How is it June already? It feels that we were only talking about summer reads in April and now we have the official start of the summer season. Well, it’s on its way and one of my favorite things when looking forward to the summer is not the beach or the warmer weather, but the books! There are so many exciting books coming out this summer that it will be ridiculous that you will not be entertained with at least one of them, let alone all of them.
So what are you in the mood for? June is abundant with romantic tales but if love stories are not your cup of tea, maybe you are looking for those thrilling and chilling stories that will make you rethink reading a book before bedtime. June releases have everything for every type of reader. So, book lovers, you are not short of heart-pumping reads!
Featured Book of the Month
Four Eids and a Funeral by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar
The town of New Crosshaven has it all–even its own infamous love story.
These days, Said Hossain spends most of his time away at boarding school. But when his favorite hometown librarian, Ms. Barnes, dies, he must return to New Crosshaven for her funeral and for the summer. Too bad being home makes it a lot harder to avoid facing his ex-best friend, Tiwa Olatunji, or facing the daunting task of telling his Bangladeshi parents that he would rather be an artist than a doctor.
Tiwa doesn’t understand what made Said start ignoring her, but it’s probably that fancy boarding school of his. Though he’s unexpectedly staying at home through the summer, she’s determined to take a page from him and pretend he doesn’t exist. Besides, she has more than enough going on anyway, between grieving her broken family and helping her mother throw the upcoming Eid celebration at the Islamic Center–a place that means so much to Tiwa.
But when the Islamic Center accidentally catches fire, it turns out the mayor plans to demolish the center entirely. Things are still tense between the ex-friends, but Tiwa needs Said’s help if there’s any hope of changing the mayor’s mind, and on top of everything, Said needs a project to submit to art school (unbeknownst to anyone).Will all their efforts be enough to save the Islamic Center, save Eid, and maybe even save their relationship? (Credit: Feiwel & Friends)
A Haunted Girl by Ethan Sacks and Naomi Sacks and illustrated by Marco Lorenzana
The fate of all life on Earth depends on a girl who doesn’t know if she wants to live.Cleo, a 16-year-old adopted Japanese-American whose anxiety and depression drives her to suicidal thoughts, is fresh out of the hospital and trying unsuccessfully to reintegrate back into her old life. What she doesn’t know is that her real struggles are just beginning as she finds herself encountering an increasingly terrifying succession of ghosts. Is she losing her grip on reality…or is the explanation much, much worse. (Credit: Image Comics)
The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi
This ingeniously constructed masterpiece, written by one of Japan’s most celebrated crime writers and translated into English for the first time, is perfect for locked-room mystery fans who can’t resist a breathtaking conclusion.In the Chizurui family mansion, a haunting presence casts a shadow over its residents. By night, an eerie figure, clad in a sinister Hannya mask is seen roaming around the house. An amateur murder mystery writer, Akimitsu Takagi, is sent to investigate — but his investigation takes a harrowing turn as tragedy strikes the Chizurui family.
Within the confines of a locked study, the head of the family is found dead, with only an ominous Hannya mask lying on the floor by his side and the lingering scent of jasmine in the air as clues to his mysterious murder.As Takagi delves deeper into the perplexing case, he discovers a tangled web of secrets and grudges. Can he discover the link between the family and the curse of the Hannya mask? Who was the person who called the undertaker and asked for three coffins on the night of the murder? And do those three coffins mean the curse of the Hannya mask is about to strike again? (Credit: Pushkin Vertigo)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
Soldier Sailor is a tale of boundless love and relentless battle, a bedtime story to a son, Sailor, recounting their early years together. Spending her days in baby groups, playgrounds, and supermarkets, Soldier doesn’t know who she is anymore. She hardly sees her husband, who has taken to working late most nights. A chance encounter with a former colleague feels like a lifeline to the person she used to be but can hardly remember.Tender and harrowing, Kilroy’s modern masterpiece portrays parenthood in all its agony and ardent joy. (Credit: Scribner Book Company)
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits–torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community.
It is two romantic relationships that will rend their friendship, and in the wake of this rupture, Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished nineteenth-century astronomer said to haunt a nearby manor, and Grace flees Aldleigh entirely for London. Over the course of twenty years, by coincidence and design, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as the mystery of the vanished astronomer unfolds into a devastating tale of love and scientific pursuit. Thomas and Grace will ask themselves what it means to love and be loved, what is fixed and what is mutable, how much of our fate is predestined and written in the stars, and whether they can find their way back to each other. (Credit: Mariner Books)
Spilled Ink by Nadia Hashimi
If it weren’t for Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010–and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later–she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone.
Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, Whoopi shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time. Growing up in the projects in New York City, there were trips to Coney Island, the Ice Capades, and museums, and every Christmas was a magical experience. To this day, she doesn’t know how her mother was able to give them such an enriching childhood, despite the struggles they faced–and it wasn’t until she was well into adulthood that Whoopi learned just how traumatic some of those struggles were. (Credit: Quill Tree Books)
The Breakup Artists by Adriana Mather
August and Valentine, seventeen-year-old best friends, run a business called Summer Love, Inc. They hire themselves out to unhappy parents whose kids are in bad relationships, adopting fake identities and going undercover to break up these relationships by any means necessary.
Valentine, the brains of the operation, believes that they’re making the world a better place by steering people away from a relationship precipice so they can someday find true love. But for August, every case is personal–another chance to prove that true love doesn’t exist. He blames his sister’s manipulative boyfriend for her death, and–unlike Valentine–he doesn’t believe in soulmates. No, he thinks the idea of falling head-over-heels is ridiculous at any age.
But then August meets Ella, who suddenly turns everything he thought he believed about love upside down. The problem is that she’s their new case, which means that everything he’s told her about himself is a lie–including his name. (Credit: Blackstone Publishing)
How (Not) to Have an Arranged Marriage by Amir Khan
He’s the perfect catch (according to his mother).Yousef is the golden child to his strict Pakistani parents, overshadowing his younger sister, Rehana. As he finishes his medical degree in London, Yousef’s life appears to be mapped out for him: become a doctor, marry a suitable girl of his parents’ choosing and, above all, make his family proud. Then Yousef meets Jess.A fellow medical student, Jess presents a complication to the plan. Suddenly, Yousef finds himself torn between two worlds – keeping each a secret from the other.Then, as graduation day looms, Yousef’s mother informs him that she’s started looking for his wife . . .(Credit: Macmillan UK)
Let’s Do It Already!, Vol. 1 by Aki Kusaka
His rule: No sexual relations until age 18! Her rule: No rules.Free-spirited Yuri Hasegawa and straitlaced Keiichiro Katsuragi have fallen in love. But his elite political family–producing a line of prime ministers–does not allow male descendants to engage in any sexual relations until they are 18. Can the physically affectionate Yuri and rule-abiding Keiichiro keep their relationship strictly chaste?Yuri and Keiichiro have gotten to know each other on their daily commute to their respective high schools. Yuri makes a passionate love confession to Keiichiro, and he feels the same! Yuri rushes in to kiss her new boyfriend, but…! (Credit: Viz Media)
The Legendary Mo Seto by A. Y. Chan
Twelve-year-old Modesty “Mo” Seto dreams of being a taekwondo champion. Even though her mom disapproves, Mo can always count on her dad, who is her number one fan and biggest supporter. Lately, Mo has been on a losing streak, and it doesn’t help that she keeps losing to her archnemesis, Dax, who’s much bigger than her. If only she were faster, stronger, not so petite. Mo can’t even lean on her dad like usual with how distracted he’s been lately.
When Mo learns about the chance to audition to star alongside her idol and legendary martial artist and movie star Cody Kwok, she knows this her chance to prove to her dad, to the world, and to herself that she can compete with anyone, no matter her size. Unfortunately, Dax is auditioning, too. As Mo and her nemesis progress to callbacks, someone attempts to sabotage the movie set and Mo’s dad disappears–and both events seem linked to a mysterious book, the Book of Joy.
The book contains information on Xiaoxi Fu, a secret dance-like martial art developed by Mo’s ancestral grandmother. Armed with these secret moves and an unexpected ally, Mo embarks on a high-octane adventure to rescue her father, save the movie, and discover an unexpected joy in being small. (Credit: Aladdin Paperbacks)
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron
In the tumultuous town of Yáquimo, Santo Domingo, Jacquotte Delahaye is an unknown but up-and-coming shipwright. Her dreams are bold but her ambitions are bound by the confines of her life with her self-seeking French father. When her way of life and the delicate balance of power in the town are threatened, she is forced to flee her home and become a woman on the run along with a motley crew of refugees, including a mysterious young woman named Teresa.
