It’s finally summer, aka the best time of the year for new releases and beach reads. As a firm believer that a beach read is simply any book you would bring to the beach to read I’ve curated a list of new books dropping this summer that should definitely be in your beach bag. 2024 is the year of some phenomenal debuts, particularly in the science fiction and fantasy genres. You’ll find quite a few featured here as well as several new books by my all-time favorite authors. Jump into the summer with a cozy zookeeper fantasy, a meta-villainous romp, queers in space, an intense Hollywood thriller, and the next great retelling.
The Phoenix Keeper by S.A Maclean
Step inside San Tamculo Zoo and experience a whimsical cozy fantasy complete with a sapphic rivals to lovers romance. In a zoo abounding with magical creatures a zookeeper works to save a critically endangered species of firebird, and must rely on her college rival turned colleague in order to turn things around. The Phoenix Keeper is the perfect blend of cozy atmosphere, fantasy, romance, and heart. Impossibly, it feels like the inhabitants of San Tamculo Zoo have leapt off of the page fully formed and each chapter brings you further into the grounds. S.A. Maclean hones in on species conservation and the bureaucratic setbacks that make it all the more challenging. The stakes are as high as the tension between two workplace rivals turned allies who decidedly don’t have feelings for one another. Expertly paced and laced with romance and intrigue, Maclean takes readers through the day-to-day operations of San Tamculo Zoo and the lives and loves of the charming zookeeping staff. The Phoenix Keeper had me wishing I was stepping through the gates of this zoo and getting to experience the magic of these fantastical species for myself. Maclean’s debut is a vivid cacophony of color, fluttering wings, and magic that you won’t want to miss!
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The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
The Stars Too Fondly is a cozy and queer science fiction debut about the price of progress at the expense of the many, and a generation seeking salvation among the stars. Featuring: a diverse cast and fun twisty spacetime adventures –not to mention the accessibility of iced drinks and rom-coms on a spaceship (a priority if you have queers in space). Prepare to fall hopelessly in with Hamilton’s crew of loud and loveable characters that feel like their own kind of family and love just as large. Emily Hamilton manages to pack a ton of information into her debut, balancing out the interpersonal conflicts with a compelling discussion of space exploration and scientific hubris. I loved learning more about the lore of the Providence crew, what went wrong in the initial launch, and the reveals with the dark matter and its powers. Altogether just a delightful mashup of romance and science fiction that will appeal to many readers inside and outside both genres.
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The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
One can always count on Silvia Moreno-Garcia to provide the book of the summer. Enter 1950s Hollywood, where actresses who pulled themselves up from the bottom fight for fame and the roles of a lifetime. The role that could propel current unknowns to stardom this time around is that of Salome, a legendary figure in art originating from biblical texts. The role of Salome is given to Vera Larios, a former unknown Mexican actress who is now an object of envy and desire. One such envier, Nancy Hartley, has always believed herself worthy of fame and finds that Vera is the one standing in the way. Framed between Vera’s and Nancy’s experiences and the story of Salome, Silvia Moreno-Garcia explores the mythologization of women through art in the past and within the studio system itself. Myths bend with reality and the studio system becomes a playing field for temptation, gossip, and unknowable pain. The Seventh Veil of Salome ties together a racing thriller with historical fiction and in classic Silvia Moreno-Garcia fashion, it’s just brilliant.
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When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
Dymitr is a monster hunter, a task passed down through his family line that comes at great physical cost. However, it is his latest mission that could prove the most deadly: to track down the famed witch Baba Jaga and seek her favor. Across the streets of Chicago, in the dark alleyways and boarded-up buildings, Dymitr hatches a plot with one of the beings he has been tasked to kill. Ala, a cursed Zmora who feeds on fear agrees to help Dymitr in exchange for a cure for the curse that will one day claim her. Veronica Roth harnesses a dark, folkloric urban fantasy about pain and the cost of redemption in this startling fantasy novella. The modern setting of Chicago combined with Slavik monsters makes for a unique playing field for this quest narrative. One of my favorite things that Roth depicts are the knights of the Holy Order and the power that they wield, which comes at a cost. Dymitr’s ability to kill monsters comes from a sword that is embedded in his spine that he has to painfully remove anytime he makes a kill. Part of this quest for Ala and Dymitr is the weight of these generational struggles and the pain in excising them. When Among Crows packs a lot into one novella and all of it is making me crave more from Veronica Roth.
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A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Trapped by an abusive mother with a power of compulsion over her, Cordelia lives her life in fragments. There are no secrets between mother and daughter, and how can there be when there are no doors in their home and no relationships to call her own. Now her mother has uprooted them to a wealthy manor house, where an unsuspecting family find themselves her next victim. T. Kingfisher ingeniously reimagines the Brothers Grimm’s, Goose Girl in a tale overflowing with witchery and trickery. A Sorceress Comes to Call is a Regency fantasy that stands on the gap between a light, comforting fairy story, and a dark fantasy merged with horror. Kingfisher has written compelling and distinct characters who fight to cast off evil and are all the stronger for it. Cordelia steps out of the compulsion she has been placed in by her mother, and Hester casts off her constraints to find happiness. Both journeys were immensely satisfying and included moments of humor, wit, and of course, horror. T. Kingfisher is a tried and true author in many genres, and A Sorceress Comes to Call is yet another retelling to relish.
