30 to Watch

If you enjoyed You Should See Me in a Crown, then you’ll love Honey Girl.

“This was a highly enjoyable read in that it was both romance and yet totally different than your usual romance ilk. A sweet love story unfurls in a reverse while paralleling to Grace's late coming-of-age and self realization.Grace's whole character arc was spot on, learning how to discover what she actually wants vs what her father wants, learning to center that, and then learning to take care of her mental health. I also loved the love story between Yuki and Grace. Obviously, they got off to a kind of rocky start but I loved that they got to fall in love all over again after that first night. Yuki's fascination with monsters and the unknown was so fun and I loved their lyrical characterizations of each other. York Whitaker was the perfect narrator with a voice of pure silken magic. I loved hearing Yuki's radio snippets in the audiobook format as well. I honesty did not know what to expect with this book but was generally swept away by Rogers' writing, characterizations, and LAYERS! She does so much in this book and it was all SO GOOD. Perfect for those that like a little romance with a side of self discovery and that need some LGBTQIA+ stories in their lives.”

Kimi, Buttonwood Books and Toys

“A debut story collection of the rarest kind ... you wish that every single entry could be an entire novel." —Entertainment Weekly

Fresh, intimate stories of women’s lives from an extraordinary new literary voice, laying bare the unexpected beauty and irony in contemporary life

A college freshman, traveling home, strikesup an odd, ephemeral... Read more »

Libertie

“This fascinating story of Libertie is set in and around the Civil War in Brooklyn, NY. Libertie, the daughter of a free black doctor, feels obligated to live up to her mothers’ expectations for her, all the while attempting to forge for herself her own path through the world. Themes of racism, colorism, and gender are all grappled with. Though historical in its setting the ideas we confront in Libertie feel like they are still relevant and timely.”

Molly, A Great Good Place for Books

White Ivy

“Ivy Lin’s unassuming looks and demeanor hide a dark side. She is obsessed with the wealth and privilege she sees around her and will cross boundaries to get what she needs — most of all, the object of her teenage affection. Susie Yang crafts a brilliant and mesmerizing tale that gives readers an intimate look into the experience of immigrants. Well-written prose, excellent characters, and a surprising turn of events will keep readers hooked until the end — and it is a doozy.”

Pamela Klinger-Horn, Excelsior Bay Books

Best Book of 2021 by Esquire
Book You Need to Read in 2021 by Harper’​s Bazaar

“Darkly funny and glitteringly satirical, The Atmospherians unforgettably takes aim at wokeness, wellness, and toxic masculinity.” —Esquire

This “edgy, addictive” (Kirkus Reviews, starred) satire about two best friends who form The Atmosphere—a cult designed to... Read more »

It's Holy Week in the small town of Las Penas, New Mexico, and thirty-three-year-old unemployed Amadeo Padilla has been given the part of Jesus in the Good Friday procession. He is preparing feverishly for this role when his fifteen-year-old daughter Angel shows up pregnant on his doorstep and disrupts his plans for personal redemption. With... Read more »

Considered by many to be Hannah Arendt's greatest work, published as she neared the end of her life, The Life of the Mind investigates thought itself, as it exists in contemplative life. In a shift from her previous writings, most of which focus on the world outside the mind, this work was planned as three volumes that would explore the... Read more »

Land Of Big Numbers

“I loved this stunning debut collection of stories. Chen digs deep and uses her experience as a foreign correspondent to portray the voices and lives of people living in modern China. These stories will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading the book. Highly recommended.”

Cody Morrison, Square Books

Fake Accounts

“This novel about our technological age is subversive from the very start. Its dense, wordy paragraphs seem the opposite of the endless bite-sized chunks of information we consume online. Yet within its density, it also mimics the internet experience through the stream-of-consciousness voice of its not-always-reliable narrator. It’s a fun story with lots to say about the incessant self-branding and impossible unreliability of our lives spent increasingly online.”

Edward Newton, The Literate Lizard

Migrations

“Set in an all-too-plausible near future dealing with the devastation of Anthropocene extinction, Migrations follows Franny as she talks her way on to a fishing vessel, set on tracking the last Arctic terns on their final migration to the Antarctic. McConaghy’s prose is icy and beautiful, cutting through the North Atlantic as well as Franny’s troubling past. This book is gorgeous!”

