Welcome to Prettyboy Books! I’m glad you could join. I hope this newsletter exponentially increases your TBR and gives you something cool to suggest at your next book club meeting. I hope you’re reminded that reading is very cool and fun and it doesn’t always have to be super serious. I hope you find something to read that’s outside your literary comfort zone. And I really, truly, from the bottom of my heart, hope you order my book Goblin Mode. Thank you in advance :)
<3 McKayla
June’s Newsletter-Exclusive Mini Reading List
Reading Rainbow: Colorful Queer Reads
Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, tr Heather Cleary
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
Ma and Me by Putsata Reang
Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin, tr Jamie Chang
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
May Reads
Follow me on Goodreads and Storygraph for more!
The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard - Favorite
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - Favorite (reread)
Funny Story by Emily Henry - Recommend
Pew by Catherine Lacey - Recommend
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu - Recommend
A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon, tr Anton Hur - Favorite
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell - Favorite
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs - Recommend
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo - Recommend
Mini Reviews
A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon, tr Anton Hur - Favorite
truly a book for the girlies who took the gifted student to gay adult pipeline. silly and fun and over the top, but with a gimlet-eyed understanding of how hard it is to be a woman in the modern world. also, a great use of the novella form (a form that should always be serving the greater purpose of Having A Little Fun With It).
Favorite May Book Covers
In Tongues by Thomas Grattan
Ghostroots by 'Pemi Aguda
Swole by Michael Andor Brodeur
Most Anticipated June Releases
June 4:
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty: A masterful and unforgettable story of family, legacy, bloodlines, culture and inheritance, and what, if anything, we owe one another.
Malas by Marcela Fuentes: A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations.
June 11:
The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza: A timeless, epic novel about a family of luchadores contending with forbidden love and secrets in Mexico City, Los Angeles, and beyond.
Private Rites by Julia Armfield: A stunning, unsettling novel following three sisters navigating queer love and faith at the end of the world. *Note: This is UK release date. The US release isn’t until December, but Blackwell’s (linked in book title) ships free to the US.
Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin: A vicious new novel about a group of teens who must stay true to themselves while in a conversion camp from hell.
June 18:
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi: One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed.
Devil Is Fine by John Vercher: A gripping, surreal, and brilliantly crafted dissection of the legacies we leave behind and those we inherit.
June 25:
Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez: A queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrant's complex relationships with his mother and his motherland
Bear by Julia Phillips: A mesmerizing novel of two sisters whose lives are upended by an unexpected visitor—a tale of family, obsession, and a mysterious creature in the woods.
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim: A feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.