Twists and turns abound in this young adult thriller about a seemingly angelic biracial girl who goes missing from a small town on the West Coast - but her sister Casey knows the truth about Sutton's cutthroat, manipulative personality and is determined to uncover what happened. Things only become murkier when Casey discovers that other black girls have gone missing recently, yet no one is attempting to find them. What follows is a gripping story of family ties, generational trauma, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood.
Horan's latest historical fiction follows Portuguese refugee Ana throughout her entire life in Springfield, Illinois, from childhood friendships to teenagerhood working for the Lincoln household, to fraught adulthood with her husband away at war, to end of life grappling with the state of her nation. A heartfelt snapshot of the town the sixteenth President called home and the people who resided there.
The three Gs for a guaranteed great read: gay, gothic, graphic novel. This spooky Northanger Abbey retelling involves closeted teenager Cade being dragged to work on a ranch for the summer, and quickly falling for the rancher's son. But whispers float around town about Henry's family and the deaths that seem to haunt them, and Cade starts to question what and who he can really believe. Equal parts spooky and adorable!
When Clare Frank joined a firefighter crash course as a teenager, she couldn't have foreseen the path her life was about to take. Beginning before she was legally allowed to work, her firefighting career was groundbreaking. Despite often being the only woman in the room, Frank's fearless attitude and quick wit allowed her to rise through the ranks of Cal Fire and shatter many glass ceilings along the way.
Millennials are killing the baby industry, right? Without Children explains that being childfree is not a new trend, but that women since the beginning of time have found ways to not have children, for a variety of reasons, including financial, environmental, and personal. O'Donnell does an excellent job of showing the allyship potential between mothers and non-mothers, as opposed to pitting them against each other and fundamentally opposed. A wonderful historical and social exploration!
This peek into the international aid community and the type of people who dedicate their lives to this work is equal parts fascinating and devastating. Dealing with themes of violence, power, and identity, We Meant Well is for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Barbara Kingsolver, and is the perfect book club pick.
Cousins Carmen and Grace were raised more like sisters, and their inextricable bond carries through to adulthood, for better and for much, much worse. Grace was taken under the wing of a powerful drug lord as a teen, and Carmen followed along behind, unable to escape the pull of a lavish lifestyle and a new ride-or-die found family. It doesn't, of course, turn out to be as straightforward as either of them believe, and difficult, near impossible, choices have to be made.
Radiating intense amounts of both pain and love, Carmen and Grace settled itself right behind my ribcage from the very first page, and has refused to leave since.
Get ready to have your heart ripped out and stomped all over by A Living Remedy. Never before have I read a memoir quite so straightforwardly gut-punching; Chung's experience of caring for ailing parents from afar and with few financial resources is universally felt. Whew - this one will be close to my heart for a long time.
A subtle and understated vampire book. Lydia is both mixed-race and mixed-species, and is trying to make it on her own for the first time. A constant battle against her hunger and desire to be human leads to an extremely complicated relationship with food, as well as with her very first group of friends. This one's a sleeper, but oh so satisfying.
If you're ready to get sucked into an alternate New Orleans where magical families rule and political tensions are always high, make sure to clear your schedule for Blood Debts. Twins Cristina and Clement discover that their very ill mother is instead cursed, and they must traverse the city and grapple with complex family history in order to save their mother and restore their former magical reign.
The hardest thing an author can do is write a short book well. At just under 120 pages, Mandelo accomplished that and then some. A sci-fi novella that feels all too real, Feed Them Silence follows researcher Sean as she becomes deeply entangled in a research project close to her heart, risking her relationships, livelihood, and life. This raw book puts you solidly into Sean's head as she grapples with her humanity - or lack thereof.
Agony aunt for 2023, Alderton answers questions from readers across the board: my mom abuses social media, my daughter is forever alone, my boyfriend is unfaithful but only kinda. She's brutally honest, provides solid advice, but also acknowledges that she doesn't have all the answers (no one does).
