New Releases

Cover images of This Wicked Fate and The Final Strife

We have four books on our radar this week. Which of them are on your TBR list?

Two young people are holding hands near one of their faces. They are surrounded by flowers and a large spotted moth or butterfly is above them. Echoes of Grace by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Tu Books

A tragic accident in the young lives of sisters, Graciela (Grace) and Mercedes (Mercy) Torres, sets off a chain of events in which Grace flounders to restore her relationship with her sister while swimming against a current of strange, bewildering echoes.

Flashbacks, premonitions, and visitations from the other side all weave a mysterious tapestry that weighs heavily on Grace’s shoulders as she tries to navigate memories of a time three years earlier when she ran away from home and lost a week of her life.

In the present—amidst the mundanities of college homework and dating—Grace tries to figure out if the things happening in her world are memories or premonitions, warnings of things yet to unfold. As she recovers time lost, Grace comes closer to reconciling with Mercy, even as she remembers, bit by bit, the horrible thing that happened to her when she spent a week with her maternal grandmother in Mexico—a grandmother she had been told was long gone.

The things her regained memory reveals shed light on old family secrets. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Two young women's faces are on the cover but most of their heads are covered in blue. It's like they are peeking through a window that has been painted with a few spots that were missed. We Weren’t Looking to Be Found by Stephanie Kuehn
Disney-Hyperion

Dani comes from the richest, most famous Black family in Texas and seems to have everything a girl could want. So why does she keep using and engaging in other self-destructive behavior?

Camila’s Colombian-American family doesn’t have much, but she knows exactly what she wants out of life and works her ass off to get it. So why does she keep failing, and why does she self-harm every time she does?

When Dani and Camila find themselves rooming together at Peach Tree Hills, a treatment facility in beautiful rural Georgia, they initially think they’ll never get along―and they’ll never get better. But then they find a mysterious music box filled with letters from a former resident of PTH, and together they set out to solve the mystery of who this girl was . . . and who she’s become. The investigation will bring them together, and what they find at the end might just bring them hope.

From award-winning author Stephanie Kuehn comes a breathtaking tale of friendship and healing. Both poignant and timely, We Weren’t Looking to Be Found is complex, hopeful, and heartbreaking all at once.

Two young Black women are outside holding hands. There are plants of many kinds around thrm. They are holding hands. The one in the front is wearing glasses and has black hair that is in an afro. The other person ihas white hair that is white in a high pooch ponytail. This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2) by Kalynn BayRon
Bloomsbury

Briseis has one chance to save her mother, but she’ll need to do the impossible: find the last fragment of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. If she is to locate the missing piece, she must turn to the blood relatives she’s never known, learn about their secret powers, and take her place in their ancient lineage. Briseis is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will stop at nothing to fulfill their own ruthless plans. The fates tell of a truly dangerous journey, one that could end in more heartache, more death. Bolstered by the sisterhood of ancient magic, can Briseis harness her power to save the people she loves most?

A young Black woman in braids is featured. Some of the braids are decorated with beads. She has a gold band around her upper arm. It is shaped like a vine with a few leaves. There are some white lines painted below her eyes..The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
Del Rey Books

Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control.
Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance.
Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible.

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes.

Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts.

Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.

As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.