Tag: New Releases

Anticipated Reads for Spring 2022

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I’m a little bit late posting this – my Anticipated Reads for Winter 2022 covered new releases from January to March, so my goal for this post is to cover new releases from April to June. So some of these are already out, but there’s so many great new releases coming out this season that it’s a little overwhelming! Here’s some of the books I can’t wait to pick up – what’s on your list?

Fiction

People Person

Author: Candace Carty-Williams

Pub. Date: April 28

[Things get complicated when five people who don’t have anything in common are forced to reconnect with the absent father they never really knew]

Yerba Buena

Author: Nina LaCour

Pub. Date: May 31

“The debut adult novel by the bestselling and award-winning YA author Nina LaCour, following two women on a star-crossed journey toward each other”

Nightcrawling

Author: Leila Mottley

Pub. Date: June 7

“A dazzling novel about a young black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system–the debut of a blazingly original voice that “bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole”.”

Counterfeit

Author: Kirsten Chen

Pub. Date: June 7

“For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise–an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship.”

Historical Fiction

Memphis

Author: Tara M. Stringfellow

Pub. Date: April 5

“A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.”

Four Treasures of the Sky

Author: Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Pub. Date: April 5

“At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat.”

Take My Hand

Author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Pub. Date: April 12

“Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.”

Last Summer on State Street

Author: Toya Wolfe

Pub. Date: June 7

“For fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Brit Bennett, a striking coming-of-age debut about friendship, community, and resilience, set in the housing projects of Chicago during one life-changing summer.”

Mystery/Thriller

Portrait of a Thief

Author: Grace D. Li

Pub. Date: April 5

“Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity.”

In the Dark We Forget

Author: Sandra SG Wong

Pub. Date: June 21

“With jolting revelations and taut ambiguity, In the Dark We Forget vividly examines the complexities of family—and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.”

Romance

Book Lovers

Author: Emily Henry

Pub. Date: May 3

“One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming…If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again, what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.”

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Author: Akwaeke Emezi

Pub. Date: May 24

“New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) reimagines the love story in this fresh and seductive novel about a young woman seeking joy while healing from loss.”

Other Genres

Time is a Mother

Author: Ocean Vuong

Pub. Date: April 5

“In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother’s death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it.”

An Arrow to the Moon

Author: Emily X.R. Pan

Pub. Date: April 12

“Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology in this magical novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Color of After.”

Finding Me

Author: Viola Davis

Pub. Date: April 26

“Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.”

A Year to the Day

Author: Robin Benway

Pub. Date: June 21

“National Book Award–winning author Robin Benway returns with an ambitious I’ll Give You the Sun meets Every Day story of love, loss, and sisterhood told in a reverse chronological narrative that will claim a permanent home in your heart.”

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author: Jayne Allen
Genres: Fiction
Pub. Date: Sep. 2021 (read Nov. 2021)

This book was an impulse buy for me when I saw it on sale at Chapters. I haven’t quite figured out what the deal is with the book – it’s listed as a 2018 release on Goodreads, but it’s definitely being promoted as a new release, with the second book being released Feb. 1, 2022 (again, despite being listed as a 2019 release on Goodreads). 

Either way, I decided to purchase it and heard a positive review about it from GabbyReads and decided to jump right in, otherwise I haven’t seen any other hype about this. Which is a real shame because I ended up really liking it!

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted features 33 year old Tabitha Walker, a reporter with KVTV news in Los Angeles. She is up for a promotion at work, which she has worked insanely hard for, when she finds out that she has fertility complications that means she needs to have a baby within the next 6 months if she ever wants to get pregnant naturally. That, or she can freeze her eggs. 

This was such an interesting premise to me as I’ve been starting to hear more and more about – young(ish) women deciding to freeze their eggs to give them more time to establish their careers – and it’s something I’ve never seen written about. I’m 31 and relate to feeling pressure about when you’re going to have kids, so I jumped at the chance to read about another young 30 year old. So many bestsellers focus either on proper young adults (17-20 year olds) or on women already married with children, I’ve always felt like there’s been a huge gap of meaningful books in the new adult genre and rarely see any books about 30 year olds that don’t already have established families. I feel firmly in this category of millennials that have not yet had children, so it was a real joy to read from Tabitha’s perspective.

It’s very much a character driven novel about what it means to be a working black woman and centers on familial relationships, friendship, and romantic love. I found it to be a little heavy handed at times – with the author falling into the “show don’t tell” trap that ensnares a lot of debut authors – but I felt that she was trying to cover over the gaps in perspective that some of her non-black readers might have, so I was able to look past it. She covers a lot of themes within 350 pages, but I liked that this was a thoroughly modern storyline and that she included some really tough choices, with honest depictions of their impacts. I feel like we’re so used to getting the happy ending in stories like this and I really liked that the author was committed to exploring the reality of Tabitha’s situation, rather than trying to write a happy ending for the reader.

