Most Anticipated 2023 Releases!

Aziza El-Amin is the only hedge witch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts, and sees to it that the magical beasties in the area are managed. But things change, of course, and a darkness breaks down the boundary between humdrum human world and the magical fairyland, making previously benign fae shenanigans turn dangerous. She strikes a deal with Leo, another teen in town whose dormant curse kicked in a year ago and has been wrecking his life her since. She gets help patrolling the magic in town and he gets help breaking his curse…except we already know it won’t be that simple.

Between caring for a father with Parkinson’s, an overbearing mother overseas, and her job, Maddie is through. She’s spent, done, and just over it. That’s why when her mother comes back to London from Ghana, she jumps at the chance to get out of the house and make up for being a late bloomer. She’ll finally move, go out for drinks, and be more assertive to get what she wants.

I have not read many queer Muslim books at all, so I’m extra excited for this one. It’s a coming-of-age memoir written by a Muslim girl whose family moves from South Asia to the Middle East. There, she masks her attraction to girls — starting with one of her female teachers — by cracking jokes and trying to have the best grades in class. When she comes across a passage about Maryam in the Quran, who was pregnant but claimed that no man had been with her, she wonders if maybe Maryam liked girls like she did. She starts to question other things about her religion, too, like if Allah is nonbinary since they’re considered to be neither male nor female. This questioning spirit continues once she gets to the U.S. for college, which she notices has some of the same racial issues as her homeland (i.e. colorism). I’m super here for this story of self-discovery!

Kuang only writes bangers, and in this one, June witnesses the death of Athena Liu — who just finished a novel that promises to be a masterpiece about Chinese laborers’ contributions to the Allied forces during WWI. She decides to take her manuscript and claims the story as her own. To take full advantage (because, you know, stealing someone’s book wasn’t enough), she also lets her publisher rebrand her with an Asian-sounding name and an author photo of someone who is racially ambiguous. The book is successful, but June can’t shake the feeling that it could all come tumbling down, and that the truth of Athena is about to be exposed.