Nothing beats the post-market euphoria of a successful pop-up weekend.

This weekend I popped up at Magic Market in LA for the first time. A cool witchy event held at Heritage Square Museum. Amongst the wonderfully preserved Victorian homes, a small town center is erected selling food, art, vintage finds, and magic.

I had heard about the event previously, but hadn't been able to attend much less participate as a vendor. The nervous anticipation of the last month was all worth it in the end because I had an amazing weekend.

From a business perspective, it was a profitable weekend.

From a book lovers perspective, it was one of the best weekends I've ever had. Easily in my top 2 moments since opening my business last June.

I met so many smart and fun book lovers. I had never attended an event where I spent just as much time learning about the books I sell as I did educating readers. A testament I suppose to really finding my coven of like-minded readers.

I was so happy to see everyone enjoying what I had to offer.

Here's what the best seller's were for the weekend:

Hekate: The Witch by Nikita Gill

A poetic reimagining of the goddess Hekate, this collection explores feminine power, transformation, and the sacred darkness within. Gill blends myth with modern womanhood, inviting readers to reclaim their inner witch and walk unapologetically in their truth.

We Do This 'Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba

This powerful collection of essays centers abolition, collective care, and the ongoing work of building a more just world. Kaba challenges readers to rethink harm, accountability, and what true safety could look like beyond systems of punishment.

Woman Who Glows in the Dark by Elena Avila

Part memoir, part spiritual guide, this book follows Avila’s journey into curanderismo, a traditional Mexican healing practice. It’s a deeply personal exploration of intuition, ancestral wisdom, and reclaiming spiritual identity.

Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within by Juliet Diaz

A modern guide to living a magickal life, Witchery blends practical rituals with empowering reflections on intuition, self-trust, and personal power. Diaz encourages readers to see witchcraft as a way of being—rooted in authenticity and connection.

Honorable Mentions:

Wordslut by Amanda Montell

A sharp, witty deep dive into how language shapes gender and power, Wordslut unpacks the biases baked into the words we use every day. Montell blends research and humor to challenge the status quo and reimagine more inclusive language.

Legendborn by Tracey Deonn

After the death of her mother, Bree Matthews uncovers a secret society tied to King Arthur’s legacy—and realizes she may be more connected to it than she ever imagined. This richly layered fantasy explores grief, identity, and the hidden magic woven into history.

That last one might have been mostly due to my own enthusiasm since after a year of recommending the book I finally started reading it myself. Spoiler alert: It's amazing and I'm definitely hooked. I might even be rushing to finish this post so I can read another chapter before it's daycare pick up time.

Hi Disco Dancers!

I'm trying out something new. I am working on a bunch of new writing projects at the moment while also promoting This is How the World Ends ahead of release in September.

One of the things I'm working on might be a collection of short stories... maybe. Not sure yet. I have a bunch in my notes, and I'm slowly working them up, realising there's a common dystopian theme. While I'm figuring out what to do with them, I thought I'd share one!

Do let me know if you'd like me to share more in future, writing snippets, stories, updates. I've been reviewer-focused so far on Bindery but I could just as easily share writing stuff!

This is a story about a scary dystopian future, and thus contains potentially triggering themes: oppression, depression, disassociation, as well as themes of disordered eating.

Contains Twelve Pills for Family Forty-Nine

No one shits anymore.

The pills give you all the nutrients you need, and trick your brain into believing your stomach is full.

No one shits. No one gets fat either.

Everyone’s the same shape - lean, not skinny. Taut, not thin.

You eat the pill in the morning, for breakfast. Drink water that tastes of nothing, not even cold. The pills do something to your taste buds. You try licking dirt, and it tastes just like everything else. Blank.

You eat a pill at lunchtime when you start to flag, your sluggish limbs tell you you’re hungry. You don’t feel hunger, you can’t. You’d have to stop taking the pills for three days for that sensation to come. But by then someone would have force fed you the pill anyway. It’s easy to tell when someone’s skipping. They blink a lot, from withdrawal.

You eat a pill at night after your shift, when you stagger home from work. Sit at the table with your lean, listless family and pretend it’s a ritual. Pill on a plate, glass of water, drink, swallow, done. Then you can all go back to ignoring each other.

The pills keep you healthy. No one gets sick any more. The only death is from age, overwork, or violence. And there’s not much of that. Hurt someone, and you won’t get more pills. Simple.

Everyone thinks about it. Raiding the trucks. Stealing the pills. Creating a stash, so you could survive. Make a little pile hidden in the mattress and once you have enough you could kill your co worker and take your stash and run… somewhere. But then you realise there’s nowhere to run. You’ll need more pills eventually. And those come from the trucks.

You don’t know what food’s like. You only know what it did. Made people fat if they ate too much, or waste away if too little. Poisoned people if it was too raw, or too burned, or too old, or too green.

