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Staff Picks

Upon finishing this trilogy, I sobbed for 45 minutes straight. This series has everything. A morally gray protagonist, platonic soulmates, intense action, well rounded characters, and horrific war crimes! Kuang has a lovely ability to connect readers to her characters, I occasionally forgot it was in 3rd person. She also knows how to make us suffer and I love her for it. This series changed me as a person and reader; and I'll be chasing this high for the foreseeable future. [Zephyr]

I loved this chapbook-length collection of flash fiction. While I could have easily consumed it in one sitting, I instead enjoyed pulling this book out whenever I had just a few idle moments. All of the stories are inventive, and sometimes absurd, fantastic, or funny. For such spare writing, these stories hit above their weight in terms of depth and emotional impact. I also recommend checking out more from this cool small press. [Adrienne]

I have to admit that the second installment requires some patience, but once the action starts, it soars! And we get to see more of Hana's independent fighting spirit. [Blanca]
I rarely get to read books with social demi characters, let alone an emotional (bust still really funny) friends to lovers romance with a bi-awakening. Not only that, it has some of the best blind rep I have ever read in any book. Dianna Roman doesn't write nearly as much as most indie authors but when she does, she knocks it out of the park. This book made me a better person. And for that reason it's one of my top books of the year. [Danielle]

I'm a firm believer that everyone should read a book on asexuality, if only because more people are aspec then they probably realize. Regardless of where you fall this book is accessible and will resonate with us all in some way. If you're aspec, it's funny painfully real. If you're allo, it'll force you to think, maybe even question. That's not necessarily bad thing. [Danielle]

Have you encountered the phrase "sit with your feeling" and wondered what that meant? With this book, you will be sitting in the company of six philosophers, including the author, through anger, sadness, grief, depression, and anxiety. Night Vision is a paragon of philosophy in practice. [Blanca]

I've never kept up with new music well enough to pick a song of the summer, so I'm instead declaring 'Counterweight' my Book of the Summer! It's a fast-paced mystery that will appeal to fans of sci-fi and political thrillers alike. This is cinema on the page. I couldn't put it down and I bet you won't be able to either! [Adrienne]

In his straightforward prose, Ballard writes a semiautobiographical novel of his childhood in a Japanese concentration camp. It's a side of WWII that we do not hear of very often. It gives you a glimpse of why he is well qualified to write his dystopian novels. [Blanca]

It's lush and bleak. It's psychological. You'll not be the same after reading it. [Blanca]

Kuang is steadily becoming one of my favorite authors. The protagonist is insufferably audacious. You've never wanted to witness someone dig their own grave more than, June. The pacing is fantastic, I read it in two sessions, and the 300 odd pages flew by. I don't think I've enjoyed an general fiction book more than Yellowface. For something set in the real world, Kuang made me feel like there were actual stakes to care about. And the pressure/stress comes right off the page. (Also, living in the mind of this character is WILD.) [Zephyr]