I might be somewhat slow off the mark with this month’s releases that I’m excited about, but I’m here! I apologise for missing severals months, time got away from me while I had my nose in many books.
There are some big hitters gracing our shelves this month – many sequels in well-loved series – and that only adds to the general excitement and hype of things. Someone take my credit card away, I might need to be restrained.
Fantasy 🪄
The Sixth Faction
Veronica Roth
I won’t lie to you, I’m ten levels of confused about this book. Will I read? I’d say it’s a 50–50, but I’m certainly intrigued. My understanding of this, is that it’s Divergent retold if one decision was made differently. But I swear to God, from the blurb it sounds like the same book. Someone enlighten me, please.
Blurb
The worldwide sensation as you’ve never seen it before. Step into a bold new Divergent series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth.
Beatrice Prior stands on the brink of a decision every person in her world must make: five factions, five futures, five lives.
She has a plan: she’s going to make the bravest choice, and leave Abnegation behind to join Dauntless, even though it means leaving her family behind.
But when tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony, everything changes—her world, her plans, even Beatrice herself.
Her ensuing decision thrusts her into the crosshairs of an underground rebellion, and into the path of a boy with secrets as dangerous as her own—a boy with only a number for a name.
One choice will change everything.
The Memory of Borrowed Books
Meg Anderson
I will, personally, be curious to read more reviews of this before diving in. But I’m a real sucker for fantasy books about books, and this certainly ticks that box. It does sound very, very similar to the premise of The Astral Library, however, so I don’t want to feel let down if it’s too same-same.
Blurb
A sweeping, magical ode to community and the stories we leave behind, The Memory of Borrowed Books follows one librarian who discovers a hidden room of unfinished memories―and must find the one that can save her beloved library from closing forever. Perfect for fans of Evie Woods and How to Read a Book.
Deep in the library lives a hidden room
where magic lines the shelves and memories lie in wait
Ready for readers daring enough to finally discover the truth.
In the coastal town of Foxhollow Bay, librarian Claire Ashford keeps her life as meticulously ordered as the centuries-old library she calls home. But when the town announces plans to shut it down, her sanctuary, and the life she’s built within its walls, begins to crumble.
One night, while wandering the stacks after hours, Claire discovers a door that shouldn’t exist. And behind it lies a secret room filled with books no one else can see.
Each book pulls her into the memories of those who have passed through the library’s doors―moments half-lived and stories left unfinished. Buried within these pages is a message the library has been trying to share, urging Claire to uncover the path to saving it.
With the demolition looming and time running out, Claire must piece together what the library is trying to show her. But one book keeps calling her back, and in its pages is a memory that could change everything. One that reveals the key to saving the library may be tangled in her own memories more than she ever could have imagined.
An ode to the power of community and hope, The Memory of Borrowed Books is a sweeping story about what’s at stake when the places we love―and the memories they hold―are threatened. A reminder that what we fight to preserve just might be the very thing that saves us in return.
Reap & Sow
Charlotte B. Plumb
Now, you may be familiar with my ways and my hesitancy to dive head-first into any old romantasy before knowing with certainty that it’s a goer, but this one does pique my interest. Bargains with demons are always fun, and the main character is on a quest to save her brothers, which feels somewhat refreshing. Plus it’s all set in a city with the poor are lured in to sell their bodies or sell their souls. Much fun to be had, surely?
Blurb
A young woman bargains with a demon to save her brothers, only to lose her heart in this slow-burn romantasy about dark magic, unlikely love, and the imperfect beauty of mortality.
The penniless in Blackbridge have only two choices: sell the body or sell the soul. And thanks to Eda Shaw, business is booming.
Indentured to a capricious demon known as Mr. Night, Eda and her brothers arrange illicit Pacts on his behalf, luring the city’s most desperate into trading years of their lives for their deepest desires. When a Pact goes awry and her brothers are arrested, Eda realizes she’ll need an infernal ally of her Kit’rath, a demon with a curious penchant for humanity, an infuriating wit, and is the only being in Blackbridge Mr. Night seems to fear. As they race to rescue her family and save the city from ruin, an undeniable connection sparks between mortal and demon.
