Family Lore

by: Elizabeth Acevedo

Why am I stoked for this release?

Elizabeth Acevedo is one of my all time favorite YA, Novel in Verse authors. She’s also written a few prose pieces, but her Novel in Verse are my favs. She’s one of the few authors I know I will enjoy her books as soon as I find out there’s a new release. This will be her first Adult fiction about a Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women (which, we all know is going to be good).

The Connellys of County Down

by: Tracey Lange

Why am I stoked for this release?

As I love me a family dynamics novel.

Tara is coming out of prison after serving a 18-month drug charge and trying to restart her life at 30 is hard, so she moves in with her siblings. Her brother, a single dad, is struggling with a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister is cracking under the weight of huge secrets.

Again, family dynamic novels just hit different for me and the drama that’s probably in this will keep me turning the pages.

Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls

by: Kai Cheng Thom

Why am I stoked for this release?

Sometimes I just want a book with letters/poems/ and essays.

This is written by an Asian Canadian trans femme author during the pandemic when the world was blasting hate and violence full force. This is written during a painful time of the author’s life, so it’s bound to be filled with raw emotions.

The Museum of Human History

by: Rebekah Bergman

Why am I stoked for this release?

I like time morphing novels – rather that’s time travel, alternate histories, future fantasy – I think it’s fun.

This one is about a little girl who, while in a coma after nearly drowning, has stopped aging. While Maeve is in her coma, the adults around her struggle to figure out how and why she’s no longer aging, and their experiments never turn out correctly.

A Council of Dolls

by: Mona Susan Power

Why am I stoked for this release?

I’m always interested in Indigenous Voices and this one is spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day. This is also to shine a light on the generational trauma brought on by Indian boarding schools and the historical massacres of Indigenous people. There’s also rumored to have stunning prose, and I’m always down for that!

Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

by: James McBride

Why am I stoked for this release?

This historical novel set in the 1930’s is about the community of Chicken Hill in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, filled mostly with African Americans and Jews.

At one point, the community conspire together to keep a young deaf black boy out of the state’s notorious mental hospital.

This book is supposed to be about the relationships that molded this community together and I always love those stories.

Tomb Sweeping

by: Alexandra Chang

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a short story collection about histories, technologies, and generational divides that shape our relationships.

Again, sometimes I like having a short story collection for a quick(er) read here and there.

The Invisible Hour

by: Alice Hoffman

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a novel about the power of books. So yea, I’m stoked for this.

This is also about Mia and her life inside the Community – an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts. Contact with the outside world is forbidden and book are evil, but when Mia gets her hands on a copy of The Scarlet Letter, it perfectly captures the pain and loss she’s feeling inside her.

Books allow others to feel seen; and this one is going to be one of them.

Fever House

by: Keith Rosson

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is marketed as being “horror, crime, and raw” – mixed with gangsters, black ops government agencies, a punk band, a severed hand, a detached eyeball?

This novel is bound to have it all.

I may not get around to this until it is a lot closer to Halloween, but who knows, there’s a lot happening in this book that seems like it will be a trip.

The Witch is Back

by: Sophie H. Morgan

Why am I stoked for this release?

Rarely.

Very rarely – do I get excited for romance books. But this is a witchy, childhood romance/second chance novel that I can see myself enjoy once I can get around to it.

LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO

by: Cleo Qian

Why am I stoked for this release?

A collection of stories centered around the experience of Asian and Asian American women.

Based of those who have read and reviewed it already, the stories seem to be page turners!

Bride of the Tornado

by: James Kennedy

Why am I stoked for this release?

Okay, listen; I know this one is way out in left field for what I usually read – a secretive midwestern town engulfed by a mysterious plague of tornadoes every generation where the teen girl must now find a way to escape from.

But like, I grew up apart of Tornado Alley. My family was the only family within our immediate group of family and friends who had a basement. Everyone would come over when the tornado sirens went off. I always kind of looked forward to storms because of this. Even now, I love storm watching.

This just changes it up for me and I even went so far as requesting an ARC of it to read.

Vampires of El Norte

by: Isabel Cañas

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a historical horror about vampires and vaqueros (cowboys) facing off on the Texas/Mexico border. What is there NOT to like about this?

I’m not a crazy reader of horror, but I’ve always found myself in the mood when it gets cooler outside. So, though I may not get to reading this quite this month, I’m definitely reading it come spooky season!

A Multitude of Dreams

by: Mara Rutherford

Why am I stoked for this release?

Two reasons.

One: I read The Poison Season last year and absolutely LOVED it – so I’ve been pretty stoked about her next title.

Two. This is a gothic fantasy YA (with vampires?).

Yes please!!

Everything/Nothing/Someone: A Memoir

by: Alice Carrière

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is a coming-of-age memoir of Alice Carrière in the 90’s as her adolescence gives way to a struggle with dissociative disorder.

I’m a ’92 baby, so some of my childhood was the 90’s (though most of my memories were early 2000s) and revisiting that era would be fun.

But, I also love the way mental health is talked about more and more nowadays. It was still kind of taboo while I was growing up. Anytime I can read about others’ stories with their mental health journey, I do try to read it.

My Father, the Panda Killer

by: Jamie Jo Hoang

Why am I stoked for this release?

I saw this on NetGalley and immediately asked to read it. This is a YA, told in alternating voices of Jane in 1999 San Jose, and her father as an eleven-year-old in 1975 Đà Nẵng.

The Vietnam War is another part of history I’m taking time to read about. I have an uncle who fought over, and I know I can’t even imagine the horrors that war caused.

This book is unflinching in its tale about war and the generational impact it has.

After You Vanished

by: E.A. Neeves

Why am I stoked for this release?

This is said to be Sadie meets We Were Liars. Both are amazing books, but Sadie is a title I’m constantly giving recommendations out for while doing Shelf Helps at work.

This title is told through Teddy’s POV to her missing twin sister, Izzy as she tries to piece together what could have happened to Izzy after she vanished from a midnight swim last year.