The main complaint I have with this book is that it ended too soon. I know it’s a series and there are going to be more books, but I felt like the author tied up a lot of loose ends much too quickly and easily in the epilogue. She takes her time throughout the entirety of the novel, but once she hit 350 pages it was like she realized she had to finish and a lot of the book’s major plot points concluded in the span of a few pages. I would have preferred for her to either write a longer book, or to just leave these items as loose ends to be followed up in the next book. From the sound of the synopsis for the next book, it’s not going to be an immediate continuation of this book, which is a little frustrating. It just made the ending quite disappointing after having invested so much time in the story. 

Anyways, I would still recommend this book and I am anxiously awaiting the second book, which is slated for (re)release just a few weeks!

She Who Became the Sun

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Author: Shelley Parker-Chan
Genres: Fantasy
Pub. Date: Jul. 2021 (read Nov. 2021)

I used to read so much fantasy. I loved getting lost in other worlds and getting to return to the same characters over and over again – it made for such an enjoyable reading experience for me. Unfortunately over the last few years, I feel like I’ve almost completely lost my ability to read fantasy. Learning about new worlds seems exhausting and the thought of having to follow a storyline over multiple books daunting. But every couple months I try a new fantasy book to see if I can overcome the slump.

I’ve been hearing a lot about She Who Became the Sun and I wanted to try at least one book nominated in the Goodreads Choice Award fantasy category, so I decided to go with this one. It started off great and I was really invested in Zhu’s character and thought her growth while at the monastery was really interesting. Then something dramatic happens between 15-20% and I was catapulted into a completely different story – it was engaging, but something about the storytelling and pacing just seemed off throughout the rest of the novel.

She Who Became the Sun takes place during the Ming Dynasty in 1345 China and centers around a poor, starving, young girl who steals her older brother’s fate and seeks refuge in a monastery – hiding her true identity and gender. Parts of this book are excellent – primarily the author’s exploration of gender roles, identity, and dysphoria. Initially I got strong Mulan vibes, but Zhu definitely becomes her own character throughout the course of the book. The premise was great and I was invested in Zhu’s character and journey. I found it a bit confusing keeping track of who was who, but there’s some really interesting history in here and it’s a time period I don’t know a lot about, so I really enjoyed that aspect.

Where I struggled is that the author never builds any momentum in the story. She would pick up the pace and energy in the narrative in each chapter, only to have it completely ramp back down in the following chapter. For some reason she chooses to skip over major events, often focusing more on the political side of things than the action. I love a book that has both, so I found this an odd choice. It was just lacking balance and it caused me to keep losing interest in the book whenever I would put it down.

This is the first book in a series – I’d like to think I will continue on with it, but I honestly suspect I won’t. Given that the second book doesn’t have a name or release date yet, I’m sure I will have forgotten all the major plot points by the time it’s released. I get the hype, but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough to raise me out of my fantasy slump. 3.5 stars – good premise and nice writing, but suffers pacing issues.

Anticipated Reads for Winter 2022

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Wow, there are a lot of great books coming out this year! I don’t know if it’s just that I’m in a good reading place right now, but I feel like there’s a lot more new releases coming out than normal! I’d love to make a list for all of 2022, but it’s too hard to narrow it down and I’m sure there will be so many more great books in the latter part of the year as well, so here’s a few of my anticipated reads for January, February, and March!

Fiction

Olga Dies Dreaming

Author: Xochitl Gonzalez

Pub. Date: January 4

“A blazing talent debuts with the tale of a status-driven wedding planner grappling with her social ambitions, absent mother, and Puerto Rican roots, all in the wake of Hurricane Maria.”

Fiona and Jane

Author: Jean Chen Ho

Pub. Date: January 4

“A witty, warm, and irreverent book that traces the lives of two young Taiwanese American women as they navigate friendship, sexuality, identity, and heartbreak over two decades.”

Brown Girls

Author: Daphne Palasi Andreades

Pub. Date: January 4

“A blazingly original debut novel about a group of friends and their immigrant families from Queens, New York–a tenderly observed, fiercely poetic love letter to a modern generation of brown girls.”

Wahala

Author: Nikki May

Pub. Date: January 11

“An incisive and exhilarating debut novel of female friendship following three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group—the most unforgettable girls since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.”

Black Girls Must Be Magic

Author: Jayne Allen

Pub. Date: February 1

“In this highly anticipated second installment in the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series, Tabitha Walker copes with more of life’s challenges and a happy surprise–a baby–with a little help and lots of love from friends old and new.”