Julia, Boulder Book Store

Gold Diggers

“I love that this book: is a magical realism book that dives into the harm of the model minority myth, and shows how that can translate into toxic ambition for so many second-generation immigrants; it's partially set in the Bay Area; there's a HEIST component at a wedding expo and it's being adapted for television by Mindy Kaling (producer of the Netflix hit show, Never Have I Ever). Smart and funny!”

Zinna, A Great Good Place for Books

Ace of Spades

“This thriller (think Get Out) had me on the edge of my seat.”

Miriasha, Phoenix Books

"A gut-churning, heart-wrenching, blockbuster of a first novel . . . Parks-Ramage is an extraordinary new talent and Yes, Daddy is truly something special."
—Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things

A propulsive, scorching modern gothic, Yes, Daddy follows an ambitious young man who is lured by an older, successful playwright into a dizzying... Read more »

A compact tour de force about sex, violence, and self-loathing from a ferociously talented new voice in fiction, perfect for fans of Sally Rooney, Rachel Cusk, Lydia Davis, and Jenny Offill.

“Shrewd and sensual, Popkey's debut carries the scintillating charge of a long-overdue girls' night." —O, The Oprah Magazine
 
A Best Book of the Year by... Read more »

If you enjoyed Milk Blood Heat, then you’ll love The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

“A slim, sensual, and often sapphic collection of stories about women, relationships, and the church. Whether the tension breaks in laughter or tears, it will keep you neglecting real life in leu of listening. You will fall in love with these women. It's remarkable with Philyaw has accomplished in such a short little book. It's incredible.”

Conner, BookBar

The Bad Muslim Discount

“I loved The Bad Muslim Discount so much I read the acknowledgements just so it wouldn’t end — and they were great, too! This is an insightful and funny novel about faith, family, and being a Muslim American today. Masood offers us a sharp perspective, a seamless style, and unforgettable characters, leaving the reader enriched for the experience.”

Claire Benedict, Bear Pond Books

Detransition, Baby

“This book led to my favorite book club conversation to date. The characters are messy and mostly unlikeable and Peters unflinchingly dives straight into topics in trans identity often considered taboo, without worrying about placating a cisgender audience. A quietly chaotic and fascinating character study.”

Miriasha, Phoenix Books

Sharks in the Time of Saviors

“Night Marchers, gods, goddesses, and the dead all walk Hawaii with the Flores family, if only they can stop struggling to survive long enough to see them. At seven years old, Nainoa falls into the Pacific only to be brought back to his mother in the mouth of a shark, unharmed and now burdened with the rumor of legend. Noa struggles to understand his gift and what he is supposed to do with it, and each of his family members grapples with their role as well. Every character is imbued with the truths of family and the magic of legend and you will not close this book unchanged. Beautiful and a must read! The readers on Libro.fm grant entrance in to this world with an authenticity difficult to obtain otherwise.”

Linda, Cellar Door Books

Crying in H Mart

“I was struck by just how much I loved this book for how it walks through grief not as a way to leave it behind, but as a way to remember its exact shape. I’m grateful for its funny, self-deprecating, and wise observations, and for its difficult beauty.”

Steve Haruch, Parnassus Books

Shuggie Bain

“Shuggie Bain is sad, but there’s so much more to it than that. Hugh “Shuggie” Bain is different—he’s gentle and polite and lonely, a poor boy growing up in 1980’s Glasgow. His glamorous mother, Agnes, is an alcoholic, but she embodies her dignity when she needs it most. In one notably humorous scene, she drunkenly collects her son from his good-for-nothing father, upon checking herself out of the psych ward, and breaks the windows of his house while neighborhood boys whoop and holler at her boldness. Shuggie runs to his savior and clings to her with unconditional love. Eventually, he and his mother pledge to be “brand new” upon moving back into the city—she’ll stop drinking and Shuggie will be “normal.” But no matter how many football statistics he memorizes, Shuggie will never be like other boys, and his mother will never stop drinking. Their relationship is beautiful and overflowing with love, deeply humanizing those who struggle with substance abuse. I’ll never forget Shuggie Bain.”

Mary, Raven Book Store