10 New Books Released Today | April 30

10 New Books Released Today | April 30

Hey there, book lovers! Today, we're talking about new reads of April 30 with ten fresh releases covering literary fiction, magical realism, non-fiction, and fantasy genres. It's important to note that all the information provided below, including book length and blurbs, is sourced directly from Amazon, so click the Amazon link under each title to see more information of each book. Additionally, the release date specified is based on the Amazon Kindle US edition, so it may vary across formats and countries. So, without further ado, let's dive into these new releases together and find out which one you're most excited to check out!

1. The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa, Ranya Abdelrahman (translator), Sawad Hussain (translator)

Amazon | Restless Books | 254 pages

A perilous and fantastical satire of banned books, secret archives, and the looming eye of an all-powerful government.

The new book censor hasn’t slept soundly in weeks. By day he combs through manuscripts at a government office, looking for anything that would make a book unfit to publish—allusions to queerness, unapproved religions, any mention of life before the Revolution. By night the characters of literary classics crowd his dreams, and pilfered novels pile up in the house he shares with his wife and daughter. As the siren song of forbidden reading continues to beckon, he descends into a netherworld of resistance fighters, undercover booksellers, and outlaw librarians trying to save their history and culture.

Reckoning with the global threat to free speech and the bleak future it all but guarantees, Bothayna Al-Essa marries the steely dystopia of Orwell’s 1984 with the madcap absurdity of Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, resulting in a dreadful twist worthy of Kafka. The Book Censor’s Library is a warning call and a love letter to stories and the delicious act of losing oneself in them.

2. A Magical Girl Retires: A Novel by Park Seolyeon, Anton Hur (translator)

Amazon | HarperVia | 147 pages

A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.

Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul’s Mapo Bridge.

But her suicide attempt is interrupted by a girl dressed all in white—her guardian angel. Ah Roa is a clairvoyant magical girl on a mission to find the greatest magical girl of all time. And our protagonist just may be that special someone.

But the young woman’s initial excitement turns to frustration when she learns being a magical girl in real life is much different than how it’s portrayed in stories. It isn’t just destiny—it’s work. Magical girls go to job fairs, join trade unions, attend classes. And for this magical girl there are no special powers and no great perks, and despite being magical, she still battles with low self-esteem. Her magic wand . . . is a credit card—which she must use to defeat a terrifying threat that isn’t a monster or an intergalactic war. It’s global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too.

Park Seolyeon reimagines classic fantasy tropes in a novel that explores real-world challenges that are both deeply personal and universal: the search for meaning and the desire to do good in a world that feels like it’s ending. A fun, fast-paced, and enchanting narrative that sparkles thanks to award-nominated translator Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Retires reminds us that we are all magical girls—that fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight can be anyone's game.

3. Swan Knight by Fumio Takano, Sharni Wilson (translator)

Amazon | Luna Press Publishing | 112 pages

As the nineteenth century draws toward its close, King Ludwig II of Bavaria binge-watches television to escape his reality, side-lined by his own advisers. His one wish is to meet Wagner, the mysterious composer pumping out new music and scores of remixes every day. 

He sets out, alone and in disguise, to find Wagner in the maze-like subterranean city that sprawls deep beneath Munich. 

Meanwhile, Karl, a rookie musician hired by Wagner in the underground world, is shocked to be chosen as the lead singer for the Swan Knight TV music drama. 

But even in the depths of the earth, the insidious shadow of political intrigue lurks. Who is Wagner, the man behind the myth? And what ultimate destiny awaits Ludwig and Karl?

4. Winds of War by Mica De Leon

Amazon | Penguin Random House SEA | 242 pages

Set in a sprawling world inspired by Philippine mythology and packed with myth, magic, and romance, the Winds of War, the first book in the Seed Mage Cycle, follows the wind mage Mayin, who begins the epic fantasy saga of the seed mages of Kayumalon

The lost gods of Kayumalon are returning.