But Kit’s help doesn’t come cheap. Now, Eda risks losing her heart to the one who claims her years—and saving herself may prove the steepest cost of all.
The Southern Sorority of Superstitious Witches
Katie Ortiz
Lately, Alix E. Harrow and Bernice Barry have put me solidly in a witch spiral, where all I want is retold witchy history in endless volumes. And I believe this little beauty (set in Alabama and featuring heathy, heavy doses of feminism), will scratch that itch. I did ponder whether this belongs more so in historical fiction than fantasy, but I guess I’ll have to read it and report back.
Blurb
In this spellbinding Southern Gothic novel, three women weave together old Southern folklore and magic to fight sexism and educational discrimination in post–Civil War Alabama, perfect for fans of Hester Fox and Louisa Morgan.
When Lucille, Catherine, and Victoria are invited to participate in a trial semester for women at Alabama’s most prestigious university, they each have their own reasons for accepting. Lucille wants freedom from both her father’s control and reminders of her traitorous first love. Catherine wants to escape an arranged marriage meant to halt her attraction to women. And Victoria wants to run from the guilt that haunts her after the death of one of her fellow mill girls.
The trial semester will determine whether or not women across the state will be allowed to attend other universities. But the enrolled women quickly learn that success is not guaranteed, and some of their male cohorts are determined to see them fail. When the men’s pranks go too far Lucille, Catherine, and Victoria form a coven under the guise of a sorority and call upon witchcraft steeped in the traditions of Southern folklore to fight back.
As they gather their fellow witches, they discover there is something darker at work at the university, a force that is determined to expel all the women at the university, and they’ll need all the allies they can get if they want to succeed.
For fans of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls and Weyward, this historical speculative novel explores the darker side of human nature and the ways in which women navigate—and survive—oppressive, male-dominated societies.
The Lost Guardian
Natalia Hernandez
I very nearly didn’t put this one on the list, because when I read ‘Los Angeles’ in the blurb I thought SNORE, boring. America is sooo overdone as a setting. But then I kept reading, and it got much more interesting, and much more South American. While this starts in a boring place, the whole story is inspired by the history of the last Incan emperor. And now I’m VERY interested.
Blurb
The stories we’re told aren’t myths. They’re warnings.
Santiago Rios didn’t plan to leave his quiet life in Los Angeles. But when his grandfather sends him a map to the lost tomb of the final Incan emperor, the young archaeologist is thrust into a brutal race across the Andes, pursued by ruthless tomb raiders who will stop at nothing to steal the emperor’s treasure.
His only hope is Ali, a fierce Peruvian woman whose secrets could unlock Santiago’s map—or spell his doom. The closer they grow, the more certain Santiago becomes. Ali is trouble…just the kind of trouble he likes.
To save their world, Santiago and Ali must solve ancient riddles, outwit deadly enemies, and lay a spirit to rest before it’s too late. Because if they fail, the past won’t stay buried—and neither will the curse.
Based on the true history of Atahualpa, the last emperor of the Inca people, indie sensation Natalia Hernandez delivers a powerhouse romantasy adventure set in the modern day.
Pan
Francesco Dimitri
Okay, colour me intrigued over this one. I’ll be keeping an eye on reviews – but it’s a translated Peter Pan reimagining (from Italian) and it sounds like it’s dark and twisty. It’s described a brutal modern retelling, and appears to be set (or at least start) in Rome.
Blurb
A brutal modern Italian retelling of the story of Peter Pan, now in English for the first time.
The finest modern fantasy you’ll read this year.Across the sprawling metropolis of Rome, children dream of an island that doesn’t exist.
An old god returns. Anarchy, destruction, and extreme emotions nourish it.
A new god has emerged. Order and subjugation are its intentions.
They fought once before. This time it will be to the death.
Magic is returning to the world and in the skies above the city, children clash with pirates while deities old and new fight for dominance of Rome. Below, the population moves on, oblivious, while the city watches and steels herself for the bloodshed to come.
And the people will learn Pan is coming, and it’s coming for them.