You’ve all seen the murals. The sick and dying painted in super size so the whole city can see. You don’t have to worry about death or disease, not like they did. You’ll never starve, not like they did.

You’ll never eat till you’re sick either. You’ll never celebrate with cake.

That was in a storybook once, before those stories were banned. No pictures of food, no descriptions of taste. You vaguely remember. Sweet, acid, heat. You feel the heat of the fire that burns in your house, and you try to imagine it on your mouth, the flames red on your tongue.

You’re tempted to talk to your children about food, but it doesn’t seem fair. It’s almost taboo, to discuss it out loud. And anyway, what would you say? “Like pills, but bigger”? It went into your body, like fuel, then got shat out as waste. Like oil in the factory machines, exhaust from the pipes.

You have two children. Because that’s how many everyone has. Unless one of them dies.

You lie awake at night, counting pills in your head. You can’t sleep. You rub your belly in circles, following the path of your intestines. What are these for? If not for digestion? Your stomach is flat, your breath pushes it up. Up and down, up and down. Your wife sleeps on her side, mouth open. You think about putting your finger in her throat. At what point would she notice? If she bit it off, and swallowed, would her body accept it?

The trucks come in the morning. You wait by the door. A truck pulls up to your house. It doesn’t have windows. There’s no driver.

An automated arm stretches out, and a robot hand puts a box on the pavement. The trucks rolls away. You look inside as you bring it into the house. Twelve pills, three for each of your family. Enough for today.

If you stole them and ran, how long would you last?

And where would you go?

The whole country eats pills. Beyond that, who knows? Not that you’ve travelled. This is all that you’ve known. There are no vehicles, apart from the trucks. And you can’t take a truck, there’s no way to drive it. And you can’t walk away, because you need the pills to live and the pills come from the trucks and they come every day and there’s never more pills than you need for one day.

You don’t get days off. You work morning to night. And at night you and your children and your wife, you do seperate things. All day is spent working with so many people, your children studying with so many people. Night time is for peace. Looking at stars. Drawing faces and shapes. Dreaming.

Yesterday, you bit your nail and chewed it a little, then swallowed. You felt the sharp scratch of the piece tickle your throat. You washed it down with water. It didn’t taste of anything.

The truck comes in the morning. You stare at it. You take the box.

You don’t take the pill.

You pretend to take it, raise it to your mouth, then keep it in your hand, swig water, make a show. But no one is watching. There’s no family ritual, not before work. You just get up and go.

Your body feels different. The labour you do, lifting and packing, it’s harder, and heavier. You try not to show it, but you’re lagging behind. The counter machine shows your numbers aren’t right. Every day you’re the same. Every day you’re on schedule. But today you’re too slow.

The bell rings for lunch, and everyone stops. They reach into their pockets, and pull out a pill. Everyone eats it, gulping it down. Some people use water, but more than half do it dry. You look down at yours, and fake it again.

By the end of the work day your limbs are like lead. Your numbers are bad, and you know that tomorrow there will be an inquest. They’ll give you the night, but if you’re not back on form the next morning, the force feeding will start.

You go home to your family, and sit at the table. You all pick up the pills, and swallow in unison. You put your uneaten pill in your pocket.

Your children get up. “Wait” you say. They look at you with surprise, but sit down.

“I want…” you begin. Your wife stares at you, confused. Your mind races to think. “I want to do something. Together, this evening.”

“I’m tired.” Your wife says. And you know that she is. But you’re more tired right now. Three pills missed, and you feel it. The urge to blink is there, it’s on the edge, waiting. You’re holding it back, but you don’t have much time.

“I know. But please, just this once. Let’s do something together.”

Your children look puzzled, and your wife looks concerned. But she says “yes, alright.”

So you lead them all to the garden, and you look at the sky.

“I see a pattern” you say, pointing up to the stars. “See, there? It’s a table. There’s a top and there’s legs.”

Your children look up. “I don’t see it” your son says, squinting his eyes.

“Look, there.” You kneel down to his height and put your face next to his. You lift his arm just like yours. “The top” you move it left. “The leg” you move it down. “The other leg”. You move it over.

Your sons looks, really looks. “I see it!” He says.

You breathe out a breath, and tears fill your eyes. Salt you think. It’s supposed to be salt.
“Now, what else do you see?”

Your family stay out there, with you, for an hour. You see lampshades and bed frames and houses and T-shirts. You see truck wheels and boxes and drainpipes and hands. All there in the stars.

And that night when you sleep, you look at your wife. He mouth hanging open, her eyes gently shut. You watch her until your energy fades.

In the morning your body is heavy and weak. It’s an effort to get out of bed.

And then the trucks come, and deposit the pills. You down at the box. Twelve pills in your hand. You have to take one. You’re already blinking.

So you open the box, and swallow one down. You watch the trucks leave the street, and your neighbours turn in.

It’s just you and the box. The pill stuck in your throat.

You put the box in your pocket, and you walk away from the house.

