14 new books to check out this week 📚
Hello, book lovers! Each week, dozens of new releases hit the shelves. Here are our favorites. ❤️📚 –The BuzzFeed Books team
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 Credit: Ecco, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Stockton, California, is home to the country's largest community of Cambodian Americans. Anthony Veasna So, a promising writer who died tragically last December at only 28, grew up there. His debut collection of short stories focuses mainly on this community, the first- and second-generation Cambos, as characters dub themselves, whose parents were refugees from the Khmer Rouge genocide. Though the shadow of this trauma colors many of the stories in this collection, the stories never feel like trauma porn; they're gloriously alive, full of humor, intelligence and quiet heartbreak. The force of So's talent is the clear throughline throughout this book — that we won't be able to read more of him is gutting. —Tomi Obaro
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
Paris Is a Party, Paris Is a Ghost by David Hoon Kim
David Hoon Kim's hypnotic, inventive debut centers on Henrik Blatand, a Japanese adoptee from Denmark working as a translator in Paris while trying to make sense of the suicide of his girlfriend, Fumiko. Built on Kim's phenomenal short story Sweetheart Sorrow, the novel experiments with form and perspective: We're never quite sure of Henrik's reality as he searches for clues throughout the city, spotting Fumiko in strangers, looking for meaning in coincidences, going to disturbing lengths to remain close to her. Eventually his journey propels him into broader discoveries as he encounters eccentric Parisians and expats, and starts to contemplate his own history. It's a brilliant and absurd meditation on what it means to be haunted, and I couldn't put it down. —Arianna Rebolini
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
 Credit: St. Martin's Griffin, Hyperion Avenue, Avon, Sourcebooks Casablanca The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee
Tara Parker isn't in the market for a romantic relationship, although Seth Kim — her best friend's super hot new brother-in-law — is almost tempting enough to make her reconsider. Seth is moving to Paris in a month and doesn't have time for anything serious. So, when a friendly game of Truth or Dare turns into a four-date arrangement, the pair think it's the best possible scenario — a few weeks of fun with no strings attached. But the two continuously surprise each other and soon realize that maybe what they have between them could be something more, something serious, something forever. But the road to forever is never easy, and Tara and Seth will have to deal with past relationship baggage if they want any chance at a future. —Shyla Watson
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy
In this Cinderella retelling, Cindy is a recent graduate with a degree in shoe design. When she returns home, her stepmother — an executive producer for reality dating show Before Midnight — needs a last-minute contestant, and Cindy volunteers, thinking the publicity will help her launch her fashion career. But the audience isn't only focused on her fashionable footwear — Cindy is the first plus-size contestant the show has had, quickly becoming a body positivity icon for women all across the country. Cindy is so focused on this newfound responsibility, navigating being on a reality show, and trying to launch a career that love sneaks up on her. But will she get the fairytale ending? —Shyla Watson
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park
When up-and-coming investment banker Jess Kim is passed over for promotion by her racist and sexist company, she storms out of her office building and heads straight back home to Tennessee and her Korean mother's open arms. Before long, her mom tries to set her up with her pastor's son, Daniel Choi, a lawyer by day and successful video game streamer by night. Daniel helps Jess launch her new Korean cooking YouTube channel for busy professionals looking for easy meal prep. When Jess' mom interrupts one of the tapings by telling her everything she's doing wrong, the video goes viral and puts her channel on the map...so much so that a client offers to buy her company. But when she gets to the negotiating table, she finds herself seated across from the firm that laid her off, along with their new counsel — Daniel...who she happens to be falling for. —Shyla Watson
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
I Kissed A Girl by Jennet Alexander
Up-and-coming horror actor Lila Silver is finally on the brink of her big break, but she can't do it alone. She enlists the help of her trusted makeup artist Noa Birnbaum — who's secretly been crushing on Lila for a while. Long hours in the makeup chair working together to make their respective dreams come true builds a connection neither of them saw coming. —Shyla Watson
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
 Credit: Ballantine Books We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz
When Catherine Raven left her abusive family at 15 years old, she quickly found solace in nature, first working as a park ranger, then getting her PhD in biology, and eventually building a small cottage in the remote woods of Montana where she settled into a mostly solitary life, with breaks to lead field classes and lectures. Then, one day, a fox showed up, and kept coming back. In this quiet, charming memoir, Raven recounts her journey to accepting this unusual companion, loath as she is to anthropomorphize him. And as she embraces the vulnerability of loving an animal she objectively knows can't love her back, she warms up to the idea of letting other people in, too. Throughout, Raven writes about her environment with wonder and reverence but never formality — it's the easy affection of someone who's long made family of the natural world. —Arianna Rebolini
