It’s that time again! Time to pray that our wallets can withstand all the new and amazing releases coming out this month. October has exhausted me: there are so many books from last month that I want and several that I bought, that I’m nervous to dive into this post. But I’m sure I will come out of it stronger and armed with more books than ever.

My question for you guys, is do you buy new books often? I am a chronic book-buyer and I thoroughly enjoy simply collecting books. Which means I’m not terribly upset over the enormous and embarrassing number of unread books on my shelf. I like having them. Which makes it difficult for me to not buy ALL of the books. Lately, I’ve been going to the bookstore once a month and allowing myself to get one new release. So, how do you choose what to buy next?

As always, this is not a definitive list of all the new releases coming out in November, but a solid collection of the ones I am aware of and what I would like to read.

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FANTASY

Realm of Ash | Tasha Suri

RELEASE DATE: 1st November
I’m so curious what this sequel to Empire of Sand will bring. This is a continuance of the story, yes, but from another character’s perspective. Firstly, I love the cover – it’s just as stunning as book one. Secondly, I cannot wait to dive back into this world inspired by Mughal India with all of the interesting magic that that entails.

Call Down the Hawk | Maggie Stiefvater

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
To this day, I’m still yet to read a Stiefvater book. So I won’t pretend that I’m likely to get around to this any time soon, but it does sound good! Although the cover looks weidly dated? How odd. This is about a world where there are “dreamers” and from the sounds of it they can controls things that have come from dreams and entered into reality. And in this book there’s also a thief attracted to these dream objects. Idek but it sounds cool enough that I’m sold.

The Guinevere | Kiersten White

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
Of all the books coming out in November, I think this is the one I’m actually most excited about (excluding the sequels I’m anticipating). I love White’s writing and I love how she masters retellings, this time looking towards the legend of Camelot. Who doesn’t love Guinevere? With Guinevere being a changeling in this book and hiding her true identity, giving up everything to protect Camelot, I’m ready for the action to unfold.

Song of the Crimson Flower | Julie C. Dao

RELEASE DATE: 5th November

This story sees us exploring a forbidden romance: a poor physician’s apprentice and the daughter of a nobleman. The story starts after the daughter rejects Bao, the apprentice, and comes across his flute floating in the river. She goes to return it to him, not knowing an evil witch has entrapped his soul within it. And guess what? Only love will set him free. There’s so much happening in this book aside from this and I can’t wait!

Queen of the Conquered | Kacen Callender

RELEASE DATE: 12th November
This novel follows the story of a powerful young woman who has the power to control people’s minds. She sets out to seek vengeance on the royals who murdered her family. It’s a Caribbean-inspired fantasy which is totally unique and I love the sound of it!

Unnatural Magic | C M Waggoner

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
In this fantasy novel, we have a talented female character who practises magic but, being female, is not allowed to be trained formally. So she stomps her foot, says screw this, and travels to the capital where some girls have been admitted into school. Of course, things get crazy here and she’s drawn to the mystery of four murdered trolls. Truth be told, I didn’t read any further than that because I’m already intrigued.

Novice Dragoneer | E E Knight

RELEASE DATE:  5th November
Honestly? I’m both excited and terrified of this release. I have DNF’d an E E Knight previously – it was seriously a tedious read. I wouldn’t order this one online for myself personally, but if I saw it in a bookstore I’d flick through it to see if it’s similar to his other books. HOWEVER – it sounds dang good. We have an impoverished girl entering into a military order of dragonriders . . . #SOLD.

Fate of the Fallen | Kel Kade

RELEASE DATE:  5th November
In this story we have a MC called Matthias who finds out it’s his destiny to save the world. Naturally, he hypes up the crowd and dives straight in – bringing his best friend in tow. With Matthias hot-headed and ready for adventure, his friend, Aaslo, is left to keep him in line. And there is talk of arcane bloodlines and fae so, that might be just as well. Just about everything seems to not be going to plan for this duo and it sounds hilarious. I hope it’s hilarious.

