There are quite a few excellent Kindle Books that have entered the scene and should keep you engaged this month. This Good e-Reader collection is also as varied as it can get, which includes a memoir, a spy thriller, and a crime novel, along with one that takes you back in history. Discover some great new authors and books to keep you reading this summer.

Acceptance: A Memoir by Emi Nietfeld

It’s a story about a homeless teenage girl struggling to make a mark in this big bad world. That her mom has been a hoarder and had put her on antipsychotics further added to the twists in her life. Emi though can be fortunate in that her mother has always been a firm believer in her daughter’s abilities. Unfortunately for Emi, she had to stretch herself almost to the limits or maybe even beyond that to get to where she has now, a software engineer at Google.

Prior to that, she had to battle issues affecting her mental health as well as Adderall addiction along with numerous other things that cropped up because of the above two. However, the one thing that she has been steadfast about right from the start is that she was aware getting into an elite school was the only way to get out of the misery. Ultimately, it is her grit and determination that has the last laugh when she graduated from Harvard and landed a job at Google.

Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis by Beth Macy

The United States is in the midst of drug overdose, something that the pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable for. With cases piling up against all those associated with the production or marketing of opioids, addiction rates too have gone abnormally high. The Covid-19 induced pandemic has only made things worse. However, none seems to be too concerned, forcing Beth Macy to take things into her own hands.

It’s an uphill battle for her though as she makes it to the regions hit the hardest by the crisis. Eventually, she discovers, to her horror, that it is about a third of American families who are at the receiving end of this unprecedented health crisis. She also comes across how ordinary people are fighting to set things right, but with meager resources. Also, while it is easy to stigmatize the addicted, there is a new class of warriors that has evolved who are risking arrest and everything else to meet the drug users and do their bit to bring them out of the mess they have brought unto themselves.

On the whole, the story includes a series of events that makes for a complex chain of events where a large number of people are at risk of a drug overdose. It is also a story of human ingenuity where another group volunteers to do all they can to bring those people back on track.

Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor

The story is set in rural Australia where a twelve-year-old girl Esther starts for her home from school but never makes it. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels is assigned the task to trace the missing girl. Meanwhile, Esther’s best friend, Ronnie too is determined to bring her friend back and the subsequent investigations take her to school friend Lewis who provides a vital clue, that he saw Esther with a stranger at the creek in the afternoon on the day she went missing.

However, Lewis does not seem interested in interacting with the police while many seem to be lying as well. All of this makes for a gripping tale as the entire community is thrown into grief and suspicion.

My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

This debut novel by Rasheed Newson takes us back to New York in the 1980s. The story revolves around a black gay named Earl Trey who flees to New York unable to bear the expectations of his otherwise rich parents. Here he is often seen in men’s bathhouses, and predictably so, but there is also something else that he gets embroiled in as well. It is the Civil Rights movement and the fight for gay rights. He also becomes the founding member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) though as he eventually finds out, the real challenge is to find the real meaning of life as he tries to deal with traumas while also trying to balance family ties. The novel is humorous and lively while also touching upon the more serious aspect of life as well.

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

Grace Bernard has killed every member of her family but finds it amusing that she is put behind bars for a murder she didn’t commit. It all started when she finds her millionaire father is reluctant to pay heed to the desperate pleas of her dying mother. It is here that the story gets its real purpose as Grace Bernard starts plotting the murder of each member of her family, all while she is just 28. She calmly got rid of each one of them and no one ever has an inkling of what might have gone wrong. In all, it is a story of revenge and a few cold-blooded murders though the murderer never seems to have any regrets for her actions. That said, there might be a sense of guilt somewhere deep down in her as she hopes someone will get to know all that she went through that prompted her to go for the extreme step.

Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure by Rinker Buck

Seven years after historian and author Rinker Buck made that famous journey to the great American West in a covered wagon pulled by mules, creating history in the process, he is at it again with a new adventure that is perhaps as enchanting as it can be. This time, he chose to sail down the Mississippi River to New Orleans in a wooden flatboat, something that would be common back in the 1880s.

The story also reminds us of the famous adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer that captivated our imaginations during our childhood days. Buck makes his way through a similar course, spending the nights on sandbars or remote islands. The journey is no less physically demanding too, with Buck having broken his ribs twice during the course of the journey. However, it’s the zeal and love for history that takes precedence over everything else as Buck recreates a slice of American history in the modern age, providing us with more than a glimpse of what it has been all along before it comes to be what we see now. On the whole, this is one travelogue that you will wish never comes to an end.

Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean

Mika gets a call from her daughter named Penny whom she had put up for adoption sixteen years ago. The girl was born when Mika was still a college freshman, but a lot of things have happened in between. In fact, Mika finds herself in a mess when her personal as well as professional life when she is reunited with her daughter all over again.

The story reveals how Mika aims to make a fresh start in her life again. She is also outright honest in her approach with Penny and reveals all that she has in her heart and mind. That includes all her dreams and hopes, the flaws she has, and the fluctuations she has gone through. Ultimately, it is a story of how a mother and child bond sweetly even though they have been separated for sixteen long years, whatever the reasons might be.

In the process, Mika discovers there is no such thing as the perfect mother. Eventually, life goes along and there are a lot of ups and downs in it. Also, the book is also an eye opener for the readers as it provides the chance to reflect on our relationship with say our parents on one hand and maybe children on the other.

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

Anders finds one fine morning that his skin has grown dark, something that has started to happen to many in the town. Initially, he revealed it to Oona who he had started to love after being friends for long. However, as Anders soon finds out, the change in skin color has changed the whole dynamics of human relations and interaction. Neighbors, partners, and even family members start to behave differently from those who underwent this change. Author Hamid has always been known to touch upon the contentious issues of race, class, and migration in his writings and this happens to be another one that can be considered a continuation of such efforts, and it’s definitely worth reading.

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

For Sewanee Chester, a former actress, life came crashing down after a tragic incident but has started to pick up the pieces again as an audiobook narrator. She also found success but has one inhibition, she is willing to lend her voice to any genre of book except for romance. But then, she gets a request to narrate a romance novel specifically from someone whom she has worked with in the past. She finds it hard to turn it down as well considering this happens to be the dying wish of the authors and has a fat paycheck associated with it too. After all, she needs the money to take good care of her grandmother.

Yet another twist in the tale is the male narrator, Brock McNight with whom Sewanee will have to collaborate on this project, one who is shrouded in mystery but is one of the most beloved voices when it comes to romance novels. Sewanee and Brock also seem to develop a sort of chemistry between them as well which together with Sewanee’s relationship with her grandmother, her family, and best friend together with the tragic accident that forced her to give up her dream career – acting all makes this latest Julie Whelan novel a must read.

Alias Emma by Ava Glass

Finally, a spy thriller with all the ingredients for an edge-of-the-seat experience. Alias Emma is a lower-level secret service agent who is on her first mission, that of getting hold of a Russian doctor named Michael Primalov before the next sunrise. However, the problem is that there are Russian agents too on the lookout for the handsome doc and are willing to go to any length to get hold of him.

To make matters worse for Emma, the Russian agents have been found to have hacked London’s CCTV cameras. What comes next is high-speed car chases and risky shootouts, all of this unfolding in the streets of London while the city sleeps. Emma knows it is a battle against time and an entire network of Russian spies. It is also a lone battle for her as she races to get the spy to the MI6 before sunrise while dodging the Russian spies in between. In all, a gripping spy thriller that would be hard to put down.

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