Olga Dies Dreaming takes place in New York City in 2017 and follows Olga, a wedding planner for Manhattan's elite, and her brother Prieto, a well-received congressman who represents their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn. While Olga works hard to plan weddings others, she can't seem to land a love of her own — until she meets Matteo. The two siblings are forced to reconcile with the reappearance of their mother Blanca, who left her children with their grandmother so she could work on advancing a militant political cause. And it's Matteo who helps Olga come to terms with the lasting effects of her family secrets.
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Flatiron Books From the author of Mexican Gothic comes a new historical science fiction reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau. Set in 19th-century Mexico, Carlota Moreau is the daughter of Doctor Moreau and has grown up on a distant estate away from the conflict that's happening in the Yucatán Peninsula. Montgomery Laughton, a man with a bleak past, assists Doctor Moreau with the hybrids: part-human, part-animal experimentations. They live discretely among themselves until the arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, a man who threatens to throw everything off-kilter.
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Del Rey Books Erika Sánchez's deeply impactful memoir explores what it was like growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Chicago during the '90s and throughout adulthood. She reflects on aspects of her life with unflinching honesty and raunchy humor, focusing on sex and unknown vagina pain (always a pleasant surprise to find a book that explores vagina problems!), love and divorce, feminism and colorism, and depression and mental health.
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Viking Segura pens a mystery that's set in the comic book industry during 1975. We follow Carmen Valdez, who is an assistant at Triumph Comics. Carmen's dream is to create her own comic book hero, and lucky for her, one of the writers needs help creating a new character called "The Lethal Lynx." But Carmen knows something's not right when her colleague begins acting shifty — then is eventually found dead. Things get even weirder when she discovers the work they completed together has been turned in without her name. As Carmen attempts to piece together this mystery on her own, she's quickly introduced to a cop who is on the fast track to figuring out what really happened.
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Flatiron Books Set during the Great Recession, factory worker Cara Romero never thought she would be laid off, let alone in her mid-50s. Thrust back into the job market, she seeks a job counselor. This is where she begins to recount her tumultuous journey of finding love and loss, suffering through gentrification and debt, and working through her estrangement from her son Fernando. Coming to terms with her life in all of its regret and hope, Cara's resilience and ambition make this a tender, moving story.
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Flatiron Books 6. Paradais by Fernanda MelchorThis dark, gritty, and at times unsettling literary thriller introduces us to two teenage boys: the lonely, porn-obsessed Franco Andrade and Polo, a gardener for the luxury housing complex where they both live. Both trapped within their own toxic masculinity headspace, the boys begin to plan a morbid scheme to try to earn what they mistakenly believe they deserve.
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New Directions Publishing Corporation This dual-POV slow-burn thriller is a must-read for true crime lovers. In this layered mystery, Cassie Bowman — a true crime blogger — stumbles upon an article about a woman named Lore who was secretly married to two men. When one husband finds out, they're arrested for the murder of the other. But something doesn't add up. Cassie cannot fathom why a mother would risk everything to live two different lives, so she finds Lore in order to get to the center of the story. We're then given the story from Lore's perspective in 1985, and when Cassie begins asking the hard questions, it unearths flaws surrounding the murder — flaws that point to the real story.
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William Morrow & Company Silvia Vasquez-Lavado's memoir follows her dangerous and heart-racing journey to Mount Everest. Repressing her sexuality and coping with alcohol, Vasquez-Lavado begins climbing as an escape from both her reality and the trauma of her past. Joined with a group of young female survivors, Vasquez-Lavado recalls the brutal, emotional, challenging, and unforgettable climb.
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Henry Holt & Company In this multi-genre short story collection, Olivas explores magical realism, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures, all of which stem from Chicano and Mexican culture. While the exterior plots might be evocative and strange, its inner messages explore identity, grief, politics, and much more.
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University of Nevada Press 10. Brown Neon by Raquel GutiérrezGutiérrez's thoughtful debut essay collection explores a myriad of topics and profound insights, from identity and queerness to gender and class, to feminism and intergenerational queer dynamics.
