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 looking for diverse summer reading, I put together a brief list of some must-read BIPOC books to get your paws on this summer. They’ve got demonic possessions in 18th-century Mexico, show queer life in Nigeria, and even see teenage girls in Forida navigating pregnancy.
As for this week’s books, there’s the very exciting Ballroom: A History, A Movement, A Celebration by Michael Roberson, the Greek mythology-inspired The Myth Maker
by Alie Dumas Heidt, and Slate-staffer memoir Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America by Aymann Ismail.
Continuing with that newness, below, there is what’s described as essentially a YA Bridgerton, many family secrets, a feminist Lilith retelling, and more.
Win a 1-year subscription to Book of the Month! Imagine this: every month, for a year, you get to choose from new releases, curated by the Book of the Month team. Enter today.
The Great Misfortune of Stella Sedgwick by S. Isabelle
This historical YA romance follows the teenage Stella Sedgwick and her inability to conform to the ideal of a demure wife. She would much prefer to write for a living. When Stella inherits an estate from her mother’s former employer, she knows that a marriage will make the paperwork easier. As she navigates the marriage mart, she starts up an advice column and argues mightily with her childhood friend, Nathaniel. No matter what, she wants to do right by herself and her dreams. —Julia Rittenberg
New Books
Subscribe to the New Books! newsletter to get weekly updates about new releases.
Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild
Honor has a life full of with she could ever want: a lovely daughter and a husband. Though her husband is barely ever home, and now she wants a new baby, a desire that threatens everything in their lives. Then something happens that actually does change their lives. Her husband makes a decision that has some unforeseen circumstances, which include two women’s lives becoming intertwined. If this all sounds vague, it is a bit, but you should also know that there are some juicy family secrets.
Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair
This is the first in a new fantasy from bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair, and it retells the story of someone who we don’t often see. In it, the biblical character Lilith Leviathan finds refuge in Nineveh, Eden’s sin district, after becoming estranged from her family. There, she gets by, using her magic to steal. One day, she finds a beautiful blade that she thinks will fetch her an even prettier penny. But her regular buyer dies while inspecting it, which leads to Lilith running to Zahariev, the ruler of Nineveh. Thing is, even he may not be able to protect her from those coming for her.
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
MacLean has some bomb historical romances and is making her contemporary debut with These Summer Storms. It follows the chaos that is a wealthy New England family (with a touch of The Inheritance Games). Alice thought she had gotten away from the rest of her family, but when her force-of-nature father dies suddenly, she finds herself right back in the midst of all the plays for approval, secret love affairs, and greed that is typical of the Storms. Then there’s the challenge—a literal inheritance game—that her now-deceased father left for his widow and adult children. Question is if Alice will make it the necessary week on an island.
The Bloodless Queen by Joshua Phillip Johnson
In this dark fantasy debut partly inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice, half of the world is turned into nature reserves, known as the Harbors. To celebrate this achievement, the world leaders throw a party on the autumnal equinox. But instead of celebrations, all the people who were going to die that day turn into evil fae, cause deadly chaos, and then disappear into the Harbors. This becomes a regular occurrence every year on the autumnal equinox. Evangeline and Calidore work mending and guarding the fences of the Harbors that keep the fae in, until one year, they are pulled into a conspiracy that threatens to expose the truth behind the Harbors. —Liberty Hardy
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
This sapphic literary novel made a big splash when it was published in the UK, and now it’s finally making its North American debut. In 1990s Ireland, teenage Lucy is slowly realizing her desires don’t match the life she is expected to live. She is falling in love with her best friend, Susannah, but she is determined to hide it. Just before graduation, she finally confesses to Susannah, and they start a beautiful, heart-wrenching, secret relationship. When Susannah wants to stop hiding, though, Lucy is forced to make an impossible choice. —Danika Ellis
Other Book Riot New Releases Resources:
- All the Books, our weekly new book releases podcast, where Liberty and a cast of co-hosts talk about eight books out that week that we’ve read and loved.
- The New Books Newsletter, where we send you an email of the books out this week that are getting buzz.
- Finally, if you want the real inside scoop on new releases, you have to check out Book Riot’s New Release Index! That’s where I find 90% of new releases, and you can filter by trending books, Rioters’ picks, and even LGBTQ new releases!
English (US) · 