The Manuscript
After the chart-topping release of Onyx Storm, book three in the Empyrean series, Rebecca Yarros toldToday that she’s already made her playlist for book four. To the surprise of none of Yarros’s fans, “the first song that went on there is a Taylor Swift song,” she said. “I can tell you, it’s off of TTPD [The Tortured Poets Department].” Let the speculation begin.
Parting Glances
Han Kang’s first new book since winning the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, We Do Not Part, debuts at #12 on our hardcover fiction list with her strongest first-week showing to date. The novel, translated from the Korean by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, is “an indelible exploration of Korea’s historical traumas,” per our starred review. It’s also “a meticulously rendered portrait of friendship, mother-daughter love, and hope in the face of profound loss.” Themes of violence recur in Kang’s work; as she told PW in 2023, “When I look into the depth of humans, when I look into the world, I cannot just look away. I feel that I should penetrate the raw truth of humans and the world.”
Devil's in the Details
Dark romance may be all the rage, but Aurora Ascher turns to the light side in My Funny Demon Valentine, #6 on our trade paperback list. “Four demons walk into a bar to kick off this spicy and irreverent paranormal romance,” per our review, in which prince of hell Asmodeus meets aspiring musician Evangeline Gregory. “The fast-paced plot is complemented by quirky characters and passionate references to the jazz greats both protagonists adore.” It’s the first of five books in Ascher’s Hell Bent series, which she self-published from 2021 to 2023; Kensington is rereleasing the titles over the next 12 months, followed by a new sixth installment.
Watts the Buzz
Actor Naomi Watts launched the menopause wellness company Stripes in 2022, and with Dare I Say It, #7 on our hardcover nonfiction list, she continues a conversation that, she writes, has long been taboo. Our review wasn’t keen—“Though the more personal passages will be a balm to menopausal women looking for affirmation that they’re not alone, the guidance leaves much to be desired”—and recommended that readers turn to The New Menopause by Mary Claire Haver, who wrote the foreword to Watts’s book, instead. Haver’s guide has sold more than 231K print copies since it pubbed in April; the next-bestselling book on the subject, per BookScan, is Jen Gunter’s The Menopause Manifesto, which has sold 84K print copies.