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Coffee House Press Julissa Arce boldly discusses what it means to assimilate in America as a brown immigrant from Mexico. After years of internalizing that "you sound like a white girl" was a compliment, Arce's manifesto cracks open the inherent racism found within comments like these while dissecting what it means to belong.
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Flatiron Books This brilliant sci-fi fantasy short story collection features an array of bestselling and acclaimed Latine authors who take readers on immersive, magical, out-of-this-world adventures.
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Wednesday Books Ramírez's coming-of-age memoir examines her upbringing in El Paso, Texas, returning after the death of her grandmother in order to process her grief and to better understand her through her mother and her sister. Throughout her journey, Ramírez conversationally reflects upon the non-traditional aspects of being part of a family of Mexican American women.
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Cinco Puntos Press Set in a fantasy world where Dreamers are those who descend from seers, Indir is a Dreamer with the ability to Dream the truth. But when King Alcan threatens to bring an end to all who possess this ability, Indir must make a difficult choice. Though she isn't a Dreamer, Saya is a seer who never stays in one place too long and while her mother passes off Saya's ability as her own, Saya begins to wonder how deep her secrets run.
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Farrar, Straus and Giroux In this fun-filled contemporary romance, readers are introduced to Nadia Palacio, who decides to throw herself a 30th birthday quinceañera (a double quince, or treintañera) after discovering her fiancé's cheated on her right before their wedding. The venue is already booked, so why not take advantage? But Nadia soon discovers her old college fling is the one in charge, bringing up a tidal wave of old memories.
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Kensington Publishing Corporation This contemporary romance story follows Jeremiah and Alejandra, aka Alex. Alex is trying to figure out how to turn her grandmother’s bar below into a profitable business while Jeremiah is a professor and a tenant in one of the upstairs rooms. The problem? Jeremiah also has interest in buying the bar in order to preserve a sense of community, while Alex seems to be looking out for her best interests. But when an outside factor threatens to ruin everything, Jeremiah and Alex decide it's better to combine forces to get what they want.
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Carina Trade Ramón Montez is a hardworking, determined perfectionist. So when a mysterious woman kisses him on the Day of the Dead and disappears into the night with his heart, he'll do whatever it takes to find her. Julieta Campos is a celebrity chef who discovers that her restaurant's new landlord is Ramón, the man she hooked up with on Día de los Muertos — who is also the son of a man who stole her mother's taco recipe decades ago. They're forced to work together, for better or worse, as their outraged community protests against the Taco King takeover, further dividing their families.
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Berkley Books Set in San Antonio, Texas, Mariana and her younger sisters need to win Battle of the Mariachi Bands in order to help resolve their adoptive parents' financial problems. This means they'll be competing against her father’s archnemesis, which also means Angelo, an attractive mariachi, is strictly off limits to Mariana. That doesn't stop him from pursuing her in secret even as the competition — and their deep feelings — grow heated.
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Montlake Set in Texas, this YA contemporary novel is about a bisexual girl named Maggie Gonzalez who is in search of an escort to her sister's quinceañera. Maggie's love life is anything but clear. There's Amanda, her BFF and first crush, and then there's Matthew, her continuously flirty ex, and, finally, Dani, the new girl in Maggie's life who is dealing with struggles of her own.
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Feiwel & Friends In this emotional YA novel, we're introduced to Aarón, who's mother has passed away, and as a result, he finds he's being haunted by the onstage persona of his favorite musician. Mia is a teenage girl plagued with doubt, unsure if she'll ever overcome her stage fright. When the two collide into each other's lives, Aarón sees it as a chance to know his crush better while Mia seeks an opportunity to finally face her fears.