Mothsblood
Lynn D. Jung
Dark academia set in Paris? My, my, that feels positively thrilling. The main character is described as an alchemist (what a buzz word, total insta-buy) plus her name is, ridiculously, Larkspur Lee. This sounds like it goes from chaos to more chaos, and I think it sounds so good. Have a read yourself below.
Blurb
Step into the heart of Paris with this lush and thrilling dark academia fantasy that follows a young alchemist running from a dark past.
When Larkspur Lee arrived in Paris, it was with nothing more than the ambition in her veins and the magic under her skin.
As a student of Meurdrac, one of the few remaining alchemical universities, she burns to prove herself, but lacking the wealth, privilege and connections of the other students, she has to fight twice as hard – and be twice as cunning – if she wants to be considered worthy of immortality.
So when Petronelle Flamel, the Grand Magistra of Meurdrac and Third amongst the Deathless, begins searching for an apprentice, Lark decides she’ll do whatever it takes to be selected. Failure is not, and never has been, an option.
But after a shocking death, she instead finds herself at the heart of an impossible crime – one where the only evidence whispers of Lark’s past. And matters are further complicated when the mentor she crossed an ocean and a continent to escape re-enters her life, enticing her to his side once again while secretly wielding an agenda of his own.
As the investigation begins and the mysterious Knight assigned to the case, Violaine, becomes convinced that more sinister works are responsible for the murder, Lark must wrestle with both the university’s dark secrets and her own as the life she’s meticulously built for herself begins to unravel.
And as everything around her delves into chaos, Lark has no choice but to decide if the power she desires is truly worth the price.
The thrilling new dark academia fantasy full of magic and mystery, the perfect gothic read for fans of BABBEL and NINTH HOUSE.
The Slantwise Histories
Alix E. Harrow
If there’s one person I’ll go out of my comfort zone of avoiding short stories for, it’s Alix E. Harrow. The Once and Future Witches has thoroughly converted me to a serious fan, and this sounds like a wonderful Halloween read of historical witchy stories.
Blurb
From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Everlasting and Starling House comes a new fantastical collection of stories about tricksters and ghosts, magics ordinary and spectacular. Alix E. Harrow spins tales never-told and seen just outside the periphery of reality–in the tradition of Angela Carter, Anne Sexton, and Carmen Maria Machado, these hauntingly resonant and defiant stories leap from the page and dance in and out of a history that never was (but could have been) and into a future startingly like our own.
Before I was a liar I was a historian, which is a kind of storyteller who doesn’t make any money and likes footnotes.
These are stories about the past as it wasn’t quite, but might have been, from ancient battlefields all the way up through roadside attractions off I-70. They’re about the people caught in the mean jaws of history: the women and workers, the soldiers and mothers, everyone shoved into the margins of the world.
But these aren’t singular tragedies―these are the stories of the ones that got away. The ones who defected and dissented, who broke the rules, who ran and tossed a match behind them. SLANTWISE HISTORIES AND OTHER STORIES collects the best known short fiction of Alix. E. Harrow, including the Hugo-award winning “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” and for the first time in print, Amazon original titles “The Six Deaths of the Saint” and “The Knight and the Butcherbird”. Updated to reflect the author’s preferred editions, Slantwise Histories also includes “The Long Way Up”, “Roadside Attraction”, “Mr. Death”, “The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly”, “The Sycamore and the Sybil”, “Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, “The Whisper in the Weld”, “Dustbaby”, and four all-new short stories.
Goblin Market
A.J. Hackwith
The rise of goblins and general DND-vibing species entering the fantasy market at the moment is so real. And I’m so there for it. I can’t explain why I’m so hooked, but give me a goblin, an orc or a sword-wielding monk and I’m very happy these days.
This sounds like a glorious underdog story where a goblin is trying to save her home, but is also a bit of an outsider and doesn’t stand much of a chance. All the good tropes and classic changeling things are present here, and I’m really hoping that this delivers.
Blurb
A goblin changeling caught between the human and fey worlds must find a way to save her home in this warm and heartfelt fantasy from the author of Toto and the Hell’s Library series.
Being a changeling is hard enough, but Toast was older than most changeling children when her goblin parents stole her back from her human family and returned her to the harsh, bustling world of the Goblin Market, where anything from your fondest dream to your strongest talent can be bought—or sold.