Before the exodus of kings to Kayumalon, seed mages were revered by both strangelords and mortal men, their magic reserved only for the bloodlines the gods deem worthy. It was a time of peace and prosperity, but it was an age that had passed on into history and then myth and then superstitious whispers around the bonfire.

Now, seed magic is cheap, the power of the gods reduced to a bottle of oil and borrowed magic mass-produced on magic plantations and coveted by enemies within and without.

Little do they know that Kayumalon’s fate will fall in the hands of a simple Dayo slave girl.

Yin knows that Masalanta Island Plantation is not home—though she longs to become a part of it, if only to be noticed by the island's most beautiful red-haired boy. All she knows is that she and her father have been on the run all her life, and no matter how many times she asks her father why, he would only warn her that the world means her harm.

When the boy does notice her, she follows him into the night against her better judgement and realizes too late that her father is right. She wakes up the next day, feeling like she had the world in the palm of her hands and power that any girl in her position could only dream about.

5. The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

Amazon | Sourcebooks Fire | 474 pages

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy's iron bullet kills her mother, Venus's life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother's killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.'s most influential politicians.

As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it's hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.

The Poisons We Drink is a potent YA debut about a world where love potions are weaponized against hate and prejudice, sisterhood is unbreakable, and self-love is life and death.

6. What's Eating Jackie Oh? by Patricia Park

Amazon | Crown Books for Young Readers | 335 pages

A Korean American teen tries to balance her dream to become a chef with the cultural expectations of her family when she enters the competitive world of a TV cooking show. A hilarious and heartfelt YA novel from the award-winning author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim and Re Jane.

"Park’s novel delivers authentic characters who will make you laugh…and cry. Not to be missed!" --Ellen Oh, author of The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee

Jackie Oh is done being your model minority.

She’s tired of perfect GPAs, PSATs, SATs, all of it. Jackie longs to become a professional chef. But her Korean American parents are Ivy League corporate workaholics who would never understand her dream. Just ask her brother, Justin, who hasn’t heard from them since he was sent to Rikers Island.

Jackie works at her grandparents’ Midtown Manhattan deli after school and practices French cooking techniques at night—when she should be studying. But the kitchen’s the only place Jackie is free from all the stresses eating at her—school, family, and the increasing violence targeting the Asian community.

Then the most unexpected thing happens: Jackie becomes a teen contestant on her favorite cooking show, Burn Off! Soon Jackie is thrown headfirst into a cutthroat TV world filled with showboating child actors, snarky judges, and gimmicky “gotcha!” challenges.

All Jackie wants to do is cook her way. But what is her way? In a novel that will make you laugh and cry, Jackie proves who she is both on and off the plate.

Patricia Park's hilarious and stunning What’s Eating Jackie Oh? explores the delicate balance of identity, ambition, and the cultural expectations to perform.

7. To a Darker Shore by Leanne Schwartz

Amazon | Page Street YA | 403 pages

When her best friend is sacrificed to the devil, she’ll go to hell and back for him

Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her beauty-obsessed kingdom that she’s too useful to be sacrificed. Their god blessed their island Soladisa as a haven for his followers, but to keep the devil at bay, the church sends a child sacrifice to hell’s entrance every season—often poor or plain girls just like Alesta.

With a head full of ideas for inventions, Alesta knows her best shot at making it to adulthood is to design something impressive for the festival exhibition so she might win a spot in the university—acceptance could guarantee her safety. But Alesta’s flying machine demonstration goes awry, a failure that will surely mean death. What happens is worse: Her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency but ends up sacrificed in her place.

To stop the sacrifices forever, Alesta plans to kill the monster that killed her friend. Prepared to save her kingdom or die trying, she travels to the depths of hell only to find Kyrian—alive, but monstrously transformed.

There is no escaping hell or their growing feelings for one another, and the deeper they descend into hell, the closer they come to uncovering a truth about the sacrifices that threatens to invoke the wrath of not only monsters but the gods as well.

8. I'll Be Waiting For You by Mariko Turk

Amazon | Allen & Unwin | 317 pages

Perfect for fans of the tearjerker You've Reached Sam, this emotional will-they-won't-they enemies-to-lovers romance follows Natalie and Leander, two teens who navigate love, loss, and everything in between during a fateful summer internship.

