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Y’all ever seen someone cuss in cursive? That’s the best way I can think to describe how thoroughly and beautifully Zora Neale Hurston told off her ex-husband in a letter, which Touré details in this TikTok:
Messy literary love lives aside, there are a lot of books out today to be excited about. There’s the adorable bento lunchbox cookbook Let’s Make Some Lunch by Sulhee Jessica Woo, the mystery/thriller Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight, and the jazz-filled African historical fiction They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar. There’s more African-centered fiction with Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu, while the bookish The Bookshop Sisterhood by Michelle Lindo-Rice keeps it stateside.
Moving down to Miami Beach, there’s the social satire Pink Glass Houses by Asha Elias, and, switching gears, there’s the nonfiction Beyond Policing: Building Abolitionist Futures by Philip V. McHarris, which uses extensive research to not only detail the failings of our carceral state but also a way out.
Bangers continue below, with a LOUD memoir, subversive YA horror, big bumbums, and more.
Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow by Damilare Kuku
If you’re wondering if the title is literal, I’m here to tell you that, yes, girl, it is. Temi is 20 years old, just out of Obafemi Awolowo University, and focused on her bumbum. She plans to move from Ile-Ife to Lagos, Nigeria, get a Brazilian butt lift (or BBL for the uncultured among us), thereby securing a man who will be more than devoted to her. But then she tells the other women in her family, and they are super not feeling it. Now everyone in her life—sister, mother, and aunties—is trying to speak some sense into her. But then the women start spilling long-buried tea, which includes what really happened when her sister mysteriously disappeared years ago, and Temi realizes that maybe she’s not the one lacking sense after all.
Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve by Drew Afualo
New to Drew? If so, I suggest joining the 7.9+ million who already follow her on TikTok.
She’s a real girls’ girl who stays with her nails done and talks hella shit about misogynists, racists, and all other deplorables.
In Loud, she expands on a lot of what made her such a popular influencer—she decries terrible men, encourages confidence and a fierce life philosophy, and does all this with her distinctly personal touch.
My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes
The wills of three generations of Mexican women and daughters clash once the matriarch, Olvido, dies. Her spirit senses unfinished business and yearns to be buried in her native Mexico, which she left for the U.S. years and years ago. When her spirit is still unsatisfied, she shifts gears and starts meddling in her living daughter’s life. Suddenly, Angustias is getting set up with every good opportunity involving eligible bachelors, jobs, and more. She doesn’t realize that her mother is pulling strings from beyond the mortal plane, or even that her daughter—10-year-old Felicitas—not only knows but can see ghosts.
Pearl by Siân Hughes
Do you like medieval poetry? This debut novel is based on the medieval poem of the same name. A poem that 8-year-old Marianne finds consolation in when her mother goes missing. Stuck in a raggedy house at a small village’s edge with her secretive father and baby brother, she tries her best to hold onto memories of her mother, even as they steadily slip away. As time passes, she finds that she wants to make a visual illustration of “Pearl” the poem, but an unmarked gravestone and the pull of the river seem to beckon to her more.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
This latest from Espach is Jenna Bush Hager’s August 2024 book club pick, and shows just how much chance encounters can change everything. Phoebe Stone, alone and bagless in the lobby of the Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island, gets mistaken for a guest of a wedding that has been meticulously planned by the bride. The bride has thought of everything that could go wrong, and has left no stone unturned—but then there’s Phoebe Stone, who turns into the bride’s surprising confidante.
The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington
We’re out here really subverting horror tropes in 2024, and I love that for us. The Blonde Dies First is the latest YA horror release with a fab cover and a killer (ha) title (The White Guy Dies First, edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker came out earlier this month). Here, Devon, scared of a future where she gets left behind by her genius twin sister Drew after she leaves a year early for college, plans the Best Summer Ever. This, unfortunately for the twins and their chaotic friends, involves a Ouija board. Their Ouija adventure ends up summoning a demon that begins hunting them, but in a very peculiar fashion: it seems to be following the typical slasher movie rules of Scream, which includes starting with the blonde (Devon) first. But the twins are clever, and their horror movie knowledge may mean scripts get flipped in the end.
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!
