Author: Erica Ezeifedi

Y’all, if you roll up to the book club with fresh, warm chocolate-covered churros, I’m pretty sure you’ve made friends for life. This video shows how to get them, and I’m kind of surprised how easy they are. Although, I think I may want a caramel sauce instead of a chocolate covering, but you do you.

Witches are few and far between in the UK, which is why Mika Moon and her group of witches meet only so often — safety is priority, and too many witches in one place tends to draw attention. Even though Mika is used to the loneliness, a big part of her rejects it, and she posts videos on a YouTube-like site where she shares magic tips, pretending to be a witch. But someone sees her for what she really is, and invites her to a house out in the middle of nowhere to tutor three young witches into their magic. Somehow, she agrees, and finds with the inhabitants of the house — especially a grumpy librarian — a family like none she’s ever experienced. But the transition from being a loner orphan witch to a loved one isn’t easy, and she’ll have to make some changes to adjust.

Reyna and Kianthe have a vision I think probably many of us do: to open a cozy, quiet bookstore/café. But Reyna is one of the queen’s guards, and Kianthe’s magical ability means she has responsibility. But after Reyna gets taken hostage, she decides she’s done working for someone she can’t stand (I mean, that’ll do it), and Kianthe also peaces out on her duties, and honestly, I love that for them. Together, they open their dream store in a town full of dragons. But haters abound! The queen feels some type of way, and things aren’t quite as easy going as they’d hoped. Except, for the reader, they are. The little trouble that happens still keeps it cute and cozy.

Listen, when the book club just needs to take a load off, like maybe after having read a book with a heavy topic, this is a great palette cleanser. You follow Makoto Kowata, a young witch who moves to her cousin’s to finish her witch training. The cute black cat on the cover plus the description will have the real ones reminded of KiKi’s Delivery Service, which is very fair. There may be less magic in this first volume than in Kiki’s, though, as Makoto’s story is very slice-of-life, and follows her around as she does things like trying to start a garden. There’s also some light comedy thrown in.

Lucinda Caraway is living the charmed life in Freya Grove, a cozy seaside town full of magic and whimsy. But even though she enjoys the town— as well as her high school teaching job and reading tea leaves hobby — she wants to shake things up a bit. One night, these feelings of wanting more turn into a spell, and she is magically compelled to do things she doesn’t usually, like running a 10k and singing publicly. She’s also compelled to help her old crush Alex, a world-traveler who needs help taking a jinx off his house. With Lucinda having hexed herself, and all the time they’re spending together, Alex may have company for his next trip. *eyebrow wiggle*

If you haven’t had shakshuka before, you need to get on it ASAP. It’s a relatively simple North African/Middle Eastern dish that combines tomatoes, spices, and eggs, but somehow amounts to something greater than its parts. Especially if you make sure your eggs are still a little gooey. This goes perfectly with a crusty bread or toast (and a few avocado slices, if you’re feeling fancy). I’ve made this recipe by Suzy twice already.

I just started this one, and so far, I really like it (and also just came out yesterday!). It opens up with Vera Wong getting out of bed and setting out on her daily routine, which involves bemoaning the many ways young people need to do better, and how they could start by taking her advice. One day, as she heads down to her perpetually empty tea shop, she finds a dead body. She calls the cops, of course, but not before she does super helpful things like outlining the body in sharpie and taking a peek at the victim’s wallet and pockets. Oh, and she also invites all the people she thinks may be suspects together for a meal that she spent all morning cooking. This is a fun, messy mystery that shouts out all the real Aunties out there.

Dayna is struggling as an actress in L.A. when she stumbles upon an accident and realizes that helpful tips for it result in a $15,000 reward…that she desperately needs. Once she starts investigating, she wants to solve the case for more than just the money, of course, but like…the money would really come in clutch for an actress only known for a questionable commercial. As she hunts down any and every lead — emphasis on “every” — she gets into various shenanigans. This is an overall lighthearted mystery with some genuinely funny moments.

Never have I identified with a fictional character more than I have with Murderbot. The fact that its name is Murderbot is something to unpack, but in the meantime, just know that it’s an android that serves as a security unit, or a SecUnit, who has hacked its own module to become self-governing. And what does this expensive, literal killing machine do with its autonomy? For one, it names itself Murderbot. It also spends most of its time watching soap operas (the fave being Sanctuary Moon, which Martha Wells herself described as being “based on How to Get Away with Murder, but in space, on a colony, with all different characters and hundreds more episodes”). But Murderbot still performs its job of keeping the ill-informed and often illogical humans safe, which includes accompanying them in trying to figure out who’s trying to sabotage their mission of conducting surface tests on a distant planet. I’ve read all the Murderbot material (several novellas, a short story, and a novel), and can’t wait for the next installment. If you love Kevin R. Free’s audiobook narration like me, he really shines in the Murderbot audiobooks.

