Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack.
Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.
If you’re a seasonal reader and you’re in the mood for a genre-bender set at the end of the world, The Unveiling by the award-winning author of We Ride Upon Sticks (another great seasonal spooky read) just came out last week. It follows Striker, a Black film scout, who is on a mission to photograph potential locations for a movie about Ernest Shackleton’s disastrous Antarctic expedition. A little kayaking activity goes terribly wrong, and suddenly Striker’s story turns into one of survival…and let’s just say that the true nature of the mostly wealthy and white tourists comes out. 🎧 Listen to Emily talk about this title on today’s episode of All The Books!
Keeping things on theme, Our Vicious Descent, Hayley Dennings’ next entry into her historical Harlem-set vampire series is out. Sci-fi and fantasy writer Tochi Onyebuchi also has a new book out, but this time it’s a memoir-in-essays: Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet. Staying in the nonfiction realm, if you could use more drag queen recipes in your life—which, obviously, you could—there’s Kim Chi Eats the World: 75 Recipes Fit for a (Drag) Queen by Kim Chi.
And finally, if you would like the opportunity to discover new writers in bite-sized pieces, The Best American collections are out. They include The Best American Short Stories 2025, The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025, The Best American Essays 2025, and more.
This week’s featured new books include a sapphic knight/witch fantasy, bloody dark academia, a Nigerian tale of female rage, and more.
New Books
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The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
Here’s a new sapphic fantasy from the award-winning author of the Burning Kingdoms series! A witch and a knight fated to fall in love and be torn apart over and over must find a way to halt the cycle of their story. Meanwhile, a mysterious assassin is on the prowl, looking to permanently destroy anyone with a story like theirs. —Liberty Hardy
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
The phrase “girl dinner” had a cute little moment a while back, and here, Blake applies it to what sounds like a deliciously dark academia novel. At the center of the story is The House, a very exclusive sorority at a cutthroat University. Sophomore Nina Kaur is accepted into The House, which she thinks will protect her. Then there’s Dr. Sloane Hartley, whose return to work after maternity leave involves a demotion and an emotionally absent partner. When Dr. Hartley is offered the position of academic liaison for The House, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to achieve the relative ease and perfection that the alumnae all seem to have. What both women eventually find out is that the sisterhood they’re so eager to join is paid for in blood.
Futility by Nuzo Onoh
Love horror novels about female rage? Same. And Futility is a juicy one. This novel follows two women living in Abuja, Nigeria. Chia owns one of the best restaurants in town and is well-known for her captivating beauty and delicious pepper soup. But nothing about Chia is what it seems. Meanwhile, 50-year-old Claire is living with her younger boyfriend and his cousin. When she visits Chia’s restaurant, everything she thinks she knows about her carefully planned life quickly unravels. Both women are filled with jealousy and anger, so neither can resist when a trickster spirit offers them an opportunity for revenge. — Emily Martin
This Is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz
From the award-winning author who gave us Ordinary Girls comes a barrio-set story replete with generational grief, local Robin Hoods, and even a murder investigation. Rey el Cantante is the aforementioned local Robin Hood, who is beloved in his community. He meets Maricarmen, who starts to dream of a life outside of waitressing, cleaning houses, and the realities of living in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Puerto Rico. But all that’s easier said than done, and she eventually finds herself bogged down with trying to ensure Rey, his brother, and their daughter Nena survive. Then one day, everything changes.
Fast forward 15 years, and Maricarmen and Nena are in the middle of a murder investigation, and their community has turned against them. Nena, a teen still figuring out her sexuality, must navigate this unforgiving world, along with the loss and betrayal she’s experienced.
🎧 Listen to Liberty talk about this title on today’s episode of All The Books!
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