Jacquotte and her band become indentured servants to the infamous Blackhand, a ruthless pirate captain who rules his ship with an iron fist. As they struggle to survive his brutality, Jacquotte finds herself unable to resist Teresa despite their differences. When Blackhand hatches a dangerous scheme to steal a Portuguese shipment of jewels, Jacquotte must rely on her wits, resourcefulness, and friends to survive. But she discovers there is a grander, darker scheme of treachery at play, and she ultimately must decide what price she is willing to pay to secure a better future for them all. (Credit: Atria Books)
The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood
Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a town council meeting. When traces of aconite–also known as the queen of poisons–are found in his coffee cup, the police realize he was murdered. But who did it? And why?
The police bring Judith, Suzie, and Becks in to investigate the murder as civilian advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content… which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable mayor of Marlow? How did they even get the poison into his coffee? And is anyone else in danger? The Marlow Murder Club is about to face their most difficult case yet… (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
The Murder After The Night Before by Katy Brent
Something bad happened last night. My best friend Posey is dead. The police think it was a tragic accident. I know she was murdered.
I’ve woken up with the hangover from hell, a stranger in my bed, and I’ve gone viral for the worst reasons.
There’s only one thing stopping me from dying of shame. I need to find a killer.
But after last night, I can’t remember a thing…(Credit: HaprerCollins)
That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk
Expected Publication Date: June 11
One night locked in the library. What could go wrong?
On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university’s rare books library. They’re not allowed in the library after closing time, but it’s the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform–one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they’ll scatter in different directions to start their real lives?
But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out–and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer. That Night in the Library is a chilling literary mystery that transports readers to a world where secrets live in the dark, books breathe fears to life, and the only way out is to wait until morning. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton
Expected Publication Date: June 11
Shanice Pierce knows better than to heed bad omens. But she has a hard time ignoring the signs when she finds herself newly single and out of a job on the same seemingly cursed day.Then, while cleaning out her grandmother’s house, Shanice comes across a painting she hasn’t seen in years. Drawn to the haunting portrait in a way she can’t explain, Shanice accepts her grandmother’s offer to keep the family heirloom.She soon uncovers the story of the artist, a Harlem Renaissance painter named Estelle Johnson. The young woman was taken under wing by the wealthy art patron Maude Bachmann–or “Godmother” as she insisted her artists call her–and vanished shortly after Bachmann’s brutal murder a century ago.As Shanice digs deeper, a paranoia that’s haunted her for years returns. She becomes convinced she’s being stalked, and that the deaths happening around her are connected to the staggering offer she turned down for the painting.But the truth hiding in plain sight is even more shocking–and deadly–than Shanice could possibly have imagined . . . (Credit: Union Square & Co)
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
Expected Publication Date: June 11
In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick.
The weird part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot.
The man who played “The Thin Kid” is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions–demons of the past be damned.
But at what cost? (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood
Expected Publication Date: June 11
Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through–and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who’s off-limits to him.
Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business–one that plays for keeps. (Credit: Berkely Books)
The Countryside: Ten Rural Walks Through Britain and Its Hidden History of Empire by Corinne Fowler
Expected Publication Date: June 11
The green fields, rugged highlands, and rolling hills of England, Scotland, and Wales are commonly associated with adventure, romance, and seclusion as well as literary figures like Jane Austen and William Wordsworth. But in reality, many of these rural places–with their country houses, lakes, and shorelines–were profoundly changed by British colonial activity. Even hamlets and villages were affected by distant colonial events.Taking ten country walks, author Corinne Fowler explores the unique colonial dimensions of British agriculture, copper-mining, landownership, wool-making, coastal trade, and factory work in cotton mills. One route shows the links between English country houses and Indian colonization. Another explores banking history in Southern England and its link to slavery on Louisianan plantations. Other walks uncover the historical impact of sugar profits on the Scottish isles and 18th-century tobacco imports on an English coastal port. The history of these countryside locations–and the people who lived and worked in them–is closely bound up with colonial rule in far-away continents.
Accompanying the author on her walks are a fascinating group of people–artists, musicians, and writers–with strong attachments to the landscapes featured in this book and family links to former British colonies like Barbados and Senegal. These companions illuminate the meaning of colonial history in local settings. Crucially, this is not just a history book but a compassionate reflection on the way we respond to sensitive, shared histories which link people across cultures, generations, and political divides. (Credit: Scribner Book Company)
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd
Expected Publication Date: June 11
Some women won’t be painted out of history . . .
Everybody knows that in 1938, runaway heiress artist Juliette Willoughby perished in an accidental studio fire in Paris, alongside her masterpiece Self Portrait As Sphinx.
