Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got new releases and some…snakey new releases as a bonus. I hope everyone had a good week and has fun stuff to look forward to this weekend — or perhaps just a lot of sleep, as the case may be. Both of those sound pretty good. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian relief to children in the Middle East regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation; and Ernesto’s Sanctuary, a cat sanctuary and animal rescue in Syria that is near and dear to my heart.
Bookish Goods
Morally Grey Book Club Mug by DetailedBeautyShop
This isn’t quite what I was thinking of when I went looking for snake-related things on Etsy, but this is a great mug and it definitely goes with our kind of books! $18
New Releases
Somewhere in the Deep by Tanvi Berwah
The death of Krescent’s parents has left her nothing but their crushing debt; her only chance at a new life is to battle monsters in an underground fighting pit. But one fight going terribly wrong earns her a lifetime ban, and starvation seems certain…until she’s offered a chance to have her debts erased if she helps protect a hunting party delving deep into the caves below the island.
The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka
Madigan had just gone to her library with her students like normal when tens of thousands of owls descended on the building, rending apart anyone who tried to leave. While a solution is sought, Madigan does her best to keep her students calm and safe, but soon, food and fresh water are running low…
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
A couple of new releases caught my attention as being a bit…snake-themed, so here they are!
The Serpents of Eden by RW Goldsmith
Clay Middleton has made a habit of journeys into the remote desert, fueling his work as a wilderness artist. It’s also earned him a reputation as a deranged loner, and that suits him just fine…until his wife suddenly dies, and then their daughter abandons her son (his grandson) in his care. Clay thinks things can’t get worse, so of course they do: supernatural beings kidnap his grandson, and if Clay wants to save him, he’s going to have to take the world’s most annoying chatterbox of a paranormal detective along.
A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel
Manisha has spent her whole life running, both from monsters and from soldiers who hunt her people, the naga. She thought she found safety as a priestess in a temple atop a floating mountain…but then Pratyush, a monster hunter for whom each kill will add years to his life, frequents her temple. Against all odds, they fall in love — but when they are separated by the mundane horrors of the kingdom, Pratyush is sent to kill one last monster, and he doesn’t realize it’s Manisha. (Content warning: sexual assault)
See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.