Love,

Disco

Welcome to New Release Tuesday, where I round up the sci-fi releases dropping this week that I think you should know about. I'm Zee, I'm a Tattooed Bibliophile, and if you are here I you probably are too, and my whole thing is diversity in sci-fi — meaning if it's queer, BIPOC-authored, indie, or just something the Big 5 didn't bother to tell you about, it belongs here. While sci-fi isn't the "it girl" right now, it's far from a dying genre. It may make it hard to find new releases, but that's what I'm here for, because I don't want you to miss a thing! So what's new?

Well, not much this week. Do publishers release more books at the beginning of the month? Since I just started doing this I don't know! If I see a pattern you KNOW this autistic girlie (and rare mathy bisexual) is gonna make you aware.

The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang (Macmillan) — Tordotcom aka my fav scifi publisher (am I allowed to say that as a Bindery influencer?) standalone. I checked out Huang's social media and found a ton of recs for some of my favorite books, so we share reading taste... always a good sign when the author likes what you like! The ADHD MC is a spy who jumps into alien minds of the only species physiologically capable of mining the element needed for lightyear-spanning space travel. And starts forgetting which side he's on. Sounds like Babel crossed with Some Desperate Glory. I'm in.

The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen (Simon & Schuster) — Space opera standalone. Starship crew returns home after an entire effing DECADE lost in space... to a galactic civil war. It has a blurb by one of my favorite sci-fi writers, Annalee Newitz. AND Mike has a photo of a protester holding a sign that says "Pull your head out of your Fox hole" with the Fox News logo, so...I'm probably going to read his book. Yes, this is how I make my reading decisions. If someone can make a teeny short story on an IG page interesting, what can they do with an entire book? What? How do you pick your books...

See you next week. You know, if I haven't been deported for saying FUCK ICE in public.

— Zee

If you liked this and want more of whatever THIS is (unhinged book analysis, barely contained rage at the state of the world, and occasional Tamsyn Muir references and em dashes that I will never apologize for) consider subscribing for $5/month. Every cent goes to people who actually need it, because I have a day job and a cause, not a brand deal. This is my middle finger to Big 5 publishing, dressed up as a book blog. Come hold it up with me.

It’s National Library Week in the U.S.

National Library Week is an annual celebration highlighting the valuable role libraries and library professionals play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities. This year’s theme is “Find Your Joy” which makes the Honorary Chair, Mychal Threets, a perfect fit!

Throughout the history of this country, people have been fighting for the right to read because literacy is a powerful skill. Our government and the folks who support it are banning books because of the power words have to be catalysts, reflections, and tools of connection and liberation. Don’t take them for granted!

You can celebrate this week (and beyond) in so many ways:
• Get a library card and/or help a friend get one.
• Explore the programs, books, library of things your local library has to offer.
• Tell library workers how much their work means to you.
• Tell Congress to oppose censorship and book bans!

Share a favorite memory you’ve had of a library in my comments <3

Images in my collage:
-Book stacks in an academic library.

-NYC library backers protest nearly $42 million in proposed budget cuts (2023) photo by Arya Sundaram / Gothamist

-A crowd holds a rally in New York in 1982 protesting the censorship of school and public libraries of certain books under pressure from right-wing religious groups. AP photo by Carlos Rene Perez. Source: Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University

-Teens hang out in Boston Public Library’s Teen Central

-Mychal Threets, librarian and host of Reading Rainbow, smiles and holds up his Library Joy!! shirt with his thumbs up. From ALA National Library Week promos.

-My colorful bookshelf.

-A 12-year-old Black girl named Gwendolyn Crawford is arrested by two white male cops at Albany Carnegie Library in protest of segregation. Crawford spent over 10 days in jail and the library finally allowed Black folks access a year later. -WALB News 10

When I lived in Alaska, I became a foster parent. I had not planned for it. A colleague said, “you have an extra bedroom and room in your heart, what are you waiting for?” Soon after, I met my first foster daughter at a shelter for unhoused youth. That moment shifted the direction of my life. I cared for seven daughters over the next few years. I also had to confront how little I had done to challenge my own thinking. I learned there is a huge difference between knowing racism is wrong and doing the ongoing work of antiracism.

One moment still sits with me. I was in a meeting, speaking, and a Tlingit grandmother told me to stop. She said, “we don’t need the opinion of a white woman. If we want to hear from you, we will ask.” I felt the discomfort immediately. But I also knew I needed to listen.

That moment forced me to face a gap between what I believed about myself and how I was showing up. I had named social justice as a value. As a social worker, I knew it sat at the core of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. Still, I had not done the deeper work. I had not examined how white supremacy shaped my assumptions, my reactions, and my sense of authority.

I started reading with intention. I learned about what colonizers did to the Tlingit people and Haida people. I read Black scholars and applied those frameworks to my work with Indigenous youth and families. I began to understand that antiracism is not about holding the right beliefs. It is about changing how you think, how you listen, and how you act.

