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_.
Now, in Lit Fic Land, family secrets get unfolded for Ghanian Londener Whitney Appiah in The Rest of You by Maame Blue. Finally, for my horror fiends, there’s the 1960s, New Orleans-set Southern gothic horror debut This Cursed House by Del Sandeen.
Below, there is a tender look at a Black teen romance, El Paso witches, some fantastical swordcrossing — which I feel I should follow with an obligatory wink — and more.
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
I appreciate how this M/M queer romantasy is cheekily titled. It seems to be the perfect romantic escape for those of us who appreciate the fantastical. In it, Matti is preparing for his arranged marriage and needs to hire a swordsman to be his best man. But his family’s business has been struggling for a minute, and all he can afford is the low-key con artist, Luca. Now, Luca is trying to reinvent himself after some unsavory dealings he was involved in in his hometown, and certainly didn’t see being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to the likes of Matti—who happens to be inconveniently cute. Neither of them is quite what they first seem to be, and what each of them is struggling with—Matti’s family business woes and Luca’s secrets—may doom their romance and their chance at a happily ever after.
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Twenty-Four Seconds from Now… by Jason Reynolds
Reynolds, a titan in YA, was just been announced as part of this year’s MacArthur Genius Fellows.
In his latest, teens Neon and Aria have been dating for a little while now, and their relationship is about to go…there. Neon is super nervous, but luckily has supportive family to give him advice. This feels like a tender, realistic look at the life of two Black teens.
The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke
When Clem gets a call about her daughter, Erin, it’s the worst thing ever. The 19-year-old was found unconscious from the same hiking trip that left her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. What’s more, once Erin comes to, she doesn’t recognize her mother and says she’s someone named Nyx. Clem, desperate to get to the bottom of everything, travels to the site of her daughter’s accident. What she discovers are dark secrets and a woman accused of witchcraft 400 years ago.
The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World by Tiffany Yu
Yu is the founder of the advocacy organization Diversibility. She’s also the disabled daughter of immigrants who worked in the white male-dominated finance world before starting. Diversibility. Here, she uses her experience to challenge the current ableist world we live in, detailing the importance of challenging ableist language and highlighting the need to keep in mind how disabled people can be affected intersectionally.
The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo
I do love a good witch story, and this one gets bonus points for partially taking place in 1943 and for this sentence in the blurb: “If you call to the witches, they will come.” Phew.
In 1943 El Paso, the teenage Nena cares for her young nieces and nephews, and longs for freedom and exploration. But her fainting spells and premonitions are getting worse, and she wonders if she’s doomed to a life of obscure shamanism. Then Sister Benedicta arrives one night, as if in response to her prayers, and the two traverse space and time. Soon enough, Nena comes into her power. Decades later, in the present day, the 93-year-old Nena is being cared for by her grandniece, Marta, who struggles with a legal aid practice and motherhood. Marta agrees to look for a daughter of Nena’s that was left in the past, and Marta’s own powers surface, but they threaten to upend the life she’s made for herself.
The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science by Dava Sobel
Marie Curie is still just about the only female scientist most people can name. I’m a little salty about that on one hand, but on the other, I totally get it. Curie was like no other. When her fellow scientist husband died, she took his place teaching physics at Sorbonne, raised their two daughters, and even drove a van she equipped with x-ray equipment to WWI frontlines. Here, Sobel has gifted us a “radiant” (ha) story of the life of one of the most important people in the last hundred years.
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!
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