Black Cake

Author: Charmaine Wilkerson

Pub. Date: February 1

“In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death and her hidden past–a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.”

Mystery/Thriller

The Maid

Author: Nita Prose

Pub. Date: January 4

“A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.”

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead

Author: Elle Cosimano

Pub. Date: February 1

“Finlay Donovan is—once again—struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on. With her next book’s deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn’t a noose at the end of it…”

Girl In Ice

Author: Erica Ferencik

Pub. Date: March 1

“From the author of The River at Night and Into the Jungle comes a harrowing new thriller set in the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic Circle, as a brilliant linguist struggling to understand the apparent suicide of her twin brother ventures hundreds of miles north to try to communicate with a young girl who has thawed from the ice alive.”

Historical Fiction

To Paradise

Author: Hanya Yangihara

Pub. Date: January 11

“From the author of the classic A Little Life, a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.”

An Impossible Impostor

Author: Deanna Raybourn

Pub. Date: February 15

“While investigating a man claiming to be the long-lost heir to a noble family, Veronica Speedwell gets the surprise of her life in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.”

The Diamond Eye

Author: Kate Quinn

Pub. Date: March 29

“The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.”

Romance

Yinka, Where Is Your Husband?

Author: Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Pub. Date: January 18

“Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is ‘Yinka, where is your huzband?'”

Running Wild

Author: K.A. Tucker

Pub. Date: January 25

“From the internationally bestselling author of The Simple Wild comes the story of a woman at a crossroads in her life, struggling between the safe route and the one that will only lead to more heartbreak.”

Science Fiction

The School for Good Mothers

Author: Jessamine Chan

Pub. Date: January 4

“In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.”

Non-Fiction

An Abolitionist’s Handbook

Author: Patrisse Cullors

Pub. Date: January 25

“In An Abolitionist’s Handbook, Cullors charts a framework for how everyday activists can effectively fight for an abolitionist present and future. Filled with relatable pedagogy on the history of abolition, a reimagining of what reparations look like for Black lives and real-life anecdotes from Cullors.”

Fight Night

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author: Miriam Toews
Genres: Fiction
Pub. Date: Aug. 2021 (read Oct. 2021)

My attempt to read a bunch of the Giller Prize longlist has been going so well this year! As a Canadian I always get excited about this list, but I’ve never dedicated so much time to working through the nominees before. I usually get more into Canada Reads in March, but I have to say, reading through the Giller nominees was a much more satisfying experience than I’ve ever had participating in Canada Reads. This just seemed to be a much more quality selection for me and I can say that I really liked everything I read!

In total I read 4 of the 12 nominees on the long list, but Fight Night was the only one I read that made it to the short list. I’ve been aware of Miriam Toews for a long time, but the only book of hers I’ve read is Women Talking, which I absolutely loved. I didn’t like Fight Night as much as that one, but I was so pleasantly surprised with this book! Because Women Talking tackles such a heavy topic, I think I was expecting something a little darker from this book – it was so lovely to read this humourous take on a multi-generational family instead.

Fight Night is told from the point of view of 9 year old Swiv. She has been expelled from school and as a result is living at home full time and being (somewhat) tutored by her grandmother. Her mother is pregnant and her father is missing; to help her process her circumstances and surroundings, her grandmother has her write letters to her unborn sibling “Gord”.

I’ll say upfront that I struggled a bit with Swiv’s voice – not that I found it hard to read or that I didn’t enjoy it – just that I struggled to believe she was actually 9 years old. She read a bit more mature to me and kept picturing her as a 12 year old rather than 9, but otherwise, this was such a sweet and fun book to read.

We get to spend time with Swiv, her mother, and her grandmother and I came to love each of them very dearly. Grandma has an incredible zest for like that immediately endears everyone around her, while her mother struggles with her mental health and missing husband. She loves Swiv fiercely and fights to stay strong for both her and Gord. It is an entirely character driven novel that captures a truly beautiful relationship between 3 generations of women.

I don’t have too much else to say about the novel except that it’s a great read if you’re ever feeling down and the humour is really what carried the book for me. I did think there were some structural weaknesses – one of my favourite parts was when Grandma recounts Swiv’s mother’s history for her while they’re on the plane to California, but I found the timing and delivery to be a bit awkward, like Toews knew what she wanted to include, but couldn’t find a graceful way to do it. Overall I could have done without the trip to California entirely and found it a bit distracting to the greater themes of the novel. I don’t think it’s the strongest of the nominees I read (I really would have liked to see The Strangers make it to the shortlist), but I would definitely still recommend Fight Night. Overall it was a joy to read!