Check out the recent happenings in the book world!

Omg, where to start? I was super excited yesterday to see the cover for Sandhya Menon’s new book, From Twinkle, With Love! She told me at the National Book Festival that her new book had a great cover, and she was right! Her new book is from the perspective of aspiring filmmaker Twinkle, who tells the story by writing letters to her favorite directors. The book also promises a romantic mystery and is scheduled to be released on June 5, 2018. I really enjoyed Menon’s debut novel, When Dimple Met Rishi, so I’m really looking forward to this! Read the first chapter in EW’s cover reveal article here.

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We also got a cover reveal this week for Allied, the final book in the Ruined trilogy. I enjoyed Ruined but still haven’t gotten to Avenged, which I should probably do before the final book comes out on May 1, 2018!

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Rick Riordan also announced that an illustrated edition of The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson series, will be released on August 14, 2018. I’m such a sucker for illustrated books and love John Rocco’s work on the covers of Riordan’s books, so I’m really excited to see what he does with a full book!

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Speaking of Rick Riordan, Rebecca Roanhorse announced last week that she will be writing a book inspired by Navajo mythology for the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. It’s titled Race to the Sun and is scheduled for publication in Fall 2019.

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I was also excited last week to see that Adam Silvera and Becky Albertali are writing a book together! Titled What If It’s Us, the book “opens as Arthur and Ben meet at the post office as Ben is shipping his ex-boyfriend’s things back to him. They subsequently endure the frustration of knowing there was a missed connection, before the universe pushes them back together again in a series of failed ‘first’ dates,” according to Publisher’s Weekly. The book is scheduled for publication in fall 2018. I haven’t read any of Silvera’s books yet, though I’ve heard great things, but I really enjoyed Albertali’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and have been meaning to read her newest book, The Upside of Unrequited.

While we’re on the topic of Simon, how cute is the new movie poster? I’m not big into book-to-movie news, but I’m excited to see Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda brought to the big screen. I’m a bit disappointed that they’re changing the name, but it still looks really cute. Plus Margot from Epic Reads is going to be an extra in the movie!

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Romance Twitter got pretty excited recently when the New York Times Book Review gave the romance genre a cover and three-page spread. Until they actually read the article, that is. Romance lovers have been in an uproar since then, writing numerous articles explaining everything that was wrong with the NYT Book Review’s article. I particularly recommend checking out this one by Ron Hogan, this one by Smart Bitches, and this one by Book Riot. You can also dig around Twitter for more; I really like Tessa Dare and Alisha Rai’s Twitter accounts, though I saw numerous others tweet some very insightful things about the article. Apparently the backlash was enough for the NYT Book Review to write an editorial response, which romance Twitter again was not impressed with. We discussed the whole situation at length at my last book club meeting and pretty much concluded that the NYT Book Review sucks, but we love romance and don’t care what they say.

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Also in big romance news, the Ripped Bodice (aka heaven on earth, aka the world’s only all-romance book store) recently released its 2016 State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing Report. Unsurprisingly, the numbers are not great. Only 7.8 percent of all romance novels published last year were by people of color. You can check out the full statistics through the infographics in the tweet below.

While we’re on the topic of diversity in the romance genre, the New York Times (which is a separate department from the currently reviled NYT Book Review) published an article about the Ripped Bodice’s diversity report, which you can check out here. While it wasn’t specifically referenced, I assume the report also inspired Shondaland to interview Beverly Jenkins about diversity in the romance genre, which you can read here.

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I’m also super excited that Nonfiction November has been announced! I actually have a recommendation post planned for Monday that will include more details about the readathon, but in the meantime, check out one of the announcement videos below!

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Oh, and on a blog note, I’ve started instagramming! Check out my account here or in the widget here on my blog. I am far from a great photographer (seriously, feel free to send any tips my way), but I’ve been having fun with it and it’s a good way to see what books I’m reading or have recently purchased.

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Ok, I think that’s everything for this week’s wrap up. What did you think of the cover reveals for From Twinkle, With Love and Allied? Will you be picking up the illustrated edition of The Lightning Thief? And what’s your take on all of the news hitting the romance genre lately? Let me know what you think of this week’s news in the comments!