charming Hotel Paradis.

Orphans of the Storm

Celia Imrie

None other than the RMS Titanic is the scene of this unputdownable historical fiction novel from English acting great and bestselling author Celia Imrie. Based on true events, it combines the epic tale of the infamous ship’s doomed maiden voyage with a gripping story involving three central characters whose paths intertwine.

The Storyteller

Dave Grohl

From Bono to Matthew Perry, 2022 was a bumper year for celebrity memoirs. If you’re ready for your next fix, Foo Fighters legend Dave Grohl’s 2021 biography, The Storyteller, has arrived in paperback just in time for your next beach day.

Scavengers

Robert Hood

Mike Crowe is a private investigator blackmailed into tracking down a gruesome serial killer dubbed The Scavenger, while also grappling with visions of a murder victim he failed to save years before, in this Wollongong-set horror-meets-crime novel from award-winning Canberra writer Robert Hood.

Our Missing Hearts

Celeste Ng

A recent Reese Witherspoon book club pick, the follow-up to the cult read-turned-TV-show Little Fires Everywhere centres around 12-year-old Bird, who is being raised by his dad in a dystopian future until a message suddenly arrives from his long-absent mother.

They’re Going to Love You

Meg Howrey

Flipping between New York during the height of the AIDS crisis and present-day Los Angeles, this is a heartbreaking exploration of forgiveness and love. It centres around Carlisle Martin and her relationship with her father, Robert, and his brilliant but troubled partner, James, with whom, in childhood, she would spend a few precious weeks a year ensconced in their Greenwich Village apartment.