The best new books out this week 📚
 Hello, book lovers! Each week, dozens of new releases hit the shelves. Here are our favorites. ❤️📚 –The BuzzFeed Books team
 Credit: Graywolf, Riverhead Walking on Cowrie Shells by Nana Nkweti (Graywolf Press)
The stories in this vivid debut collection cover an admirably wide range. There's dark comedy in the form of the wickedly clever "It Takes a Village Some Say," about a young American couple and their enterprising adopted Cameroonian daughter. There's dystopian horror in "It Just Kills You Inside," about a grizzled PR flack who tries to cover the French government's complicity in the creation of zombies in Cameroon, and haunting beauty in "Night Belongs to Us," about a refugee who is a bathroom attendant at a trashy New York club. What unites all these stories is the strength of Nkweti's writing; it crackles with energy and verve. —Tomi Obaro
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With Teeth by Kristen Arnett (Riverhead)
The New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things returns to dysfunctional Florida families in her latest novel, which follows a woman trying to make sense of motherhood and marriage, despite her ambivalence about both. Her son is moody and intimidating, and her wife is growing distant. When her life starts to unravel, she has to give up the facade of queer domestic bliss and figure out what she wants and who she wants to be. —Arianna Rebolini
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 Credit: Atria Books The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Atria Books)
This compelling thriller is pitched as Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada — and I can tell you that this book is exactly an original mesh of those two comps. Set against the (super white!) backdrop of publishing, things begin to get unsettling when a second Black girl starts working for Wagner Books. At first, Nella is thrilled — but she begins to get more and more suspicious as hostile notes keep appearing, insisting she leave. This book is compulsively bingeable with twists you won't see coming. I mean, when I tell you I GASPED out loud reading the last line of this book! Do yourself a favor and order it now. —Farrah Penn
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 Credit: Berkley Books, Ballantine Books, William Morrow & Company Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia (Berkley Books)
In 1926 Harlem, young Black girls are being killed. Louise Lloyd wants to ignore the macabre news; after all, she's still traumatized from being kidnapped at 15 and bravely escaping. She'd rather spend her days working at the local café and dancing her nights away with friends at illegal nightclubs. But when she winds up arrested for a drunken mistake, the detective on the case proposes a deal: Help him solve these murders and he'll get Louise's charges dropped. Louise has no choice but to face her own fears and catch the killer before she's next. —Kirby Beaton
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Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books)
It's August 1983 and everyone is looking forward to Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer bash. Everyone but Nina, that is, who has just been abandoned by her husband. The Riva siblings — Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit — are sort of like Malibu royalty, especially as the offspring of famous singer Mick Riva. But the Rivas all have other things on their minds besides the party, from secrets to uninvited guests. By dawn, the mansion will be engulfed in flames. But before that comes a wild night of alcohol, music, and the unraveling of family secrets. One thing is certain: The Riva family will never be the same. —Kirby Beaton
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It's 1948 and as the beginning of the Cold War stirs, Iris Digby, her American diplomat husband, and their two children disappear. Their mysterious vanishing raises questions: Were they taken out by the Soviets? Or did they defect to Moscow, carrying the West's secrets along with them? Four years later, Iris's twin sister Ruth receives a postcard, sending her on a dangerous trip to Moscow — disguised as the wife of a counterintelligence agent — in search of Iris. But the truth behind Iris's disappearance and a Soviet KGB officer on their tails will force the sisters to make a heartbreaking decision. —Kirby Beaton
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 Credit: Flatiron, Little Brown, Tin House Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford (Flatiron Books)
In one of the most anticipated titles of the summer, Ford, a former BuzzFeed staffer, writes movingly about her childhood growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as the oldest daughter of a single mother and incarcerated father. The news that her father is getting out of prison after 25 years is the starting point of this memoir, but it's really Ford's alternating loving and contentious relationships with her mother and grandmother that form the beating heart of this book. Ford has had the kind of life that could easily be turned into the kind of self-exploitative Black trauma memoir that has become de rigueur. But there's a clear sense of self-preservation Ford wields even as she writes about her experiences with sexual assault, physical violence, and poverty. The result is a book that's full of inspiring self-compassion. —Tomi Obaro
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How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith (Little, Brown and Company)
