"Sometimes, with some dreams, you awake and sense that the dream is ongoing elsewhere." So it is with We Do Not Part, a sublime, fever dream of a book by South Korean author Han Kang (The Vegetarian; Human Acts), translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris

Set in contemporary South Korea, We Do Not Part explores themes of human connection and inhuman brutality. Kyungha, a writer left haunted and specter-like since completing her book about a recent uprising, is suddenly contacted by Inseon, a long-time friend who has been hospitalized. Inseon pleads with Kyungha to travel to her isolated island home to look after her beloved pet bird.

This journey leads Kyungha to learn about a massacre on the island decades ago. The newspaper clippings and photographs she finds blend with memories to create a picture that is revealing and hallucinatory. Neither Kyungha nor readers ever fully grasp what is real.

The bleakness of snow permeates the novel, filling it with a palpable chill, one that intensifies with the plot and underscores the bone-chilling horror of the past and the trauma perpetuated on subsequent generations. "There was an accompanying clarity to snow as well, especially slow, drifting snow," Kang writes. From this stark, white backdrop emerge the layered hues of the full story.

We Do Not Part is a novel of discovery in which Kyungha learns profound things about herself, her friend, and the massacre. It is a powerful reminder about the devastating effects of buried secrets and the importance of hope, even during times of extreme darkness. As Kyungha realizes, "It's all right. I have light." -- Grace Rajendran, freelance reviewer

Discover: Han Kang's We Do Not Part is a taut, psychological study of generational trauma and the haunting aftereffects of human brutality.

In Erika Krouse's fourth book, the sparkling short story collection Save Me, Stranger, chance meetings prompt realizations and momentous choices.

These 12 first-person narratives are voiced by people in crisis, whom Krouse adroitly and compassionately connects readers to, despite their sometimes extreme cases. But encounters with strangers tender the possibility of transformation. In the title story, the narrator is taken hostage during a convenience store hold-up. Seeing that she is shielding her 10-year-old daughter, a teenage boy steps forward to take the woman's place--and is soon shot dead by the robbers. This single mother's struggle to string together seedy cleaning jobs fades into insignificance compared to the mission of learning about and memorializing her savior.

Krouse (Tell Me Everything) frequently focuses on young women presented with dilemmas, and travel is a recurring element, with stories set in Thailand and Japan as well as various U.S. states: Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio. Krouse doesn't shy away from contentious matters, including suicide, domestic violence, abortion, and the handling of Nazi loot and Confederate artifacts. Sex work and gun culture creep into a racially divided Midwestern town in "North of Dodge," while "Fear Me as You Fear God" adds a dollop of magic realism as a hotel ghost helps a woman confront her abusive husband.

Krouse exhibits tremendous range, imagining herself into a myriad places, minds, and situations. She often eschews tidy endings, leaving characters on the brink and allowing readers to draw inferences about what they will decide. Fans of Danielle Evans and Lauren Groff have a treat in store. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck

Discover: The dozen stories in Erika Krouse's sparkling second collection feature travel, controversial issues, and chance meetings as the characters approach epiphanies and decisions.

A satisfied smile surely awaits readers of The Rainfall Market, the bestselling debut fantasy by Korean author You Yeong-Gwang, arriving in an inviting English translation from Slin Jung. The feel-good, magical narrative features a teen's self-discovery quest with (slightly) softened reminders of universal, contemporary societal challenges.

Serin's father died, leaving the family poor. Their home burned down, forcing a move into a building that is now slated for demolition. Her mother is overworked; her younger sister ran away a year earlier without any further contact. Serin is finishing high school soon but has "no chance of saving enough for university." One night, with nothing to lose, Serin chooses to believe a local legend about the Rainfall Market and writes a long letter describing her difficult life.

Two months later, Serin finds a "vivid red envelope in the letterbox." Inside is an unusual offer: "Would you be interested in selling us your misfortune? At the Rainfall Market, you will have the chance to trade in your misfortune for a happier story in our stock." When the rainy season finally arrives, Serin rushes to the Rainfall Market, where she meets numerous Dokkaebi--mythical Korean goblins, some kind, some not. Her misfortunes earn her significant amount of gold coins that allow her to shop throughout the market. Serin's new wealth means she'll have many lives to try; she just needs to choose the one by the end of the rainy season. What she'll discover--with the help of her puppy-like guide-kitty Issha--will, of course, be full of unexpected surprises. The Rainfall Market's undeniable antidotal qualities will surely soothe minds and warm hearts. --Terry Hong

Discover: This bestselling Korean import presents a delightfully magical quest about a tenacious teen struggling to escape her difficult life--guided by a puppy-like kitty.

