18 Under-The-Radar Books That Deserve More Hype

From novels to nonfiction to short story collections, these under-the-radar gems should not be missed by avid readers who want to expand their collection.

1. The Force of Such Beauty by Barbara Bourland

Dutton

Caroline was a star in the making — a record-setting runner, an Olympic athlete, and a woman with a bright future. But when an injury sidelines her at a rehab facility, it all comes crashing down. There, she meets Finn, who she later discovers is the prince of a small European kingdom. A whirlwind relationship later, she finds herself becoming the new princess. But as time goes on, she realizes her crown isn’t giving her what she wants — it’s actually keeping her trapped in a life she doesn’t want at all. As she ponders her most recent escape attempt and her past actions to get her to that moment, she tries to figure out what exactly will make her happy and what to do about it. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

2. After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

William Morrow & Company

The world has experienced a Six Year Flood, in which the waters rose so much that the majority of major cities succumbed to the sea, and the population was forced to move inward. Almost a century in the future, it's now a world of bartering and just trying to stay alive. Myra and her 7-year-old daughter, Pearl, keep to their own ship, fishing to eat and to trade for other supplies. But when they get caught up with a group of sailors looking to find land to settle down on, their world changes. They become close with others for the first time, and the stakes get higher as raiders begin attacking for their own gains and shattering everything that stands in their way. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

3. All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva

Dial Press

This short story collection features characters across centuries and continents, but they all are up against one thing: fate. People come up against their own fates and either live with what happens or try to change the outcome. A particularly memorable story follows a fisherman on his journey out to sea, but he becomes enraptured by something he finds out in the ocean, something he can't seem to pull away from, even if it leads him to his own death. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

4. Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman

W. W. Norton & Company

Jessica's story of her time as a professional musician is one so wild it's hard to believe it's true, even though it is. Jessica, a violinist from West Virginia, found herself struggling to pay her college tuition to remain in school. After finding a post for an audition, she somehow lands a dream job: a paid musician gig. But when she attends her first rehearsal, something seems...off. During performances, the musicians' microphones are turned off, while hidden speakers blare a CD instead, music that sounds an awful lot like the Titanic soundtrack. But it's a job that pays, so she continues to work, and her account details her struggle and confusion at the whole project, all while putting herself through school. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

5. Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T. A. Willberg

Park Row

It's 1958 in London, and underneath the city is where the story begins. Miss Brickett's Detective Agency boasts the most clever detectives in all of London — even if the agency is kept completely secret to anyone outside it. Marion is a young apprentice in the program, learning the tricks of the trade and taking lessons with the great. Then, one day, a filing assistant in the agency is found dead in a closed room. Being murdered inside the agency means only one thing: The murderer is one of their own. With accusations flying, Marion finds herself in the middle of the investigation, and time is running out for her to figure out who the culprit is once and for all. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

6. Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

Picador USA

This novel was named one of the best novels of 2020 by the New York Times,  one of Barack Obama's favorite novels of 2020, and came highly praised from numerous other publications. It follows the Flores family, a Native Hawaiian family, through several decades of their lives, beginning with a strange event with one of the children early in his life. As a 7-year-old, Nainoa fell overboard on a family outing, with sharks circling the water. But instead of being attacked, a shark delivered him safely back to the boat. Local news called it a miracle, and from that moment, people visited the Flores family hoping Nainoa could cure them of their illnesses or heartache or grief. As the children grow up and grow apart, they all still grapple with the aftereffects of what happened that fateful day in the water. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

7. We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen

Mira Books

This novel follows two unexpected real-life superheroes who have no idea how they got their powers. Jamie has the power to read and erase memories, which he uses to rob banks and live an otherwise quiet life. Zoe has sudden speed and strength, and she loves beating up bad guys. When the two meet at a support group for those experiencing memory loss, they piece together who the other is — and team up to sort out where their powers came from. But along the way, they also discover a mutual enemy and resolve to take it down together. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

8. The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones

Putnam

In the near future, the United States has been ravaged by deadly ticks that are everywhere — except behind a ring of protected land known as the salt line. All citizens have receded behind this line into their protected sphere, but there are still adrenaline junkies who want to risk it all for the chance to see the outside world. So there are tour guides who take them out — for a hefty price — to see what's left of the world. But on the latest adventure, the group runs into other people on the outside, and they realize that maybe everything they've ever been told about their world is entirely wrong. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

9. At the Edge of the Haight by Katherine Seligman

Algonquin Books

A commentary on modern houselessness among youth, this novel follows an unhoused 20-year-old named Maddy, who keeps a low profile and gets by from food at the shelters. But when she becomes an accidental witness to a possible murder, her life turns upside down, and she's thrust into spaces she doesn't want to be in. She's not invisible anymore, and everyone wants to talk to her. When authorities begin to pressure Maddy to return to her own family to avoid the same fate as the murder victim, she isn't sure what to do or who to turn to to keep herself safe. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

