When was the last time you sent someone a physical letter? I can’t remember the last time I did, but I have received a few holiday cards over the years, and they’re something I always look forward to. With everything becoming digital—even socializing—and discussions around how much we really own the digital media we pay for, I can foresee there being a return to physical media.
But let’s go back to letters real quick—in our latest Read This Book send (a newsletter that recommends one book at a time, three times per week), Patricia Elzie-Tuttle shares why we should read a book about sending snail mail and maintaining a pen pal.
In new books this week, there’s The Portable Feminist Reader, edited by Roxane Gay—a collection of the feminist canon, in all its scholarly, historical, and even contradictory glory. YA readers have the very intriguing Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson, which is a Scottish dark academia replete with demons.
The other new books that should be on your radar include a spicy/fun alien romp, a Carmilla retelling set against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, an unsettling and exploratory collection of South Korean short stories, and more.
I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming
I finally, finally started reading Lemming’s Mead and Mishaps series, and it is every bit as ridiculous, fun, and spicy as everyone said it was. I expect the same of her latest, just maybe in an updated timeline. Instead of spice farmers and cheesemakers, we follow Dorothy Valentine, who is close to finishing her PhD in wildlife biology when she gets attacked by a lion (!). She’s saved, but it’s only because she gets abducted by aliens (!!). She ends up teaming up with the aforementioned lion—who is cutely named Toto—to escape in a pod, and they crash land on a planet that has dinosaurs. On top of all that, she gets into a sexy adventure with two (two!) aliens, one of whom may be a war criminal. As they traverse the new-to-them planet, Dorothy wonders if she wants to go back home at all, and…I can’t say I blame the good sis.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Carmilla—the sapphic vampire story that predated Dracula—has steady been getting its flowers these last few years, and Hungerstone is another such bouquet. In it, Lenore is married to Henry, an Industrial Revolution-era steel magnate, but after a decade, their marriage is on the rocks. They have no kids to distract them from how crappy it is, and what’s more, there’s this terrible secret that Lenore has been keeping since the last time Henry hosted a bougie hunting party. Well, Henry is gearing up to host another, similar party when the mysterious Carmilla appears. She’s weak and pale, and ignites something deep within Lenore. And it’s not just Lenore—girls from local villages start falling sick with an all-consuming hunger for blood. Lenore will have to decide between salvaging her ailing marriage or exploring Carmilla’s intrigue, all while secrets from her past start unraveling.
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The Girl You Know by Elle Gonzalez Rose
I really appreciate how YA authors have been feeding us a steady stream of dark academia thrillers like The Girl You Know lately. This one shakes things up a bit by focusing on twins Luna and Solina. Now, a week before her last semester at the elite Kingswood Academy was supposed to start, Solina tells Luna that she wants to drop out. Then she winds up dead. Police are saying it’s an accident, but Luna knows better, and she thinks it has something to do with why Solina didn’t want to return to school. So, she poses as her twin, attends her classes and kikis with Solina’s (terrible) friends. What Luna finds out is that Solina had dark secrets of her own, and she’ll need to be ready to burn everything to the ground in order to get to the truth.
Yours, Eventually by Nura Maznavi
In this debut, Asma Ibrahim is a doctor and the middle daughter in a family where she’s taken on the role of matriarch after her mother passes away. She’s successful and thriving and everything, but then her old college tenderoni, Farooq Waheed, walks back into her life. He’s essentially the one who got away eight years ago because her aunt and father rejected his proposal. Now that he has made a fortune through his Silicon Valley startup, he’s one of her state’s most eligible bachelors. Their relationship may get a genuine, second wind if it can survive pushy, gossiping family members. And, if Asma can find it in herself to follow her own dreams.
Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
The blurb for this promises a Little Mermaid/Cinderella retelling, but darker than the Disney versions. In Saint-Malo, Brittany, in 1758, Lucinde Leon is the daughter of one of the town’s wealthiest ship owners, but her status results in more confinement than it does privilege. While her sisters focus on finding suitors to marry that will advance them, she dreams of a life at sea. She gets secret lessons from Samuel, an English smuggler, on how to sail, and one day, she saves Morgan de Chatelaine, the son of the most powerful shipowner in town. His charm has her rethinking her future, but that’s not the only thing changing. The fae are leaving Brittany and their magic is leaving with them, which makes Saint-Malo even more vulnerable to the English. Amidst it all, Lucinde gets thrown into a magical and brutal world full of secrets, some of which are emerging from the ocean’s depths.
Snowy Day and Other Stories by Lee Chang-dong, translated by Yoosup Chang, Heinz Insu Fenkl
This is the first story collection by a highly influential literary and cinematic presence in South Korea. It’s stories are similar to Lee Chang-dong’s renowned films (Burning, Secret Sunshine)—they’re unsettling, originally published in the ’80s, and explore injustice and betrayal. In one story, Chang-dong draws from his memory of serving in the South Korean military, and writes of how class differences between a college-educated private and a working-class corporal result in a tragedy. In another, the emotional abuse two brothers inflict on each other encapsulates the feeling of 1980s South Korea.
Other Book Riot New Releases Resources:
- All the Books, our weekly new book releases podcast, where Liberty and a cast of co-hosts talk about eight books out that week that we’ve read and loved.
- The New Books Newsletter, where we send you an email of the books out this week that are getting buzz.
- Finally, if you want the real inside scoop on new releases, you have to check out Book Riot’s New Release Index! That’s where I find 90% of new releases, and you can filter by trending books, Rioters’ picks, and even LGBTQ new releases!