Poet and journalist Clint Smith's debut examines the legacy of slavery in modern America, looking at historical monuments and landmarks across the country, ruminating on the ideas they represent in the narrative of our national identity and how that identity is bound to, and requires, anti-Black racism. Smith tours former plantations, prisons, cemeteries, and museums, and challenges the ways we engage with them — from willful ignorance (weddings at plantations) to commodification (souvenirs from the Angola prison museum) — bringing the past into light with lyrical mastery. —Arianna Rebolini
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The Kissing Bug: The True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernández (Tin House Books)
Former New York Times reporter Daisy Hernández has crafted a trenchant work of investigative journalism in her latest book, weaving in cultural and political analysis, extensive research, and personal history as she chases down answers about her aunt's tragic death from an underreported disease known as Chagas, or "the kissing bug disease." Despite an estimated 6 million cases across Latin America and the US, Chagas remains largely (and, as Hernández discovers, willfully) neglected in the US because of who it disproportionately affects: immigrant Latinx communities with low incomes. As Hernández exposes the racism and greed underlying the politics that has allowed this potentially fatal disease to propagate, she also puts the spotlight on those whose lives have been changed by the disease — the scientists looking for cures, the doctors and nurses working on care, and the patients and loved ones who've lived through the worst of it. —Arianna Rebolini
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 Credit: Tordotcom, The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Nghi Vo's stunning and subversive retelling of The Great Gatsby subtly infuses the world with magic. Jordan Baker is a queer, adopted Vietnamese American raised in America's wealthiest social circles. She can make cut paper come to life — though it's a skill she has little opportunity to hone as it comes from her Vietnamese ancestry and she knows no other person of her heritage. She befriends Daisy as a child, and Daisy becomes the epitome of white wealth and privilege. Immersed in Jazz Age culture, Vo expertly draws out the white patriarchal racism and sexism of The Great Gatsby. —Margaret Kingsbury
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For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten (Orbit)
Beauty and the Beast is reimagined in this gorgeous and dark matriarchal fantasy. As a second daughter, Red is pledged to the Wilderwood. On her 20th birthday, she'll be forced into the wood where, according to lore, her death will help keep ancient monsters at bay and perhaps reawaken the gods. Her sister, the first daughter, will take the throne at her mother's death, and she's sworn to do whatever it takes to save her sister from the wood — even if that means bringing down the kingdom. But when Red enters the Wilderwood, not all is as it seems; a powerful magic hidden inside her since the day she saved her sister may be the key to setting the forest and its secrets free. Readers who enjoy Naomi Novik's fairytale fantasy will love this one as well — though beware of the cliffhanger ending! —Margaret Kingsbury
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 Credit: HarperCollins, Delacorte Press, Tor Teen Jay's Gay Agenda by Jason June (HarperTeen)
This joyful queer novel will absolutely liven up your summer. Jay was born and raised in a small rural Washington town, but everything changes when his parents move to Seattle during his senior year. Jay, who hasn't had any queer friends before, is thrilled. He makes a romance to-do list — his Gay Agenda — so he can experience many of the things he's always dreamed of. But as Jay becomes immersed in the LGBTQ+ community, he finds himself a little over his head, making promises he isn't quite sure he can keep. June writes messy, lovable characters with a rich, humorous voice, making him one to watch in the YA space. —Farrah Penn
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The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver (Push)
When Liam unexpectedly loses their older brother in a hit-and-run accident, their left to sift through their grief. On top of that, Liam's tumultuous relationship with their best friends isn't helping things. The only one who seems to have a glimmer of understanding is Marcus, Ethan's best friend. And the more Marcus and Liam grow closer, the more Liam learns about their brother. Deaver pens a moving portrayal of grief and what it means to continue on when you thought you had more time. —Farrah Penn
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An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi (HarperCollins)
Mafi returns with another lyrical contemporary novel set after 9/11 in the year 2003. Shadi is a hijab-wearing Muslim American teen who tries to be good despite everything crumbling around her. Her father's in the hospital, her mother suffering from depression, her brother is dead, and she's barely survived a friendship breakup. And the one boy who returns into her life — the boy who tries to understand all she's going through — is the very one Shadi can't open up to. This is an aching, emotional story that touches on various internal struggles of being a child of immigrants. —Farrah Penn
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Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon (Delacorte Press)