Pseudonymous author Uketsu, a YouTube sensation with almost two million followers, sports a black body stocking and white papier-mâché mask and speaks in a digitally distorted, childishly high voice in his videos. Readers can exuberantly thank translator Jim Rion for enabling Uketsu's Japanese bestseller Strange Pictures for English-language enjoyment. This enigmatic novel, enhanced with disturbing, cleverly placed drawings, is undoubtedly a creepy fun fest.

An untitled preface and four chapters compose Uketsu's narrative, and each section builds on--and slyly topples--prior revelations. He opens with a professor and former psychologist who presents and analyzes the first drawing: a house, a girl, a bird in a tree. The first chapter features two members of a college paranormal club who initially seem unrelated to the book's preface but who become obsessed with an obscure blog that abruptly stopped after the author "figured out the secret of those three drawings." Chapter 2 involves a drawing that five-year-old Yuta makes for a Mother's Day project at school. A scrawled sketch on a receipt in the third chapter reveals the identity of an art teacher's murderer, three years after the crime. The fourth and final chapter deliciously explains all the interrelated details, including truths concealed in the initial image.

Uketsu is a meticulous storyteller who easily manipulates readers into agreeing with what the characters believe, even as he plants devastating, incriminating clues in plain sight. The blogger's stunted reactions to his pregnant wife's drawings, for example, are sweetly innocuous, but they hold the answers to multiple murders. Uketsu's deftly controlled whiplash effect will inspire a single-sitting thrill. --Terry Hong

Discover: Japan's mysterious YouTube personality Uketsu writes an enigmatic novel that cleverly reveals the identity of a murderer with multiple victims.

Stuart Murdoch, front man and principal songwriter for the Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian, was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome before he made his creative mark in the mid-1990s; he sings about his struggle in "Nobody's Empire." In his identically titled autobiographical debut novel, Murdoch addresses the same subject, writing with endearing bemusement, charming self-deprecation, and winning petulance.

Nobody's Empire begins in Glasgow in 1991, with 20-something narrator Stephen Rutherford on disability and trying to get out from under his semi-incapacitating illness, which at its meanest required hospitalization. Stephen explores treatment options, dabbles in songwriting ("In the absence of anything else, maybe I can do this"), becomes an episodic churchgoer, tries fruitlessly to get warm, and sells his record collection to finance three restorative months in sunny California. In this new world, Stephen plays his first gig and enjoys an "international tryst." Then it's back to Glasgow for more of the same... but different, too.

The novel's chatty, confiding style accommodates a parade of wry turns of phrase (Stephen's old school chum was "as open as I was to the everyday harassment of being a non-fighting male"). Murdoch plants some Easter eggs for Belle and Sebastian fans, but Nobody's Empire can speak to anyone drawn to slay-the-dragon chronicles. Stephen's song and book recommendations amount to sterling play- and reading lists, and they set up readers to embrace what is apparently Murdoch's philosophy, captured in his fictional counterpart's remark, "I love [P.G.] Wodehouse. You see, as long as there's things to love we'll be ok." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Discover: A young man copes with chronic fatigue syndrome in Belle and Sebastian front man Stuart Murdoch's autobiographical debut novel, written with charming self-deprecation and winning petulance.

A chimpanzee bites the hand of a man who has no face. A gardener muses that a cypress tree "seemed to hear my thoughts." A man's body dissolves while walking. These are some of the avant-garde touches, from the delightful to the scary, in the stories of Mother River, a mesmerizing collection by Can Xue, translated from the Chinese by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping. Aside from cats, the most frequently recurring characters here are shadows, starting with the title story, set in a fishing village where, as a fisherman tells a protégé, "a huge dark shadow would rise in the Wu River and it would motionlessly occupy half the sky." Equally eerie silhouettes appear in "The Neighborhood," where a woman peers through a telescope and sees "surging shadows" outside her flat. This occurs after she meets the building's electrician, who has developed "a black hole in the back of his head."

These plotless pieces may seem devoted to the surreal by mere gossamer strands, but a closer look reveals them to be far more allegorical. Consider "Stone Village," where "stones of all sizes sprouted continuously from the earth," or "Smog City," with a haze so thick that residents "couldn't make out the faces of people only six or seven meters away," and it's easy to detect political parallels. Even less overtly political pieces, such as "At the Edge of the Marsh," in which a young boy's uncle teaches him to commune with nature, have an infectious resonance. For those unfamiliar with Can Xue, Mother River is an excellent introduction to the work of one of China's most distinctive authors. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer

Discover: The stories in Mother River, by Chinese author Can Xue, are mesmerizing works that present a host of surreal pleasures, such as trees that can read thoughts and stones sprouting in unlikely places.

Laurie L. Dove's atmospheric, frequently grim, and emotionally charged debut, Mask of the Deer Woman, features a former police detective trying to outrun her old life by taking a job as tribal marshal on an Oklahoma reservation. Tasked with solving the cold cases of a growing number of missing Indigenous women and girls, she is inclined to focus instead on her own lost daughter.