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
 Credit: Margaret K. McElderry Books, Solaris, Scholatic Press, Delacorte Press The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad
The Wild Ones are girls who have been wronged, abused, and discarded in a patriarchal society. They now save other victims of abuse, and their leader is Paheli, who many years earlier fled after her mother sold her to a man to be abused. As she fled, she ran into a boy with stars in his eyes who gifted her a box of stars. These stars allow her to walk between worlds and save others like herself. When she meets the boy again and realizes he's in mortal danger, she and the Wild Ones make it their mission to protect him. This explicitly feminist contemporary YA fantasy is a haunting read. Switching between prose and poetry and between third person plural and Paheli's perspective, the writing is as inventive as it is compelling. —Margaret Kingsbury
Get it from Bookshop or a local indie via Indiebound here. Monkey Around by Jadie Jang
This super-fun, adventurous romp of an urban fantasy takes place in San Francisco. Monkey King Maya McQueen works as a barista, but she's also a part-time supernatural detective working for the owner of the coffee shop. Maya desperately wants to find other shapeshifters like her. While investigating the disappearance of a supernatural crime boss, she comes across a guard who mentions he's met another like her. However, her investigation into her identity takes a turn when she realizes the being who looks like her is also murdering and eating the souls of other supernatural beings. In the meantime, she's got Occupy Wall Street rallies to organize and an activist magazine to run. This utterly satisfying read is precisely what I'm looking for in an urban fantasy: engaging characters, intriguing creatures, and thrilling action scenes. —Margaret Kingsbury
Get it from Bookshop or a local indie via Indiebound here.
The Great Destroyers by Caroline Tung Richmond
In Jo's world, the Cold War rages. Wars are won with giant mechanical soldiers, and international rivalries play out at the Pax Games — an Olympian competition of mecha soldiers that the USSR has won every time since the beginning. Jo knows a ton about mechas, as she was raised in her father's repair shop, and gets the chance to compete for the US at the very last minute. But when competitors start dying in the arena, it's clear that this is no ordinary Pax Games. —Rachel Strolle
Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie at Indiebound here.
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
It's been a year since Felicity's been back at the Dalloway School, mourning the death of her girlfriend, but things are just as haunted by rumors of witchcraft and mystery as she left them. Not that she's interested in any of that anymore; the story of the Dalloway Five can remain urban legend for all she cares. At least until compelling new girl and noted teen novelist Ellis Haley transfers to school, and Felicity gets caught up in helping her research for her next book. Now she has no choice but to confront the dangerous darkness, even if it threatens to destroy her. —Dahlia Adler
Get it from Bookshop or a local bookstore through Indiebound here.
 Credit: Amulet Books, Disney-Hyperion Fresh by Margot Wood
Wood writes a coming-of-age story about all the ups and downs and wild experiences that happen during freshman year of college. Elliot McHugh —bisexual, confident, outgoing — isn't exactly sure what she wants to major in, but she is certain that she wants this year to be memorable. What she doesn't expect is an infuriatingly gorgeous RA, a demanding courseload, and (dun dun dun) bad sex. But if she can survive freshman year, Elliot might just come out of this discovering the person she wants to be. —Farrah Penn
Get it from Bookshop or your local indie through Indiebound here.
Like Other Girls by Britta Lundin
Lundin's sophomore novel beautifully intertwines explorations of gender expression and internalized misogyny with a romantic and sporty romp in this story of a butch lesbian athlete who makes waves when she joins the football team. When Mara gets into a fight on the court and is suspended from basketball, the only way to earn her spot back is to prove she can thrive in team sports. And since she isn't like the softer volleyball girls, Mara opts to throw down and join her brother and her best friend on the football field. What starts as initial wariness at her participation spirals out of control when four other girls jump into the fray and demand their own shot at the team, and soon Mara can't do enough to prove they've got nothing to do with her. But when the very people she's trying to distance herself from become the only people in her corner, Mara's torn between reconciling who she wants to be with who accepts her just as she is. —Dahlia Adler
Get it from Bookshop or a local bookstore through Indiebound here.
 Credit: Atria/Black Privilege Publishing Shallow Waters by Anita Kopacz
In this lyrical debut, we meet Yemaya — an African deity of the sea who finds herself flung back in time to 1800s America. We transcend time and space as Yemaya herself grows from a tentative young woman into the powerful deity she's destined to become. Along the way, we see her battle everything from sea evils to slavery, crossing paths with icons from American history. Part history, part fantasy, this novel crosses genres as easily as it does time. —Kirby Beaton
Get it from Bookshop or through your local indie through Indiebound here.
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