That work requires unlearning. It requires decolonizing your thinking. White supremacy teaches you to center yourself, to assume expertise, to move quickly, to speak first. Decolonizing asks you to pause, to listen, to question where your thoughts come from, and to notice when you are reinforcing harm.

This is daily work. It does not end after reading one book. It does not hold steady when you are tired. Burnout makes it easier to slip back into default thinking. For me, that default comes from being raised white in a system built on white supremacy. I have to interrupt that pattern over and over again.

Reading plays a role in that interruption. Not as a checklist. Not as a way to feel accomplished. Reading diversely is part of antiracism because stories shape how you see the world. If most of what you read centers cisgender, heterosexual, white characters, those narratives start to feel neutral and universal. They are not. They are limited.

When you read stories by Indigenous authors, by Black authors, by queer authors, you shift what feels familiar. You build a different baseline. You begin to notice whose voices are missing and whose stories are treated as optional. You start to question why.

Reading diversely is not about exposure. It is about accountability. It is about refusing to let white supremacy define your imagination. It is about choosing to engage with perspectives that challenge your assumptions and expand your understanding of community, identity, and power.

For me, that shift changed how I show up in my work and in my life. It continues to change me.

Knowing that backstory, I’m always on the hunt for sapphic Indigenous romances and I found one, and it not only didn’t disappoint, I was blown away by how beautiful it was!

The Ways We Converge by Collins Fox is a book settles into you and stays there.

Synopsis: Juniper Banks has spent the last decade running her mom’s powwow food truck—a life far from the dreams she once had. But while serving frybread and iced tea, she’s quietly built something her Tribe’s thriving food sovereignty program. Now, with an official budget and a coveted office in the new Tribal administrative building, she’s ready to reclaim her narrative and help shape her community’s future.

Rowan Birdsong, a rising star in environmental law, never thought she’d return to the Reservation she once called home. But when her father’s health declines, Rowan steps away from her high-profile career to work as a Tribal advisor and take care of him. The last thing she expects is to cross paths with her first love—Juniper. Or maybe, deep down, it’s exactly who she hopes to see.

It’s been fifteen years since Rowan left Juniper behind, shattering their bond without explanation. Now, fate thrusts them together once more to collaborate on expanding the Tribal gardens Juniper worked so hard to establish. Juniper is furious—why is Rowan back now, and why does she have to ruin her carefully constructed plans for redemption?

At first, Juniper resolves to keep their partnership strictly professional. But as old tensions flare into fresh sparks and the truth behind Rowan’s sudden departure begins to surface, both women must decide whether they can rewrite their past—and if their paths are destined to converge after all.

The Ways We Converge is a second-chance, forced-proximity sapphic romance featuring two Indigenous leads, with plus-size and gender non-conforming representation, climate justice, food sovereignty, powwow food truck chaos, and nerds… who really like to bang (a lot, everywhere).

My Thoughts:

The first thing that stands out to me was how deeply Indigenous culture shaped every part of the story. The reader got community, responsibility, history, and daily life woven into each scene. Juniper’s work with food sovereignty grounds the narrative in something real and urgent. You see how food connects to land, identity, and survival. The story treated that connection with care and precision.

Sapphic romance rarely centers Indigenous characters, and here it was not a side note. It drove the plot. It shaped the tension. It informed how Juniper and Rowan moved through the world and how they moved toward each other. You felt the weight of being seen in a genre that often overlooks this perspective.

The environmental thread adds another layer. The focus on land stewardship and climate justice didn’t feel like a lesson. It felt lived in. The work Juniper builds and the work Rowan returns to support was central to their identities. Their professional collaboration created a layer of friction that pushed the romance forward instead of slowing it down.

There was also a powerful throughline around hair and mourning. The story spoke to the cultural significance of hair for Indigenous people and the act of cutting it as a response to grief. Rowan’s relationship to her hair mirrored her relationship to herself. She was mourning the version of herself who did not feel worthy, who could not love who she was. Leaving the Reservation became part of that process. She had to step away to understand herself, and that journey added depth to her return and to the choices she made in the present.

It had been 15 years since Juniper and Rowan had last seen each other, and the second chance arc hits with jus the right level of animosity and trepidation. There was a lot of hurt to work through from Rowan leaving so abruptly.

When the truth behind Rowan’s departure starts to unfold, the emotional payoff lands because the story took time to build it. And girl does the romance deliver. The tension, the intensity and these ladies LOVE to bang. More importantly, the spice matches the emotional depth instead of overpowring it. You get connection, desire, and vulnerability all working together.

This is a five star read I’ll think about for a long time. 

Happy pub day!! This week’s releases are absolutely stunning. We’ve got trauma-fueled thrillers, obsession-worthy leading ladies, swoony chaos, and a couple that had me side-eyeing my headphones like… are we okay?? 👀

Let’s get into it.

