New Releases

Five new books coming out this week to add to your growing list. I’m reading Nigeria Jones for this month’s review and I’m excited to get started. Keep an eye out for that upcoming review. What books look interesting to you?

There are branches of a tree. In the center is a young man facing the viewer. Above him there are two more young men. One is on the right facing the right and the other is on the left facing that direction.Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian
Balzer & Bray

2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.

1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country’s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse—he’s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.

1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he’s thrust into has a dark side. Bobby is forced to hide his sexuality for fear of losing everything.

Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The cover centers a young Black girl sitting on the ground with legs crossed staring out intently at the viewer. The background seems to be a mosaic of golds and blues. There is also a kind of mosaic overlay on her hair and jeans but this is with blues, purples and pinks that are vivid in her hair and pastel on the jeans. The title is in white and all caps but the letters have swirls and flourishes.Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi
HarperCollins US

Warrior Princess.

That’s what Nigeria’s father calls her. He’s raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals that connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother—the perfect matriarch to their Movement—disappears, Nigeria’s world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn’t want.

Nigeria’s mother had secrets. She wished for a different life for her children, which includes sending her daughter to a private Quaker school outside of their strict group. Despite her father’s disapproval, Nigeria attends the school with her cousin, Kamau, and Sage, who used to be a friend. There, she slowly begins to blossom and expand her universe.

As Nigeria searches for her mother, she starts to uncover a shocking truth. One that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.

Two light brown skinned young people are standing on a soccer pitch. A goal is in the distance between them and the setting sun is behind that. Their foreheads are touching as they lean in staring into each other's eyes. They are both wearing purple shirts. The one on the left has chin length dark curly hair and freckles. The one on the right has longer straight dark hair and has crossed arms. They look intent.You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie
Feiwel & Friends

Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear.

Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp for a summer of relaxation and redemption…only to find out that she and the endlessly aggravating Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But the competition might be stiffer than expected, so unless they can get their rookie team’s act together, this second chance—and any hope of playing college soccer—will slip through Vale’s fingers. When the growing pressure, friendship friction, and her overbearing father push Vale to turn to Leticia for help, what starts off as a shaky alliance of necessity begins to blossom into something more through a shared love of soccer…and maybe each other. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The cover has a purple light purple background. There are darker purple leaves along the sides with a few in falling down in the center of the title. At the bottom in the distance are purple evergreens. In the center toward the bottom are three flags. One is blue with a snowflake in the center, one is green with the image of something like a deer and one is purple with a golden image similar to a tree. .The Iron Vow: The Iron Fey: Evenfall #3 by Julie Kagawa
Inkyard Press

After leaping through the portal to Evenfall, Meghan and her companions find themselves in a terrifying new world where Nightmares roam and glamour is nearly nonexistent. As their magic wanes and the creatures of Evenfall rise against them, the race to find the Nightmare King grows ever more desperate. But what they discover–about Evenfall, about the Nightmare King, about themselves–will shake everything they thought they knew to the core.

The Nightmare King stirs. A world hangs in the balance. And as twilight descends upon all the realms of Faery, Meghan and her allies must make one more impossible choice. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

A brown skinned young woman with curly shoulder-length dark hair is looking over her shoulder at the reader. She has a slight smile. Around her head are light purple and some pinkish flowers that seem to be hanging down from above.I’m Not Supposed to Be in the Dark by Riss M. Neilson
Henry Holt and Co. (BYR
)

Seventeen-year-old Aria Cayetano dreams of ghosts. She used to see them too, but thanks to a special tea brewed by her grandfather, Aria’s connection to the spirit world has been severed. Until a decades old rosebush suddenly dies across the street, convincing Aria that something supernatural is happening in her neighborhood.

She aches to investigate it, but the rosebush sits on her ex best friend Derek Johnson’s front lawn, and she can’t question him because he hates her now. Aria doesn’t know what drove them apart years ago, but she does know Derek’s been acting strange for weeks, sneaking out in the dead of night to who knows where.

Then, days after the rosebush dies, Derek begins speaking to her again. At least Aria thinks it’s him. Until she discovers there’s a ghost inside of Derek that will take his life if it doesn’t find what it’s searching for. As Aria and Derek race to uncover the mystery, another kind of magic takes them by surprise: love. But Aria has to decide how far she’s willing to go to save Derek, especially when helping the ghost means tapping into whatever the tea has buried inside of her.

Bone-chilling and spellbinding, I’m Not Supposed to Be in the Dark is an alluring ghost story that’s about exorcising the past to find a future to believe in. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads