10 more great books from 2018 to catch up on, by genre

Last week, EW revealed our best books of the year so far. But of course, there's plenty more that's come, gone, and worth catching up on. Here we reveal 10 more favorites, with a little something for everybody — featuring the first half of 2018's best YA novel, memoir, romance, and much more.

Chee, perhaps most popular for his novel The Queen of the Night, writes his best book yet by going staggeringly personal. How to Write is ostensibly a collection of essays, but as Chee tracks his development as a queer writer of color, his gorgeous prose informs a powerful meditation on storytelling. —David Canfield

Smith packs a lot into her ambitious debut, and that it all holds together as well as it does is a testament to her one-of-a-kind style. Come for the Jane Austen inspiration, stay for the delicious pop culture references, and find yourself deep into a literary fantasy like no other. —DC

Kupperman's searing graphic memoir takes readers back to the mid-20th century as he investigates the life of his father, Quiz Kid Joel Kupperman, and how it intersected with a major turning point in American media. —DC

Hurston, the late, great author of such classics as Their Eyes Were Watching God, wrote this account of the last known U.S. slave trade survivor nearly a century ago. At long last it was published (read EW's backstory on the book's long journey), and the result is an essential anthropolitical document, as well as a devastating character study. —DC

How a person who hadn't set foot in a classroom until 17 years old could write a memoir this lyrical, affecting, and plain intelligent is hard to believe. But Westover, who was born to a survivalist cult and went on to earn her PhD, proves again and again in Educated what a rare literary talent she is. Her memoir resembles The Glass Castle in a few (very positive) ways, but Westover's singular experience is undeniable — and her way of telling it, irresistible. —DC

The best romances, in life and in fiction, come when two individuals help elevate the other — their pairing allows them to become the most complete versions of themselves, rescuing each other in a sense. With Ledi and Thabiso, Alyssa Cole crafts just such a romance — a fairy tale complete with prince and palace that also fully exists within the harsher realities of our world. Naledi Smith is an orphaned grad student, barely making ends meet, when she begins receiving what she believes are spam emails telling her she’s the betrothed queen of a fictional African nation. They’re not – and when Prince Thabiso shows up under a false name in an attempt to woo Ledi, the pair struggle to battle their growing attraction in the midst of assumptions, responsibilities, and the walls they’ve built to protect themselves. As our EW review notes, “In Cole’s world, royalty and romance go hand in hand with compassion, open-heartedness, and intelligence, as well as a clear-eyed sense of real-world politics.” Cole’s romance is all the more satisfying for its understanding of what it takes to make a happily-ever-after really endure into the ever after. She consistently offers readers romantic escapes that pulse with real-world stakes and drama. Taking up the princess trope, Cole puts a refreshing spin on the narrative, offering one of the funniest, most sparkling, deeply romantic books of the year. —Maureen Lee Lenker

Miller, previously author of the YA novel The Art of Starving (2017), served up immersive sci-fi with a poetic edge in Blackfish City. Imagining a post-climate wars world in which a mysterious woman arrives in a floating city constructed within the Arctic Circle, the book thrills with its meticulous world-building while also providing great characters, inclusive representation, and hard-hitting themes. —DC

Brinkley is one of the year's most exciting literary debuts so far, an astonishing new voice whose first short story collection brilliantly tackles themes of fatherhood and race in American life. There are nine tales here, each beautifully able to stand on their own; together, they assume tremendous power, as the very best short story collections do. —DC

King already has a Pulitzer Prize under his belt for Devil in the Grove, so it should come as no surprise that his next big book is as good as it is. This riveting true crime read investigates a peculiar '50s Florida crime, in which a woman was raped in her home and pinned the assault on a black man. King follows a journalist obsessed by the case, and unfurls a remarkable conspiracy rooted in bigotry and the communal. —DC

Adeyemi's epic, Black Lives Matter-inspired fantasy was plenty hyped before anyone could even have a look: Film rights were purchased outright, several months before the book was completed. Fortunately, the anticipation was warranted: Children of Blood and Bone is alternately pulse-pounding and poignant, a thrilling saga which has us excited to see what comes next. —DC