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Business Casual by B.K. Borison
The last thing Nova Porter is looking for is love, and too charming for his own good Charlie Milford threatens to break that resolve down to its measly crumbs. Whether that be trying to reel her onto the dance floor or helping her tattoo studio ahead of its opening anything related to Charlie spells trouble. However, Nova can’t back down from their mutual attraction and convinces Charlie of one night to beat their feelings. But unfortunately, it doesn’t do a damned thing. B.K Borison takes us back to Inglewild in this final installment that delivers on all of the steamy moments and wonderful relationships. I love the flipped grumpy sunshine couple dynamics that Borison does here with Nova as the black cat and Charlie as that overly open and sunshiny protagonist. The chemistry between these two is off the charts right from that initial scene at the wedding where Charlie is being so earnest and Nova is just freaked out by it. Charlie Milford is the book boyfriend of book boyfriends (I mean he reads historical romance? Girl marry him). Business Casual is a bittersweet farewell to Inglewild and all of the characters that have taken up so much space in my heart. Nova and Charlie bring on the tenderness and vulnerability and this series conclusion seriously hit me in the feels.
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Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
Long Live Evil is my first Sarah Rees Brennan novel and legitimately one of my favorite books of this year. Playing off of classic fantasy tropes, but subverting genre traditions, Sarah Rees Brennan delivers a fresh fantasy debut that asks the question: what would you do if set loose in your favorite fantasy series? Long Live Evil packs in the adventure but takes a nuanced approach to narrative and character archetypes. With villains running amok and heroes testing the boundaries of their morality, Long Live Evil isn’t your standard fantasy novel. It’s a campy, meta, absolute ball of a time and a reading experience I will not forget soon. A layered story within a story with an unexpected third layer (the original narrative that is seemingly changing), Long Live Evil embraces all the nuance, pop culture references, and hilarity. Brennan pushes the boundaries of storytelling through this portal fantasy with layered narratives within narratives and a scintillating blend of humor undercut by moments of intense poignancy. Bring on more chaos, morally grey characters, and schemes!
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Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel
Goddess of the River is an epic that charts the life of Ganga, a goddess of the river who becomes entrapped as a mortal after her godlings bring down anger from a powerful sage. Her pain is to remain stuck in human form until she births the godlings who will become trapped as mortals themselves. Patel shows memory as fluid as a river and the decisions that set a kingdom on a path to war. As Ganga experiences motherhood and the love that moves her to kill her godling children to free them back to their original form tragedy continues to be wrought. Once Ganga returns to the river she is an observer of her final child, Bhishma, stuck in his mortal form and forever apart from her. Patel molds her epic like a river charting its meandering course. At the center of this river are the issues of dharma, memory, and the rigid choices that bring further suffering. With multiple branching perspectives and interwoven lives around the river Goddess of the River is the kind of retelling I imagine will stand the test of time. I’m sure there are many people who feel that retellings are oversaturated in the market but Vaishnavi Patel proves once again that it is the Westernized mythologies that are overplayed. Goddess of the River is the kind of story I want to read over and over again.
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The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
Everyone’s favorite traveling cleric is back, partaking in a journey most gothic, with an unexpected twist, a transformative teapot, and hidden secrets tucked in the corners of a once powerful fortress. The Brides of High Hill is the fifth installment in The Singing Hills Cycle, one of my favorite ongoing fantasy novella series. The Singing Hills Cycle remains an entirely immersive series no matter what adventure Nghi Vo is delivering, but in no way is it ever predictable. I admire how this series interacts with genre and story and each bite size story is a new foray into both of those things. The Brides of High Hill has a prickly atmosphere and an aura of mystery that overhangs Cleric Chi’s latest adventure. Nghi Vo is high up on the list of my favorite authors. With each passing addition, I am left lingering on the talent of Nghi Vo’s worlds and words. Oh, do I want to live within them forever!
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The Ministry of Time by Kalaine Bradley
Part historical, part romance, and modern time travel narrative, The Ministry of Time is a captivating debut with something in it for every kind of reader. Set in the distant future, an unnamed civil servant is given the job offer of a lifetime for a mysterious project within the government. In secret, the government has somehow developed the ability to travel through time, but they have no idea of its viability or the effect it could have on human bodies. The solution: grab individuals from strenuous periods in time who were already fated to die and pull them into the current century. Her job is to be a bridge for one of these individuals, to cohabitate and monitor them as they adjust to modern-day life. Historically, Commander Graham Gore died in an expedition to the Arctic undertaken in 1845 but now he’s her new roommate and she is tasked with acclimating him to the modern day. The Ministry of Time is an invigorating debut that is as comedic as it is devastating. Teaching a strapping Victorian man about germs and feminism has got to be one of the funniest running bits in this story. Testing generational traumas and loyalties, The Ministry of Time is an exceptional debut that highlights the cost of love and maintaining our humanity. Certainly not one to miss!
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