Staff Picks

The Good Luck Girls

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The Good Luck Girls (Paperback)

By Charlotte Nicole Davis
$10.99
ISBN: 9781250299727
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Teen - January 5th, 2021

This book is almost too good for words. Taking place in a sci-fi setting reminiscent of the wild west, this book is everything I could have asked for and more. It tracks five girls as they escape a Welcome House (their form of brothel) and become outlaws in order to gain their freedom. Davis' worldbuilding  is some of the best I've ever seen, neither over explaining, or leaving me wishing that I knew more, and the character dynamics were to die for. An absolute must read!

Katherine

Reconstruction: Stories

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Reconstruction: Stories (Paperback)

By Alaya Dawn Johnson
$17.00
ISBN: 9781618731777
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Small Beer Press - January 12th, 2021

This book is incredible. After each story, I had to stop and stare at a wall for at least 24 hours just processing until I could move on and read the next one. Several times I found myself forgetting that this was, in fact, a book of short stories and not a full length novel where I could spend all 256 pages in any one of Alaya Dawn Johnson's unique and engrossing worlds, and the first story, A Guide to Fruits of Hawai'i immediately captured my vampire loving heart. 

Katherine

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club (Hardcover)

By Malinda Lo
$18.99
ISBN: 9780525555254
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dutton Books for Young Readers - January 19th, 2021

Lily Hu wants a lot of things that are out of reach in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1954: She wants to build rockets. She wants to avoid the communist witch hunts. And -- much to her surprise -- she wants Kathleen Miller, who is definitely not the nice Chinese boy everyone expects for her.

Sarah

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors

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Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors: A Novel (The Rajes Series #1) (Paperback)

By Sonali Dev
$15.99
ISBN: 9780062839053
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - May 7th, 2019

In Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, Sonali Dev creates a vibrant modern Pride and Prejudice retelling that manages to feel fresh. Trisha Raje is a prominent neurosurgeon and DJ Caine is a rising-star chef who quits his job and moves to California because his sister is sick. The two collide—explosively—throughout the novel, and the tension and slow burn will keep you reading and wondering what will happen even if you know how Pride and Prejudice ends. I flew through it, captured by the tension, the well-developed characters and families, and the many, many descriptions of DJ's cooking. Bonus: The sequel comes out at the end of May!

 

April

Beowulf

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Beowulf: A New Translation (Paperback)

By Maria Dahvana Headley
$15.00
ISBN: 9780374110031
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: MCD x FSG Originals - August 25th, 2020

This new translation of Beowulf is everything the version you (perhaps begrudgingly) read in high school was not. The language is fresh and florid, brimming with alliteration and bravado and modern slang. Headley translates the characters of this age-old poem into people we can recognize, instead of the granite giants of legend. It is, in a word, readable, and delightfully so. Her introduction is also its own work of art; it would be worth the purchase for that alone. 

 

Meaghan

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Paperback)

By Alix E. Harrow
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316421973
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Redhook - May 12th, 2020

January Scaller lives a quiet, lonely life in her guardian's mansion, waiting for her father to return from his trips around the world and longing to go on adventures with him, until the day she discovers a mysterious book. The book tells the story of a star-crossed romance that spans multiple worlds, and before long, January realizes that this story is entwined with her own. Ten Thousand Doors is a beautiful love letter to portal fantasies and the power of the written word.

Ari

These Violent Delights

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These Violent Delights: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Micah Nemerever
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062963635
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper - September 15th, 2020

Easily one of the best books of the year!  Paul and Julian will push and pull at your heartstrings with the expertise of grandmasters, and months after reading their twisted tale I am unable to evict them from my head. Initially skeptical of the comparison to The Secret History, this Tartt devotee is a convert to Nemerever's achingly rendered world, which effortlessly lives up to the billing.

Caleb

Plain Bad Heroines

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Plain Bad Heroines: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Emily M. Danforth, Sara Lautman (Illustrator)
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062942852
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow - October 20th, 2020

Plain Bad Heroines was not just up my alley, but had packed a bag and moved into my bedroom. A short list of things you’ll find in this novel; curses, lesbians, gilded-age society scandals, yellow jackets, a heaping dose of snark, multiple narratives that weave together beautifully, footnotes, historic queer icons, and the nagging sense that the line between what’s real and what isn’t has been blurred.This is the sort of New England Gothic that I can never get enough of. It’s the perfect autumn read for you and your best friend that you’re secretly in love with, trust me.  


Katherine

Paper Girls Volume 1

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Paper Girls, Volume 1 (Paperback)

By Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Artist)
$9.99
ISBN: 9781632156747
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Image Comics - April 5th, 2016

Even if you didn’t live through the 80s, Paper Girls exudes a peculiar mix of nostalgia and foreboding that perfectly encapsulates existing in the world today. Especially as a young person. Though the story centers around four twelve-year-old girls, I’d say a myriad of ages could enjoy it, from teens to adults. I’ve never really considered myself a “sci-fi person” but I’m already on volume 5 of this series and I’m hooked. So even if a sci-fi graphic novel is not your go-to genre, give it a shot!

Janaea

How We Got to the Moon

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How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure (Hardcover)

By John Rocco
$29.99
ISBN: 9780525647416
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Crown Books for Young Readers - October 6th, 2020

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...” – John F. Kennedy

Robin

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