There were a surprising amount of books coming out in September (were? are? BOTH). I feel like the last few months have not had the wonderful influx of literature that September is bringing us. So I was positively surprised at how long it took me to go through all of them. BUT I’M HERE NOW.

So, are you ready? Is your wallet ready? Will it ever be ready? (No). Let’s get started and look at all the new shinies that we obviously need NOW so that they can collect excited dust on our bookshelves for a few years.

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FANTASY

Black Wings Beating | Alex London

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
The first book off the rank is an interesting one. We’ve got a fantasy world called Uztar where ‘falconers’, people who control birds of prey which are sacred to these people. Our main characters are twin sisters: one wants to be a great falconer, the other has no interest in the ancient sport at all. But war is looming and the girls set out on a mission to capture the Ghost Eagle, the greatest of the birds. Honesty I’m not sure how a great big bird wins a war but I’m intrigued and the cover is good enough for me to buy it.

Steel Crow Saga | Paul Krueger

RELEASE DATE: 24th September
Hark! Another fantasy world with an empire, a war and magic. Everything I ever want in an epic fantasy. We have four characters: a solider with a curse, a prince with a debt, a detective (unusual?) with a grudge and a thief with a broken heart. I love it when the premise is split up like that. We also get magical animal companions fighting alongside their masters and who isn’t down for that? Our characters have their own agendas but will come together to defeat an unstoppable killer who defies the laws of magic.

Give the Dark My Love | Beth Revis

RELEASE DATE: 24th September
There are two points of import regarding why I’m so excited about this. Firstly, it is written by Beth Revis and whilst I’ve not read any of her work, I’m well aware of her popularity. Secondly, a plague is used as a plot device in this story and I swear, plagues are always great for tragedies and dramas and never used enough. In this sprawling epic fantasy, our female MC journies across lands to master the trade of medicinal alchemy. She teams up with a man called Grey and together they work to find a cure for the plague (and dare I say, a bit of necromancy is involved).

The Nightjar | Deborah Hewitt

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September

Truthfully, this sounds a bit weird. But I do want to know if it’s good. It’s set in an alternate London where magic exists and the MC is plagued by visions of birds. She’s an ‘aviarist’ who can see ‘nightjars’ (magical birds who guard human souls). Her best friend is killed it becomes her mission to save her nightjar. So she travels to this alternate London (I guess the whole thing isn’t in this magical realm?) to work on her skills as an aviarist – but there’s a group of people who want these magically adept people gone. Lots is at stake.

The Orchid Throne | Jeffe Kennedy

RELEASE DATE: 24th September
We’ve got another of my favourite blurbs happening with this book: “a prisoner of fate” and “a prince among men” YES. Okay, so. In this one, we have a Queen whose kingdom is on an island and she wants to fiercely protect her people from the emperor on the mainland. And we have a prince who has a large army to overthrow the emperor – but he needs something from our isolated queen in order to achieve his goals. I think this sounds like we’re in for some epic battles, fiery romance and a great setting.

The Harp of Kings | Juliet Marillier

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
Another thrilling epic fantasy awaits us here. Again, a strong female lead who is both a bard and a warrior (this makes me very happy, I love this combo – mostly because it reminds me of Ranger’s Apprentice, I won’t lie). The MC also has an Irish name (Liobhan – think Siobhan if you’re stuck on pronunciation). She and her brother find themselves training for a place among elite warriors where they go undercover as minstrels for a mission. Can this book get any more awesome? They have to retrieve a precious harp (this book better be as Irish as it’s making it out to be) and they encounter druids, Princes and storytellers along the way.

Stormrise | Jillian Boehme

RELEASE DATE:  24th September
We’ve got dragons and female lead in this epic fantasy. Rain wants to be respected as a Neshu combat master, but she won’t ever be, because she’s a girl. However, an army invades her kingdom and a draft forces every household to send one man to fight – Mulan, anyone? Yep. Rain disguises herself and puts herself forward. She uses magic from a dragon to disguise herself and then begins to hear the dragon’s voice in her head – Rain begins to wonder whether dragons might be the answer after all for winning the war. Everything about this book is a yes from me.

