The New York Times raves about Arvin Ahmadi’s HOW IT ALL BLEW UP in a roundup of young adult novels with crossover potential for adult readers. They praise the novel’s “frank and often funny insight” and “an immediately likable [protagonist] with whom we empathize… I could not put this book down.” Viking Books for Young Readers published the book on September 22, 2020.

The New York Times Book Review praises THE REVOLUTION ACCORDING TO RAYMUNDO MATA by Gina Apostol. The reviewer writes: “Virgil should offer libations to the gods in thanksgiving that Gina Apostol writes about the Philippines’ founding stories instead of Rome’s…She writes historical fiction like Hilary Mantel on acid….[a] marvelous welter of Filipino storytelling.” Soho Press published the book on January 12, 2021.

Kiese Laymon's HOW TO SLOWLY KILL YOURSELF AND OTHERS IN AMERICA was reviewed by Jerald Walker for the New York Times. He writes: "I must say, Kie…by adding six rich new essays, deftly curating seven from the original book, and reworking the chronology, you have made a once solid collection superb.” Scribner published the book November 10, 2020.

Publishers Weekly praises Lynn Berger’s SECOND THOUGHTS in an enthusiastic review. They write: “Journalist Berger debuts with a gorgeous rumination that combines her thoughts on becoming a mother for the second time with insight into the development of siblings. Berger’s thoughtful inquiry eloquently illuminates the complexities of second-time parenthood.” Henry Holt and Co. will publish the book on April 20, 2021.

The first trade review for Jakob Guanzon’s ABUNDANCE, from Kirkus, calls the book an “impressive debut” and a “compelling picture of poverty, desperation, and pain.” Meanwhile, Soft Punk praises Guanzon’s prose as “surprising and dreamy, stuffed with longing and tenderness,” and the book’s “lyrical and respectful handling” of a story about a Filipino-American single father and son on the margins as “urgent and necessary.” Graywolf Press will publish the book on March 2, 2021.

Angie Thomas’s CONCRETE ROSE has its first starred review from Kirkus. They write: “A literary DeLorean transports readers into the past, where they hope, dream, and struggle alongside beloved characters from Thomas’ THE HATE U GIVE… A resounding success.” It has also been named one of Forbes’ “10 Most Anticipated Books of 2021.” Balzer + Bray will publish the book on January 12, 2021.

Daniel Hornsby’s VIA NEGATIVA continues to pull in glowing praise. Chapter 16 calls the book “a remarkable performance in narrative voice, a convincing rendition of late-life wisdom captured in evocative sentences,” while Englewood Review applauds it as simultaneously “humorously quirky” and “hauntingly spiritual.” A Buzzfeed list of “46 Books Our Indie Booksellers Were Grateful For This Year” names VIA NEGATIVA “a hidden gem,” and Hornsby “a writer to pay attention to.” Knopf published the book on August 11, 2020.

Harvard Review favorably compared Maxim Loskutoff’s debut novel RUTHIE FEAR about “the hardscrabble way of life common to the often-overlooked rural communities of the American West” to his debut collection of short stories, COME WEST AND SEE, commending how he “neither divides his characters into villains and victims nor presents them as objects of condescension or condemnation. His focus is rather on the ways in which conditions that produce despair create and maintain the kind of collective psychic inflammation that can incite the impulse to violence—even rampage—in any of us.” W.W. Norton & Company published the novel on September 1, 2020.

Editor Daniel Loedel’s debut novel, HADES, ARGENTINA, has been selected as a “January 2021 Indie Next Pick,” and was featured in the latest issue of Vanity Fair as a debut worth diving into in the new year. The book also received a glowing review from BookPage, which praised Loedel’s “clean, tight and engaging” prose. Riverhead Books will publish the novel on January 12, 2021.

Science Magazine praised Eben Kirksey’s THE MUTANT PROJECT, writing that the book “provides readers with an intriguing picture of the events, ambitions, and deceptions that led up to the [first gene-edited] twins’ birth, but these insights are only part of what makes it such a fascinating read. At its core, the book is a complex analysis of the global culture in which the project of heritable human genome editing is now developing.” St. Martin’s Press published the book on November 10, 2020.