Nearly a decade later, Toast has grudgingly cobbled together a life there as the Market’s guide for mortal visitors. But when the next arrival is her long-lost sister and the ancient beast whose magic the Market depends on disappears under strange circumstances, everything starts falling apart.
Now the Market itself is dying. With the Summer Court of noble fey plotting to claim the weakened Market for themselves, Toast, her friends, and an infuriatingly charming fey knight with an agenda of her own must negotiate their differences to make the trade of a lifetime and win back the Market’s future. To do so, Toast will have to decide what home–and the flawed community within–is ultimately worth.
Scorpion Deep
C.G. Drews
Now, I don’t usually do horror. But I’m a big fan of C. G. Drews’ writing, and as she is a fellow bookstagrammer (and generally wonderful person), I feel an immense sense of loyalty to read every book she publishes. And dang, ain’t she suddenly prolific? So I shall set aside my worries of nightmares and dive into this, for I’m sure it will be just as good as everything else she’s written. It’s about sirens. #sold
Blurb
CG Drews, New York Times-bestselling author of Don’t Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.
The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He’ll be left behind with nothing but the ocean’s haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.
To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can’t help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep’s adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.
But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.
One of My Patients is a Vampire
Abigail Moyer
Continuing on a horror-ish theme, let’s talk about vampires. This title had me at hello. When you read the blurb, this almost sounds like it’s going to come with a side of humour, and I do love a self-aware book that’s exasperated at the thought of vampires being real. Especially when you combine that with a doctor’s surgery. How ridiculous. How wonderful.
Blurb
A woman acquitted of murder but condemned to myth lures a disillusioned psychiatrist into a gothic mystery.
Dr. Ian Greyson does not condone violence. He does not condone biting directly into a KitKat bar. And he certainly does not condone calling one of his patients a vampire.
And yet in chocolate-town Hershey, Pennsylvania, that is exactly what happens. Ian absorbs misery for a living. He treats denture-throwing widows and calico cat smugglers at his strip-mall therapy practice, spending most of his days wondering which supernatural deity he betrayed enough to end up here.
But one day, in the Walmart beside his office, a child wielding a lollipop tells him one of his patients is a vampire. It’s absurd—a joke, a byproduct of a child’s overactive imagination—until a body turns up at his door drained of blood.
And his newest patient is Hershey’s favorite suspect. Years after a jury acquitted Alexandra Abrams of heinous crimes, public imagination has made her a monster again. Her eerie, ethereal presence does little to help.
Ian is seduced by her ability to soothe the ache he has mistaken for a personality. But he quit forensic psychiatry because he was too attracted to the dangerous. Is he defending a wrongfully accused monster, or simply obsessed with one?
And if not her, which one of his patients is a vampire?
Where We Go at Night
Ikwo Ntekim
This sounds like such a classic fae story. It reminds me a lot of Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest. You know? Humans living in close proximity to the fae and being tempted but heavily warned against interacting with them. Until eventually something goes wrong and interaction becomes unavoidable.
Blurb
To name a thing is to see it, and no one can see the folk if they don’t want to be seen.
As far as seventeen-year-old Trixie Godfrey is concerned, her hometown of Woods Crossing would be perfect —if not for the dark world of fae and magic lurking in the shadows. Growing up, her grandfather, Pops, never allowed her to get close to them—those aberrations, Mama used to say.
But on graduation night, when Trixie sneaks home past curfew she witnesses Pops’ brutal murder in a moment so sudden, so inhuman she can no longer avoid the fae. Those without the Sight will blame wild animals, calling Pops’ death an accident, a tragedy, but Trixie knows the truth because she has the Sight. She spent years burying her “gift”, but she needs to revive it now.
Determined to get justice for Pops and rid Woods Crossing of its monsters, Trixie ventures into the intriguing but deceitful world of the fae—only to find herself caught in a power struggle between ancient families more terrible and crueler than hers could ever be. Or so she thinks….
To Dream in Darkness
Ann Liang
This sounds like an intriguing fantasy set China’s ‘age of brilliance’. There are gods involved, and particularly mentioned is the Death God. I’m already hooked. It sounds like all is about to go wrong when he has to collect the soul of another god – the god of healing – they strike a deal that buys Rujia more time to escape her fate. Love this!