Fifty years later, two Cambridge art history students are confounded when they stumble across proof that the fire was no accident but something more sinister. What they uncover threatens the very foundation of Juliette’s aristocratic family and revives rumors of the infamous curse that has haunted the Willoughbys for generations.
But what does their discovery mean? And how is it connected to a brutal murder in present-day Dubai?
A tale of love and madness, obsession and revenge, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby unravels the riddle posed by a Sphinx who refuses to reveal her secrets . . .(Credit: Harper)
Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley
Expected Publication Date: June 11
From a hard-hitting and brutally funny new voice in crime writing comes the first in a new series starring DI Alison McCoist – the least popular detective in the Glasgow police.Half the Glasgow copshop think DI Alison McCoist is bent. The other half just think she’s a fuck-up.No one thinks very much at all about carwash employee Davey Burnet, until one day he takes the wrong customer’s motor for a ride.One kidnapping later, he and the carwash are officially part of Glasgow’s criminal underworld, working for a psychopath who enjoys playing games like ‘Keep Yer Kneecaps’ with any poor bastard who crosses him.Can Davey escape from the gang’s clutches with his kneecaps and life intact? Perhaps this polis Ally McCoist who keeps nosing around the carwash could help. That’s if she doesn’t get herself killed first. (Credit: Pushkin Vertigo)
A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
Expected Publication Date: June 11
No murder is by the book.
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her work as a librarian in Maine. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured salesman whose job took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.
A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern–five unsolved cases of murdered women.
Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . .but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected. (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
Jupiter Nettle and the Seven Schools of Magic by Sangu Mandanna and illustrated by Pablo Ballesteros
Expected Publication Date: June 11
For all of her twelve years, Jupiter Nettle has wanted to attend one of the Seven Schools of Magic. When she finally gets the call to take the entrance exam, she shocks everyone with her magic skills . . . but not in the way she’d hoped. Failing spectacularly in one test after another, Jupiter goes home dejected and confused. What will she do now?That night, Jupiter gets an unexpected visitor and, amazingly, another chance at the Seven Schools! But learning magic isn’t what she expected it to be . . . the School of Earth Magic is looked down upon by others, it doesn’t involve cool spells, and her teacher, Professor Grim, certainly lives up to his name. Jupiter works hard, but the doubts in her mind shake her confidence until she’s ready to give up. Then an age-old enemy returns to exact revenge on the Seven Schools, leaving Jupiter to finally find the courage and magic that’s been within her all along. (Credit: Viking Books for Young Readers)
Nights Volume 1 by Wyatt Kennedy and illustrated by Luigi Formisano
Expected Publication Date: June 11
It’s 2003, supernatural creatures casually exist amongst humans, and America is made up of 31 states.Vince Okonma was an ordinary teenager, living in an ordinary town, with an ordinary life. Until an encounter with a mysterious vampire girl changed everything. Now, the supernatural monsters, his hitman cousin, and a video game-making ghost are the least of his problems. And besides possibly preventing the apocalypse and the shadowy government hounding him, he’s still gotta work through the biggest challenge of them all. First love. (Credit: Image Comics)
Hope To Die by Cara Hunter
Expected Publication Date: June 11
Midnight. A grisly murder scene at isolated farm on the outskirts of Oxford.
A man lies dead in the kitchen–shot point blank. The farm’s elderly owners claim the shooting was self-defense against a burglar. But something about the crime scene doesn’t sit right with DI Adam Fawley, whose gut tells him there’s more to their story. If the victim came to rob the house, why wasn’t he wearing gloves or carrying tools? Why didn’t the owner of the house call the police right after the shooting? Why did his wife wash his blood splattered clothes immediately?
Digging deeper, the police realize this is no ordinary burglary gone wrong. There’s an unmistakable link to an infamous case from years earlier involving a child’s murder and an alleged miscarriage of justice. When the news leaks out, the press goes wild.
Suddenly Fawley’s team are under tremendous pressure to crack the case–and to bring one formidable criminal to justice. (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
Expected Publication Date: June 18
It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule” cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.
And yet, just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. The local community resents what they see as the Manor’s intrusion into the local woods and attempts to privatize the beach, and small skirmishes have erupted on the edges of the property between locals and the staff. And the whispers keep coming, about an old piece of pagan folklore – it must be folklore — the Night Birds, an avenging force that can be called upon to make right wrongs that elude the law. Though surely everything at the Manor has been done above board.