The Deathless Girls | Kiran Millwood Hargrave

RELEASE DATE:  19th September
This is a retelling of the story of the brides of Dracula. We have two girls, twins, who are kidnapped and taken away to work in harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens. There, one of the girls gets to know another slave who helps her come to terms with her life. And she also learns about Dragons who take girls as gifts. From the blurb, I’m not sure I fully understand the plot of this but that’s probably because I don’t know the story of Dracula’s wives. It sounds intriguing though!

Tiger Queen | Annie Sullivan

RELEASE DATE: 10th September
This is a retelling of a famous short story, “The Lady, or the Tiger?”. It’s set in a mythical desert kingdom (these are all the rage right now, aren’t they?) called Achra. Our female MC is the Princess and she must fight in an arena to prove her right to rule (can I get a YES!). We have ‘Desert Boys’ who raid the city wells and force the city into rationing water. Our MC has some big decisions to make and discovers some unexpected truths when she turns to the desert. I am expecting this to be positively riveting (and the threat of fighting tigers is wonderful).

Unspoken | Celia McMahon

RELEASE DATE: 17th September
This is a kingdom of warring lands, demon curses, hidden magic and a princess. Our princess hunts for the poverty-stricken which makes me think already she is wonderful. She’s set to be married off once she turns 18. However, she witnesses magic being used in the woods is attacked and then saved by a stranger. She befriends a quiet servant in the castle to try and seek out who tried to kill her. Along the way, we’re going to go through many adventures from pacts with demons, wolf shifters and forbidden love.

The Bone Houses | Emily Lloyd-Jones

RELEASE DATE: 24th September
In this story with have a female lead who gets by with her sisters as gravediggers. They live near the lands that once used to be the home of the fae. And the problem that they have, is that the dead don’t always stay dead. These risen dead are known as ‘bone houses’ and they’re supposed to be the result of an old curse. Naturally, our heroines embark on a mission to stop this curse.

Loki: Where Mischief Lies | Mackenzi Lee

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
An illustrated YA novel about Loki from Mackenzi Lee? YES PLEASE. This is set before the time of the Avengers and follows a younger Loki, who’s willing to prove himself. Things happen and Loki is sent to earth on a mission to investigate a series of murders in 19th century London. Honestly, nothing about this sounds bad. I’m ready.

A Treason of Thorns | Laura E. Weymouth

RELEASE DATE: 10th September
Our main character in this story has spent the last seven years in exile. Violet longs to return to her childhood home in the grounds of a great, magical house that kept the countryside blooming. But when her father committed high treason, he was executed and she was forced into hiding. When she does go back, she sees how the estate is overrun with chaos and grief and finds herself walking the same path her father did, questioning how far she’ll go to save this beloved place. I have a strong hunch that this story is actually going to be seriously fabulous.

There Will Come a Darkness | Katy Rose Pool

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
Here’s a spine-tinglingly good premise! Seven prophets have guided humanity for generations, ending wars, uniting nations, right up until they disappeared. Each left behind a secret, final prophecy foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet. (excuse me whilst I salivate at how good this sounds). We have five characters thus involved: a prince, a killer, a leader, a gambler and a dying girl. Will they be a saviour or a destroyer? GAH. GIVE GIVE GIVE.

Wayward Son | Rainbow Rowell

RELEASE DATE: 24th September
Is this not the sequel we’ve all been waiting for?!!? The follow up to Carry On and I’m SO EXCITED. I need more Simon and Baz in my life and I’m excited to see what happens next. Pretty sure this book is following our beloved characters as they embark on a road trip across American. I’m so down.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back | Adrienne Young

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
I love the cover for this book. Our main character washed ashore as a baby and memories of her home and clan are faded. She’s used for her gift as a ‘truthtongue’. She has sacred symbols inked on her skin, which are a constant reminder of her origins. There a lot of tensions as clans go against clans and Tova’s place among the people who raised her becomes uncertain. It’s up to her to set in motion a series of events that could change everything. YAS YAS YAS.