Sisters of Shadow and Light | Sara B Larson

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
Now, this one has an interesting premise. Two sisters live trapped by a large and magical hedge in a city that once was the home of magical warriors. It was on the night when the warriors disappeared that this hedge grew and one of the sisters, Inara, inherited her father’s powers (magical warrior stuff). After that, I got a bit lost with the blurb but everyone sounds very sad to be stuck behind his large hedge until one day, someone comes through it.

Shadowscent | P M Freestone

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
In this world, prayers can only reach heaven through scent. The MC has a great ability with fragrances and whilst she hopes it’s enough to help her family, it won’t save her dying father. An alternate perspective is an imperial bodyguard. He is placed on a mission to protect the prince as he travels to an outer province: no easy task. Their two stories become entwined when the prince is poisoned and they’re both labelled as suspects.

The Starless Sea | Erin Morgenstern

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
This book has been all over Instagram. It’s crazy. I assume it’s because of Morgenstern being the author of The Night Circus which has been wildly popular over the last few years. Either way, I do like the sound of this: “pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.” Sign me up! The MC in this book one day is flipping through a very old book full of stories, and comes across a story from his own childhood. How it got there, is a mystery.

Winterwood | Shea Ernshaw

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
I very nearly passed up including this one on this list simply because it doesn’t sound amazingly unique. But then I started wondering what might actually be in the pages and I couldn’t pass it up. In this story there is are woods that people are warned against going into. Only a rumoured witch in the village knows the truth. This character, Nora, is drawn by something mysterious to find a boy who disappeared in the woods weeks beforehand: he should be dead but he’s not, and he has no memory of what happened. I like the intrigue of this plot so I’m crossing my fingers that it’s exciting and not something that’s already been done!

Coral | Sara Ella

RELEASE DATE: 12th November
We have mermaids in this story, not something I often read about. The MC ( a mermaid) is fascinated by the human world and is worried she’s contracted the human disease of “emotions”. We have two other leading characters in this story, a girl with depression and anxiety who is a party of a group therapy home, and a boy with a controlling father whose sister has just attempted suicide. I’m not sure what to make of this book but dang, I’m interested. This is, of course, a retelling of The Little Mermaid.

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SCI-FI

The Toll | Neal Shusterman

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
Who else is just about to wet their underpants in anticipation of the third and FINAL (right?) instalment of the Arc of a Scythe series?!?!!? MEEE. I’ve been obsessing over this series to the point that even Jayden is now familiar with Scythe and rolls his eyes every time I bring it up. I cannot WAIT to see what happens next because dang, did we leave off on a cliff hanger or what?! I will be likely continuing this series via audibook.

The Last Dance | Martin L Shoemaker

RELEASE DATE: 1st November
In this exciting sci-fi, fears of a mutiny on-board an Earth-Mars vessel are taken very seriously because mutiny means death. A commander who has control of such a ship, has his leadership come under fire by the System which claims he’s disobeying orders – but his crew protest otherwise. This is one big spacey mystery and I’m hoping it’s as good as it sound intriguing!

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HISTORICAL FICTION

The Other Windsor Girl | Georgie Blalock

RELEASE DATE: 5th November
This is all about our current Queen’s, Queen Elizabeth II, sister: Margaret. Having just finished watching both seasons of The Crown on Netflix, this really tickled my fancy and has my interest. I imagine it will be an interest look into the life of a very interesting royal!

The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky | Mackenzi Lee

RELEASE DATE: 26th November
I’d actually had no idea that this book was coming out! I’ve read both The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtues and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, both of which were fabulous. So I’m delighted to see that we’re getting a novella to dive back in, if only for a little while, to the fun adventures of Monty and Felicity. I’m pretty sure this entire novella is actually about Monty and Percy’s first time and I love that Lee has written a WHOLE book for this.

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And that’s a wrap!

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~~ Kirstie ~~

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