Marshal Carrie Starr is the novel's protagonist, but Mask of the Deer Woman's chapters shift among various characters, beginning with Chenoa Cloud, a college student from the rez. Chenoa's disappearance into the Saliquaw Nation's backcountry sets the stage for Starr's arrival. The Bureau of Indian Affairs job is a last resort for Starr, and not one she relishes, but her daughter's murder and the man she subsequently gunned down ended her career as detective. Starr is half Indigenous, but out of touch with that part of her personal history. Trading on her late father's Saliquaw identity earns her a poorly appointed cinder-block office, a BIA-issued, broken-down Ford Bronco, and the locals' distrust.

Beyond the intoxicants she takes to escape her pain, Starr is knocked off-balance by tales of the Deer Woman. Part monster, part avenging angel, part capricious force of nature, this legend seems to follow the disoriented marshal, although the boundaries between magic, hallucination, and self-medicated grief are unclear. Political and commercial machinations accompany the missing women and the struggling tribal marshal in a novel of grief, violence, community, empowerment, and pain.

This dark mystery will thrill readers and immerse them in a powerfully portrayed world of great losses and high stakes. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Discover: A disgraced police detective takes a job as tribal marshal to pursue the mystery of a series of missing women, but has trouble seeing beyond her own lost daughter.

Ellen Yardley's smart, twisty novel Eleanor and the Cold War follows former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her fictional secretary, Kay Thompson, as they investigate a mystery. With a mix of fictitious and historical characters, Yardley's narrative examines power dynamics and politics in postwar Washington, D.C., as well as shifting societal roles for women.

When Kay and Eleanor arrive by train at D.C.'s Union Station in the fall of 1951, they discover the body of a young woman in the lounge car. Eleanor recognizes the woman as Susan Meyer, aspiring actress and daughter of European scientist Elsa Meyer, and begins making discreet inquiries into her death, with Kay's help. Kay's ultimate goal is marriage to a rich husband, but her experience working for Mrs. Roosevelt opens her eyes to different possibilities. As the two women dig into Susan's life and her potential connections to the Soviet Union, they encounter rising political stars (such as Congressman John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert) and established Washington movers and shakers. Kay fends off harassment and condescension and--to her surprise--develops a taste for sleuthing as well as a deep respect for Eleanor's combination of grace and grit as she seeks justice for Susan.

Yardley peppers her narrative with extracts from Eleanor's long-running "My Day" newspaper column, as well as tidbits about her life and marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She balances Eleanor's wisdom with Kay's sometimes impulsive decisions and good instincts; the women make an entertaining crime-solving team. Fans of historical mysteries will enjoy Eleanor's (and Kay's) foray into detective work among D.C.'s elite. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Ellen Yardley's smart, twisty mystery imagines former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her secretary as amateur sleuths in 1950s Washington, D.C.

S.J. Bennett's smart, witty fourth mystery featuring Queen Elizabeth II, A Death in Diamonds, takes readers back to 1957, when the queen helps solve a double murder that may be linked to a high-level sabotage plot.

The queen is navigating the shift from World War II-era militarism to tentative Cold War diplomacy and rising to the challenges of being a young monarch and mother. She is advised by many of her father's old courtiers, though she suspects some of them are more invested in their own success than in hers. When a double murder is discovered in a Chelsea flat--with the female victim wearing an expensive tiara--Elizabeth finds herself serving as the alibi for someone in her inner circle. Unsure whom she can trust (other than her beloved corgis), the queen enlists Joan McGraw, a former Bletchley Park codebreaker, to ask discreet questions and serve as her ally in the palace.

Bennett (Murder Most Royal) captures the nuances of 1950s Great Britain, a country finally free of wartime privations but beset by shifting political realities. Debates about imperialism, the role of the monarchy, and the capability of women in leadership roles evoke parallels to the 21st century. Joan, who proves a trusted adviser to the queen, must learn to handle tricky power dynamics in the palace, while keeping a low profile as she investigates. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth travels on a state visit to the U.S. and Canada, where she handles official business alongside her sleuthing.

Well plotted and insightful, Bennett's narrative is a treat for Anglophiles and mystery lovers. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: S.J. Bennett's smart, witty fourth mystery follows Queen Elizabeth II as she investigates a double murder and a sabotage plot in 1950s Great Britain.

Kritika H. Rao (The Surviving Sky) reclaims a character from Hindu tradition in the epic romantic fantasy The Legend of Meneka, first in the planned Divine Dancers duology.

Meneka is an apsara from Amaravati, the City of Immortals and seat of the god Indra. Although she is a celestial being imbued with magical powers of dance and illusion, Meneka's long list of missions to seduce and desert human leaders has left her jaded. Her ill-considered request to remain in Amaravati angers Indra terribly and results in Meneka striking an impossible bargain. A powerful sage named Kaushika is challenging Indra by encouraging surrounding leaders to stop worshiping him, which would lead to the downfall of Amaravati. Meneka volunteers to distract the sage from his goals, on the condition that Indra grants her request if she succeeds.

Meneka braces to match her skills against a scheming, diabolical villain in the mortal world. However, nothing can prepare her for the powerful, arrogant Kaushika, whose abhorrence of Indra comes not from ambition but disgust at the god's uncaring attitude toward humanity. Meneka poses as a hopeful acolyte at his hermitage, and respect and a powerful attraction grow between them. Meneka finds her loyalties divided between the home she loves and the man who has captured her heart.

Rao's spellbinding prose conjures a cinematic grandeur, and her worldbuilding brings legends to life in this gorgeous love story. Meneka's transformation from naive and yearning to powerful and self-assured is inspirational and engrossing, and her journey to love and community feels authentic and meaningful. Gods war with sages as faith is forged and shattered in this dynamic, woman-forward retelling. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Discover: A beautiful apsara finds herself captivated by the man she's supposed to seduce and betray in this epic, romantic fantasy retelling of a Hindu story.

The sirens of Greco-Roman mythology get a colonial American spin in Shannon Ives's Those Fatal Flowers, a shimmering debut replete with sorrow and rage. While serving as handmaiden to the goddess Prosperina, Thelia makes a fateful choice that betrays her beloved goddess to the underworld. As punishment, she and her sisters are cursed to become half-human, half-bird creatures on the island of Scopuli. The sailors they lure to their deaths with songs serve as both sacrificial atonement and spiritual sustenance. Centuries pass before hope appears: a message from Prosperina offering a way to break the curse, so a solitary Thelia sets sail. She eventually washes up on the shores of Roanoke Colony and is taken to the Puritan city of Raleigh, where she poses as a wealthy princess seeking a husband.

Although she is familiar with the ways dangerous men harm women, Thelia is now in a less powerful human form, and she learns new fears and degrees of violation in concert with the colony's women, who are working to survive the unforgiving landscape outside the fort's walls as well as the odious men within. Thelia reckons with the nature of men and monsters while falling in love with Cora, a beautiful settler, and learning that gaining autonomy is never a solitary act. Ives places the sirens' power in their song rather than reducing it to any sort of physical seduction, and she emphasizes the inherent power of what they hold in their mouths. With alluring prose and dual timelines, Those Fatal Flowers crescendos to give readers a tense novel about how underestimating women has been the downfall of many throughout history. --Kristen Coates, editor and freelance reviewer

Discover: This sapphic retelling of the mythological sirens, which unfolds in dual timelines between the lost colony of Roanoke and the legendary island of Scopuli, emphasizes the power of women.

In Jenny Elder Moke's funny and romantic first novel for adults, She Doesn't Have a Clue, a mystery author must tap into her protagonist's skill set to save a life and her reputation. When Kate Valentine receives a courtesy invitation to her former fiancé turned current editor's wedding, she's ready to say no. Then the bride-to-be's fabulously wealthy and famously hellish aunt, Rebecca Hempstead, sends her a personal note urging her to attend. What mystery lover could say no?

Unfortunately, Kate discovers she's in for much worse than awkwardly sipping champagne at her ex's nuptials. Soon she's framed for the (attempted) murder of said ex-fiancé's new bride, Kennedy--while staying at Kennedy's family's taxidermy-filled mansion on a remote island, no less--and stuck with The One Who Got Away, Australian adventure guide and fellow author Jake. Kennedy survives, and everyone is determined to pretend she simply fell ill so they can carry on with the wedding. As a storm descends on the island, however, Kate and Jake discover another body.

This fast-paced novel is packed with suspects: scheming Hempstead family members, disgruntled authors, and love interests old and new. Unlike Loretta Starling, the star of her mystery series, Kate is not a skilled sleuth. Indeed, the charm of this novel lies in Kate's fumbles, her ill-timed reconciliation with Jake, and her journey from supporting actor to main character in her own life.

Readers who enjoy bumbling amateur detectives, second-chance romances, and Glass Onion vibes will want to pick this up. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian

Discover: A mystery author teams up with a man from her past to clear her name in this romance-mystery mash-up, perfect for fans who like their mysteries fast paced and funny, with a happily ever after.

Dirtbag Queen is a raucous joyride of a memoir. Andy Corren tells the story of his mother, Renay Corren, and the community of misfits who orbited her. He begins with the Correns and their eccentricities, or as he puts it: "These people. These beautiful, loud, leathery, Jewish people. My people." He progresses to a series of vignettes about getting along with his family, growing up queer in 1980s North Carolina, and burning bowling pins to keep warm each time the family failed to pay their power bill. And at the center of it all was Renay.