Serpent & Dove | Shelby Mahurin

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
In this magical world, our MC flees her coven and takes shelter in the city, forsaking all magic and living off what she can steal. She’s a witch and witches are hunted, feared and burned. Then we have Reid who is sworn to the church, who is bound by honour to rid the world of witches. The two are unbelievably forced into holy matrimony and everything is just CHAOS after that point. I love it when books throw such opposing characters together.

Kingdom of Souls | Rena Barron

RELEASE DATE: 19th September
I don’t think I could ever walk away from a title or cover like this. Continuing this theme of witches, our main character in this story is born into a family of witchdoctors. She’s supposed to have magic but fails each year to come into her powers: her mother disapproves. She entertains the last resort option of trading years of her own life for scraps of power . . . but then the kingdom’s children begin to disappear and things are thrown off track. We’ve got a Demon King who’s hungry for souls and now more than ever, Arrah needs to call forth magic to stop him. I NEED this!

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SCI-FI

The Testaments | Margaret Atwood

RELEASE DATE: 10th September
Yay! The long await sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale – I suspect this will be very popular at the moment because of the success of the TV show. This picks up where we left off at the end of book one, 15 years later, as we follow three narrators from Gilead. I am so anxious to read this it’s not even funny.

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HISTORICAL FICTION

Three Flames | Alan Lightman

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
I’m interested in this one because it’s set in Cambodia in 1973, just before the Cambodian Genocide. I know very little about pretty much everything that makes up the premise of this book. We follow a family and their struggles. They are a farming family with a dictatorial father living under extreme patriarchal attitudes of their society. I’m hoping I’ll learn something new from this book as well as enjoy a powerful story.

The Vanished Bride | Bella Ellis

RELEASE DATE: 10th September
I’m always a sucker for reimaginings and the like of the Brontë sisters. In this story, it’s set before any of them became successful authors. The sisters act as detectives and after hearing about a woman who has gone missing, they dub themselves ‘lady detectives’ and set to work solving the mystery. I think this just sounds like a good lot of fun.

Memories of Glass | Melanie Dobson

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
I was mostly taken in by this one because of the title and the fact the book has been compared to The Zookeeper’s Wife, which is a beautiful story. It’s set in 1942 (WWII), Holland. And we get a second perspective, 75 years later splicing the story up. The historical aspects focus on characters who are brave enough to try and save Holland’s children where the Jewish have been rounded up in a repurposed theatre for deportation.

The Rabbit Girls | Anna Ellory

RELEASE DATE: 1st September
This is set in Berlin, 1989 which means this is about the Berlin Wall. I’ve never read historical fiction with this setting so I’m very excited about this! Our MC is looking after her dying father and she discovers an Auschwitz tattoo on his arm. Slowly, his secret history begins to unravel. She tries to uncover more about his history and discovers the truth about the ‘rabbit girls’, girls who were experimented on in the camps. I’ve always found this a gruesomely interesting topic of the concentration camps, so I’m eager to see what story lies within the pages of this book.

Butterfly Yellow | Thanhha Lai

RELEASE DATE: 3rd September
This is set at the very end of the Vietnam War and follows a brother and a sister trying to escape the nightmare their country has become. They get separated at the airport and it’s not until six years later that the sister can follow her brother to America as a refugee to try and find him. I feel like this is going to be a wonderfully poignant story about refugees and war.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January | Alix E. Harrow

RELEASE DATE: 10th September
This is set in the early 1900s and follows a woman who finds a mysterious book that leads her to question many things. She lives in a sprawling mansion filled with treasures and she feels suffocated: controlled, managed, out of place. The book she finds tells of secrets and adventures, however, and I’m not sure where the book goes from there but I have a hunch this will be a good read as we discover things alongside our MC.

The Lady Rogue | Jenn Bennett

RELEASE DATE: 10th September
This is historical fiction with a touch of fantasy. Our main character in this, Theodora, is in Istanbul and desperate for her father’s permission to join him on his travels. Her father goes treasure hunting and this one time doesn’t return. His protégé comes back to enlist Theodora’s help to find him. They’d been looking for a legendary and magical ring of Vlad the Impaler’s and use this as a starting point for rescuing her father, travelling to Romania. I am fully expecting this to take us through wonderful settings with a great female lead.

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And that’s a wrap!

What are you most looking forward to in September?

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~~ Kirstie ~~

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