Hello, book lovers! Each week, dozens of new releases hit the shelves. Here are our favorites. ❤️đ –The BuzzFeed Books team |
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| Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan I love Julia Whelan's audiobook narration so much. It's always perfect, stunning, no notes. So when I learned of her latest novel, I knew I had to immediately read it — and I was not disappointed. Whelan's contemporary romance has the perfect balance of swooniness and heart. Sewanee Chester has made a career being an audiobook narrator, which allows her to take care of her ailing grandmother. The one genre Sewanee doesn't touch? Romance. So when news arrives in Sewanee's inbox that the late June French, a world renowned romance writer, wants her and Brock McKnight, the romance industry's beloved mystery voice, to team up on her final novel, it's an offer Sewanee can't refuse. Mainly because it pays A LOT. Enough for her to drudge up her old pseudonym And from behind their screens, Sewanee and Brock begin to forge an emotional connection. But when reality comes crashing down, Sewanee must decide if she's really ready to go after what she wants. —Farrah Penn Get it from Bookshop. |
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All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews In this highly anticipated debut, we meet Sneha, an ambitious queer college grad eager to create a stable life for herself in Milwaukee. She lands a decently paid job - enough to establish some savings and even help out her parents back in India - but as she establishes connections with a web of new friends and lovers, Sneha somehow feels more isolated and lonely than ever. With stunning prose and metaphors that made me literally gasp, Mathews unpacks the impossible mental task, especially for folks with many intersecting identities, of distilling a lifetime of experiences and traumas into one concrete personality, all while trying not to be crushed under the psychological weight of capitalism. The cast of side characters, just as loving and charismatic as they are selfish and stunted, are so richly developed you can't help but recognize them. A deceptively readable (and often hilarious) tale full of sharp meditations on what it means to be a young adult in the modern world. —Will Hunt Get it from Bookshop. Querelle of Roberval by Kevin Lambert Structured as a reimagining of Greek tragedy, Querelle of Roberval is a book that reads like a swift, vivid dream. The language is direct and cuts straight to the bone, while dealing with passions both personal and professional. The central conflict of the novel takes place around a labor strike at the local lumber mill, and the magnetic presence of newcomer and sexual renegade, Querelle, who alternately intrigues and infuriates the community. Brutal and beautiful by turns, this novel will grip readers from the first sentence all the way to its shocking conclusion. —David Vogel Get it from Bookshop. The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty A novel as surreal as it is genius, The Rabbit Hutch follows multiple POVs and storylines that intersect around the dying town of Vacca Vale, Indiana. It primarily focuses on the residents of a run-down apartment building: an aging single woman, a new mother, a group of aged-out foster kids. One of these kids, Blandine, simultaneously loves her town (she's actively trying to shut down the construction of luxury apartments in the park, by any means necessary) while also despising the structures and adults who failed her throughout her life. Each unique perspective dives into notions of loneliness, community, and humanity as Vacca Vale sits on the brink of either total destruction or rebirth. Spanning one week, the novel culminates in a shocking and violent climax that will stay with your long after you turn the last page. —Kirby Beaton Get it from Bookshop. Delphi by Clare Pollard Anyone who feels tapped out on pandemic fiction, I urge you to give Claire Pollard's debut novel, Delphi a try. It tackles COVID-19 in a darkly funny way that avoids the dreary dystopian fatalism that afflicts much of mainstream fiction these days. A classics professor deals with the anxiety of lockdown and family stress by looking to ancient forms of prophecy for some hope, from zoomancy (prophecy by animal behavior) to oenomancy (prophecy by wine). Does it work for her? You'll have to read to find out. All I'll say is that this book does a superb job of providing perspective by connecting our present moment to ancient history in a way that's clever and surprising. For Fans of Jenny Offill, Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney, here's another hot sad girl book to add to your list. —David Vogel Get it from Bookshop. Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean Emiko Jean's adult debut is a delectable journey of family and the faces we wear to impress. A mere phone call at a low point in Mika Suzuki's life is the catalyst for a gigantic life shift: the daughter she gave up for adoption, Penny, is now 16 and has reached out in hopes of connecting. But with a recent firing, a relationship failing, and the disappointment from her parents over the events, Mika decides to tell Penny about a more desirable life. As small lies become bigger ones, Penny and Thomas, Penny's adoptive father, come to visit Mika, making it even tougher for Mika to keep up the charade. And as Mika grows closer to Penny, and her iffy-at-first relationship with Thomas grows to a friendship and perhaps something else entirely, it's up to Mika to own up to the truth. Touching and heartfelt, this is a can't miss read. —Rachel Strolle Get it from Bookshop. |
