Hello Book Friends!
By the time you read this, I will be in Hawaii and…it will be my birthday. Yes, hi. Welcome to the special Birthday Edition (TM) of Book Radar. And my birthday (October 13th) also happens to fall on Treat Yourself Day (the best day of the year)! So it’s not just a special day for me. It’s a special day for everyone. So with that in mind, I hope you’re treating yourself. And I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter!
Book Deals and Reveals
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Have you been eagerly awaiting the third installment of Disney Hyperion’s Meant to Be collection? Well, here’s the cover reveal! Zoraida Córdova’s Kiss the Girl is hitting shelves on August 1, 2023.
And here’s the cover reveal for Sing Me to Sleep, Gabi Burton’s upcoming novel, featuring “Black sirens, fae, murder, mystery, and a swoony prince.” Coming June 27, 2023!
Oprah Daily has the exclusive cover reveal of Rachel Heng’s new novel The Great Reclamation. This one is out from Riverhead Books on March 28, 2023.
Hulu’s Devil in the White City adaptation is running into some production issues. First, Keanu Reeves exited the project. Then, a week later, TÁR director Todd Field left the adaptation. Field was set to direct the whole series.
Here’s a first look at the film The People We Hate at the Wedding, based on the 2016 Grant Ginder novel of the same name. The movie hits Prime Video on November 18th.
Filmmaker John Waters is returning to directing for the first time in 18 years for an adaptation of his 2022 novel Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance.
Jessica Simpson’s memoir Open Book is being adapted for television. Freevee, an ad-supported streamer backed by Amazon, handed out a pilot order for Open Book, which will be a half-hour scripted comedy inspired by the memoir.
The series adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Kindred will be released on December 13th.
The nominees for the 2021 Shirley Jackson Awards have been announced! The awards aim to recognize “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.”
Book Riot Recommends
I’m a Contributing Editor at Book Riot, I write the Today in Books newsletter, and I’m a Bibliologist for Book Riot’s Tailored Book Recommendations subscription service. I also have a PhD in English, so I’m basically a doctor of books. Books are my life, in other words, so in this section of the newsletter, let me share with you some upcoming books I’m super excited about. And I think you will be too!
Can’t Wait for This One!
Chloe and the Kaishao Boys by Mae Coyiuto (Putnam, March 7th, 2023)
Someone said this book was Loveboat, Taipei meets When Dimple Met Rishi, and I was sold. Count me all the way in.
Chloe is a Chinese Filipina girl in Manila who recently got off the waitlist at USC. She’s so close to realizing her dream of becoming an animator in the United States. But her family has other plans for her.
Before she gets ready to leave home, Chloe’s auntie insists on planning for her a traditional debut for her 18th birthday. Chloe’s father is intent on finding her the perfect escort for the event, a nice boy that might convince Chloe to stay closer to home for college. And so Chloe’s father keeps setting her up with one kaishao — or arranged date — after another. When Chloe actually ends up falling for one of them, will everything go according to plan? Or will she say goodbye to love to follow her dreams?
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Words of Literary Wisdom
“I used to think there was such a thing as emptiness, that there were places in the world one could go and be alone. This, I think, is still true, but the error in my reasoning was to assume that alone was somewhere you could go, rather than somewhere you had to be left.”
— Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Treat Yourself!
Looking for some bookish goods to treat yourself to on this wonderful Treat Yourself Day? Here are some great bookish ghost goods perfect for the Halloween season. And here’s some fall-ready bookish fashion.
And if you love Reading Rainbow as much as I do, then be like me and get this stuff ASAP. I got the Reading Rainbow coffee mug because all I do is drink coffee all day every day. I also got this super cute “Take A Look, It’s in a Book” t-shirt. So if you want to be twinning with me, grab that stuff, or check out their other cute officially licensed Reading Rainbow merch.
And no, Reading Rainbow did not pay me to share this stuff. I just legit love Reading Rainbow.
Treat Yourself!
And Here’s A Cat Picture!
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Ben and I were watching The Luckiest Girl Alive on Netflix, and I know the title of that movie is ironic and everything, but I think Cersei might actually be the luckiest girl alive. Just look at how cozy she looked while we were watching the movie.
BTW, before you ask, I never read Jessica Knoll’s The Luckiest Girl Alive, so you will have to tell me how the book was. The movie was…ok. I love Mila Kunis though.
Okay, that’s it! Hope you have a good Treat Yourself Day/my birthday.