Teenager Daisy has struggled with her 'gift' of being able to see dead people for years, and couldn't be more thrilled to get out of Toronto and move into the old mansion her uncle gave to her mom in his will - there has got to be fewer ghosts in the countryside. As they settle into their new routine, however, Daisy knows something is very wrong- she can feel it in her bones. As the house gets creepier, and her mom refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong, Daisy must rely on her gift to uncover the house's darkest secrets. A twisty gothic story with lots of layers concerning abuse, inherited trauma, and the erasure of black girls.
If you're looking for an entrancing, almost melodic fantasy retelling, Daughter of the Moon Goddess is the book for you. Xingyin is a fierce yet soft-hearted warrior whose only goal in life is to free her mother from eternal entrapment. Dragons, enchanted pearls, Demon Kings, and elemental magic make this story tense and satisfying.
Young adult mysteries are having a *moment*, and After Dark with Roxie Clark stands out as one of the best. The small-town October ghost tour setting is spot on, and Roxie herself is just antisocial and weird enough to put you firmly in her corner. Throw in a brutal murder and a family curse, and you're in for a wild ride - hang tight.
Get your lesbian vampire horror here! A wealthy, secretive society seeks out young beautiful women to satisfy their otherworldly hunger, and Marion is swept into this unfamiliar society thanks to the distinctive taste of her blood. Cue a generational curse and missing girls, and you've got an unputdownable spooky season read.
There's an endless number of books out there promising its reader instructions on how to have the 'perfect puppy'. What they fail to mention is - your puppy is already perfect. Canid cognition expert Horowitz combines memoir and science writing as she takes us through the entire first year with her puppy Quiddity, discussing her development, quirks, training (or lack thereof) and the simple wonder that a puppy contains. A wonderful step back that allows us to see why dogs are who they are, and do what they do.
Two kinds of books are on my do-not-read list: books about bookstores and pandemic books. And yet, I was drawn to The Sentence, and Erdrich's snapshot of pandemic (especially lockdown) bookstore life in a city on the map due to police violence is so accurate and heartfelt, that I had no problem breaking my rules for this read. Pile on some sharp humor and a ghost story; The Sentence is a joy to spend time with.
This is the perfect found-family cozy romance for fall. It's got a diverse cast of characters- adorable and hilarious children, quirky witches, and a hot librarian. Bundle up on your couch with a blanket and some hot tea for this one!
Small town southern Bingo sex pact romance? Honestly nothing could be better. Aja and Walker are complicated, earnest, wonderful characters, and their story had me giddy for all 300 pages. You need this book to be part of your summer.
This is the kind of historical fiction I'm always on the lookout for. It's tender without being sappy, and gritty without being dramatic. The characters (a corrupt banker, a career conman, and a woman with mysterious abilities) are multi-faceted and deeply flawed. Their navigation of late 1800's Washington in the wake of a devastating fire is one you won't soon forget.
An absorbing and affecting book about friendship, grief, and love, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow sinks into your psyche and leaves its mark. Dual-time narratives bring the story of two video game lovers into vivid focus, beginning with struggling childhoods through angsty college years and into adulthood with its own set of challenges. It's difficult to encapsulate the magnitude of this book, but just know, it's NOT a book about video games, it's a book about life.
Wash Day Diaries' stunning, saturated illustrations bring to life a wonderful snapshot of four Black women's lives in Brooklyn. It's an all-around celebration - of sisterhood, of the city, of love, and of hair.
Certainly one of the most beautiful book about crypts and human remains that has ever been published, and certainly a go-to coffee table book for goths, Halloween lovers, and those who are simply fascinated with the way different cultures celebrate life and venerate the dead.
Imagine you're on your way home from a night out and you run into your ex. And the next night you run into another ex, and the next night, another. Lola tries to brush off these interactions as coincidence, but it soon becomes too much to ignore, especially once she discovers that her love life is being influenced by a cult and their smarmy leader. Crosley's latest is wicked smart and funny, but also surprisingly tender and reflective.
This riotous book was the perfect 80s time capsule story about friendship and teenagerhood. A losing field hockey team decides to take matters into their own hands and starts making sacrifices to an Emilio Estevez altar in order to make this their winningest season yet. I truly cannot express how funny this book was - Barry's quippy, dry humor had me in stitches from beginning to end.