Corren is laughing-uncontrollably-on-public-transit funny, in the vein of comic masters like David Sedaris. His writing has an inherent poetic rhythm, a textual comedic timing. Layers of real tenderness give this offbeat comedy a surprising depth. One noteworthy aspect is how Corren portrays Renay as more than just a mother. He celebrates her for being flawed and messy, as he wrote in the widely read obituary that led to this memoir: Renay was a woman who "didn't clean, and was lousy with money," but was "great at dyeing her red roots, weekly manicures, filthy jokes, pier fishing, rolling joints and buying dirty magazines."

Dirtbag Queen is hilarious and poignant. Corren's big-hearted and generous telling shares with readers the magic of Renay and the people who were permitted the honor of being in her radiant presence. Under the fart jokes and self-deprecating humor, it's a touching tribute to what it means to be human, to love, and to be loved. --Carol Caley, writer

Discover: In this raucous joyride of a memoir, Andy Corren pays tribute to his mother and the eccentric community of misfits who orbited her.

Climate change and eco-conscious political action are at the forefront of various global conversations as it becomes harder to deny that the current status quo is not going to be sustainable for much longer. As debates rage about the most effective course of action, interdisciplinary theorist Tao Leigh Goffe passionately argues that the future cannot be solved without turning to the past. Using both personal history and an approachable distillation of academic research, Goffe presents in Dark Laboratory a new understanding of the current ecological landscape as connected to the extractive colonial practices imposed upon the world by European nations from the Early Modern period through the Industrial Age, and beyond.

Using Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean to mark the start of globalization in practice, Goffe draws connections between ideas about race, economic progress, and how plantations and extractive practices begat the current capitalist society. She centers this idea: "Freedom for everyone requires a confrontation with the capitalist greed upon Western society was founded."

Perhaps most importantly, Goffe uses her heritage--which she describes as at the intersection of Black and Chinese cultures brought into contact specifically through British colonialism--to demonstrate the impacts of colonialism and how she has ties to several heritages and environments that met specifically because of those European incursions. As she traces the threads of Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous resistance tied to the mountains, the oceans, the coral reefs, to birdsong and the resonances of plants, she calls readers to rethink their relationships to environments, to rethink the idea of ownership and belonging, and so also rethink the idea of climate justice for everyone. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer

Discover: Tao Leigh Goffe presents a compelling argument for why there will be no lasting climate solutions without indigenous sovereignty and racial equity at the core of the efforts.

Former journalist/magazine publisher Suzy Hopkins never expected her marriage to implode, but after three decades, her husband announced "starry-eyed that he'd reconnected with a former girlfriend." Encouraged and enabled by her daughter, author/artist Hallie Bateman, the duo created What to Do When You Get Dumped, an affecting graphic how-to for gradually, realistically "unbreaking your heart." Vulnerably heart-wrenching, yet infused with laugh-out-loud humor, mother and daughter create a rallying guide to learning to be okay.

Hopkins's introduction is notably raw: "Welcome to your new life: the one you didn't ask for, didn't want, and never expected." Hopkins slowly sheds her grief through writing this "pep talk of sorts." She admits to an initially unbearable journey--relentless panic, damaging flashbacks, agonizing aftershocks--but tiny steps signal progress. Choosing to live is the biggest accomplishment. She advises "go easy on yourself," ask for help, don't forget to shower, and maybe use a sledgehammer to break something co-owned with the ex (Hopkins picked a litter box).

Hopkins writes, Bateman draws--in full-color, cartoon-esque style, rife with outrage and mourning, but also warm laughter, across saturated pages, occasional panels, labeled diagrams and dioramas. Underscoring their symbiotic bond, Bateman's illustrations highlight intimate details that perhaps only a daughter could know: the hindsight dissection of family photos, her mother's wardrobe ("stretch-tastic sweatpants!"), her "helpful" movies (the aptly titled Cast Away). By sharing their mutual, unconditional support, mother and daughter provide both the empathy and tools to inspire others to "believe [they] could make it through to a new life... [from] steps A, B, and C, and if [necessary], D through Z." --Terry Hong

Discover: Mother Suzy Hopkins and daughter Hallie Bateman create a heartfelt, encouraging, surprisingly humorous guide to recovering from the overwhelming break-up of a long relationship.

Alison Wood Brooks was hired to teach courses on negotiation at Harvard Business School, but she quickly realized that the concepts of negotiation are applicable beyond business, since every conversation is a "coordination game." She developed a course that forms the basis for Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves, a captivating exploration of the dynamics of conversation with advice on improving conversational skills.

Brooks uses anecdotes from history, her personal life, and her students' experiences to address the skepticism many might feel about approaching casual interactions among friends as a science with rules that can be learned. Brooks makes a convincing case that forethought and strategy enhance each encounter, rather than turning informal chats into stilted affairs. Then, she outlines the four maxims of her TALK framework: topics, asking, levity, and kindness. The final three chapters take readers into more complex situations, such as conversations among large groups where coordination seems impossible, conversations about difficult or controversial topics, and conversations centering on apologies. The book's appendix includes a series of exercises to help readers put the TALK maxims into practice--to play with them, bend them, and eventually move past needing to consciously think about them. Throughout, Brooks uses a playful tone and several graphs to illustrate the concepts.