Blurb
Two gods strike a bargain that leads them on a journey with devastating consequences in this lush historical fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Ann Liang.
China in the age of brilliance, where gods freely wander the three realms. Amongst them is the cruel and beautiful Death God, who has never failed to collect a soul on time. Until now. For when he seeks out Rujia, the noble god of healing—and the only god he is fated to kill with his own hands—she makes him an offer he can’t she will help lift the excruciating, century-old curse placed upon him if he gives her a one-month reprieve.
Rujia knows she isn’t as noble as everyone believes. Her deal with Death is merely an excuse to buy herself time while she figures out an escape plan. But when her plan causes the Celestial Palace’s collapse and the beloved crown prince’s disappearance, she and Death are both held responsible. The only way to avoid the wrath of all the other gods is to travel across the realms and safely retrieve the crown prince themselves.
Yet the journey proves far more treacherous than expected. As the unlikely alliance between them blooms into more, and Death’s resolve to kill Rujia weakens by the day, neither can outrun their intertwined fate without devastating A mysterious plague. An empire-destroying flood. A thousand deaths—and rising—to restore the balance Rujia’s disrupted. And if Rujia continues to live despite the will of the Heavens, this is only the beginning…
Mortal Things
Marie Lu
Big name alert! A lovely cover introduces us to the new Marie Lu, where we have insatiable immortals, their eternal rivalries and the humans trapped in between. This already sounds like pure chaos and delight. The main character is essentially a slave or servant to the god of death, and she doesn’t love it. It sounds like the gods are very much so real and interact with humans, and that makes everything so much more interesting.
Blurb
Set in a world of insatiable immortals, their eternal rivalries, and the humans trapped between them, MORTAL THINGS is a cinematic and sweeping new fantasy from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marie Lu, perfect for fans of Heartless Hunter and A Darker Shade of Magic.
Rose Lin Fairchild didn’t believe in gods, but one chose her anyway.
Rose despises Raven, the god of Death. His mysterious commands. His mercurial moods. His closed heart. But most of all, she loathes that she was forced to become his Harbinger, a human mercenary tasked to fulfil their god’s every want and whim. Still, she would do it again, because being a Harbinger is the only thing keeping her best friend alive.
When a murder rocks the world of the gods, Rose is suddenly thrust into the immortal realm’s spotlight as Raven’s heir. This is her chance to free her friend once and for all. But in order for her to ascend, she must first prove herself to the other gods—and the one person standing in her way is a fellow Harbinger.
Étienne Beauchard is notorious for his sly wit and charming good looks. Rose can’t stand that he is the one assigned to test her abilities, but as their initial hostility evolves into an intense attraction, they find that the gods’ secrets go deeper than they ever expected. Something is wrong in the immortal world, something that threatens to break their bond and engulf them all in war.
As Rose and Étienne fight to uncover the truth and trust each other with their hearts, they realize that everything hinges on the same How far would you go to save the person you love?
Sci-Fi 🛸
As You Wake, Break the Shell
Becky Chambers
Ladles and jellyspoons, we have a new Becky Chambers! Have I actually read any of the various books of hers I have on my shelves? No, but that’s not the point. The point is that we’re excited because Becky Chambers = a good sci-fi time. And we can therefore also forgive the cringe-worthy poetic title. All it makes me think of is a chicken hatching.
Blurb
Explore a universe of stubborn survival and found family, of persistent danger and quiet wonder in the first installment of a heartfelt new duology from Hugo Award–winning author Becky Chambers.
Life on the resource-poor planet of Fortune is challenging, but for its inhabitants, it’s home. For two of them, Signy and Cora, this home might no longer be enough.
Signy is a brilliant but reclusive botanist who bio-prints medicine from her small plant shop, often bending the rules to help those the system leaves behind. Her life is filled with the green of her store, the warmth of her one elderly friend, and the quiet determination to help others without putting herself in danger.
