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Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at emily.ecm@gmail.com.
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Hello book friends, and happy Monday! I’m back with more book news for you. I know you always get a little bit of cat news with Book Radar, but you get a little extra this Monday. Why? Because I have a new cat book to share with you. And it’s not any cat book. It’s a Taylor Swift cat book. I know. It’s very exciting. I’ll get to it in a minute. Meanwhile… Not a Swiftie? Hate cats? Okay, that’s sad for you, but I do have other book news today as well. So either way, keep reading!
Book Deals and Reveals
Here’s the cover of On Again, Awkward Again by Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia. This YA romcom is “about wholesome yearning and a whole lot of cringe.” It’s out from Abrams on April 15, 2025.
Swifties know how important Taylor Swift’s cats are to the pop singer, and now those special cats are the star of a new book, Karma is a Cat! Check out Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button in the picture book, written by children’s book editor Farrin Jacobs and illustrated by designer and art director Katty Huertas, out on January 7, 2025.
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Here’s the cover of Maxym M. Martineau’s gothic romantasy House of Blight. This first novel in a new duology will hit shelves April 8, 2025. house of blight
More It Ends with Us movie drama keeps coming to light. Now the stars of the film have responded to the fan backlash. Yikes.
More exciting cover reveals for 2025! Here’s the cover of Kristen Arnett’s new novel Stop Me if You’ve Heard this One. This novel, which follows a down-on-her-luck professional clown, is out March 18!
And here’s the cover of Stag Dance, the latest novel from Torrey Peters, the author of Detransition, Baby. This one’s out on March 11, 2025, from Random House.
Chasten Buttigieg has announced a new children’s novel. Papa’s Coming Home is inspired by the author’s husband Pete Buttigieg and their twins Penelope and Gus. It’s out on May 13, 2025.
Listen to a chapter of the new Karin Slaughter novel! The newest novel in the Will Trent series, This is Why We Lied, will be out tomorrow.
Here are the nominees for the 2024 Harvey Award. Peep the shortlists for some of the best comics published in the last year!
Book Riot Recommends
Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!
Prepare Your Shelves!
Creation Lake by Sarah Kushner (Scribner, September 3)
Early next month, we’re getting a new novel from Booker Prize finalist and two-time National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room. I feel like we don’t get enough secret agent stories, especially literary fiction about secret agents—have we ever gotten that? Correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, this sounds super unique and exciting. So prepare your shelves. This is out September 3.
In Creation Lake, our narrator introduces herself to us as “Sadie Smith,” a 34-year-old secret agent from America who’s sent to France to keep tabs on a group of subversives living in a rural commune. Everything Sadie does is to further her mission, based on whatever her “contacts” ask her to do. But who are these people pushing Sadie to cause chaos for these people living in an eco-commune and their leader? Are they government officials? Or are they working for some private company? And what are their true motives?
What’s more, as much as Sadie is meant to influence the people of the commune, their leader is starting to have an influence on her. Bruno Lacombe, a mysterious figure who communicates only by email, actually has some pretty interesting ideas. And his vision for change doesn’t seem to involve violence or revolt. Maybe he does have the answers to the world’s problems. Could escaping the woes of the contemporary world be so simple?
What I’m Reading This Week
Ruin Road by Lamar Giles
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris
Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang
Grim Root by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Codename: Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi
Monday Memes
The Olympics are over, but the memes are still memeing. Including tons of book-themed Olympics memes. We love it. Keep them coming.
And Here’s A Cat Picture!
We have a cat tree, and it’s a wonderful, large cat tree with lots of places for cats to play. But Remy is the only one who consistently uses it. So yes, this is Remy’s cat tree. He’s worth it. Just know at any time of day, if you wonder to yourself, “What is Remy doing?” he’s probably on the tree.
And with that… we’re done with another round of Book Radar! Thanks so much for joining me. I’ll see you later this week!