Everyone stands to gain from this fun and fascinating book, including people who love conversation, those who dread it, and those with neurodivergent traits. Readers are sure to notice patterns Brooks discusses as they engage in daily routines, and their conversation skills and empathy will inevitably be improved. --Dainy Bernstein, freelance reviewer

Discover: In this fun and informational book, the sometimes-hidden maneuvers of conversation are clearly explained, with tips to help readers improve their conversational skills.

Tracy Sierra kicks off her debut novel with an immediate sense of dread: a mother standing in the darkened doorway of her son's bedroom realizes someone is inside her house. Nothing decelerates from there; to hide from the invader, the mother and her two young children quickly crawl inside a secret space behind the walls of the old New England home. Claustrophobia and terror set in as she tries to comfort her children while frightening them into necessary silence. The man whose "presence had the distantly familiar rancidness of something wrong and rotten she'd tasted before but couldn't quite place" searches the house, taunting them all the while.

Sierra noticeably leaves her characters unnamed, effectively developing a narrow focus on a real-time threat that readers can inhabit with her protagonist. Nightwatching skillfully stitches the panicked present to the mother's memories and past experiences, along with everything that comes after. After fighting her way to rescue, she faces another obstacle familiar to many women: being believed. ("Actually, you're crazy. But really, you purposefully set it up. Truly, you're lying, but also, you just imagined it.... You're paranoid, hysterical, but not emotional enough. Your story is too linear, but you make no sense.") This engrossing psychological thriller places immediate physical danger in conversation with what it means to move through the world as a mother, a wife, and a woman, ultimately suggesting that "[m]aybe bravery is just enduring. Maybe bravery doesn't exist. All there is is getting through it." --Kristen Coates, editor and freelance reviewer

Discover: This absorbing debut thriller presents a terrifying home invasion while asking if it's possible to divorce one's worst experiences from the question of what we did to deserve them.

There's something about Manhattan apartment buildings that demands to be the setting for psychological thrillers. Among such novels, there's Rosemary's Baby, SWF Seeks Same, Must Read Well, and now Lisa Unger's The New Couple in 5B, an exemplar of this seductive subgenre.

The novel is narrated by Rosie Lowan, a writer working on a follow-up to her successful true-crime debut. Her next book will be about the Windermere, a Park Avenue apartment building with a macabre past. Rosie got to know the Windermere through one of its residents: Ivan, her floundering-actor husband Chad's ailing uncle. After Ivan dies, Rosie learns that he has willed the couple his unit, which surprises her, as she recalls Ivan saying that the property would be going to his estranged daughter. Also curious: when Rosie is exploring the Windermere's basement, she has an encounter that tests her resolve not to believe in ghosts.

Despite the novel's occult preoccupations, Unger (Confessions on the 7:45; Last Girl Ghosted) makes the story work for readers who like their mysteries to follow the rules of logic. A parallel narrative set in 1963 will have readers one step ahead of Rosie at times, but anticipating when and how she'll see the light is irresistible enticement to turn pages. At one point, Rosie and her editor "fork fight" over a shared tiramisu, and reading The New Couple in 5B is like tucking into a rich dessert: it's dark and intense but goes down so easy that one is disinclined to stop. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Discover: Centered on a couple who inherit a unit in a storied New York apartment building, this seductive psychological thriller follows the rules of logic but has decidedly occult preoccupations.

Prepare for some excellent crying sessions with Benjamin Perry's debut book, Learning to Cry: Why Our Tears Matter. Perry draws on his background in psychology and queer progressive Christian ministry--supplemented with conversations with leaders from multiple faiths and activist groups--to explore and invite readers to join him in the act of crying.

Perry opens with the story of his realization that he hadn't cried for 12 years and his quest to reconnect with everything that weeping offers. The next chapters widen the narrative with other people's stories to illustrate scientific and literary ideas about the power of emotional tears. The middle chapters address how crying is mapped onto bodies of various identities in the United States, accompanied by gendered and racialized expectations, and the last chapters examine the paradigm-shifting potential of tears on national and global levels.

Learning to Cry holds space for those marginalized by a culture whose relationship with tears and vulnerability is marked by the worst parts of white American capitalistic history. Perry points to social media trends, and Gen Z's consciously radical tears as disruptive of white American capitalism and, therefore, revolutionary. The book's tone is uplifting even when focused on outrage about harmful mockery of genuine tears and weaponization of crocodile tears, with vividly poetic lines like "our lacrimation doesn't just help us communicate; it whispers secrets about ourselves--our fervent hopes and aching longing." Turning to his ministry experience, Perry ends with "A Blessing for Crying," the perfect summation of this excellent book. --Dainy Bernstein, literature professor, University of Pittsburgh

Discover: In Learning to Cry: Why Our Tears Matter, Benjamin Perry explores the revolutionary power of tears with wit, humor, empathy, and hope.

