Recommended New Releases (6/12/20)

Tuma returns with eight recommended new releases!

• This week, we have the following genres: Romance, Comedy, Crime, Thriller, Mystery, and a Cookbook.
• Themes covered: love, family, secrets, sexuality, finding self, and food.

Buy copies of our recommended new releases from our Bookshop page. Tuma’s Books and Things earns a 10% commission for all purchases. Thank you for your support.

 1. You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

When Zaina Arafat’s Palestinian-American narrator tells her mom that she’s queer, her mother’s response? “You exist too much,” she tells her daughter. (Um, say what???) In this debut novel, we follow the protagonist's journey from blushing teen to well-known DJ and aspiring writer. An attempt to settle down with a long-time girlfriend fails when her longings, so closely hidden during her teenage years, explode out into reckless romantic encounters and obsessions with other people. So, she checks herself in rehab and discovers that she has a “love addiction.” So, what’s a girl to do when she’s addicted to love and desperately seeking a place to call home?

2. Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho
Career driven, 33-year-old Andrea Tang is living the life. All she needs is to make law partner at her firm and everything would be perfect. Her meddling Chinese-Malaysian family disagrees and finds her lack of a man disappointing. Cue a meddling family pushing her to marry and a love triangle in this "punny" romantic title.

3. Outside the Lines by Ameera Patel
Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, Outside the Lines follows the family drama of several characters across racial, religious, and class divisions.

• Cathleen--drug addicted, middle class family, kidnapped and distracted family doesn’t even notice.
• Zilindile--sells Cathleen drugs and struggles to make his relationship with his Muslim-Indian girlfriend, Farhana, work with their religious and cultural differences.
• Flora, a domestic worker and Runyararo, a house painter accused by Cathleen’s father of stealing from their home.

All of these very different people find themselves intertwined in a story that is part family drama and part crime/thriller novel, with a hint of dark comedy.

4. All the Things We Never Knew by Liara Tamani
A glance. Instant connection. Raw understanding. This kind of love doesn’t come along often, but it does for rising basketball stars, Carli and Rex. But they both have secrets, as do their families… Liara Tamani’s novel follows two teenagers as they discover how first love, heartbreak, betrayal, and family can shape you--for better or for worse.

 5. Sweet, Savory, Spicy: Exciting Street Market Food from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and More by Sarah Tiong

Explore the street food stalls, night markets and hawker centers of Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and more without ever leaving home thanks to chef and Masterchef Australia finalist Sarah Tiong’s satisfying Southeast Asian recipes.

Sarah opens up a fantastic world of flavor to try, from Malaysian Chicken Satay to Vietnamese Crispy Spring Rolls (Cha giò) to Hokkien Noodles (Hokkien Mee) to Khmer Beef Curry.

Whether it’s steamed, fried or barbecued, every recipe in this book will fill your table with delicious, unforgettable dishes― so what are you waiting for?

6. The Marriage Game by Sara Desai
Daddy girl, Layla Patel returns home after her life falls apart. As daddy’s little girl, her father sets her up in an office above his Michelin starred restaurant so she can start her new business and create a dating profile. What she doesn’t know is that daddy has already arranged a series of blind dates…

When the first date comes knocking on the door believing he’s come to rent out an office, Sam Mehta is in for a rude awakening. He’s forced to share his space with the owner's beautiful yet infuriating daughter Layla, her crazy family, and a parade of hopeful suitors, all of whom threaten to disrupt his carefully ordered life. As they face off in close quarters, the sarcasm and sparks fly. But when the battle for the office becomes a battle of the heart, Sam and Layla have to decide if this is love or just a game.

7. Half Life by Lillian Clark
There aren't enough hours in the day for Lucille--perfectionist, overachiever--to do everything she has to do, and also hang out with friends, fall in love, get in trouble--all the teenage things she knows she should want to be doing. Then she sees an ad for Life2: Do more. Be more, and she's intrigued.

The company is looking for beta testers to enroll in an experimental clone program, and in the aftermath of a series of disappointments, Lucille is feeling reckless enough to jump in. At first, it's perfect...But it doesn't take long for Lucy to become more Lucy and less Lucille, and Lucille is forced to stop looking at Lucy as a reflection and start seeing her as a window--a glimpse at someone else living her own life, but better. Lucille wanted Lucy to help her relationships with everyone else, but how can she do that without first rectifying her relationship with herself?

8. Last Things by Jacqueline West
High school senior Anders Thorson is unusually musically gifted. His band, Last Things, is legendary in their northern Minnesota hometown. Newcomer Thea Malcom is one of his admirers. Thea seems to turn up everywhere Anders goes: gigs at the local coffeehouse, guitar lessons, even in the woods near Anders’s home.

When strange things start happening to Anders, blame immediately falls on Thea. But is she trying to hurt him? Or save him?

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Buy copies of our recommended new releases from our Bookshop page. Tuma’s Books and Things earns a 10% commission for all purchases. Thank you for your support.

Until Next Week!

~Tuma

Just Finished: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin