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New York City remains one of the best places I’ve ever lived, and it’s partially because I felt so at home there as a reader. Take, for instance, how, once I’d moved away from campus and had to commute a bit, I joined the many train readers. There were even a few times when I looked up to see someone across the aisle reading the same book as me (the two times it happened, the books were Lolita and As I Lay Dying, if you were wondering). Suffice it to say, New York City gets me, and I always love hearing about anything bookish coming out of it.
And this report of the most popular books to be checked out within NYC’s three library systems is the latest bookish tea to catch my attention. It looks at the New York Public Library (which services the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island), the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public Library, and, surprisingly, they all have different results (though there is some overlap). I do love a good, bookish statistic.
As far as new books go, the deluge of fall releases has slowed down to a trickle, but there are still some bangers to be had. Stuck in the Country with You by Zuri Day, for starters, is a spicy small-town western romance, and Home and Away by Rochelle Alers traverses 80 years and goes from Nashville to Chicago, telling the story of a woman with strong ties to the Negro Baseball Leagues.
The featured books below have the next in a mecha-filled China-inspired sci-fi series, a genre-blending Gothic story of resurrectionists, and even man’s best friends going on adventures in space.
Heavenly Tyrant (Iron Widow, #2) by Xiran Jay Zhao
I don’t usually feature sequels in these new release roundups that pick up where the proceeding book left off, except when they’re like Zhao’s Iron Widow series, which had an amazing reception. To stave off spoilers, I’ll only tell you about the first book in the series, Iron Widow, which was inspired by the only female emperor in Chinese history: Wu Zetian. But here, her story is remixed a bit, as it takes place in a world where people have developed giant transforming robots to fight the mech aliens that lie in wait beyond the Great Wall. These robots come at a great price, though. They require two pilots—a male and a female—and one is always sacrificed. Usually, it’s the female pilot, but after 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a co-pilot (to get revenge against the pilot responsible for her sister’s death), it’s Zetian who lives and her male co-pilot who perishes. This gives her the label Iron Widow, which is just the beginning of her journey as a force to be reckoned with.
After the Ocean by Lauren E. Rico
This story of a decades-old unsolved mystery promises Nina LaCour, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Julia Alvarez teas. It follows Emilia Oliveras, whose past catches up to her. Let’s rewind a bit first, though—30 years ago, Emilia and her new husband Paul were on a Caribbean honeymoon when he disappeared and was presumed to have drowned. His wealthy family wanted Emilia to pay as his killer, but she managed to escape and reinvent herself as Emily Oliver. As Emily, she remarried and had two daughters, but her secrets from her first marriage ruined her second one, and now even her adult daughters don’t fully trust her. But then she gets a phone call one day that tells her Paul might not actually be dead, and as Emilia risks everything to get to the truth, her daughters aren’t too far behind.
I Will Scream to the World: My Story. My Fight. My Hope for Girls Everywhere. by Jaha Marie Dukureh
If you’re wondering what Dukureh has to scream about to the world in this memoir, it’s some of the worst stuff ever. When she was 15, she was forced to marry, which led to her learning that she was a victim of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a younger child. It’s after the second arranged marriage that she becomes an activist fighting for girls in her native Gambia and everywhere. She founded the organization Safe Hands, which eventually had FGM banned in Gambia. She’s now got her sights set on banishing FGM and child marriage worldwide within the next few years, and here, she gets into her work advocating for women and girls, and everything it has cost her.
The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
The series adaptation of The Alienist had me gagged (RIP Caleb Carr), and this debut promises a similarly Victorian and twisty Gothic good time. It’s 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and James Willoughby has forsaken a posh life for a gritty one studying surgery. His desire to be at the cutting edge of medicine leads to him wanting to work with human cadavers, which, combined with his naiveté, means he gets mixed up with Nye the body snatcher. Soon, the two get so deep into the body-snatching underworld that they become caught up with rival gangs all vying for prestige…and the freshest bodies.
This genre blender has a taste of everything, from dark academia to historical fiction (with some real facts mixed in).
Man’s Best by Pornsak Pichetshote, illustrated by Jesse Lonergan
The dope cover art intrigued me, but the “Homeward Bound on an alien planet” description completely sold me. Three emotional support pets—Athos, Porthos, and Lovey—are aboard the Starship Horizon with a crew and their human, Dr. Winters, when things get sticky. Suddenly, they find themselves having to traverse a new, dangerous, and wondrous world to find the doctor. Equipped with their mech suits, and each other, they’ll make their way past all manner of giant robots and mechanized metropolises.
As an added bonus, this is supposed to have an adaptation soon, which will be directed by James Wan (Aquaman).
Watch Your Back by Terri Parlato
After meeting under crappy conditions and having a whirlwind romance, Nathan and Eve get married. And things are good—they live on a quiet street, and they have an adorable daughter…But something is off. For one, Eve’s life as a psychiatrist has her stressed, her workplace makes her uneasy, and there was a break-in nearby. Interestingly enough, though, from detective Rita Myers’ perspective, Eve may be a suspect…or a victim. It’s hard to tell since everything seems to be happening around her. Then there’s a deadly Boston storm that busts everything wide open.
Other Book Riot New Releases Resources:
- All the Books, our weekly new book releases podcast, where Liberty and a cast of co-hosts talk about eight books out that week that we’ve read and loved.
- The New Books Newsletter, where we send you an email of the books out this week that are getting buzz.
- Finally, if you want the real inside scoop on new releases, you have to check out Book Riot’s New Release Index! That’s where I find 90% of new releases, and you can filter by trending books, Rioters’ picks, and even LGBTQ new releases!