Evie has lost hope in love. Ever since she discovered her father being unfaithful to her mother, she finds it hard to be excited about romance — especially when something big and unexplainable happens, leading her to discover a dance studio in her neighborhood. And with this discovery comes ballroom dancing lessons with a good-looking musician boy named X. But as Evie and X grow closer, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about love. Yoon's latest tackles the magic of first loves with unexpected gut punches tied together with meaningful storytelling. —Farrah Penn
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A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow (Tor Teen)
A Chorus Rises takes place soon after the events Morrow's A Song Below Water. Eloko Naema Bradshaw was once beloved by everyone — almost everyone worshiped her for her magical charm and voice, from her friends and classmates to her giant online community. But after exposing Tavia and Effie's secrets for the world to see, she's universally shunned. Moreover, once revived from being turned into stone by Effie, she's lost her Eloko powers, though she's told no one. Needing to escape Portland, Naema visits her extended family for the first time and discovers more about her identity both as a Black girl and as an Eloko. —Margaret Kingsbury
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Now in paperback: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong: Already one of the most celebrated poets of his generation, Vuong's debut novel cements his considerable talent. Formatted as a letter addressed to his illiterate mother, Vuong's narrator, a queer Vietnamese American writer not unlike Vuong, crafts indelible images — a young mother staring down the muzzle of a gun in Vietnam, an unexpected act of kindness in a schoolyard, purple flowers stolen from the side of a highway. An exploration of generational trauma, of violence, of addiction, of poverty and of beauty too, every word in this book feels written with such care. —Tomi Obaro (from Best Books of 2019)
Magnetized: Conversations With a Serial Killer by Carlos Busqued, trans. Samuel Rutter: In September 1982 in Buenos Aires, over the course of one week, the bodies of four taxi drivers were discovered murdered in the same way. It didn't take long to find the killer, who didn't protest when his horrified family turned him in; 19-year-old Ricardo Melogno spoke of his crimes with an unsettling calm. More than 30 years later, Argentine writer Carlos Busqued started visiting Melogno in prison to talk about his history, his way of thinking, and this series of crimes Melogno swore he couldn't explain. Magnetized comprises those conversations, in straightforward transcription, interspersed with forensic documents, newspaper articles, and Busqued's own analysis. —Arianna Rebolini (from Best Books of Summer 2020)
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon: Filled with sharp, funny dialogue, impeccable pacing, and exquisite enemies-to-lovers romance, you'll be hard pressed to find a cuter story. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair are high school rivals. On the last day of senior year, Rowan is determined to beat Neil one last time at a game of Howl: a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle. But when their class begins teaming up to take them down, they must work together to win. And the more time they spend together, the more they realize that the other isn't as bad as they once thought. —Farrah Penn (from The Best YA Books of 2020)
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey: When this future Pulitzer Prize–winning poet was just 19 years old, her mother was shot and killed by Trethewey's former stepfather. Memorial Drive is Trethewey's first wrenching prose account of that loss. In the beginning of the book she recounts happier days when Natasha's father, a white Canadian academic, and her mother were still together — her parents marrying a year before Loving v. Virginia struck down anti-miscegenation laws. But everything changes when Natasha moves with her mother to Atlanta and a man Trethewey refers to as Big Joe enters their lives. Relying on memory, case documents, and transcripts of recorded phone conversations between her mother and Big Joe, Trethewey offers a gutting depiction of domestic violence. —Tomi Obaro (from Best Books of Summer 2020)
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby: Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a hardworking, honest family man and mechanic. But not that long ago, he was known as one of the best getaway drivers in the Southeast. Bug has tried to put all of that behind him — but when his new life starts to fall apart around him and his financial obligations start to mount, he can't turn down a lucrative gig as a getaway driver in a major jewelry store heist. Then the robbery goes sideways — and Bug's life and family are in danger. —Arianna Rebolini (from 14 Page-Turners That Will Keep You From Obsessively Checking The News)
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld: Sittenfeld has created a nuanced character portrait and an explosive page-turner speculating what would have happened if Hillary and Bill had broken up and not gotten married. This ultimate what-if leads the novelized Hillary down some very surprising paths that you will want to travel with her." —Consuelo Hacker, seller at BookPeople (from 38 Great Books to Read, Recommended By Our Favorite Indie Booksellers)
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