"Alferez Antonio Sonoro was born with gold in his eyes." Thus begins The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James (Mona at Sea), a novel that examines three generations of men in the Sonoro family, each grappling with their own relationship to violence, justice, trauma, and forgiveness. Alferez Antonio is one of the anchors to this story's pain, the source of a line of evil that demands a certain retribution. But the book leaves Alferez Antonio in the prologue, alternating between his son Antonio, a Mexican bandido known in 1895 as El Tragabalas (the Bullet Swallower), and his great grandson Jaime, star of wildly popular ranchera comedies in 1964 Mexico.

A failed robbery lands Antonio in the sights of the Texas Rangers, and fans of classic westerns will appreciate the atmosphere of every dusty backwater town and the tumult of each gunfight. But The Bullet Swallower is much more than just a western, introducing elements of magical realism that provide the perfect backdrop for its exploration of morality and the generational impact of human choices.

The novel is based on the family history of the author, including her great-grandfather, a bandido known as El Tragabalas. In an author's note, James comments, "Everything in this book is true except for the stuff I made up." Her blending of fact and fantasy, magic and morality, and the weight of family history is a success, making The Bullet Swallower both a page-turner with impeccable pacing and a complicated narrative full of unexpected elements and deeper questions. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian

Discover: The Bullet Swallower is more than just a fabulous western, with elements of magical realism providing a perfect backdrop for its exploration of morality and the generational impact of human choices.

A teen with a rare superpower--invincibility--must defend herself and her one-year-old babysitting charge in this energetic and emotional thriller packed with bitter battles, heartrending grief, and hard-won trust.

Tru Stallard is a bastion. If Underhill, the peacekeeping taskforce of "talents," knew the 17-year-old was nigh invincible, they would lock her "away in a bunker" for fear of her powers. Her secret life is imperiled during a babysitting gig: Logan Dire, her adoptive father and the legendary Ghoul of Kansas City, is assassinated by Underhill for supposedly murdering a one-year-old. Tru and her friends know Logan has been framed because they are currently minding the very-much-alive baby. That baby, it turns out, is also bastion--one Underhill wants the world to think is dead even as it hunts her. Tru, afraid to reveal her own invulnerability to anyone, must rely on her friends to help her thwart the agency while she mourns the man who taught her the dangers of trust.

The Assassin's Guide to Babysitting by Natalie C. Parker (The Devouring Wolf) has exciting superpowered feats and fight sequences; sly scheming; Sapphic love; a blueberry-obsessed, indestructible baby; and a teddy bear of a man in an assassin's body (favorite hobby: baking). Flashbacks to Logan's lessons reveal the pair's disarmingly endearing relationship. Tense moments pull unforgivingly taut or break brilliantly under satisfyingly solid quips and grim humor. As Tru plots to outmaneuver Underhill, she works admirably to lower her guard for a chance at acceptance. With this, Parker layers a clever plot and gripping suspense atop a gratifyingly tender and funny narrative celebrating found family. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer

Discover: A teen whose superpower is widely feared must use it to fight for her one-year-old charge and herself in this dynamic and emotional thriller.

Two-time Pura Belpré illustration honoree Angela Dominguez (the Stella Diaz series; Mango, Abuela, and Me) gives young readers a hilarious and exceedingly relatable series opener, Gabby Torres Gets a Billion Followers, about a nine-year-old's first time navigating social media.

Gabby Torres is the youngest member of the Sea Musketeers, a group of kids whose mission is to spread awareness about protecting the ocean. Gabby proposes they create a social media account, telling them that she helps her mom with social media posts for her bookstore: "I mostly give my mom a thumbs-up after she posts, but they don't need to know that." Now that social media "expert" Gabby has the go-ahead from her fellow Sea Musketeers, she must convince her grownups that she can manage a social media account like a "mature" kid.

Dominquez uses tons of white space in this illustrated chapter book, allowing plenty of room for her friendly, accessible text and her dynamic, black-lined spot art. The author/illustrator highlights important and humorous moments in text and images, such as when Gabby sneaks onto the social media site: her body faces the reader and her glasses fill one half of her face, a massive, manic smile filling the other. Dominguez balances humor with realism, making facing an online troll (Unicorn$R4babiez) a learning experience for Gabby. Early reader fans of Remy Lai and Colleen AF Venable should find a lot to love in this kind, comical, and optimistic series starter. -- Kharissa Kenner, library media specialist, Churchill School and Center

Discover: An entertaining, upbeat, and edifying illustrated chapter book about a nine-year-old using social media for the first time.