On the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered. Something’s not right with the guests. What happened on the grounds of the Manor the past 36 hours? And who – or what – is the cause? (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris
Expected Publication Date: June 18
Deena Wood’s life has fallen apart in the aftermath of losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm. She needs what the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call a “dayclean,” a fresh start.
She returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is anything but the respite she thought it might be. To make peace with all her loss, she often drives through the city. One day, she unwittingly finds herself on the oceanfront property of a loner widower who is fighting to keep land that has been in his family since the end of the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to never return. But shortly after, he disappears, and his very expensive property is quickly put up for sale. Curious about what has happened to the man, Deena digs into his disappearance and finds a family legacy at risk. What starts out as a bit of curious snooping, turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment in poor and rural communities with dark and powerful forces at work.
Without realizing it, Deena finds herself caught up in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and her family. She’ll need help and finds it in a close but unlikely source because she knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sinister forces at play before she becomes their next target. (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
Petrol Head Volume 1 by Rob Williams and illustrated by Pye Parr
Expected Publication Date: June 18
In a climate crisis-ravaged future metropolis, an old, grumpy, obsolete, smoke-belching, cigar-chomping, HOTROD-RACING ROBOT is one 12-year-old girl’s only hope. Together, can they outrace the chasing Robo-Cops with an invention that might just save humanity?Collects PETROL HEAD #1-5 (Credit: Image Comics)
Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan
Expected Publication Date: June 18
Campbell Flynn, art historian, professor, and fêted fixture of the literati, always knew that when his life came crashing down, it would happen in public–yet he never imagined that a single year in London would expose so much.
He’s never taken other people half as seriously as they take themselves, which is the first of his mistakes. The second is a new project: opportunistic and precisely calibrated to rake in a fortune. Riding on the high of a best-selling biography of Vermeer and fielding more inquiries and requests than he has the time or patience to pursue, Campbell has nevertheless still not managed to shake the question of money. The fact of his quiet loan from a school friend now embroiled in scandal makes the ever-present worry feel even more pressing. His unflappable agent, Atticus; his steadfast wife, Elizabeth; his sister, Moira, crusading parliamentarian for the poor; his well-adjusted, well-off adult children, Angus and Kenzie; and all the outward trappings of success can’t conceal that something in his life is off.
As Campbell becomes increasingly entangled with a brilliant student, convention-smashing and working class, like he used to be, he feels he’s been given a second chance to embrace the change that frightens him, even as he sees trouble brewing for his family and friends. Campbell’s personal quest takes him down darker roads than he could have imagined, and all his worlds–the art scene and academia, fashion and the English aristocracy, journalism and the internet–collide in spectacular fashion, culminating in one shocking night on Caledonian Road. (Credit: W. W. Norton & Company)
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia
Expected Publication Date: June 18
On the surface, a British poet, an UberEats courier in Pittsburgh, an Indian doctor, and a Chinese activist in exile have nothing in common. But they are in fact linked by a profound common experience–unexpected encounters with artificial intelligence. In Code Dependent, Murgia shows how automated systems are reshaping our lives all over the world, from technology that marks children as future criminals, to an app that is helping to give diagnoses to a remote tribal community.
AI has already infiltrated our day-to-day, through language-generating chatbots like ChatGPT and social media. But it’s also affecting us in more insidious ways. It touches everything from our interpersonal relationships, to our kids’ education, work, finances, public services, and even our human rights.
By highlighting the voices of ordinary people in places far removed from the cozy enclave of Silicon Valley, Code Dependent explores the impact of a set of powerful, flawed, and often-exploitative technologies on individuals, communities, and our wider society. Murgia exposes how AI can strip away our collective and individual sense of agency, and shatter our illusion of free will.The ways in which algorithms and their effects are governed over the coming years will profoundly impact us all. Yet we can’t agree on a common path forward. We cannot decide what preferences and morals we want to encode in these entities–or what controls we may want to impose on them. And thus, we are collectively relinquishing our moral authority to machines.
In Code Dependent, Murgia not only sheds light on this chilling phenomenon, but also charts a path of resistance. AI is already changing what it means to be human, in ways large and small, and Murgia reveals what could happen if we fail to reclaim our humanity. (Credit: Henry Holt & Company)
Lavender Clouds: Comics about Neurodivergence and Mental Health by Bex Ollerton
Expected Publication Date: June 25
Eisner Award nominated author Bex Ollerton–known as @Schnumn to her thousands of followers–is a talented comic artist who feels energized and courageous on some days and exhausted and emotionally depleted on others. In Lavender Clouds, she translates her experiences with Autism, ADHD, and mental health into a series of colorful, emotionally resonant comics that tell stories of neurodiversity and resilience.With a tone that is sharp but always sensitive, this debut book collection describes the many insights and strategies the author has learned on her journey to self-acceptance. Among the many topics addressed in the book are the folly of “foolproof” organization strategies, the perils of burnout, the joy of small hopes, and the importance of growing at your own pace and on your own path.
Breathtaking in its artistic range and emotional truth, Lavender Clouds offers an enlightening and uplifting read for anyone struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, burnout, or other issues related to mental health. (Credit: Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan
Expected Publication Date: June 25
43-year-old Dolores O’Shea is logical, organized, and prepared to handle whatever comes her way. She keeps up with her job and housework, takes care of her mentally declining mother, and remains close with her old friends and her younger sister who’s moved to New York. Though her marriage with David, an anesthesiologist, isn’t what is used to be, nothing can quite prepare her for Zoey, the $8,000 AI sex doll that David has secretly purchased and stuffed away in the garage. At first, Zoey sparks an uncharacteristically strong violence in Dolores, whose entire life is suddenly cast in doubt.
But then, Dolores and Zoey start to talk…and what surfaces runs deeper than Dolores could have ever expected, with consequences for all of the relationships in her life, especially her relationship to herself. Provocative, brilliant, and tender, Hey, Zoey is an electrifying new novel about the painful truths of modern-day connection and the complicated and unexpected forms that love can take in a lifetime. (Credit: Little Brown and Company)
Moral Injuries by Christie Watson
Expected Publication Date: June 25
When you’re trained to protect the lives of others, how far will you go to protect your own?
Ruthlessly ambitious Olivia, anxious perfectionist Laura, and free-spirited risk-taker Anjali couldn’t be more different. Yet their friendship–which began the first day of medical school–has kept them inseparable these past twenty-five years. As wild all-nighters and exam pressure gave way to the struggles and joys of new motherhood and new jobs, their unbreakable bond helped them support each other through it all.
Long ago, they promised that nothing would come between them, and to do anything for one another–including burying that night they have never spoken about: a university party fueled by drugs, sex, and secrets that forced them to make a deadly choice that could have destroyed them. But is there a limit to what we would do for those we love?
When an eerily similar tragedy strikes involving the women’s teenaged children, everything the three friends have built threatens to crumble around them . . . forcing them to decide how far they can stretch their friendship before it snaps.
A taut and explosive novel about loyalty, ambition, betrayal, and revenge, Moral Injuries explores the sometimes-hidden costs of friendships, and the lengths people will go to protect themselves. (Credit: Harper)
Under Your Spell by Laura Wood
Expected Publication Date: June 25
She wants three things. He isn’t one of them…Dumped by her cheating ex, fired from her dream job, and about to lose her flat: Clementine Monroe is not having a good day. So when her sisters get her drunk and suggest reviving a childhood ritual called the Breakup Spell, she doesn’t see the harm in it.But now Clemmie has accidentally ruined a funeral, had her first one-night stand, and she’s stuck with a new job she definitely doesn’t want–spending six weeks alone with the gorgeous and very-off-limits rock star, Theo Eliott.
He’s the most famous man on the planet. Her life’s a disaster. As their summer together turns into its own kind of magic, is Clemmie cursed to repeat the mistakes of her past–or will her future see all her wishes come true? (Credit: Atria Books)
Trust Her by Flynn Berry
Expected Publication Date: June 25
Three years after they narrowly escaped the IRA’s worst punishment for informing, Northern Irish sisters Tessa and Marian Daly have built a new life in Dublin with their young children. Though Tessa is haunted by the abrupt and violent end to her old life, she does her best to immerse herself in the joys of Finn’s childhood and the rhythms of her new job at the Irish Observer.
It’s a small island, though, and just as quickly as they disappeared, figures from the sisters’ past surface to drag them back into the conflict. Tessa is told she must track down her old handler from MI5, Eamonn, and attempt to turn him into an IRA informant, or lose everything.Tessa’s reunion with Eamonn revives a host of feelings she has long attempted to bury. As their relationship intensifies and the pressure mounts, long-held secrets rise to the surface, and Tessa must navigate a treacherous landscape of shifting loyalties, all while trying to protect her beloved son. (Credit: Viking)
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