This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. As we enter the end of the month, now is a great time to reflect on some of the month’s most talked-about and loved books. Some of these books were on our list of the most anticipated books of 2026 that we dropped at the top of the year, while others were in our monthly new book round-up . No matter the list they made it on to, they are books that are living up to the hype. In these BIPOC releases, we get a tale of early 2000s Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez, two timelines in a gothic Japan, a steamy romance with an artist, and more. Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez Putting aside my discomfort that a historical novel can be set in 2007, this is a fantastic meditation on a very particular moment in Brooklyn history. The neighborhood where the main character, Alicia, lives is Fort Greene. She finds joy and possibility in the all-night parties thrown by her neighbor La Garza.…