Hi, Book Friends!
Welcome to another Thursday Book Radar! I’m coming to you from my kitchen with a cup of coffee and a tuxedo cat in my lap. What a great way to start the day, with a coffee, and a cat, and talking to you. Let’s do this.
Book Deals and Reveals
Here’s the cover of Beautiful Dreamers, the forthcoming novel by Minrose Gwin. It’s out from Hub City Press on August 27.
Richard Osman, author of the Thursday Murder Club novels, is releasing a new crime series called We Solve Murders, which will introduce father-in-law and daughter-in-law detective duo Steve and Amy Wheeler. It’s out this fall.
We have a lot of YA cover reveals this week, thanks to Epic Reads. Here’s the cover of Till the Last Beat of My Heart by Louangie Bou-Montes. It’s out on September 10.
Black Mirror meets Superstore in the YA novel Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho. Check out the cover here. This one’s coming at you on September 24.
More September YA releases! Here’s the cover of Kendare Blake’s Warrior of Legend, out on September 17.
Let’s keep the YA cover reveal ball rolling! On October 29, we’re getting Loni Crittenden’s The Ancient’s Game, inspired by African Diasporic folklore. Here’s the cover, designed by Catherine Lee, with art from Jeryce Dianingana.
We’re getting a sequel to Lena Jeong’s And Break the Pretty Kings this year. Here’s the cover, designed by Chris Kwon and illustrated by Priscilla Kim. It’s out on October 29.
The Oscar-nominated animated film Nimona is now available to watch for free on YouTube!
LeVar Burton is set to release not one but two new books! Burton’s publisher, Pantheon, says the actor, director, and podcast host will release an inspirational memoir on how to be your authentic self in 2026 and a book on the importance of reading in 2028.
Book Riot Recommends
Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!
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!
Can’t Wait for This One!
The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim (Erewhon Books, June 25)
I know I briefly mentioned this book at the end of last year, because it is definitely one of my most anticipated books of 2024. And it’s a debut novel, which means we’re getting an exciting new voice in horror fiction this year. It’s also being described as Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer. Those are some pretty amazing comps, so I am all in.
I also want to take a moment to shout out this cover, because it’s really making me feel a lot of things. Intrigued. Disgusted. Concerned. Disturbed. You get the idea.
But what is it about? Well, it’s a psychological horror story with lots of family drama. When her father leaves unexpectedly, Ji-Won is forced to keep the rest of her family together and care for her grieving mother. Then Ji-Won’s mother tells her eating fish eyes could bring them good luck, so Ji-Won tries it. Now, all she can think about is eating eyes. And not fish eyes this time. Human ones.
Words of Literary Wisdom
“The problem with compromise is that, often, everybody loses. You sit on the fence for so long that you discover you’ve built a kingdom on it.”
— Gwen and Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
What’s Up in the Book Community?
My iPhone is constantly telling me I spend too much time staring at my screen, which is honestly so rude. But this means I spend a lot of time scrolling around the online book community: BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTok, BookLinkedIn (JK. That’s not a thing…I don’t think). You get the idea. Don’t have the time, energy, or the will to do all of that yourself? No problem. I got you. In this weekly section of Book Radar, we’ll take a look at something cool, interesting, and/or newsy that’s going on in the book community.
Okay, I just can’t get enough of this Cait Corrain story. I’m a little obsessed. And since we last talked about this, an article was published that sort of apologizes for Corrain’s behavior. I’m not going to post the link to the article because I don’t think we should support that narrative. But I will link to some YouTubers talking about it, because that’s more my speed:
Enjoy? That feels like a weird thing to say. But enjoy.
And Here’s A Cat Picture!
Have you been watching this season of Love is Blind? Because Cersei and I have been watching! Here’s a pic of her last night on the couch with us watching the show. You can tell she’s very invested. Can you guess who her favorite couple is? Maybe I’ll do a big reveal next week.
And that’s all friends! Have a beautiful weekend. I’ll see you soon.