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Little, Brown Books for Young Readers This YA novel is the prequel to Silvera's #1 New York Times bestselling novel, They Both Die at the End , set within the beloved Death-Cast universe. This time, we follow Orion Pagan and Valentino Prince, two teens who cross paths in Times Square. They both hold the same curious question as the rest of the world: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die? But when the first official End Day call goes out to the world, one of them will receive life-altering news
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Quill Tree Books 22. Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemoreMcLemore's magical realism YA novel follows two nonbinary teens named Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia who've grown up amid folklore about the ethereal, otherworldly lake in their town. Bastián is familiar in the world above and below the lake, while Lore has only seen the mystical world beneath the surface once. But when a threat arises, Bastián and Lore must work together to prevent the lake's secrets from becoming public — even if that means learning to trust each other after not speaking for seven years.
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Feiwel & Friends Set in Prague, Ilana Lopez, a biracial Jewish girl, has a dream of becoming a violinist, though her parents don't have the same desire for her. When Ilana stumbles upon a forgotten Jewish cemetery, she meets a kind ghost named Benjamin who opens up a whole new world of Prague. But when a shadowless man named Rudolph Wassermann becomes intrigued by Ilana's music, her offers her his magic to bring her closer to Ben — and so she can pursue her dreams of playing the violin. Shortly after, Ilana discovers how Ben became bound to this city, and she'll do whatever it takes to free the boy she's grown to love, even if it means losing him.
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Peachtree Teen Seventeen-year-old Minerva Gutiérrez is stuck. She's taken a job at her local ice cream stand in order to support herself and her family, especially since her mother is in the hospital. This means suffering through day after day with a sexist boss in a town she desperately wants to escape. When rumors that money is hidden on the property come to light after a robbery, Min and her neighbor CeCe decide to work together to see if they can be the first to uncover it.
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Soho Teen This delightful middle grade novel stars Valentina Salazar, who comes from a family of protectors tasked with rescuing magical creatures that accidentally wander into our world. But when Valentina's father is killed during one mission, her mother moves the family to upstate New York for a chance at a regular life. Valentina refuses to give up her protector identity, so when she discovers a supernatural egg via a viral video, she convinces her siblings to help her save it before it hatches. But they'll have to work fast, because there are monster hunters who'd rather rid the world of these creatures once and for all.
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Scholastic Press Everyone seems to know what they want to do with their life except for seventh-grader Maggie Diaz. Her best friends have band and comics club, her sister has sports and tutoring, and even her own mother is finishing her last semester of college. In order to find her own "thing," Maggie concocts a plan to try every club. But when that quickly becomes exhausting and leads to even more confusion for Maggie, she decides that maybe a little magic from the bruja next door will help her find what she's really looking for.
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Scholastic Press 27. Witchlings by Claribel A. OrtegaThis bewitching middle grade novel is set in the magical town of Ravenskill, where every year Witchlings are sorted into covens during the Black Moon Ceremony. But 12-year-old Seven Salazar isn't sorted into one of the five covens, making her a Spare. Spares are looked down upon in the community because they aren't seen as powerful. Teaming up with two other Spares, Seven and her friends are assigned an impossible task. If they complete it, they earn their powers. If not — they risk being turned into toads.
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Scholastic Press This middle grade speculative novel follows 11-year-old David Bravo, who's experiencing a string of bad luck. So when his best friend is accidentally injured when David freezes during a cross-country race, he wishes for a do-over. He doesn't expect that wish to come true, especially in the form of a dog who insists on being David's new timeline guide. But Fea tells David that one of his past choices led to his life being put on the wrong track, and together, they must figure out how to undo it.
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HarperCollins Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores is one of the only Mexican kids at her wealthy Catholic school, but it's not something she wants to be defined by. But then she's outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to a different Catholic school, which allows Yami to reexamine her priorities. One of those priorities? Don't fall in love. But then here's Bo, an openly queer girl at her school, and the more Yami gets to know her the more she struggles with faking being straight.
