Since the first post in this series last week was such a hit, here are the books on my radar that are celebrating their Book Birthdays today (a.k.a. are being published in Canada today)! Please let me know if you have any feedback and/or suggestions for these posts! Anything from formatting to the info about each book that I include.

Title: In the House in the
Dark of the Woods
Author: Laird Hunt
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Horror, Historical
Publisher: Little, Brown and
Company (Hachette Book Group)

“Once upon a time there was and there wasn’t a woman who went to the woods.”

In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she’s been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along. The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations–witchcraft in colonial America–In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt’s characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, but told in a vivid way you will never forget.

Title: A Very Large
Expanse of Sea
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Publisher: HarperTeen
(HarperCollins)

It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.

But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.

Title: Crown of Thunder
Author: Tochi Onyebuchi
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin
Random House)

Note: This book is a sequel and the synopsis will likely contain spoilers for the previous book/s!

Taj is headed west, but the consequences of leaving Kos behind confront him at every turn. Innocent civilians flee to refugee camps as Karima’s dark magic continues to descend on the city. Taj must return, but first he needs a plan.

With Arzu’s help, Taj and Aliya make it to the village of her ancestors, home of the tastahlik—sin-eaters with Taj’s same ability to both battle and call forth sins. As Taj comes to terms with his new magic, he realizes there are two very different groups of tastahlik—one using their powers for good, the other for more selfish ends.

Aliya is struggling with her own unique capabilities. She’s immersed in her work to uncover the secret to Karima’s magic, but her health begins to mysteriously deteriorate. With the help of a local western mage, Aliya uncovers her true destiny—a future she’s not sure she wants.

As Taj and Aliya explore their feelings for each other and Arzu connects with her homeland, the local westerners begin to question Taj’s true identity. Karima is on his heels, sending dark warnings to the little village where he’s hiding. Taj will have to go back and face her before she sends her mostly deadly weapon—Taj’s former best friend, Bo.

Title: Christmas Camp
Author: Karen Schaler
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Contemporary,
Romance, Christmas
Publisher: William Morrow
Paperbacks (HarperCollins)

From the screenwriter of the Netflix Original viral hit, A Christmas Prince, comes another heartwarming holiday story about a beautiful Grinch who’s determined to get her dream job even if it means spending a week at a Christmas Camp where she discovers an unexpected love.

Haley Hanson’s idea of the perfect Christmas is escaping to the Caribbean to work so she can avoid all the traditional Christmas distractions. Over the years, she’s sacrificed her personal life to climb the corporate ladder at a prestigious Boston advertising agency. Now she just needs to land a coveted Christmas toy company account to make partner. But first, her boss, Larry, thinks she needs a holiday attitude adjustment, so he ships her off to a Christmas Camp at Holly Peak Inn to help her find her Christmas spirit.

Arriving at the charming mountainside inn, Haley meets the owner’s handsome son, Jeff, and feels an instant spark, but resists the attraction, refusing to be distracted from her goal of doing all the required Christmas tasks as fast as possible so she can get back to work.

At first Haley struggles with all the traditional Christmas Camp activities. It’s not until she finally allows herself to slow down, live in the moment, and let Christmas back into her heart, that she begins to grow closer to Jeff. But when he finds out Haley’s come up with a plan to help his dad save the struggling inn while he’s been trying to convince his dad to sell it, their relationship takes a serious holiday hit.  Now it will take the magic of the season to bring these two hearts together.

Title: The Comet: Volume 1: Combustion
Author: Arianna Irwin
Illustrator: Francine Delgado
Type: Fiction
Genre: Graphic Novel,
Urban Fantasy, Horror
Publisher: Insight Comics

A soulless teenager battles demonic forces in this epic new comic, which mixes horror, urban fantasy, and coming-of-age drama to create an exciting superhero origin story.

Fifteen-year-old Kenzie Cook does not have the problems of a normal teenager. Tough classes, bad breakouts, getting a date for the prom? She wishes. Kenzie’s little sister is dying of cancer, and her family is barely holding it together under the weight of their grief and pain. Kenzie will do anything to save them all—even visit her estranged Aunt Emmy, a “healer” who claims to cure her patients by making deals with demonic forces. Aunt Emmy swears she can save Rae. All it will cost is Kenzie’s soul . . .

When Aunt Emmy’s ceremony goes terribly wrong, Kenzie is turned into something monstrous. Now she must battle her own guilt and anger as she attempts to rediscover her humanity—not to mention the vengeful demon unleashed by the ceremony whose only goal seems to be total chaos and destruction. As Kenzie learns to navigate her new powers and the responsibilities that come with them, she begins to wonder: What is the price of love? Does love make monsters of us all? Is this newfound power a gift or a burden? And, most unfathomable of all, what makes us human?

Title: Everything’s Trash,
But It’s Okay
Author: Phoebe Robinson
Type: Nonfiction
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir,
Essays, Humour, Feminism
Publisher: Plume Books (Penguin Random House)

From New York Times bestselling author and star of 2 Dope Queens , Phoebe Robinson, comes a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and a world that seems to always be a self-starting Dumpster fire.

Wouldn’t it be great if life came with an instruction manual? Of course, but like access to Michael B. Jordan’s house, none of us are getting any. Thankfully, Phoebe Robinson is ready to share everything she’s experienced in hopes that if you can laugh at her topsy-turvy life, you can laugh at your own.

Written in her trademark unfiltered and singularly witty style, Robinson’s latest essay collection is a call to arms. She tackles a wide range of topics, such as giving feminism a tough love talk in hopes it can become more intersectional; telling society’s beauty standards to kick rocks; and demanding that toxic masculinity close its mouth and legs (enough with the manspreading already!), and get out of the way so true progress can happen.

Robinson also gets personal, exploring debt she has hidden from her parents, how dating is mainly a warmed-over bowl of hot mess, and maybe most importantly, meeting Bono not once, but twice. She’s struggled with being a woman with a political mind and a woman with an ever-changing jean size. She knows about trash not only because she sees it every day, but also because she’s seen about one hundred thousand hours of reality TV and zero hours of Schindler’s List.

Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay is a candid perspective for a generation that has had the rug pulled out from under it too many times to count, as well as an intimate conversation with a new best friend.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING MY BOOK BIRTHDAY POST! WHICH UPCOMING BOOKS ARE YOU MOST EXCITED FOR? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS POST, AND WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE POSTS LIKE THIS! ALSO, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE POSTS!