Did one of the book covers on our homepage catch your eye? They are all new titles being released in June 2021, and all are well-reviewed and anticipated. You can watch the video or read the description of each below, then click the linked title to request a copy or get your name on the wait list. And don't forget to watch for more featured releases next month!
Featured Fiction for June
Twenty-three-year old August doesn't believe in much. She doesn't believe in psychics, easily made friendships, or finding the love they make movies about. She doesn't believe her new roommates, night shifts at a 24-hour diner, or daily subway commute are going to change that. But then, there's Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane. The person August looks forward to seeing on the train. The one who makes her forget about cities she lived that never seemed to fit, her fear of what happens when she graduates, and even her cold-case obsessed mother. But when August realizes her subway crush is impossible in more ways than one-namely, displaced in time from the 1970s-she thinks maybe it's time to start believing.
Rabbits by Terry Miles
Rabbits is an alternate reality game that uses the world as its canvas.
Since it started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Identities of the winners are unknown.
So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, wealth, immortality, or even the key to the universe. Players have died in the past—and the body count is rising. Now the eleventh round is about to begin.
Enter K—who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. The path opens when K is approached by billionaire Scarpio, rumored to be the winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says something is wrong with the game and K needs to fix it before Eleven starts.
Five days later, Scarpio is missing.
Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline: Eleven begins. Suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake.
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Immigrant.
Socialite.
Magician.
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society--she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She's also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
Featured Nonfiction for June
Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford
For as long as she could remember, Ashley idolized her father. Despite having only vague memories of him, she thinks he's the only one who understands her. She's certain one day they'll reunite, and she'll feel complete. But he's in prison, and she doesn't know why he's there. Through poverty, puberty, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley returns to the image of her father for encouragement. She doesn't know how to deal with the worries that keep her awake, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw attention. In her search for love, she begins dating a boy her mother hates; when the relationship sours, he assaults her. Reeling from the rape, Ashley finds out why her father is in prison.
How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
Beginning in New Orleans, Smith leads readers on a tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves. This is a deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on American history. How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been imprinted.
House of Sticks: A Memoir by Ly Tran
Ly is just a toddler when she and her family immigrate from Vietnam to a two-bedroom apartment in Queens. Ly’s father, a former lieutenant in the South Vietnamese army, spent nearly a decade as a POW, and their resettlement is made possible through a humanitarian program run by the US government. After they arrive, Ly joins her parents and brothers sewing ties and cummerbunds to make ends meet. She knows she must honor her parents’ Buddhist faith and contribute to the family livelihood. But at school she feels pressure to blend in. Her inability to see the blackboard presents new challenges, especially when her father forbids her from getting glasses, calling her diagnosis a government conspiracy. His temper and paranoia leave an indelible mark.
