June Books of the Month
This summer, OddFellows and Penguin Random House are teaming up to launch The Brain Freeze Book Club, an ice cream and book collection so sweet you’ll want to devour it...maybe too fast! We’ve got a pairing for everyone: Smoky Bourbon Vanilla Twist for Mystery mavens; Journey to Outer Spice for SciFi stans; Passionberry Love Potion for Romance fanatics; and Bubblegum Pop for all of us trying to relive our teenage fantasies. So visit OddFellows online or your local OddFellows scoop shop, and dig in! Check out all of our featured books here!
I'm So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson
A chance to rewrite their ending is worth the risk in this swoony romantic comedy from Kosoko Jackson.
It's been months since aspiring journalist Kian Andrews has heard from his ex-boyfriend, Hudson Rivers, but an urgent text has them meeting at a caf . Maybe Hudson wants to profusely apologize for the breakup. Or confess his undying love. . . But no, Hudson has a favor to ask--he wants Kian to pretend to be his boyfriend while his parents are in town, and Kian reluctantly agrees.
The dinner doesn't go exactly as planned, and suddenly Kian is Hudson's plus one to Georgia's wedding of the season. Hudson comes from a wealthy family where reputation is everything, and he really can't afford another mistake. If Kian goes, he'll help Hudson preserve appearances and get the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in media. This could be the big career break Kian needs.
But their fake relationship is starting to feel like it might be more than a means to an end, and it's time for both men to fact-check their feelings.
Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala
Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie's Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.
Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can't bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt's Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.
To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila's little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago--a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case--because it looks like one of them might be next.
Cinder & Glass by Melissa de la Cruz
Cendrillon de Louvois was poised to be the most eligible maiden in all of France. But the death of her father, the king's favorite advisor, has left Cendrillon at the will of her cruel stepmother and stepsisters.
Dubbed Lady Cinder by the court, Cendrillon is forced to become a servant to her new family. But when she attends the royal ball, she catches the eye of the handsome Prince Louis and his younger brother, Auguste.
Even though Cendrillon has an immediate aversion to Louis and a connection with Auguste, the only way to escape her stepmother is to compete with the other girls at court for the Prince's hand.
As her stepmother's cruelty grows, Cendrillon captures the prince's heart . . . though her own heart belongs to Auguste. Cendrillon's fate rests on one question: Can she bear losing the boy she loves in order to leave a life she hates?
When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez
Sarai is a first-generation Puerto Rican question asker who can see with clarity the truth, pain, and beauty of the world both inside and outside her Bushwick apartment. Together with her older sister, Estrella, she navigates the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Sarai questions the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives with determination and an open heart, learning to celebrate herself in a way that she has long been denied.
When We Make It is a love letter to anyone who was taught to believe that they would not make it. To those who feel their emotions before they can name them. To those who still may not have all the language but they have their story. Velasquez' debut novel is sure to leave an indelible mark on all who read it.