Readers of Emily X.R. Pan, Nina LaCour, and Dustin Thao will fall for this story that explores what it means to believe – in ghosts, in the people you love, and in yourself.

Natalie and Imogen are inseparable, and wildly different – Imogen is infuriatingly humble and incredibly intelligent, while Natalie is brave, jumping into danger and new adventures. Still, one thing ties them together: their love of the supernatural. Every summer, they vacation with their parents at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel. Imogen is a true believer, while Natalie sees ghost stories as nothing but pure fun.

Then, Imogen suddenly passes away from an undiagnosed heart condition that no one saw coming, and Natalie is left to take on the summer before senior year alone.

Without Imogen, Natalie throws herself into her senior project. Her passion is still horror, so she plans to spend her summer back at the Harlow Hotel recording fun fake footage that will get her on the teen ghost hunting show of her dreams. And her plans would be a lot less complicated if Leander, her irritatingly attractive arch rival from school, wasn't working on his senior project at the very same hotel.

The longer Natalie stays at the Harlow Hotel, the more she realizes that Leander might be helpful for her project. After all, she could use an extra hand to help record her fake footage.

But, when strange things start happening at the Harlow, Natalie wonders, could there really be something to these ghosts after all?

'Dreamy, atmospheric, and exquisitely tender.' Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days

'Warm, full of heart, and even gave me goosebumps. Gorgeous.' Tobias Madden, author of Anything But Fine and Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell

9. The Funeral Cryer: A Novel by Wenyan Lu

Amazon | Hanover Square Press | 348 pages

“The title character’s wry, sad, and insightful inner voice is the star here. Her meditations on grief, death, love, and duty are full of poetry and longing. Perfect for literary-fiction fans, especially those who enjoyed other extraordinary novels about ordinary people.” —Library Journal, starred review

Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman’s midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China, for fans of Yiyun Li and Julie Otsuka.

The Funeral Cryer long ago accepted the mundane realities of her life: avoided by fellow villagers because of the stigma attached to her job and underappreciated by her husband, whose fecklessness has pushed the couple close to the brink of breakup. But just when things couldn't be bleaker, she takes a leap of faith—and in so doing, things start to take a surprising turn for the better.

Dark, moving and wry, The Funeral Cryer is both an illuminating depiction of a “left behind” society—and proof that it's never too late to change your life.

10. Why Do We Stay?: How My Toxic Relationship Can Help You Find Freedom by Stephanie Quayle

Amazon | Harper Celebrate| 203 pages

You or someone you love may be in a toxic relationship, but it doesn't have to stay that way. In this compassionate and practical resource, Stephanie Quayle shares her powerful story alongside psychologist Dr. W. Keith Campbell's professional insights to give you the help and hope you need—and remind you that you are not alone.

When Stephanie lost her boyfriend in a plane crash, she faced intense grief and pain. Nothing compared, though, to the shock of discovering she had not been the only woman in his life. As her world unraveled around her, Stephanie realized that it had actually been unraveling from the start of their relationship—back when he promised her everything.

In Why Do We Stay? Stephanie draws on her story to explain how to spot a toxic relationship, how to get out, and how to heal. Mental health expert Dr. W. Keith Campbell joins her in helping you see that:

■You can make a change in your life

■There are warning signs to look for and ways to spot an unhealthy relationship

■You don’t have to be a victim to narcissism or gaslighting or lose years of your life

■Whether you stay in or leave your relationship, healing and freedom are possible

Why Do We Stay? is ideal for:

■Those who feel trapped in an unhealthy relationship

■Those who are recovering from a toxic relationship

■Readers searching for a resource—for themselves or for a friend—on narcissism, gaslighting, compulsive lying, and other destructive behaviors

With a powerful blend of clinical research, gripping storytelling, and unvarnished hope, Why Do We Stay? empowers you to make changes in your life. You are not alone.

Discover a way forward.