Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and this was another week of May just bombarding us with awesome new releases, so I’ve got a double dose for you today and another lined up for Friday. Hold onto your butts and your TBR piles—it’s a book storm!
Make this your most bookish summer yet with personalized reading recommendations from Tailored Book Recommendations! Our bibliologists (aka professional book nerds) are standing by to help you find your next favorite read. Get your recommendations via email, or opt to receive hardcovers or paperbacks delivered right to your door. And with quarterly or annual plans available, TBR has something for every budget. Get started today from just $18!
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
Sauron Headphone Stand by SlantedDesigns
Did I go looking for this? No. Am I absolutely charmed? Yes. I love being able to imagine the dark lord of Middle Earth is listening to some sick beats while trying to figure out where the dang hobbits have gotten to this time. $56.
New Releases
Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel
The river goddess Ganga has always joyfully cared for the mischievous young godlings that roam in her lands. But one day, she is cursed to become mortal. She weds King Shantanu and works on gaining her freedom at any cost—but that freedom comes at the cost of abandoning her infant son Devavrata. As Devravrata grows, he carries on the legacy of her curse, bringing strife and death to the land as his path and his mother’s cross again and again.
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
Davi has tried time and again to be the hero and take down an all-powerful dark lord. But every time, she meets the same fate: death. And every time, a time loop takes her back to the start. She’s had enough; she’s sick of this. Maybe the real lesson is that if you can’t beat them, join them, and that’s what she’s going to try this time around.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Here’s your second set of new releases for today!
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
The island is, as far as the inhabitants know, the last bastion of humanity after the world has been cloaked in a deadly fog that kills everything it touches. It’s just three scientists and 120 villagers living in quiet harmony. That is, until one of the scientists is brutally murdered. Worse, this murder has caused the security system of the island to lower, and the residents have 107 hours to solve the murder—or the deadly fog sweeps in.
Freeset by Sarina Dahlan
In this sequel to Reset, the Four Cities have survived by controlling every aspect of their citizen’s lives. Every four years, people are mandated to have their memories of each other wiped away. But a handful of Dreamers have managed to find each other after this memory wipe, drawn together by forces beyond the control of the Four Cities. They may have a chance to find a free world again if they can escape the next forced reset of their lives.
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.