6 New Books For You To Add To Your Reading List

I don't know which to read first.

Alexa Fishman / Via BuzzFeed

Hello, book lovers! Each week, dozens and dozens of new releases hit the shelves. Below are some of the reads BuzzFeed Books writers and contributors loved the most:

Alexa Fishman / Via BuzzFeed

1. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

Imprint

This is the highly anticipated finale to Leigh Bardugo's King of Scars duology — and one you won't want to miss. Nikolai has journeyed to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives, hoping to relieve the terrible legacy inside him. Now, as Fjerda's army prepares to invade, Nikolai, Zoya, and Nina must uncover a way to forge a future in the darkness — or watch a nation fall. —Farrah Penn

Alexa Fishman / Via BuzzFeed

2. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

W. W. Norton & Co.

Kirstin Valdez Quade's debut novel hooked me on page 1, where she introduces 33-year-old Amadeo Padilla, a character unlike any I've read about before. The book takes place during Holy Week in New Mexico, and Amadeo — an unemployed, mostly absent father who drinks a little too much and lives with his mother — has been given the role of Jesus in the town's Good Friday procession. He sees the role as catharsis, a chance for absolution, and he gives himself over to the performance to a disturbing extent. What complicates all of this is the unexpected arrival of his pregnant 15-year-old daughter, Angel, who is utterly charming and refuses to give Amadeo's martyrdom the respect he feels it deserves.

The story follows this flawed but endearing family over the course of the baby's first year, during which multiple generations — Amadeo; Angel; Amadeo's mother, who's hiding a secret; Angel's mother, on bad terms with both Angel and Amadeo; and Amadeo's great-uncle, a stoic father figure still reeling from the death of his own son — are forced to coexist, despite how uncomfortable it may be. It's a wholehearted, radiant, and darkly funny exploration of family, faith, and forgiveness. —Arianna Rebolini

Alexa Fishman / Via BuzzFeed

3. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Algonquin Books

Kaitlyn Greenidge’s highly anticipated second novel is a revelatory and enchanting piece of historical fiction, set in Reconstruction-era New York and centered on Libertie Sampson. Libertie is being raised by her single mother, a practicing physician who's made no secret of her expectation that Libertie will follow in her footsteps. But Libertie isn't drawn to science and wants the chance to direct her own life. She decides to move to Haiti with a man who wants to marry her, only to find out her husband is just another person who wants to control her. Freedom is a core theme of the book, and Libertie is consistently learning how complicated it is: As she meets formerly enslaved people who've escaped the South, she contemplates what it means to have been born free. At the same time, she knows that freedom is constrained, especially when she is navigating colorism and classism within her community. —Arianna Rebolini

4. Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

Flatiron Books

Gabriela Garcia, a prolific poet and fiction writer, delivers her highly anticipated debut novel, which follows three generations of Cuban and Cuban American women. Jeanette is determined to understand her family history, but her mother — who’s still processing the emotional effects of leaving Cuba — won’t give up much. When Jeanette travels to Cuba to visit her grandmother, uncomfortable secrets and betrayals come to light. In breathtaking prose and evocative imagery, Garcia allows the reader to travel through history alongside these complicated, resilient women as they navigate a legacy of trauma. This is also the BuzzFeed Book Club pick for April — check out an excerpt, and read along! —Arianna Rebolini

5. The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

37 Ink

Opal refuses to settle for a typical 9-to-5 life; in the age of '70s rock 'n' roll, she's determined to be a star, even if her bold Afro-punk style makes her stand out. So when an aspiring British singer-songwriter by the name of Neville suggests that they form a duo, she takes the chance. But when their label signs a rival band that has no problem waving a Confederate flag around, Opal's open protest sparks deadly consequences. Decades later, in 2016, Opal is considering a reunion tour with Nev, but a journalist's digging into the duo's past might just expose some dark skeletons. —Kirby Beaton

Alexa Fishman / Via BuzzFeed

6. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

Random House

In cultural critic and occasional BuzzFeed News contributor Hanif Abdurraqib's latest essay collection, he turns his attention to Black cultural icons — entertainers, artists, creative visionaries — and makes apparent their significant, though often overlooked, influence on American culture as a whole. These essays are odes to well-known figures like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Josephine Baker (to whom the book is dedicated), as well as those who haven't been given the mainstream attention they deserve. Abdurraqib's great strength is his ability to present broad, canny observations through the lens of his personal experience, and his intimate exploration of what these specific moments meant to him as a Black Muslim coming of age in the US is what will linger long after you've finished the book. —Arianna Rebolini

For more new-release recommendations from this month, click here, or catch up on all of our weekly favorites on Bookshop. What's the best book you read this week? Tell us in the comments!