| Crocodilopolis by John Manuel AriasSeth has been in exile in Washington, D.C. since his brother Osario, Costa Rica's minister of the environment, prosecuted him when he headed an oil refinery. But now Seth plots his homecoming as well as revenge on Osario. Moving across time and place and focused on the two brothers and their politically connected family, this evocative novel explores power, privilege, and machismo. Try this next: Tom Lin's The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu. |
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The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer GivhanFortuna Miércoles has finally moved her family to a better neighborhood across the Rio Grande, desperate to outrun the curse that's stalked her bloodline since her greatest grandmother crossed the desert with a cactus thorn splitting her throat. But burying a family's violent legacy--or her own haunting secret--isn't so easy. Twenty years ago, girls and women vanished into the Albuquerque night, their bones later unearthed on the mesa. The so-called Reaper was never caught. Now, beneath the dormant volcanoes called the Sleeping Sisters, the killings have begun again, and they've called forth something in Fortuna that she has long fought to keep buried... Read-alike: The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro.
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Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl GonzalezAt twenty-six, Alicia Canales Forten feels smothered by her future. She's in a long-distance relationship, living at home with her mother's beliefs, saving up for her wedding to a future doctor. But after Alicia ventures out one night in the neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, she finds herself lured by the siren song of youth and possibility that the striving crowd of creatives holds, and moves in. No one embodies this milieu more than La Garza, a larger-than-life, up-and-coming fashion designer whose epic house parties fuel neighborhood lore. La Garza's life, observed by Alicia from her apartment across the street, seems to hold the allure and fearlessness Alicia has never dared to imagine for herself. For fans of: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz.
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The Broken Hearts Agency by Clarence A. HaynesEvelyn Kendricks is having a day. An overworked manager, she's been dumped by her toxic boyfriend while struggling to cope with the recent ghost invasion that's shocked the world. Devastated, she is mysteriously summoned to an eerie townhouse where she meets Linda Villaneuva, a private investigator who runs a secret mystical detective agency. Linda would like nothing more than to help her latest client, but she soon makes a gruesome discovery: People are losing their memories and wandering DC streets in a zombie-like daze... and no one understands why. In the biggest case of her life, Linda follows a trail of clues to unearth an evil force far deadlier than anything she could've imagined. Try this next: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune.
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Graceless Heart by Isabel IbañezAs a sculptress, Ravenna Maffei has always shaped beauty from stone but she has a terrible secret. Desperate to save her brother, she enters a competition hosted by Florence's most feared immortal family, revealing a dark power in a city where magic is forbidden. Now a captive in the cutthroat city of Florence, Ravenna is forced into a dangerous task where failure meets certain death. The Pope's war against magic is closing in, and Ravenna is no longer just a prisoner but a prize to be claimed. Ravenna must survive the treacherous line between a pope's obsession and the seductive immortal who might be the end of her--or surrender her power to a city on the brink of war. Read-alike: A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen.
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The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-GarciaHandsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters in order to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. Ulises knows his looks won't last forever, and he's desperate to get his hands on a real fortune. He thinks he's found it when he captivates his newest correspondent, Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in picturesque Veracruz. But when he meets her, he finds something he didn't expect. The woman has a niece, Inés, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt's household. When Inés discovers Ulises's true intentions, she wants in on the scheme. For fans of: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston.
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| It Will Come Back to You: Collected Stories by Sigrid NunezThis "masterful" (Publishers Weekly) collection of 13 short stories by a National Book Award winner serves up a variety of tales. Peopled with complex and memorable characters, the stories star a woman stuck at an airport, a brother and sister whose mom has dementia, and a man contemplating murder. For more lyrical short stories, try Rachel Khong's My Dear You or Lauren Groff's Brawler. |
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You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom: A Modern Gothic Horror by Vincent TiradoWhen Papi Ramon, the patriarch of the wealthy Abreu family dies, he gives the family one last message in the will: One of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned. Xiomara, the uncontested favorite of Papi Ramon, watches as everyone dismisses this as the joke and demands the lawyer obtain the previous will Papi wrote. While the lawyer drives back to his office, a storm breaks out, forcing the entire family to remain in the house. Over the course of the night, scandal after scandal is revealed. Xiomara is faced with an impossible task: uproot a demon and somehow kill it or excise the ghosts that linger within her own family. And the clock is ticking... Try this next: Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena.
