The Best Books You’ve Never Heard of (Summer 2021)

In the sequel to the sleeper thriller 100 Hours (pick it up if you can!), a group of teens are dealing with the aftermath of getting kidnapped over spring break. Now that the surviving hostages are home, they want life to feel normal again, with their affluent lives intact, full of galas and lavish parties, and no worries. Yet, secrets are about to come out, like the ways that they betrayed each other in the jungle. And while the kidnappers might no longer be a threat, it’s what “friends” might do to each other that will make them open their eyes, as well as a stint in the spotlight after being in such a dire situation. Filled with twists and turns, and exploring themes of friendship and the stress and anxiety that comes after such a dire situation, this is a quick, intense and great read. It’s also part of a duology I wish more people would pick up. —Aurora Lydia Dominguez

Set in mid-1980s Toronto, After the Bloom follows Rita Takemitsu, a recently divorced woman still navigating life without her ex-husband and their teenage daughter, as she searches for answers in the wake of her mother’s mysterious disappearance. It’s not an uncommon occurrence; Lily has always been scatterbrained and prone to going adrift. As Rita tugs at the threads of her mother’s latest drama, however, she finds herself questioning Lily’s account of their family history. Leslie Shimotakahara’s novel is a poignant exploration of mothers and daughters, secrets and lovers, and the brutal legacy of Japanese internment. —K.W. Colyard

Living under the Sword of Damocles, neither Adrien nor Paul is interested in a relationship. She survived a brain aneurysm she knows will eventually kill her, and he’s been dreaming about his own death for years. Working at a summer camp with Paul, Adrien encounters the real-life ghosts of the camp’s past and pieces together a decades-old mystery…but can she find a way to cheat death again, for Paul’s sake? This is a truly unputdownable read, taut with chills and rife with angst. —K.W. Colyard

This YA novel is a dizzying, wonderful blend of giggly and silly, serious and heartbreaking. Poppy has just graduated from high school and is ready to start a new life at college with her girlfriend. But when her twin sister Lola disappears, she decides to remain at home with her dad instead. The novel partly unfolds in the letters Poppy writes to Lola, in an attempt to explain the rift between them. It’s a complicated book about sisterhood and being a twin, queer love, family secrets, childhood trauma, and Asian American identity. Poppy is a character I won’t soon forget. —Laura Sackton

I am convinced this book was ahead of its time. If there was a historical queer Hamlet retelling that was released now instead of 2010, it would have been much better received. The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet follows Hamlet and Horatio during their university days at Wittenberg, several years before the start of the play. Horatio is a skeptic by nature, and Hamlet is haunted by premonitions of dying young. Through philosophical debates, theatrical productions, and a lot of romantic tension, the two explore the nature of fate and whether love is worth transcending social norms. —CJ Connor

Sometimes I hope that if I just keep yelling about this series, there will be more like it released. Why? Because it’s a cozy mystery starring a gay vampire. If you were to ask me what the perfect book concept would be before finding this, I would have said, “Uh, I dunno, probably a cozy mystery starring a gay vampire.” And I both stand by that and think it suffered the same fate as the book I mentioned above — released before its time. In this book, Simon (the aforementioned gay vampire) attends a tea party hosted by a televised interior design show host. When said host is murdered, Simon must solve a locked room puzzle to reveal which of the guests is guilty. —CJ Connor

Most readers think of cozy mysteries when they think of this author, or her recent foray into crime fiction. And that’s not unfair, because those series of hers are very enjoyable. However, this book is woefully underrated and it’s one that the author herself has said holds a special place in her heart. I’ve always loved the concept of entering books ever since The Pagemaster movie and am always looking for books that fit that trope. The characters visit a lot of books in the desire to run away from the monster pursuing them, so you get to experience them as background characters in multiple pieces of literature. Hopefully Lourey decides to pick this back up in the future and continue the series, because I feel that once completed, it could go down as another beloved children’s classic. —PN Hinton