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Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by M. E. O'Brien and Eman Abdelhadi This is a really fascinating glimpse into a future New York City after a revolution has transformed the U.S. and much of the world into an anti-fascist, communist utopia. No more capitalism, no more military, no more police. People live in communes, taking care of one another and the Earth. The two authors place themselves into this fictional future by interviewing people who participated in the revolution or in the managing/founding of communes for a book they are compiling. The interviewees represent a diverse and intersectional range of identities, from a Chinese immigrant who went from being imprisoned in internment camps in the US to participating in revolutions in both China and the US, and becoming a trauma healer, to a child victim of a white supremacist cult who went from being a vocal advocate of the cult to participating in its downfall and escaping into an adulthood supporting teenagers and embracing their nonbinary identity. This hybrid novel is both necessary and empowering, providing a hypothetical foundation for an ideal future. —Margaret Kingsbury Get it from Bookshop. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean Dean's debut novel is a delightfully weird exploration of motherhood, queerness, and escaping patriarchal norms. Centuries earlier, as the book eaters believe, an alien species arrived on Earth and left behind information gatherers disguised as humans, then forgot about them for unknown reasons. These aliens form their own little mini, archaic world. Most eat books instead of food, though some eat human minds. These mind-eaters become dragons, used as weapons to maintain patriarchal control over the families. Because women are rare, their fertility is tightly managed, and they're not allowed to stay with their children. Book eater Devon, however, deeply loves her children and refuses to leave them. She will do whatever it takes, commit whatever evils necessary, to ensure her mind-eater son's survival and that they remain together. —Margaret Kingsbury Get it from Bookshop. A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair A Broken Blade came into the world in a slightly unconventional way. Initially distributed to BookTokers anonymously, noted as being by a fellow BookToker, it was drumming up buzz before the author was ever revealed. This new edition includes bonus content and is perfect for fans of Throne of Glass. Keera is the King's Blade, an assassin and spy who is favored highly by the King. Sent after a mysterious force known as the Shadow, Keera's tracking skills bring her to the lands of the Fae. But answers are not so easily acquired, and what she finds in Faeland sends her into more of a tailspin. As Keera is forced to confront not only her true enemy but also her own internal struggles of guilt and alcohol dependency, she'll have to find a way to save both herself and her kingdom. —Rachel Strolle Get it from Bookshop. |
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Dauntless by Elisa Bonnin Beasts roam in Seri's world, and she's seen the struggle to fight the beasts firsthand as she works as an assistant to a valor commander. An unexpected meeting brings her to a new truth, as Tsana, a stranger from an unknown world, can actually communicate with the beasts. Through their conversations, Seri begins to question the rules she's always held as truth. —Rachel Strolle Get it from Bookshop. I Rise by Marie Arnold This novel follows 14-year-old Ayo, who has spent her entire life as an activist. Her mother founded See Us, a civil rights movement that tackles police brutality and racial profiling in Harlem. Despite Ayo's desire for a normal teen life, she's the presumed new face of the movement after her mother ends up in a coma after a riot between protestors and police. But she doesn't yet know if she is able to take over for her mother while also dealing with her grief and anger. —Rachel Strolle Get it from Bookshop. It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano YasmĂn is determined to earn first chair flute, but to do that, she'll actually need to master the marching part of marching band. Oh, and she'll also need to fix a problem slightly of her own making — her report of an anonymous gossip Instagram harassing new band members leads to the suspension of the entire low brass section from extracurriculars. Donning a tuba, she'll join a new section, which includes sweet section leader Bloom, before the gossip Instagram's harassment campaign grows and they inch closer to their big band competition. —Rachel Strolle Get it from Bookshop. |
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Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra I've read a lot of fiction set during the classic Hollywood "studio system" era, and Anthony Marra's latest novel is one of the best. Marra continues his work as a supremely talented writer who deftly balances use of beautiful language with character development that gets readers truly invested in the lives of the people he writes about. In Mercury Pictures Presents, we follow Maria, an associate producer at a "poverty row" movie studio, Mercury Pictures, whose finances are failing. Maria is an Italian immigrant, and as the US readies to enter World War II, she faces not only work stress, but figures from her complicated past reemerging in ways she didn't expect. This book hooked me fast, and kept me reading because I needed to know what happened next. Surprising, clever, and touching, this is historical fiction at its most engaging. —David Vogel Get it from Bookshop. The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel On the island where Leigh Welles grew up, there are three rules: mind your business, don't bring up the war, and be wary of the October slaugh. These bird-like horrors haunt the island, blacking out the sky and rumored to carry the souls of the dead. When a boy disappears, Leigh, newly moved home from the Scottish mainland after her father's death, and Iain, a young widower desperate to escape the past, team up to dig up the island's dark secrets...and a few of their own. —Kirby Beaton Get it from Bookshop. |
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