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There’s exciting news in the genre bookstore department. After the rise in romance-specific bookstores all over the country, we’re now getting the first-ever horror bookstore in New York City. The indie store is called The Twisted Spine, and I have to say: the vibes sound immaculate. The owners, partners Laura Komer and Jason Mellow, promise that the store’s 5,000 horror and dark literature titles will be stocked within a setting that’s half gothic library, half “dark academia dreamscape.” With the success of romance bookstores and the opening of this horror bookstore, I’m so curious about the future of bookstores in general. We shall see.
Speaking of horror, in the realm of new books, there is the translated horror Restoration by Ave Barrera, translated by Ellen Jones and Robin Myers. But if you’re in a cozier mood, there’s the bookish mystery Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman.
This week’s featured books have the season’s biggest dark academia release, a queer retelling of Mrs. Dalloway, a historical romance featuring a Mexican heiress, and more.
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Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
Kuang is back in her dark academia bag with her latest, which follows Alice Law as she vies to become the best in the field of Magick. And she does a lot to get there. But then Professor Grimes—the greatest magician in the world—dies, and it’s kind of her fault. To rescue him, she and her rival Peter Murdoch employ all the pentagrams, spells, and learning at their disposal to guide them through hell to retrieve him. Though it might not be enough.
Parts of this remind me of Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, more deliciously hellish dark academia.
New Books
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Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession by Austin Channing Brown
From the author of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness comes this very delicate exploration of personal identity. As a successful antiracism activist, Brown got to a point in her career where she loved her work, but got tired of the energy required for it. She began to question what life had in store for her outside of the label of “Black woman.” In Full of Myself, she blends personal experiences with social observations to explore how we can break out of the boxes we’re placed into and just be.
Gabriela and His Grace by Liana De la Rosa
This third installment of the Luna Sisters series—which stands excellently on its own—puts the youngest and most fiery of the Luna daughters front and center. Gabriela’s sense of adventure and quest for independence lead her to a ship headed towards her true home, and away from all the British suitors hounding her. On the very same ship is Sebastian Brookes, the desperate Duke of Whitfield, who sees this trip to Mexico as the last chance to reverse his family’s financial situation. It also gives him the opportunity to come up against the alluring and witty Gabriela. There are sparks between them, but will they survive the scandal that hovers over them?
Three Parties by Ziyad Saadi
Three Parties is Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway if it were queer and darkly funny. It follows Firars Dareer, a Palestinian refugee who plans to come out to a captive audience during his 23rd birthday party. But his plans keep getting threatened or absolutely derailed by the motley crew that is his group of friends and family. There’s his younger brother, whose mental issues mean he needs to constantly be monitored; his grandfather, who keeps escaping from his retirement home; and his mother, who may have just revealed a nasty sex affair. Add all of them to Firas’s own love triangle, and you’ve got mess galore.
If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You by Leigh Stein
Thirty-nine-year-old Dayna’s life is in the pits. She’s unemployed, and her boyfriend has just dumped her via Reddit. Then Craig pops up, whom she hasn’t spoken to in 20 years. He’s trying to restore the crumbling mansion he inherited to its former glory, and his plans to do so involve her turning it into an influencer hype house. But there’s a dark cloud lingering around the mansion: Becca, a mysterious tarot reader who has very loyal and enthusiastic fans, vanished from it. And now, one of her fans, 19-year-old Olivia, has joined the hype house and hopes to find out what happened to her. Thing is, Dayna gets wrapped up with Craig and Jake—the in-house eye candy—and Craig doesn’t really want the mystery pursued. The two women end up finding something out that changes everything, anyway.
Resting Bitch Face: Poems by Taylor Byas
Lovers of art and film, poetry and prose will appreciate Byas’s weaving in and out of the modes of being the watcher and the watched, as she explores Black female subjectivity. With her, we explore some of the usual ways we watch things—like through painting, photography, and films—and how this shapes the Black woman as a muse.
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!