🎧 Audios I Binged

🖤 Victim or Villain
Read or skip: Read (especially if you love emotional thrillers with messy morality)
Rating: 4.25 stars

Gwen Kane??? I’m obsessed.

She’s smart, funny, deeply traumatized, and trying so hard to build a quiet life after surviving something horrific. And then… everything unravels. Fast.

This is one of those stories where you’re constantly asking: what would I do in her position? And the answer is never simple.

The emotional weight here really lands. You feel Gwen’s fear, her rage, her desperation to protect the one place that finally felt safe. And the romance?? Complicated in a way that actually works for the story.

Also I need to talk about the audio:
Stephanie Nemeth-Parker + Teddy Hamilton?? Immediate yes. They brought so much depth to these characters.

Final thought: A morally messy, emotionally intense thriller that keeps you locked in.

🧪 Morbid Curiosities
Read or skip: Maybe skip (or go in with tempered expectations)
Rating: 3 stars

Okay this one HURT because the premise??? Elite science institute + secret experiments + dark academia vibes in a modern setting??? I was so in.

And to be fair, there are things this does well. The science elements feel grounded, the atmosphere is tense, and the narration by Isuri Wijesundara is genuinely strong.

But the execution didn’t fully land for me. The pacing felt uneven, and I never fully connected to what was happening vs. what I wanted to be happening.

There are moments of intrigue (mutations, hidden experiments, unreliable memory 👀), but it never fully clicks into that “I can’t stop listening” mode.

Final thought: Cool concept, solid narration, but didn’t hit as hard as I needed it to.

👑 Leading Ladies I’m Obsessed With

💔 Aphrodite in Pieces
Read or skip: DEFINITELY READ
Rating: 5 stars

I will not shut up about this book. I simply won’t.

This completely redefines Aphrodite. Not just as the goddess of love, but as a woman shaped by how others see her, use her, and judge her.

It’s raw, layered, and honestly kind of devastating in the best way. The themes around internalized misogyny and how women are pitted against each other?? Yeah… it hits.

Final thought: A powerful, unforgettable reimagining that will make you rethink everything.

⚔️ Burn the Sea
Read or skip: Read
Rating: 4.5 stars

A warrior queen. Court politics. Sea monsters. Colonization tension. Say less.

Abbakka is THAT girl. Strong, strategic, and constantly forced to prove herself in a world that underestimates her. Watching her navigate power, duty, and survival was everything I wanted.

Also quick reminder: I’m going live with the author on IG 5/1 and I’m so excited for this one.

Final thought: Fierce, atmospheric, and rooted in power + resistance.

💘 Romances That Made Me Giddy

✨ The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire
Read or skip: Read
Rating: 4 stars

India Holton truly does not miss when it comes to witty chaos.

Friends-to-lovers but make it magical academia, forced proximity, and absolute banter overload. Watching Amelia and Caleb dance around their feelings while literal chaos unfolds around them?? Incredible.

Also the humor?? Top tier.

Final thought: Smart, charming, and just ridiculously fun to read.

💗 The Blind Date Agreement
Read or skip: Maybe skip if YA drama isn’t your thing
Rating: 3.75 stars

This one is messy in a very YA way.

The blind date setups were hilarious, and I did enjoy the banter, but whew… the drama. I loved to hate a certain character (you’ll know), which honestly kept me invested.

If you like high school chaos, complicated feelings, and friendship vs. romance tension, this might work for you.

Final thought: Entertaining, chaotic, and very much YA vibes.

😱 Books That Made My Heart Race

🩸 The Caretaker
Read or skip: READ (if you like being unsettled)
Rating: 5 stars

WTF did I just read.

This is one of those books that just… creeps under your skin and stays there. The premise is simple (caretaking job from Craigslist), but the execution?? Absolutely unhinged in the best way.

The tension builds so well, and by the end I was fully spiraling.

Final thought: Disturbing, addictive, and genuinely scary.

🎢 The Drop
Read or skip: Read
Rating: 4 stars

Being stuck 650 feet in the air on a roller coaster??? Immediate no.

This is such a fun, high-stakes thriller with a very contained setting and a group of characters with history (aka secrets 👀).

It’s fast-paced, anxiety-inducing, and plays really well with the “past coming back to haunt you” trope.

Final thought: Stressful in the best way. I could not look away.

🚫 The One I DNF’d

🥀 Witch Queen Rising

This one had so much potential.

The worldbuilding? Strong. The premise? Exactly my vibe. Witches, power struggles, paranormal politics?? Yes please.

But the pacing… I couldn’t do it.

At 54% in, I needed more to be happening. It felt very repetitive (meetings, calls, inner monologue), and the urgency of the stakes just wasn’t matching what was on the page.

I also struggled with the writing style; some of the descriptions pulled me out of the story instead of immersing me in it.

Final thought: A great concept that didn’t quite deliver for me, but I would consider trying book two if the pacing improves.

And that’s this week’s stack !

Some hits, some almosts, and a couple that had me questioning my life choices, but honestly?? That’s the fun of pub day.

If you’ve read any of these (or have one you’re excited for), tell me:
❓ which one is going straight to your TBR?

On the strength of community and plot twists you never expect

A bit less than two years ago in October of 2024 while I was in New York celebrating the release of the first EVER Bindery books and meeting Deena (the author of our first Boundless Press book, DUST SETTLES NORTH) for the first time and freaking out over the book being in a PW cover ad - I had the immense pleasure of also taking a call at a random coffee shop in NYC that would change my life forever.

The call was to meet Mona Tewari and discuss her incredible book, BURN THE SEA, for publication with Boundless Press.

I knew from the moment I spoke to Mona on our call that she was an author that I wanted to publish. She had such kindness to her soul and integrity to her character much like the characters of her book. I was excited by her absolute passion for this story about women who uplift each other, standing up against colonialism, and learning to be strong in more ways than one. I remember we both got a little teary over wanting to have stories out there that brown girls like us (and like Mona’s beautiful daughters) could see themselves in and know that they could be heroes too. 

BURN THE SEA is everything I love in a fantasy book - incredible characters you can’t help but root for, political machinations, epic battles, excellent twists that will leave you reeling, and just a touch of romance that will leave you longing for more. It’s a book I wish I had years ago so that I could’ve realized that I, too, was worthy of love and acceptance, and that strength comes in so many forms. That leaning on the women in your life is so important and that just because someone wants to bring you down does not mean you need to bow to their oppression. 

I love Abbakka’s story with my whole heart and I am so happy that we get to share it with you now. BURN THE SEA is out today because of YOUR unwavering support of me, this community, this imprint, and of Mona. YOU made this happen just as much as I did and I hope you are proud of that achievement and of changing so many people’s lives.

THANK YOU for everything and I hope you enjoy BURN THE SEA when you have the chance to pick it up and that you can share your love and support for it in the weeks and months and years to come 💖

Love, Jananie

Hello, everyone! Please consider pledging our Kickstarter here, and share share share!

Also, our website will be back up soon--I deactivated to do a redesign so it should be back by next week!

Thank you!

Hello, everyone!

Here are some new releases we are excited for today (remember, you can purchase these from us by using our Bookshop.org or Libro.fm links!).

• The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (*)

• Crossroads by Laurel Hightower (**)

  * means Ryn has read an ARC and recommends!
  ** means this is a TBR book!

Independent Bookstore Day is coming up which means we'll be drawing the winner for our Libro.fm Golden Ticket on Sunday! If you cannot make it out to a physical indie bookstore, please consider using our Bookshop.org link to support us for Indie Bookstore Day!

Till next time!

Happy Tuesday, mis internet amigxs!

I've been bursting at the seams to break this news to you...this post is coming to you from Santiago, Chilr. I'm here this week for the worldwide premiere of The House of the Spirits!

I started my trip last night and am just arriving this morning. We set-up an #✈️-Adventuras channel in Discord where I am sharing some in-real-time updates as I can, so please head over there to ask questions/get more updates this week!

BOOK CLUB POLL RESULTS

Bindery and Discord results varied greatly, so we finally decided on the following--

June Book Club Selection: And I'll Take Your Eyes Out
October Book Club Selection: You Should Have Been Nicer to my Mom

Don't forget May is Asiri and rhe Amaru and August is The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno -Garcia

We have nonfiction book club through June, Accordion Eulogies, so we'll vote on July book club after I get back. xo, Carmen

And now, onto today's Latine book releases!

APRIL 21st
TRANSLATED FICTION

Exemplary Humans by Julana Lette and translated by Zoe Perry (Audiobook)100-year old Natalia is stuck inside her house reliving her past and watching everything go on outside her window. This is a story about her past and all our futures.

LITERARY FICTION

Last Night In Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez (Audiobook) Xochitl is back with another work of literary fiction, this time, about a girl in 2007 whose life becomes ensnared in the life of her neighbor...

NONFICTION

Prophecy: Prediction Power, and the Fight for the Future from Ancient Oracle to AI Carissa Velez (Audiobook) An urgent new look at prophecies—the predictions that determine our lives, from our personal finances and the quality of our healthcare to the news and social media we consume and the products foisted upon us.

The Sun and All the Other Stars by Karla Montalván (Audiobook) Publishin both English and Spanish, intentionally creating space for bilingual readers and intergenerational conversations within Latin families. The novel follows a Cuban American muralist who begins to recognize a pattern of generational heartbreak in her family. In searching for answers, she explores past-life regression — uncovering three former lives across different eras and geographies. Through these layered timelines, the book explores love, identity, migration, memory, and the cultural threads that shape who we become.

POETRY

The Selected Poems of José Emilio Pacheco by José Emilio Pacheco and edited by George McWhirter (Audiobook)

PICTURE BOOK

Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rivals! by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller and Illustrated by Joe Cepeda

Hold by Randy Ribay and Illustrated by Zeke Peña

xoxo,

Carmen

Excited for today's Bindery haul! Straight to the top of my TBR.

