Books
A Thriller About Getting "Ghosted" & 11 New Books You Need To Know This Week
Believe it or not, you've made it to the homestretch of summer. There's just five and a half weeks left until Labor Day, which means it's time to decide which summer books you are truly serious about reading and move them to the top of your pile. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how many books you already have in your stack), there are plenty of new books coming out this week that should definitely be on your radar this summer.
The best of this week's new books include a Pride and Prejudice retelling from Mary Bennet's point-of-view, a memoir about the family behind a beloved American snack food, and a short story collection about the experience of being Jamaican in the United States. There are thrillers about missing boyfriends (I never thought I'd have to ask: did he ghost — or is he actually dead?) and novels about the pressure of being a woman running for office. There are memoirs about making it to the Olympics as a Muslim woman and making it to the age of 30 with your entire bucket list marked off. Whatever your mood this week, there's a gut-punch of a story waiting for you in the options below. Here are the 12 best new books by women to read this week:
'30 Before 30: How I Made A Mess of My 20s and You Can Too' by Marina Shifrin
Like many twenty-somethings with big plans for their future, Marina Shifrin made a bucket list: She wrote down the 30 things she wanted to accomplish before she turned 30. First up? "Quit my shitty job." She proceeds to do so, with gusto, in a video that ends up going viral. And then she knocks out the other 29 items on the list, too.
'Mary B' by Katherine J. Chen
Sandwiched in between four beautiful, charming, vivacious sisters, Mary Bennet is easy to overlook. She's plain, she's borderline droll, and she doesn't seem to have too much going on in the way of romance. But in Katherine J. Chen's novel, Mary is an adventurer, a lover, and a heroine with far more gumption and grit than meets the eye.
'Ghosted' by Rosie Walsh
When Sarah meets Eddie, she thinks it's love at first sight. But their whirlwind romance comes to a sudden halt when Eddie goes on vacation... and never calls. Sarah's friends try to convince her that he ghosted, but she doesn't think so. She thinks something more sinister may have happened to Eddie, and she's determined to figure it out.
'Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win' by Jo Piazza
Disenchanted and disturbed by the results of the presidential election, Charlotte Walsh decides to leave her high-powered job in Silicon Valley and return to Pennsylvania to run for a hotly contested Senate seat. But running for Congress as a woman is far from easy — and the stress the election forces upon her, her marriage, and her children makes Charlotte Walsh wonder if "winning" is even possible when you're a woman with big dreams to change the country.
'JELL-O Girls' by Allie Rowbottom
Allie Rowbottom's family is responsible for JELL-O. You know, the gelatin snack. But their lives are far from sweet — for generations, the family has been haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism, and a mysterious disease. When Rowbottom's mother, Mary, is afflicted by the same strange ailment that has cursed her family for generations, she decides to figure it out, once and for all. In this memoir, she examines the disease that killed her mother and takes readers on a journey through the history of her family and the making of an iconic American snack food.
'America For Beginners' by Leah Franqui
Piva Sengupta is in America for the first time on a heartbreaking mission: She wants to discover what happened to her son, Rahi. Shortly before his mysterious death, he came out as gay to his traditional parents. But Pival has never accepted that he's truly gone, and she intends to search far and wide in America to find him.
'How to Love a Jamaican' by Alexia Arthurs
Focused on Jamaican immigrants and their families back home, How To Love A Jamaican is a vibrant, wrenching, and expansive short story collection that illuminates the nuances of the immigrant experience.
'Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream' by Ibtihaj Muhammad
You probably remember Ibtihaj Muhammad as the only woman of color and only religious minority on the U.S. women's Olympic saber team in 2016. In her memoir, Proud, Muhammad writes of her journey to Olympic greatness and details the hurdles she overcame in order to succeed at an elitist sport typically dominated by rich white athletes.
'Now My Heart is Full' by Laura June
In this wrenching memoir about family and addiction, Laura June documents her fraught relationship with her mother, an alcoholic, and how the birth of her own daughter forced her to reconsider her mother and the generations of women who came before her.
'Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One' by Raphaëlle Giordano
A #1 bestseller in France, Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One is finally available in the United States. The heartwarming novel follows 38-year-old Camille, who is looking for a fresh start and a chance at true happiness. When a mysterious man offers her a solution to her ennui, she takes him up on it and ends up on the adventure of a lifetime.
'The Boy At The Door' by Alex Dahl
In this Scandinavian thriller, two women's lives collide in unexpected and sinister ways. Cecilia has it all: The perfect home, job, husband, and kids. But her entire life could come apart if one secret from her past is revealed. Annika has nothing to lose and she knows the truth about Cecilia. More importantly, she knows just how much Cecilia will sacrifice to make sure her secret stays safe.
'Whistle In The Dark' by Emma Healey
When Jen's daughter, Lana, goes missing, she and her husband fear the worst. But then she's found — bloodied and disoriented after four days missing, but alive. Unfortunately, Lana can't remember what happened in the days she was missing, so Jen decides to retrace her daughter's steps in an attempt to figure out what happened.
