2025 read list
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Young Mungo
Stuart Douglas · 2022
Selected as one of The Oprah Daily's Best Books of 2022From Booker-prizewinner Douglas Stuart an extraordinary, page-turning second novel, a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James.Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in the hyper-masculine and violently sectarian world of Glasgow's housing estates. They should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they find themselves falling in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo works especially hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold.But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in literary fiction, Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA INTERNATIONAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023PRAISE FOR YOUNG MUNGO'I wasn't sure Young Mungo could live up to Shuggie Bain, but it surpasses it. Deeply harrowing but gently infused with hope & love. And so exquisitely written. It's a joy to watch, in real time, as Douglas Stuart takes his place as one of the greats of Scottish literature.' Nicola Sturgeon'Few novels are as gutsy and gut-wrenching as Young Mungo in its depiction of a teenage boy who finds love amid family dysfunction, community conflict and the truly terrible predations of adults. Vividly realised and emotionally intense, this scorching novel is an urgent addition to the new canon of unsung stories.' Bernardine Evaristo'I can honestly say that the second novel from the author of Shuggie Bain... surpassed my (high) expectations. Stuart makes you care deeply about all of his characters but none more than Mungo, Mo-Maw's beloved, "the softest, sweetest boy she had ever known".' - Bookseller, 'Fiction Book of the Month''Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back... Another beautiful and moving book' -Observer'Again this author creates characters so vivid, dilemmas so heart-rending, and dialogue so brilliant that the whole thing sucks you in like a vacuum cleaner... Romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful. What a writer.' - Kirkus Reviews'There are wonderful stories in publishing, but the story of Douglas Stuart is pure magic... With Young Mungo... more magic is all but guaranteed... The book is a literary wonder and a suspenseful page-turner.' - Publishers' Weekly
Abroad in Japan
Chris Broad · 2023
When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history?<br/><br/>Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world's most complex cultures.<br/><br/>Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures, Chris takes us from the lush rice fields of the countryside to the frenetic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a mortifying experience at a love hotel and a week spent with Japan's biggest movie star, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.
Finished
Blue Sisters
Coco Mellors · 2024
My Darling from the Lions
Rachel Long · 2020
House of Crimson Hearts: A Steamy Vampire Fantasy Romance (Kingdom of Immortal Lovers)
Ruby Roe · 2024
Once upon a time, a vampire corrupted a hunter.<br/>Octavia Beaumont, one of the original three vampires, is determined to run the city.<br/>Red, an expert hunter, is hell-bent on getting revenge on the vampire that turned her sister.<br/>When deadly trials for the heir of the city begin, Red and Octavia are forced to work together.<br/>Octavia wants a crown.<br/>Red wants blood.<br/>But there’s only one first place.<br/>To win, they’re going to have to trust each other. But teamwork is not easy when their past is filled with betrayal…<br/>A betrayal Red can’t remember.<br/>Someone is lying.<br/>Someone has a secret.<br/>Everyone has a hidden agenda.<br/>The last thing Red and Octavia want to do is fall in love… But hearts remember, even when the mind doesn’t.<br/>To win the trials and get revenge…<br/>They must reveal a truth that will shatter their souls.<br/>Remember a past that will break their hearts.<br/>And fight a war that will change the face of the city forever.<br/>Three tasks. Three choices. Three sacrifices.<br/>All of them have a cruel price. The question is, are they willing to pay it?<br/><br/>This is a very steamy lesbian vampire romance with a sprinkling of enemies to lovers and second chance romance, royals, multiple POV and timelines, bratty bedroom vampires, exhibitionism, and more. Please check author website or look inside for the trigger warnings. 18+ only.
Diavola
Jennifer Marie Thorne · 2024
Vampires at Sea
Lindsay Merbaum · 2025
Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti · 2022
Fate has torn us apart and sometimes I believe the stars have given up on us altogether.<br/><br/>Without my sister, the world seems darker than ever before and the shadows loom thicker, rising up to answer the call of the Shadow Princess and changing the face of Solaria for good.<br/><br/>Now Lionel Acrux has the strength to make a move for the throne, I’m not sure how much time we have left to stop him.<br/><br/>Our only hope is to find the Imperial Star before he does. We made the sacrifice the stars called for and we’re paying the price for that decision so it can’t be for nothing.<br/><br/>But with the stars turning against us at every move, and the last light in the world seeming to fade, I’m afraid we’re almost out of time.Hope is a dangerous thing.<br/><br/>It’s the key to us fighting on. But it could be what destroys us in the end.One thing is for certain, I won’t stop until I have been reunited with my other half and together we will fight to take our crowns.<br/><br/>A war is coming.<br/>The throne is calling for a new monarch.<br/>And someone must answer its call.
The Unworthy
Agustina Bazterrica · 2025
NATIONAL BESTSELLER The long-awaited new novel from the author of global sensation Tender Is the Flesh: a thrilling work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order, while outside the world has fallen into chaos. From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe. But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened? A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.
In Berlin
Eric Silberstein · 2025
Yellow Wife: A Novel
Sadeqa Johnson · 2021
A Best Book of 2021 by NPR and Christian Science Monitor<br/><br/>Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this “fully immersive” (Lisa Wingate, #1 bestselling author of Before We Were Yours) story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia.<br/><br/>Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world.<br/><br/>She’d been promised freedom on her eighteenth birthday, but instead of the idyllic life she imagined with her true love, Essex Henry, Pheby is forced to leave the only home she has ever known. She unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half Acre, a jail in Richmond, Virginia, where the enslaved are broken, tortured, and sold every day. There, Pheby is exposed not just to her Jailer’s cruelty but also to his contradictions. To survive, Pheby will have to outwit him, and she soon faces the ultimate sacrifice.
The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
Joss Whedon · 2010
Since the destruction of the Hellmouth, the Slayers - newly legion - have gotten organized and are kicking some serious undead butt. But not everything's fun and firearms, as an old enemy reappears and Dawn experiences some serious growing pains. Meanwhile, one of the "Buffy" decoy slayers is going through major pain of her own. Buffy creator Joss Whedon brings Buffy back to Dark Horse in this direct follow-up to season seven of the smash-hit TV series. The bestselling and critically acclaimed issues #1-5 are collected here for the first time, as are their covers by Jo Chen and Georges Jeanty.
