Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

An incredibly moving dystopian middle grade novel about a future where a select group of humans are sent into space to start over. A young girl whose family is aboard the ship is the only one who remembers the past, and must fight a sinister faction who hijacks the ship with their own plans.

This is a complex, fantastic story about historic injustices, racism, the horrors of slavery, and accountability. A young Black woman travels home to the South to attend the wedding of her former best friend. But the event is held on a renovated plantation, and the horrors of its past come back to get justice.

And if you want to read what was probably the most messed up, yet compelling, book I read this year—this is it! A family moves into a seemingly perfect neighborhood on a cul-de-sac, but small misunderstandings, societal assumptions, and past wrongs will expose the rot of the neighborhood, until incidents lead to a violent conclusion.

If you like spy stories and well-written characters, then pick this one up! It’s about a hesitant Russian operative who has become a leader of a Google-like company in Silicon Valley, and an IT worker who stumbles upon her secret and grapples with using the information for her own agenda.

And this is an excellent (and probably not too unrealistic) story of wearable technology. In the near future, a device called a Pilot is implanted in people’s heads to help them multitask. People who get the tech gain status and have advantages, but not everyone can get it, and the controversial device divides the family at the center of the novel.

This is a wildly fun speculative historical novel. It’s a Western, with a bit of magic, about a Chinese American who is conscripted into service for the Central Pacific Railroad after his wife is kidnapped. He travels across the country, meeting an unusual troupe of circus folks along the way, as he blazes a trail of vengeance and bloodshed in his quest to get her back.

In this Highsmith-like mystery, a young woman who works in publishing gets the opportunity to be the assistant to famous author with a secret identity. (Think Elena Ferrante.) When Florence takes the job with the real “Maud Dixon”, their travels lead to disaster and unearthed secrets, giving Florence the chance to become someone else.

And this is a fantastic story collection, full of eerie and riveting supernatural stories about fairy tales, urban legends, and scary happenings. If you like Carmen Maria Machado, this should be at the top of your TBR!

A powerful, heart-squeezing story of family and loss, told in two parts: a family’s time in Thailand, where the son goes missing; and four decades later, when a man claiming to be the missing son reaches out to the family.

A fantastic fantasy novel in which a young girl steals her brother’s prophecy for herself after he dies, and becomes a powerful warrior and leader. This is epic fun!

This was one of the funniest books I read this year and also one of the most heartbreaking. It’s about a young queer woman trying to find her way in life, who lies her way into a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church.

A psychiatrist aboard a space vessel has trouble connecting with the crew, preferring the company of the ship’s AI. But a storm traps the vessel and soon they will all have to confront their problems and something sinister aboard the ship.

And this is like Firefly meets Mad Max! A reclusive veteran from the losing side of an intergalactic battle agrees to help an insolent teenager, who is also a trained weapon, reach her destination when her ship crashes in the desert.

And this is the story of a detective searching for a serial killer who murders fallen angels. I still don’t think I can do any better than my original take, so here it is again: If you ever wondered what it would be like if Good Omens was mashed up with The Black Stallion, with a dash of Loki, then this is the book for you!

And speaking of Loki: Fans of Circe—and everyone else—will enjoy this retelling of Angrboda of Norse mythology, the powerful witch, mother of monsters, and lover of Loki. Why isn’t this book on every end of the year list? Everyone I know who has read it has loved it!

This is another of my favorite short story collections of the year. These are gritty gut punches about criminal elements, with sharp humor throughout, set in the West. I love books that feel like they’re ruining my life when I read them, and this is one I find myself thinking about again and again.

And last, but not least, this fun, heartwarming story about a young boy who is worried about his family’s future when his father’s dreams of owning a successful food truck fail. When he and his friends make a remarkable discovery under the bridges of Pittsburgh, it just might change his luck.