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Queenie Is Working on It by Candice Carty-Williams: Growing older doesn’t always mean growing up

Some characters are easy to love even when they’re making terrible decisions. Queenie Jenkins has always been one of those characters. But while I adored watching her stumble through her twenties in Queenie, I found myself sharing her friends’ frustration in Queenie Is Working on It, Candice Carty-Williams’ highly anticipated sequel releasing July 2, 2026.

Nearly ten years after readers first met her, Queenie is thirty-three and appears to have her life together. She’s the editorial director of a successful media network dedicated to amplifying Black women’s voices, she’s completed years of therapy, and she’s spent time intentionally stepping away from dating while she worked on herself. Compared to the woman readers met in Queenie, she’s come a long way. Or at least that’s what it looks like on the surface.

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The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave review: A haunting novel that needed more room to breathe

Some novels leave you wanting more because they are so immersive you never want them to end. Others leave you wanting more because they feel unfinished. Unfortunately, The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave falls somewhere between those two experiences.

Set in Guadalajara during the sweltering summer of 1977, The Summer of the Serpent unfolds through a series of interconnected vignettes narrated by children, adults, ghosts, and even a snake. The result is a fragmented portrait of a neighborhood haunted by disappointments, strange encounters, and the lingering weight of memory. Drawing heavily from myth, folklore, and surrealism, Eudave crafts a work that feels less like a traditional novel and more like a collection of stories circling a common emotional center.

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Death Do Us by Ruthy Mason: A haunting body horror novel about marriage, identity, and the slow death of a dream

What if the most terrifying thing lurking beneath your skin isn’t a curse at all, but the possibility that you’re becoming the person society always expected you to be? Ruthy Mason’s Death Do Us is one of those horror novels that works on multiple levels at once. On the surface, it’s a deeply unsettling story about a woman who begins physically deteriorating after accepting a marriage proposal. Underneath the body horror, however, lies a sharp examination of marriage, patriarchy, identity, and the ways women can slowly lose themselves while trying to fit into roles that were chosen for them long before they ever had a say.

Bea is a promising archaeologist whose future seems bright. She has a loving boyfriend, Jake, and a clear vision for her academic career. She’s preparing to pursue a PhD and dreams of participating in archaeological digs around the world. Marriage has never been her primary goal. In fact, she has spent much of her life resisting expectations that she should settle down, define herself through a relationship, and prioritize a man’s ambitions over her own.

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