This Week's Goodreads Picks

Are you still in need of a justification to buy a new book for yourself this week? Using preliminary reader feedback, Goodreads has compiled a list of the most popular new releases for us this week. Here are several novels that could be appropriate for our lazy day:

1. Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong's first standalone horror book, published by the New York Times. A genuinely unsettling story with complicated characters, peculiar turns, real goosebumps, and strong emotions. A hand is soon seen sticking up from the ground after tensions, secrets, and murmurs in the nearby woods. The accompanying body follows after that. But by that point, someone had already left the island through their lone escape route, and they were now encircled by someone or something that didn't want them to survive the ordeal. If we enjoy horror, thrillers, secluded island homes, unexpected discoveries, gory bones, hex circles, and The Summoning, then we should read this novel.

2. Rouge by Mona Awad

A lonely clothing store clerk whose mother's abrupt death sets her on a perilous path in search of youth and beauty is the subject of a horror-tinged, gothic fairy tale by Bunny's highly renowned author. Can she make a relationship that goes beyond the surface and avoid her mother's fate? In this surreal exploration of the evil side of beauty, envy, loss, and the nuanced love between mothers and daughters, Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut. Rouge examines the risk of internalizing the beauty business's ruthless gaze while also examining the cult-like character of the beauty industry with sly comedy and enticing terror. Rouge, bursting with California sunlight and acrid rose petals, throws up a twisted mirror to our connection with mortality, our society's concern with what is visible, and the magnificent, deep desire that can be hidden within. This novel is recommended for those who enjoy horror with a philosophical bent, dark comedy, eerie health spas, bizarre Southern California, and veiled criticism of the modern beauty business.

3. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

One lively child is left alone in the bush in Lauren Groff's tense and enthralling new book, striving for survival. The latest book by Lauren Groff is both an exciting adventure tale and an insightful parable about attempting to discover a new way of life in a society that is falling victim to colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of unadulterated and prophetic force that asks how—and if—we can change rapidly enough to rescue ourselves by telling the tale of America in microcosm through the eyes of one girl at a turning point in history. If we enjoy historical fiction, literary fiction, colonial-era North America, action stories, survival stories, tense allegories, Fates and Furies, and Lauren Groff works in general, we should read this book.

4. Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

This fiery, irreverent horror book from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle features a jaded twenty-something who is forced to confront the terrible secrets of her unusual family. Harrison surprises and piques your interest with a ritual of macabre wit and group terror, hooking you like a Hellraiser. Black Sheep presents a compelling argument for avoiding all family gatherings. Harrison's most recent book, which is compulsively engaging, is a rallying cry for any daughter who has been excluded from her family and considered the consequences of returning home. If we enjoy scary movies, poisonous relationships, hazardous cults, extreme religious groups, shady family gatherings, and Cackle, we should read this book.

5. The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

Shakespeare's Hamlet is retold in a poetic, queer science fiction thriller set in a confined chamber. A frantic, intensely immersive recreation of Hamlet that seems both contemporary and eternal. Each scene has many layers of suspense and growing dread that are expertly built to a terrifying conclusion. This is the type of narrative that will linger in the forefront of your thoughts like static for a considerable amount of time. If we enjoy science fiction, locked-room mysteries, retellings of well-known tragedies from the 16th century, gay themes, artificial intelligence, and writers who are also biochemists, we should read this book.

6. Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Fall of Ruin and Wrath is the first book in a riveting fantasy romance series for adults by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book From Blood and Ash. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoy fantasy, romance, resourceful courtesans, wandering princes, envious barons, civil unrest, knights, monsters, and the Blood and Ash series.

Where to buy these books...