Arab American Heritage Month and New Releases

When the French invade Mexico in 1862, Ana María Luna Valdés and her sisters get sent to London for their protection. While they are originally meant to lay low, their uncle convinces them to socialize in high society, with the hopes that the neutral Queen will become sympathetic to their plight. While there, Ana María meets the stoic Gideon Fox, who has worked hard all his life to achieve his current status as a member of Parliament. Fox is on the brink of permanently abolishing slavery — and its loopholes — as he begins to (reluctantly) fall for Ana María. But the two know that their social statuses are precarious in Victorian England — hers as a foreigner, and his as the descendant of a formally enslaved woman. This is an interesting break from the usual historical romance set up.

Here’s a short one if you want something quick to dip into. It’s a space horror that follows the last humans as they try to make their way back to earth from the failed colonies their ancestors founded. Jacklyn is the captain of the doomed ship, which seems to be hurtling towards having its inhabitants starve or meet some other horrible fate. Like, say, the bloody, violent deaths that are befalling crew members. She has to figure out what’s killing people before they’re all gone.