With her 4-year-old going to school with duct tape of their head (for reasons), her book still unwritten, and her ex husband being raggedy, Finlay’s life is the definition of hot mess. When she’s overheard talking about her new novel with her agent, the eavesdropper mistakes her for an assassin, and she gets offered a big ole check to take someone out. She (unknowingly) accepts, like you do, but after she realizes what’s going on and refuses, the mark ends up dead. In her garage. And all signs point to her. This shares some of Poker Face’s ridiculous scenarios and even more ridiculous characters.

Like in Poker Face, the crime is revealed first in this one. Sportcoat, a cranky church deacon, hobbles out into the common area of a project building in Brooklyn and shoots a drug dealer. The dealer in question is 19-year-old Deems, who was actually coached by Sportcoat when he was younger. Deems survives, and because of this, people think it’s the end for good ole Sporty, but, as in Poker Face, the universe keeps looking out. From a friend named Hot Sausage to others in the community — including literal ants from Columbia — the characters and mystery in here are extra and super entertaining.

I love mochi ice cream but have only ever tried green tea flavor. I’ve also never thought it’d be as easy to make as @feedmeimei shows it to be. You’ll need: rice flour, ice cream of choice, plastic wrap, and patience. That’s it! Can’t wait to try this with my fave green tea (and Thai!) ice cream.

Propelled by feminist movements around the world, Cristina Rivera Garza wrote a request to the attorney general concerning her sister Lilian, who was murdered 29 years ago in Mexico City. Garza’s family is certain her sister’s abusive boyfriend was the culprit, but he was never brought to justice. Here, Garza brings her sister’s last summer back to life while also confronting the culture that normalized violence against women, allowing for such a tragedy.

Kent has had a number of things that have made her the Other while growing up in the U.S. — she’s dark-skinned, queer, a second-generation American, and fat. In this memoir, she gets into how she’s contended with all those things, and what they stem from — like respectability politics and a culture hellbent on achieving heteronormativity, among other things. She also talks about family, and how the one you’re born with may not exactly be the one right for you. I’ve seen someone compare her to Samantha Irby, so Kent’s trauma comes with a side of LOL’s.

When she was a child, Felix was diagnosed with dyscalculia, a disorder that makes learning math and working with numbers difficult. She then uses this difficulty with calculations to frame the rest of her life — showing how she’s miscalculated in love and other arenas. I love the unique framing of this one, and how easily Felix can shift from speaking of trauma to making me laugh.

Lamya, like so many people who have marginalized identities, grew up feeling on the outside of everything. When, as a young teen, she develops a crush on a female teacher, she at first tries to hide it. But then, as she reads the Quran, she finds familiarity — the characters she reads about don’t seem to fit within the heteronormative boundaries that have been making her feel ill at ease. As she grows up, eventually moving to New York City in early adulthood, her faith, along with her sense of self as a queer Muslim woman, grows. I’ve never read the Quran, but I love reading about different interpretations of religious texts.

This was thee friendship book of last year. The two friends the story follows, Sam and Sadie, have already known each other for awhile before they come together to make a video game that makes them rich. Despite the money and notoriety that comes with their creation, they still experience all the ups and downs of friendship, love, and life in the 30 years this novel spans.

It’s such an interesting aspect how this book, told through two different perspectives, has two different authors. Riley and Jen have been besties since they were finger painting, but Jen married young while Riley went after her dream of becoming a TV journalist. Once Jen becomes pregnant, it all hits the fan: Jen’s husband, a policeman, gets involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teen. And Riley is covering the story, which could potentially make a name for her. The two women — one Black, one white — suddenly find their friendship in an odd stage, as Jen is months pregnant and Riley tries her best to contend with Jen’s husband’s involvement in violence against her community.

I love how this is another book, nonfiction this time, that is written by two people. Sow and Friedman are actually friends, and have been so for the past decade or so. They also run a podcast together called Call Your Girlfriend, which is oh so fitting. In this book, they detail some of their messiest friendship moments — and yes, they get super messy — and some of their best times. No matter how odd or alienated they happened to feel at times within their relationship, through interviews and conversations, they realized that they weren’t alone. This documents the vital relationship that has been their friendship, and it helps readers analyze and preserve their own, as well.

Smith puts it right in the name with this collection of poetry. In it, they shout out against the inherent violence of a country that is so against otherness, and stresses the importance of friendship to survive. This was inspired by a close friend they lost, so it is a tribute to them as well as an examination of all the good and bad that comes with friendship.