The past feels astonishingly present in Debbie Levy's comprehensive and conversational A Dangerous Idea, a nonfiction work for young readers about the 1925 battle over evolution in the classroom that features a book ban, sensationalistic journalism, celebrities turned politicians, and sparring over curriculum.

John T. Scopes was fresh off his first year of teaching when "the leading citizens of the tiny burg of Dayton, Tennessee" summoned him to the drugstore for a chat. Scopes had unwittingly violated the Butler Act, a newly enacted law in defense of biblical literalism that prohibited teaching evolution. Scopes did so by employing Tennessee's standard biology textbook. Would Scopes, the Dayton citizens asked, "be willing to stand for a test case?" Dayton hoped for "a little publicity," but the subsequent trial turned into a full-fledged media circus when legendary charismatic soliloquists and lawyers William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow came to town. The two faced off in "a celebrity slugfest" in what became the first trial broadcast on radio. The town flooded with visitors, and newspapers across the country published daily updates: "There was never before, and has never been, another day in court like it."

Sibert Honor winner Debbie Levy (This Promise of Change; We Shall Overcome) carefully traces the tandem meteoric rises of Bryan and Darrow and the evolutionary opposing views that led to their involvement in the Scopes "Monkey Trial." The text is richly enhanced with archival photos while cinematic descriptions of trial scenes benefit from transcript excerpts and pithy newspaper quotes. A Dangerous Idea should hold appeal for readers in search of historical context around politically shrouded efforts to shelter students from information. Though when history repeats itself, we should all pay attention. --Kit Ballenger, youth librarian, Help Your Shelf

Discover: A thorough and conversational middle-grade chronicle of the 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial," a battle between two charismatic speechmakers over the teaching of evolution in Tennessee classrooms.

Author Ben Kahn (Renegade Rule) and illustrator Georgeo Brooks (Immortals Fenyx Rising) reunite for the lively, diverting middle-grade graphic novel Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars.

Eleven-year-old, brown-skinned Reuben Mahmoud, to avoid homework, takes his corgi, Mr. Muffins, to the park. When they arrive, a spaceship slams into the ground with a mighty "KRASH!" Lt. Cassara of the Voltarian Alliance, a bipedal purple alien with axolotl-like features, steps out of the smoking craft and tells Reuben they are "on a mission of galactic importance": to retrieve the spirit of the champion of light and bring it back to their people. Cassara claims Mr. Muffins is harboring the spirit, and she must take the dog. "He's not some weapon for you to fire," Reuben says. "He's my friend. He's a good boy. If he goes to space, I go to space." Cassara tells the boy he does not understand the danger. "And you," Reuben replies, "don't understand how much I don't want to do my homework."

Kahn and Brooks present the unwavering love between a boy and his dog: Reuben and Mr. Muffins are ceaselessly loyal to one another and stand by each other's side no matter the trouble. Brooks's thickly lined panels create a seamless flow, his characters are large-eyed and expressive, and his art highlights angles and perspectives. Throughout the action-packed and emotional scenes, there are a ton of silly asides and direct visual and textual jokes. Mr. Muffins truly has it all: epic space battles, heartwarming moments, and a super-powered corgi. --Kharissa Kenner, library media specialist, Churchill School and Center

Discover: Ben Kahn and Georgeo Brooks deliver a hilariously mesmerizing graphic novel about the bond between a boy and his alien spirit-harboring corgi.

Joining the ranks of picture books about unsung trailblazers is Make Your Mark: The Empowering True Story of the First Known Black Female Tattoo Artist. In it, debut author Jacci Gresham, who holds the distinction cited in the book's subtitle, zestfully tells her story with likewise-debuting collaborator Sherry Fellores, with illustrations by David Wilkerson (the Leaders Like Us series).

Gresham was an art-loving kid who drew outside the lines. In middle school, she was the only girl in her drafting class and went on to study architecture and engineering, landing a job at General Motors in Detroit; still, she longed to "create something curvy, squiggly, and totally my style." When she got laid off, she moved to New Orleans, where she decided to become a tattoo artist and open a shop with a friend--even though she had no experience giving tattoos and wasn't aware of any other Black tattoo artists. Gresham became a stabilizing neighborhood presence and helped pull her community together when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005; she used "my art and the work of my life to spread peace."

Make Your Mark will likely enlighten even those for whom tattoos are a common sight. Some readers may be unaware, say, of the special tattooing considerations for people with dark skin or that it was once socially unacceptable for women to have tattoos. The book's encouraging subheads ("Express Yourself"; "Do What Scares You") are unnecessary: Gresham's narration, coupled with Wilkerson's vivacious art in the full range of tattoo-ink colors, is sufficiently galvanizing. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author

Discover: Joining the ranks of picture books about unsung trailblazers is Make Your Mark, in which New Orleans tattoo artist Jacci Gresham zestfully tells her story.