Hi nerds,

It’s six days before Independent Bookstore Day, our third one at Sunny’s. I’m writing this from an airport, on my way back from a very chaotic four days in New York. I was there for my day job, bookselling at our publisher booth and helping produce our presence at a reader event (BookCon!) that brought in something like 25,000 people. Which means, naturally, it all lined up to happen the same week as IBD!

Somewhere in the middle of the event—on the floor, behind the booth, watching people move through this huge, loud, living system of books and readers and publishers, holding the very books I have spent years of my professional life on—I kept having this very simple thought:

This is what it looks like when all of this works.

Publishers making the books. Readers showing up for them. And in between, this constant, necessary act of connection: putting the right thing in the right hands.

I kept thinking about how rare it is to see the whole chain in one place like that, and how much of it actually depends on smaller, quieter spaces to hold things together day to day.

Independent bookstores are one of those spaces.

Not the scale of a convention floor. Just smaller. Closer. One book at a time, one conversation at the counter, someone coming in unsure of what they want to read and leaving with something they didn’t expect to find. That’s what Sunny’s is trying to be part of. Community!!!

And that’s what Independent Bookstore Day is, for me. Not just a celebration of bookstores, but a reminder that this whole ecosystem only exists because people keep CHOOSING it.

Sunny’s only exists because of you. The people who stop in once while they’re downtown. The people who come in every week and have a stack going at home. The people who bring their out of town friends in when they visit. The people who DM us photos of what they’re reading after they leave.

We see it all. We feel it every day. But especially this one. So this is just a thank you. For reading with us. For choosing a small bookstore when you could buy books anywhere else. For telling people about us. For coming back. For letting this place be part of your reading life. We wouldn’t be here without that.

If you’re around, come by on Saturday. Say hi. Browse. Let us put something in your hands.

We’ll be here.

Love you! Mean it!

CJ

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SICKOS, time for another Monday update! Let me know what you plan on reading this week in the comments, here's what I made progress on last week and what I've got on deck this week. Also they don't send email notifications out for this so I'll flag here that the pinned History Book Master List got a li'l facelift and some new additions a few days ago.

READING

REVIEW

ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by OMAR EL AKKAD (nonfiction polemic essays)

Progress: Finished

I finished this two weeks ago and completely forgot to include it in last week's update, that's my bad. This had so many stand out, thought-provoking quotes and it made me both uncomfortable and pissed. I found the bits about frustration with Western liberalism, especially in the form of Democratic politics, extremely relatable, putting into words something I've been feeling for over a decade. From page 124:

GAMES WITHOUT RULES: THE OFTEN INTERRUPTED HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN by TAMIM ANSARY (narrative historical nonfiction)

Progress: Finished

I've provided a few updates on this one previously and yeah this is the right book if you're looking to get a basic understanding of Afghanistan and why it's considered the "graveyard of empires". Ansary argues that Afghanistan's progress has been constantly halted by competing powers who fail to understand their complex and contradictory make-up, and he's not wrong! I did some follow up research on what has happened since this was published in 2012, including the 2021 Taliban takeover that has reimposed harsh restrictions and their 2025 clash with Pakistan, a country that spent year backing the Taliban, only to find out that (like so many others have) they will lose control of what those players become.

Basically for outsiders interfering with Afghanistan and trying to mold them to their purpose, they're this meme:

PUERTO RICO: A NATIONAL HISTORY by JORELL MELENDEZ-BADILLO (narrative history)

Progress: Finished

We're on a roll with nonfiction right now because this is exactly what I'd hoped it'd be. It's a chronological synthesis of Puerto Rico's history of colonialism (and it's many forms) and takes you pretty close to the present day. One example of where this was helpful was laying out that the political landscape, where various parties are in a three-sided tug of war over those supporting annexation, commonwealth status, or independence. It also gave me some background into the events and players (like Pedro Albizo Campos) that are featured in War Against All Puerto Ricans by Nelson A. Denis, and helped me gain insight as to way it's such a divisive book, even amongst Puerto Ricans, as Denis is said to be clearly coming from a pro-independence perspective.

ATMOSPHERE: A LOVE STORY by TAYLOR JENKINS REID (historical fiction romance)

Progress: Finished

At this years Rancho Mirage Writers Festival I sat in on a couple panels featuring TJR and it convinced me to give her work a shot. Atmosphere was included in the RMWF care package so I figured that'd be the one to crack first. Holy shitballs, this was damn good! It wasn't at all what I expected and it gave me Emily Henry vibes in the best way. Devoured it over three sittings and the ending almost had me feeling a human emotion, which says a lot! Definitely recommend it.