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| The Devoted by Catherine ChoThe children of a Dragon Head (a Chinese organized crime boss), Eunha and her brother are raised by their Korean grandmother in a quiet Hong Kong village. Their only authorized friend is a boy named Kai, whom Eunha falls in love with. Later, she marries into a respectable family, but when her young son is kidnapped, she's pulled back into the criminal world, where her brother and Kai are now Dragon Heads. Try this next: The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok. |
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| Make Nice by Ryan EffgenThree months after their mother's death, the dysfunctional Pickfords return to the quaint, kitschy Lake Michigan island where they once spent summers. But their problems come with them: sister Viv has recently learned her husband is gay, professor brother Pete has work concerns, irresponsible brother Corey is trying to sell stolen cocaine, Viv's surly teenager Ash has friend issues, and patriarch Harold holds big secrets. Read-alike: Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith. |
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| Chosen Family by Madeleine GrayIn Sydney, Australia, Nell and Eve meet at a posh all-girls high school, leading to a relationship that lasts 18 years, moving from friendship to something more to something else entirely. Partially told via a letter Eve writes after Nell abruptly leaves her and their seven-year-old daughter, this witty story features complex, flawed characters. Try this next: Erin O. White's Like Family. |
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| A Tender Age by Chang-Rae LeeGrowing up in 1970s New York State, Korean American Jeon-Gi and the other kids around his apartment complex are left to their own devices. His working-class immigrant parents dote on him, but an encounter with bullies finds him in trouble when he's ten. Sent to a Christian summer camp, he must adapt once again. As an adult looking back, Jeon-Gi ponders identity, choices, and childhood in this pensive, thought-provoking novel. Try this next: Edward Burns' A Kid from Marlboro Road. |
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| Beginning Middle End by Valeria LuiselliWhile on a European book tour, our narrator, who's gone through a long divorce, and her 12-year-old daughter spend time in Sicily, staying at a place near old ruins. The narrator's grandmother once worked at the archeological site there before she moved to Mexico, secretly taking an ancient mosaic tile that's become a family heirloom. Mixing mythology and history, this "masterpiece" (Publishers Weekly) by the author of Lost Children Archive digs into family, heritage, memory, and migration. Read-alike: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au. |
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| Should the Waters Take Us by Stephanie SoileauThis evocative debut novel traces a family across generations, but centers on a contemporary Louisiana bayou group. Struggling Boy Broussard raises the 12-year-old daughter he never knew after her mom takes an offshore oil job. His dying aunt wants to leave him land, but her retired oilman husband may thwart her. Meanwhile, a new priest from the Niger Delta adjusts to the insular community even as an offshore oil explosion and a hurricane threaten them all. For fans of: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. |
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| The New People by Andrea UptmorAmid the Great Recession, newlyweds Emma and Rachel leave Chicago for a charming foreclosed-upon house in an Indiana town. While successful Rachel has a new tenure-track job and a bestselling book, Emma works as an adjunct while struggling with jealousy, their relocation, and a recent miscarriage. Meanwhile, desperate ex-homeowners Charlotte and Dirk secretly live in the attic, and when no one is home, resentful Charlotte moves items around the house. Try this next: Community Board by Tara Conklin. |
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| Etna by Paul YoonAfter Etna is selected from his farm by Soojin, who can communicate with animals, he becomes a United States military dog, sniffing out bombs and more, amid an unnamed war in an unnamed country. The conflict ends after four years, and Etna quietly leaves one evening to try to find his way back home. Traveling a desolate land, he encounters others, human and animal, trying to restart their lives. For fans of: The Odyssey; and of thought-provoking stories narrated by animals. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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