Summer Reads 2022 from Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly

The Ballad of Perilous Graves

Alex Jennings (Redhook)

Jennings takes readers on a jazzy romp through the magic- and music-infused streets of New Orleans in his debut urban fantasy. When nine of the Songs of Power that keep the city alive go missing, young Perilous “Perry” Graves helps the spectral pianist Doctor Professor track them down. Their investigation is wildly fun, and Jennings’s love for NOLA and its history shines through on every page.

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Book Eaters

Sunyi Dean (Tor)

The supernatural race central to Dean’s addictive gothic debut literally eat books to survive. After Devon, a book eater woman who was raised on a steady diet of fairy tales in her family’s effort to control her, gives birth to a mind eater baby, she and her son go on the run—but the child’s terrifying appetite only grows. It’s a gripping thrill ride that will have bibliophiles on the edges of their seats.

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The Hacienda

Isabel Cañas (Berkley)

The haunted house story gets an update in Cañas’s chilling, gorgeous novel. In 1823 Mexico, the new wife of a mysterious widower fears that something’s off in her husband’s sprawling home—and the only person who believes her is a handsome young priest. As they work together to exorcise whatever spirit haunts the hacienda, they uncover a hidden history and Cañas brilliantly deploys—and subverts—horror tropes.

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Siren Queen

Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Vo brings the golden age of Hollywood to life through the spellbinding story of a Chinese American starlet who rises through the film industry’s corrupt ranks and makes a name for herself playing monsters—though the real monsters lurk behind the scenes. Vo’s prose is as lush and evocative as ever, and her character study of an ambitious, talented actor captivates. This is sure to suck readers in.

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The Stardust Thief

Chelsea Abdullah (Orbit)

Epic fantasy fans will find much to love in Abdullah’s One Thousand and One Nights–inspired debut and series launch, which follows an unlikely found family of a smuggler, a thief, a jinn, and a prince on a dangerous trek through the desert in search of an ancient artifact. The vibrant worldbuilding sets their adventures apart as they face supernatural challenges, reveal deeply held secrets, and, of course, tell stories.

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