New Releases: Deadly Descendants, Love Letters, and the Boy Who Lived Grown Up

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling (July 31)
I know very little about this play, also known as the eighth (!) Harry (!) Potter (!) story (!), because I run away screaming at the slightest whiff of spoilers. But here are the basics: 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the Boy Who Lived is now a working stiff, pulling long hours at the Ministry of Magic and (presumably) coming home to Ginny Weasley-Potter, his lovely, Quidditch correspondent wife. Meanwhile, youngest son Albus Severus Potter is struggling to live up to his name—or, perhaps, to duck the responsibility it comes with. Encroaching darkness is promised, as are links to Harry’s complicated, marvelous past, and, of course, lots and lots of magic.

Gemini, by Sonya Mukherjee (July 26)
Clara and Hailey are conjoined twins, living with their publicity-shy parents in a tiny California town where they’ve long since ceased to be a spectacle. But high-school graduation is approaching, and the wider world is calling. Despite their mother’s desire to keep them inside the snow globe world she has tried to create for them, Clara and Hailey want more—and, more importantly, they each want different things, despite being linked in a way that makes pursuing them nearly impossible. The girls contend with crushes, judgment, and the terror and wonder of ambition, while deciding whether to allow the bodies they’re in to define their future. Mukherjee enlightens readers curious about a deeply unusual mutation without ever being sensationalistic, and despite their fears Clara and Hailey emerge fully as individuals, not representatives.

How to Hang a Witch, by Adriana Mather (July 26)
Following her father’s descent into a mysterious coma, Samantha Mather and her stepmother move to the long-vacant family home in Salem, Massachusetts, where Samantha discovers the Salem witch trials are anything but ancient history. A descendant of trial judge Cotton Mather, she faces the wrath of the Descendants, whose ancestors Mather condemned to die. Supernatural occurrences—including the appearance of an angry (but sexy) ghost—lead Samantha to uncover an ancient curse kicked off by the very first hanging.

Riverkeep, by Martin Stewart (July 26)
Wulliam would rather run away than take on the mantle of Riverkeep on the shores of the treacherous Danék River, passed from father to son in his family for generations. Then his father is pulled into the river—and returns to the surface possessed by a dark force. Now Wulliam is forced to tend to both the river and his supernaturally transformed father. When he hears rumor of a cure, hidden in the belly of one of the river’s most mysterious beasts, he takes off on a deadly and magical downriver adventure in its pursuit.

The Darkest Hour, by Caroline Tung Richmond
Following the death of her brother in action against the Nazis, Lucie Blaise signs up for service. But instead of the office job she expected, she’s swept into an all-female espionage arm of covert ops. When word of the existence of a weapon of mass destruction in enemy hands reaches the Allied forces, Lucie is sent on a deadly mission to obtain and destroy it. But any wrong move could mean capture at best, and the destruction of Western Europe at worst…

P.S. I Like You, by Kasie West
It all starts with a daydream: while zoning out in class, Lily writes song lyrics out on her desk…then returns to class the next day to find someone has responded. An epistolary romance ensues, as Lily and her mysterious correspondent keep talking through notes. But when she finds out who the letter-writer is, it’s a shock that might derail their adorable, budding romance.