Reading Radar - August 12th - 18th
Fresh of the Press - Discover the newly published novels that have caught my eye this week!
Hiya!
It’s been a scorcher this week in London and I’ve been hiding away inside, curtains drawn and air-con on blast. This momentary respite, however fleeting, has given me a little extra time to scroll though the latest list of newly published novels - and boy are we in for a treat!
From a feminist reimagining of an infamous Shakespearean villain, dystopian tales celebrating male friendship to the profound impacts of true crime entertainment. This week’s selections encompass a wide variety of compelling narratives for you to explore.
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Burn by Peter Heller
I’m not usually one for reading dystopian novels, they tend to send my mind racing, leaving me awake in bed, plotting escape routes from London. But this book has piqued my interest and now I have to scratch that itch.
Burn tells the story of two lifelong friends who emerge from the woods of rural Maine into a dystopian world fraught with unpredictable violence. The novel delves into themes of found family and male friendship, offering a deep look at human emotions while trying to make sense of the chaos around them.
Rich with the beauty of the natural world and the nuances of male camaraderie, Burn serves as both a stark warning about political division and a heartfelt tribute to the strength found in our chosen families, even amidst the edge of disaster.
Purchase Burn and add it to your #tbr list here
Lady MacBeth by Ava Reid
I know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but how beautiful is this cover art? Ava Reid certainly knows how to choose a cover artist. This book is going to the top of my October reading list - who doesn’t love a seasonal read?
Lady Macbeth offers a deftly told and richly imagined gothic retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most infamous villains. This fresh take on one of literatures most infamous characters is presented in haunting prose, giving Lady Macbeth a voice, a past, and a power that have been long overlooked. Transforming the story men have written for her.
In this reimagining, she navigates through treacherous and suspicious courts, relying on a blend of strategy, cunning, and witchcraft to survive. Unbeknownst to her, her own magic is far more potent and perilous than she realises, and it threatens to disrupt the very fabric of the world.
Purchase Lady Macbeth and add it to your #tbr list here
The Palace Of Eros by Caro De Robertis
I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the trend for Greek myths and their retellings. There’s something magical about seeing these beloved characters come to life and step off of the pages - so it’s no surprise that this novel immediately caught my eye.
Perfect for fans of Circe and Black Sun, this bold and subversive feminist retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros explores the power of queer joy and freedom.
Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in town and far beyond with her tempestuous beauty, which has made her irresistible as a woman yet undesirable as a wife. Secretly, she longs for a life away from the expectations and demands of men. When her father realises that the future of his family and town will be forever cursed unless he appeases an enraged Aphrodite, he follows the orders of the Oracle, tying Psyche to a rock to be ravaged by a monstrous husband. And yet a monster never arrives.
The Palace of Eros transports us to a magical world imbued by divine forces as well as everyday realities, where palaces glitter with magic even as ordinary people fight for freedom in a society that fears the unknown.
With meditations on gender, desire and freedom, Robertis’s retelling provides a space to dream of a world where those 'born perfect yet outside the rules' of their time may find ways to step out of the shadows and into the light. A vulnerable, sensual, and joyous journey about living and loving in one's truth.
Purchase The Palace Of Eros and add it to your #tbr list here
Highway Thirteen by Fiona McFarlane
A gripping, enigmatic collection of linked short stories about the reverberations of a serial killer's crimes in the lives of everyday people.
In the small town of Barrow, Australia, people go about their ordinary lives. They drive to work through the dense state forest. They raise their families. They flirt and yearn. They lie and confess. Some of them leave home. Some of them return.
Darkness thrums beneath the surface of these ordinary lives: the violence of one man, a serial killer whose murders made Barrow infamous. His twelve victims―women, men, mostly young―are long gone, but their deaths are felt, beyond the forest where they were buried, beyond this country, beyond even this time. In the past, where a young woman on a school trip to Rome sees something she shouldn't have. In the present, where a man confronts an ancient grief on the suburban streets of Texas. In the future, in the hands of journalists and podcast hosts and television actors whose livelihoods hinge on the twin spectacles of loss and violence.
Highway Thirteen is a luminous wonder: a book about the collisions between public and private selves, between parents and children, between history and what comes after, between the living and the dead.
Purchase Highway Thirteen and add it to your #tbr list here
Everything We Never Knew by Julianne Hough
We all long to be more than we are, and this novel delves into that yearning. It questions the nature of power and examines the heavy responsibility that comes with it. I have a feeling this book will have me reaching for the tissue box!
On stage at an awards banquet is the last place Lexi Cole expected to drown. But as she accepts the award for top-seller at her realty firm, something unusual catches Lexi's eye: a man surrounded by a dark haze. Then she hears a woman screaming for help, and the taste of saltwater overwhelms her. Just as Lexi's throat begins to close, the man leaves the room and the sensation of drowning abruptly stops. Later that night, the man dies of an overdose, and Lexi learns about the traumatic boating accident that killed his sons and tore his family apart.
Lexi wants to believe it's a bizarre coincidence. Any other explanation would disrupt the normal, comfortable life she's worked so hard to build. Lexi is an expert at denial, a pro at fitting in. But as more strange events unfold, Lexi can't deny the truth: something is changing inside her. She feels other people's emotions, sometimes even glimpses their private memories.
By embracing her new abilities, Lexi can help heal people―though not until she confronts the past she's spent a lifetime burying. But when a vision reveals her husband is in danger, Lexi must decide: face her inner demons or lose the person she loves most.
Atmospheric and emotional, Everything We Never Knew is the gripping story of one woman embracing her power, no matter what the world thinks.
Purchase Everything We Never Knew and add it to your #tbr list here
Have you read any of these novels? If so I’d love to hear what you thought of them, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Like what you see? Help me keep creating our bookish content by treating me to a coffee. You’ll get really good karma 😉😘