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Balzer & Bray/Harperteen Set in Eagle Pass, Texas, Grace struggles with visions (called echoes) that often twist and warp her own reality. But when one echo in particular results in a traumatic outcome, Grace must learn how to move forward with her recovery in order to move forward. Estranged from her sister and dealing with concerning echoes that have begun to bring about ghosts and premonitions, Grace must untangle the secrets of her family's history in order to better understand her present.
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Tu Books Set in Bakersfield, California, Maldonado's contemporary YA novel follows 16-year-old Kat Sanchez, who's pretending to be 21-year-old Max Monroe online. Max has cultivated a picturesque and unobtainable life online, while Kat's life is anything but glamorous. But when one of Max's photos that Kat stole from the real Max goes viral, Kat will have to figure out how to navigate the messy thread of lies she's created.
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Holiday House Verónica is a Peruvian American teen struggling with painful hip dysplasia, but that won't stop her from going after her dream of performing as a mermaid at Mermaid Cove entertainment park. The problem? She knows her overprotective immigrant parents would never allow her to do it.
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Clarion Books Lulu Zavala is as type A as you can get, complete with a 10-year-plan and a big dream to intern at Stanford. That dream is almost within her reach — she has an interview — which is why she's looking forward to her school's cross-country road trip where Stanford is the last stop. Lulu's sister Milagro only wants to attend the spring break trip to get back at her ex. Both sisters are aware that a huge fight between their older sister, Clara, and their mom lead to her mom's belief that out-of-state schools destroy families. As Lulu and Milagro work together to unearth Clara's secrets despite their differences, the last thing they expect is for it to bring them closer than ever.
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Balzer & Bray/Harperteen Randall's middle grade fantasy novel follows 12-year-old Pilar, who is intent on uncovering her family's secrets when she's transported inside a blank page of her missing cousin's file. In the land of Zafa, she finds that her cousin is being held captive, but Pilar will have to try and defeat El Cuco if she wants a chance at saving her cousin and returning home.
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Henry Holt & Company Set in 1980s Minnesota, 16-year-old Rosa Dominguez is destined to become a ballet super star, but it's not quite her dream. When an opportunity arises to audition for a Prince concert, Rosa desperately wants to show the world she excels at more than just pointe and decides to break away from what's expected of her to go after what she truly desires.
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Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers Set in LA during the summer, Enrique "Quique" Luna wants one thing: to get over Saleem Kanazi by getting to know other boys. Despite only being out to his best friend Fabiola, Quique decides to get to know Tyler, Ziggy, and Manny — all of whom are different in their own ways. But as the summer stretches on, Quique slowly learns that maybe getting over someone by getting under others isn't the most ideal plan after all.
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Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Ophelia Rojas might be a hopeless romantic with way too many crushes, but high school is ending, and she's weirdly not broken up about losing the opportunity to go to prom with her now ex-boyfriend. That's because Talia Sanchez now lives in her mind rent free, which causes Ophelia to question her sexuality in ways she hadn't considered before.
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Feiwel & Friends This YA fantasy novel inspired by medieval Spain follows Zarela Zalvidar, an 18-year-old flamenco dancer. Zarela is also the daughter of the most famous Dragonador in all of Hispalia. But when a tragedy throws Zarela's world upside down, she must train to become a Dragonador — a dragon hunter — in order to save her family's legacy. To do so, she'll need to convince the attractive Arturo Díaz de Montserrat to assist her. The problem? He's reluctant to offer his help.
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Wednesday Books Theo Mori's parents own an Asian American café, and Gabriel Moreno parents own a Puerto Rican bakery, making them rivals. Gabi is closeted and sees the bakery as his future, while Theo knows he'd only feel comfortable leaving Vermont if the café continued to be fruitful for his parents. So when a new fusion café threatens both of their parents' businesses, Gabi and Theo decide to start an underground snack operation to win back customers — but things get a little more complex when feelings start to grow between them.
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Quill Tree Books This anthology is a profound collection of essays, poetry, and art by a wide range of migrants and refugees, many of of whom are award-winning writers, artists, and activists, that explore the heart and humanity of living undocumented in the United States.
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