10. A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. Barnett

Crown Publishing Group

Brittany K. Barnett writes her story of growing up amid the crack epidemic sweeping the nation of the '80s and '90s. After attending law school and becoming a successful corporate attorney, she begins to see just how disproportionately the law affects poor, Black communities. So when she comes across the case of Sharanda Jones, a young mother and first-time drug offender sentenced to life in prison without parole, she cannot look away. She realizes how she very well could have been in the exact same position, and she will stop at nothing until she is able to help Sharanda gain back her freedom for a too-harsh sentence for a first-time offender. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

11. The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

Atria Books

This book opens with the poisoning of 300 people at a family gathering, and we jump back in time to learn what happened to lead up to this. Gwendolyn and Estella have always been extremely close, as many sisters can be. Through tough family times, they've stuck together. But now Gwendolyn is in a coma, due to Estella's poisoning of the family, and Gwendolyn tries to race through her mind to figure out where everything went wrong. Through her state of unconsciousness, she begins to retrace her steps, trying to piece together what happened on that fateful day. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

12. The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh

Ecco Press

The Blinds is a place where people go to forget: It's a town not on any map, but the government sends people there with their memories wiped for a clean slate. Whether they're criminals or witnesses or something in between, this is their chance for a fresh start with a new identity. Calvin Cooper has been the sheriff of The Blinds for almost a decade, and it's always been a sleepy town. But without warning, there is a suicide and a murder, and everyone's on edge. As secrets unravel, everyone has something to hide, and no one is safe. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

13. They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Gallery/Scout Press

An unforgettable dark academia novel, this story follows two women down a twisty path as they navigate toxic men at a university. Carly is a freshman just trying to get through her first year. Her roommate is fun and outgoing and tries to pull her out of her shell, but when she's sexually assaulted at a party, Carly wants to make sure the attacker is brought to justice. Scarlett is a devoted English professor. But she is also a skilled murderer, and her victims are the men who deserve it the most. When she sets her sights on someone new and the university becomes more concerned about the sudden violence on campus, she may have to change her plans to not get caught. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

14. At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

Berkley Books

Dr. Maya Rao is reeling from a career catastrophe — she's been a gynecologist for years at a city hospital, but after a situation with a patient, she's been forced to leave. She crosses paths with a woman who owns an exclusive wellness clinic for women seeking "alternative" medical treatments and procedures and is invited to come work for the clinic. As Maya dives into the world of extremely wealthy women seeking extremely strange remedies, she realizes there's a lot more than what's on the surface, and she needs to keep her own secrets from bubbling over the surface. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

15. The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith

Ace Books

Turns out, the Librarian of Hell is a real job, and Claire has it. She's in charge of the Unwritten Wing, a neutral space in Hell where authors' unfinished stories go. Occasionally, a story becomes restless, and the characters pop out of their books and wander around. It's Claire's job to retrieve them and put them back in their own stories. When a Hero of a story manages to escape the library entirely, Claire must go hunt him down. But what should have been a simple mission turns anything but when she runs into an Angel from Heaven who attacks her, believing she holds the Devil's Bible, a powerful tool that could be used to destroy everything. This is the first in a series of three books, followed by The Archive of the Forgotten and The God of Lost Words. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

16. Crazy Cupid Love by Amanda Heger

Sourcebooks Casablanca

This rom-com is a great alternative novel to pick up if you've been devouring all those dark mythological romances but want a happier change of pace. It follows Eliza Herman, who is filling in at her family's Cupid-for-hire shop, and she's charged with enchanting couples to fall in love. Her mentor, Jake, is annoyingly cute, and as the two work closely together, they start to wonder if this whole enchantment business is really needed in the first place. After all, shouldn't true love come naturally?

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

17. Slay by Brittney Morris

Simon Pulse

The role-playing card game Slay has taken the world by storm, and no one knows 17-year-old Kiera is the developer behind it. She keeps her identity fiercely protected: By day, she's one of the only Black students at the exclusive Jefferson Academy. When someone is murdered in real life over a dispute in the game, it makes national headlines, and critics begin calling the game exclusionary and racist — it was created by a Black gamer for Black gamers. Kiera's world both inside the game and outside are beginning to change, and she worries how much longer she can maintain her secret and maintain a safe space for Black gamers online. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

18. Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

Dutton

If you've been looking for your newest horror obsession after The Haunting of Hill House, read this one next. Dixie Wheeler was just a baby when her entire family was found murdered in her own home. Now 26 years old, she is still desperate to connect with a family she never knew. When her childhood home (the one her family was killed in) goes up for sale, she feels compelled to buy it and move in. But it also seems like she's not the only one there; the ghosts of her family members linger in the air. As she falls deeper into the house's spell, she becomes obsessed with figuring out the truth behind her family's murders, and she gets closer than she ever could have imagined. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.