DALLERGUT DREAM DEPARTMENT STORE by MIYE LEE (cozy fantasy fiction)

Progress: Finished

I love the concept and vibe of this but it never gave me a reason to care and it has virtually no plot. I have to be a in a certain mood for that to hit and I guess I wasn't there when I read this. Still had some creative concepts and I'd bet if I were in the mood for an episodic, slice of life narrative, it would've hit better but nothing stuck to my ribs.

PREVIEW

At a weird spot where I finished everything I was working on over the past couple weeks, so I'm not sure where do go from here other than wanting to pick up We Do Not Part by Han Kang. I do have to pick out all the books for the clubs to vote on for May so maybe in that process I'll gain some clarity. Oh! That's right, I mentioned it above but perhaps War Against All Puerto Ricans will be the next nonfiction read.

PUBLISHING IMPRINT NEWS

Important meeting this week re: a potential second book acquisition! Will update more when I can.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Hockey playoffs have started and the Flyers snuck in so this is going to dominate my week, so I'll just compile the rest of the run down here. I finished S4 of Game of the Thrones and S2 of Euphoria, and outside of Frieren there's nothing I plan on watching with any kind of regularity. Not in a big gaming mood rn but that may change. The heavy scabbing phase of my hand tattoo is done, I have shed my dragon skin, and just to play it safe we are either a day or two away from going to the climbing gym again, thank heavens.

Also a reminder that I'll be at BookNet Fest in Orlando, May 15-16 as a panelist. I loved this event so much last year and I hope to see you there!

Here are some April 21st new book releases on my radar (and should be on yours!). First, the one I had a chance to read already:

Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh 5/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you love literary speculative fiction. I was thrilled to get an ARC of one of my most anticipated releases, and as much as I've appreciated Sophie's other works, this has been my favorite. Our main character wake up in an alternate world where she gets to live openly with her affair partner. Themes of “what ifs”, regret, and longing are strong, as well as an exploration when each partner has different desires. 

Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez 4.25/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you want to read a love letter to Brooklyn and a time capsule of 2007 (Which does not make this historical fiction...fight me). Our characters are young and MESSY, but there is still a lot of heart.

Odessa by Gabrielle Sher 4.25/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you appreciate historical folk horror. This one has deep roots in Jewish folklore, and reminds us that European antisemitism was a problem long before the Holocaust.

Honor & Heresy by Max Francis 3/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you like nerdy fantasy. Unfortunately for me, fantasy hasn't been hitting lately. I heard this billed as dark academia, but it's more dark library than academia (if that makes any sense).

And the one I'm still waiting to get my hands on:

The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen

Why it interests me: a space opera features a galactic civil war...I've been hankering for science fiction.

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👑A Scandal-Filled Setup You Can’t Look Away From

At the center of the story is Evan Bright, the King of England’s illegitimate daughter, who has spent her life staying out of the spotlight. But when she’s suddenly summoned to London to spend the summer with her royal family, everything changes overnight. Her identity is exposed, the press goes wild, and she’s thrown into a world where every move is scrutinized and judged.

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🔍Mystery Meets Modern Monarchy

The mystery element is where this book really shines. The pacing is tight, with new clues, red herrings, and twists woven throughout the story. Every time I thought I had a clear suspect, something new would shift the narrative and make me question everything again.

What I appreciated most is how the investigation unfolds alongside the pressures of royal life. Evan isn’t just solving a murder she’s doing it while being watched by the public, criticized by the press, and surrounded by people she doesn’t fully trust. It adds an extra layer of tension that keeps the story feeling high-stakes from beginning to end.

💔A Relatable Heroine in an Unreal World

Evan is easily the standout of the novel. Despite being thrust into an overwhelming and often hostile environment, she remains grounded, resilient, and determined to prove her innocence.

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Let’s be honest, part of the fun of Royal Blood is the sheer amount of drama. From hidden scandals to shocking revelations, the book leans fully into the intrigue of the monarchy.

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⚡Pacing & Writing Style

The writing is accessible and engaging, making this a quick and addictive read. Chapters move quickly, often ending on mini cliffhangers that make it hard to stop just one more chapter.

While the tone stays relatively light and YA-friendly, the stakes feel real enough to keep you invested. The balance between suspense, drama, and character moments is well done, even if some twists lean slightly predictable for seasoned mystery readers.

⭐Final Thoughts

Overall, Royal Blood is a fun, fast-paced YA thriller that blends royal intrigue with a compelling murder mystery. It’s the kind of book you pick up for the drama but stay for the twists and the emotional journey of its main character.

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Hey y'all,

I tallied up the votes between the Bindery and IG poll for May's book club pick and the winner was * drum roll *

Call of the Dragon by Natasha Bowen

I'm so excited to read about dragons with you this May! And that's not all, because this May we'll be experimenting with the book club by having TWO books. Call of the Dragon will be our fiction pick and our nonfiction read will be One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad!

May 18th is Haitian Flag Day so be ready to see some Haitian recs from me very soon.

XoXo,

Rae