The New Summer Book Releases That We’re Most Excited About
huffpost.com2 days ago
Like the latest book in Tomi Adeyemi’s young adult “Legacy of Orïsha” series and a new Chuck Tingle.
"The God of the Woods" by Liz Moore, "Bury Your Gays" by Chuck Tingle and "Little Rot" by Akwaeke Emezi.
This story originally appeared in HuffPost’s Books newsletter. Sign up here for weekly book news, author interviews and more.
As the season changes, your reading list might as well change with it, and some of this summer’s latest and upcoming book releases are worthy additions that we can’t wait to tuck into.
While you’re lounging on a beach or seeking refuge from the heat in front of the AC’s arctic blast, fill your downtime with a psychological thriller about a nanny’s mysterious death, or a Narnian “fairytale for grownups” that’s heavily inspired by magical storybooks of your youth, or any of the other following works of highly anticipated summer fiction.
HuffPost and its publishing partners may receive a commission from some purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently curated by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change.
It’s an early August morning in 1975, and Barbara Van Laar is missing from her bunk at Camp Emerson, the Adirondacks summer camp that Barabara’s family happens to own. Barbara’s bunkmate confesses that the moody teen usually slips out at night, but has no clue why she didn’t come back this time or where she went. As the minutes tick by, wild theories about the girl’s whereabouts or who might have taken her begin to circulate. A rumored serial killer named Jacob Sluiter (nicknamed the Slitter) is a possibility since he’s recently escaped from jail, but there’s also Barbara’s abusive father. And then there's the issue of Bear, Barbara’s brother who also went missing several years earlier from the very same camp, never to be seen again. Now that both of the Van Laar children have disappeared, questions about the family and hidden cruelties begin to emerge. Part riveting thriller and part family drama, Liz Moore’s novel plays on the uncomfortable truths of favoritism and family dynamics in this nail-biter that will keep you from wandering alone in the woods for quite some time.
"The God of the Woods" by Liz Moore
Chuck Tingle's "Bury Your Gays" is the latest from the masked counterculture author with a huge cult following and an inclination for the unusual. Whether he’s trolling misogynist readers or shocking us with his early genre-bending flash fiction erotica, Tingle is an anomaly in the literary world. In this gory and goosebump-inducing horror, we meet a successful screenwriter named Misha. He’s finally achieved a level of success that makes him feel more confident in his chosen profession, but when studio executives instruct Misha to “kill off” the gay characters in his show to push it into Oscar-worthy territory, he refuses. Now, Misha is stuck in a living nightmare where he’s attacked and stalked by movie monsters of his own creation. The horror builds, and Misha’s beloved characters aren't the only ones the studio might want to cancel.
"Bury Your Gays" by Chuck Tingle
“Children of Anguish and Anarchy,” brings a long-awaited and epic end to Tomi Adeyemi’s “Legacy of Orïsha” series, a New York Times bestselling YA fantasy of dark magic and intrigue. Fans of this West African-inspired collection will already have met Zélie, the daughter of a Reaper mother who could summon souls in their land infused with magic. But when the king bans magic from the region and orders anyone with powers (like Zélie and her mother) to be hunted, her entire world shifts and she’s determined to defy the king’s orders and restore magic to her nation and its people. Without giving away spoilers, the final book brings Zélie closer to realizing her quest after she endures a series of battles and tested loyalties. The monarchy might have finally fallen, but she’s not yet free and will be forced to begin a new fight after Iron Skull warriors have her and many of her people sent on a ship far from their home to be trafficked. There she’ll meet King Baldyr, the ruler of the Skulls, and the man who destroyed anything in his path to find her and take her strength for his own.
"Children of Anguish and Anarchy" by Tomi Adeyemi
Sarah Pekkanen’s latest psychological thriller follows the Barclays, a wealthy Washington, D.C., family whose members seem to lead perfect lives until their nanny Tina suspiciously falls to her death. Everyone from Tina’s former boyfriend to the child she was caring for become suspects in the murder investigation, which happens to be going on in the midst of a divorce. It’s the job of a family lawyer, Stella Hudson, to determine if the peculiar and unspeaking young Barclay girl who has a penchant for collecting sharp objects, or her parents, are the victims of a setup or murderers. Nine-year-old Rose Barclay was the sole witness to her nanny’s fall, and it’s Stella who becomes the only one who seems capable of solving the case and communicating with Rose. As tensions build, Stella uncovers more about the Barclays’ secrets that are all hidden in a house without a single glass window, only plastic.
"House of Glass" by Sarah Pekkanen
George Curtis is a Hungarian immigrant whose internal thoughts and true desires have to remain hidden if he plans on escaping from his former life as György, a queer Jewish man who was forced to flee Budapest before the Second World War. When we first meet George, he’s working as a screenplay writer in Hollywood, stifling any tells of his sexual preferences and political past in a McCarthy-era climate that’s eager to call anyone a communist spy. He writes for monster movies, and in between coffee with coworkers and the occasional secret romp, he meets a famous actress who offers George a writing residency at her Malibu estate. George had written a political essay despite his worries about exposing himself, and the actress sees his talent and encourages him to keep writing. In this new world of Hollywood intelligentsia, drugs, sex and glittering postwar decadence, George learns that power dynamics are everything and sexuality is something that’s often exploited. “Scintillating” and “gripping” are just a few of the words of praise for Patrick Nathan’s “The Future Was Color,” an addictive novel that articulates what it means to feel lonely and “other” while desperately looking for a happy and fulfilling life.
"The Future Was Color" by Patrick Nathan
Dubbed by Meg Shaffer’s publisher as “a fairy tale for grown-ups,” “The Lost Story” is inspired by C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” series and written for anyone who has ever wondered what might happen when you return home from a magical world. Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell were two boys who mysteriously went missing in a West Virginia forest as kids and were presumed dead. But when the boys inexplicably reappear six months later, tall and healthy, they have no recollection of where they were. Over a decade after the incident, Rafe has grown up into an artist tortured by what happened 15 years ago, while Jeremy has become a missing persons investigator. Jeremy is even tasked with finding a girl who’s gone missing in the very same forest he and Rafe disappeared in as kids. Emilie is the stepsister of the missing girl, and to find her sister, both Jeremy and Rafe will have to reunite. But one tricky part about the former friends’ past is that Jeremy actually remembers what happened years ago, and Rafe doesn’t. Jeremey knows they had fallen into a magical land full of harrowing threats and impossible beauty called Shenandoah. Jeremy, Rafe and Emilie all embark on a wild and magical adventure that makes for a perfect cozy fantasy read, reminiscent of the childhood books we grew up loving.
“The Lost Story” by Meg Shaffer
Ren is an overworked publicist living in New York City with abandonment issues and a boundaryless boss. She’s got a few secrets she keeps close to her chest, and her only social outlet appears to be her best friend, Etta, whom she met at NYU a few years earlier. Ren is from a middle-class family, whereas Etta is the daughter of upper-class art collectors who own homes in the Hamptons and Barcelona. Etta is gorgeous, flighty and the product of excessive wealth, running through a string of boyfriends and jobs. But when she decides to pursue a new career in Barcelona without telling Ren, the best friends are forced to exist without the other. If the selfies are to be believed, Etta seems to be thriving in her new life, whereas Ren is left behind picking up the scraps Etta left for her, including house-sitting at her wealthy friend's posh apartment for the summer. Ren goes on a string of uneventful dates, hangs out with her co-worker for company and then, one day, finds herself making a move for the one guy she really wants — Etta’s brother, Archer. They begin a secret friendship they keep from Etta (both girls are the jealous type) that turns into something more. But Archer, a tortured artist living in the omnipresent shadow of his parent’s wealth, has his own relationships to hide. Everyone is pretending to be something they’re not, and Archer and Ren might miss out on love if ambition, pride and family drama get in the way.
“The Art of Pretend” by Lauren Kuhl
Known for her bestselling novel “You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty,” Akwaeke Emezi’s latest book takes readers through myriad complicated relationships in the elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. Told through multiple points of view, we meet Aima and Kalu, a young, affluent couple who have just had a messy breakup. They met in Houston but came to Lagos, where Kalu’s family business is headquartered. Their love affair is toxic at times, complex at others, and they both struggle with the people they feel they’re becoming in Nigeria versus who they were when they met in Texas. When they finally end the relationship, Aima threatens to leave for London. Kalu, heartbroken, begins to unravel and agrees to attend a sex party thrown by his close friend, Ahmed. But it’s at the party that Kalu discovers an even seedier and more brutal side of the city’s corrupt underworld. Emezi’s ambitious stories are vibrant, lush and fueled by deeply emotional plots, and in “Little Rot,” we see just how far her characters will go to not only save themselves, but each other.