Cora is a rorqual pilot, one of the few with the unique ability to navigate the massive, living ships that connect the scattered settlements of their solar system. Her bond with her rorqual, Colibri, is profound—a connection that is both her greatest gift and a threat to her career.
It is that threat—the “mindbleed,” a dangerous side effect of her piloting—that brings her to Signy’s shop, and her appearance puts Signy in the danger she so fears. But it’s soon apparent it’s not just about losing her license—this delicate balance between risk and trust has the potential to change everything for them.
Told in an alternating timeline of their initial coming together and a not-so-distant future where they have found domestic bliss, this is a story harrowing and haunting, heartfelt and hopeful. Through a love story centered around survival, we are given a glimpse into the very best of what Becky Chambers does in her writing: explore what it means to be human, and what it means to come together.
Stellar Smoke
Tanaïs
An author that goes by only one name in sci-fi is either a good thing or a red flag, just saying. I think this sounds like it has some real potential as a dystopian-vibing sci-fi. When you read the blurb, it goes from mother-daughter redemption story to epic techno-mystery so fast you’ll get whiplash. Just how I like my sci-fi.
Blurb
A hypnotically original and lush speculative novel from award-winning author Tanaïs about family secrets and the mother–daughter bond across generations—ultimately blurring the boundary between past and present, human and machine.
Qamar is a musician hustling in a near-future metropolitan city. Struggling to pay rent and heartbroken after a breakup, she decides to return to the island ashram of her childhood. It’s time to finally settle the rift she has with her estranged mother, Veda—a brilliant scientist, actress, and one of the leaders of a now-dissolved cult called the Endless Temple.
But when Qamar arrives, the land is verdant yet neglected, and, most troubling, there are no signs of her mother or sister, Palo. Behind a retina scan–locked door, Qamar encounters her mother’s last opus, a machine consciousness called VEDA (Virtual Experiences, Dreams and Afterlife), designed to reveal the story of Veda’s life. The descent into VEDA’s technoscape forces Qamar to confront the taboos and tragedies of their past, while bracing herself for the wild, unexpected possibilities that await.
Code and Codex
Yoon Ha Lee
Setting aside the weird cover for a minute, this one does sound very interesting. It’s sort of sci-fi dystopian, where an imagined future gives off colonial vibes. Plus it has an interesting language angle, where the language of the oppressed people is banned, and the new language has reality-alerting properties. This sounds really, really interesting.
Blurb
Three-time Hugo Award finalist Yoon Ha Lee returns to science fiction with a swashbuckling space opera fighting against an evil empire trying to erase history.
In the stars-spanning Censorate, languages other than the Republic’s own lingua rubra, which has reality-altering properties, are forbidden. Nevertheless, there are discrepancies. The Censorate’s star forces are called the Athenaeum Navy, and each of its ships is referred to as a codex. Instead of port and starboard, its soldiers refer to verso and recto. The unholy “stigmata” gouged into the ships’ hulls might, to a foreign scholar, bear a resemblance to verboten texts in other languages.
The Censorate is ruled by its Peacock, Aurelia, feared for the power of panopticon: she can look through anyone’s eyes. Moreover, Aurelia’s mastery of lingua rubra lets her force anyone who can understand her to follow her orders. Valentina, sold to Aurelia’s family as a child to be Aurelia’s oath-sister and companion, is its Swan, responsible for extracting useful information from foreign texts, then destroying them as well as entire languages through arcane arts. Valentina is assisted in her work by lower-ranking linguists and AI assistants who accept temporary contamination by foreign languages as a necessity of their work.
But this isn’t enough for Aurelia. She wants to control and deploy the Censorate’s thousand-year traitor and prisoner, the Basilisk, a man with a gaze so lethal that he destroyed its fleet of old through camera feeds. Unfortunately for her, the Basilisk gave himself a form of aphasia that makes him immune to her commands.
Historical Fiction 🎩
Odette Rising
Julianne Edwards
Alert! Alert! French history is calling! Why is French history so alluring when it comes to historical fiction? Perhaps it is the sinister Brit inside of me that revels in their turbulent histories, but I do so love a French story.
This takes us to 1897 France and follows a reclusive young woman who finds herself suddenly thrust into society after her father’s death. I think this will be a heavily character-led story, but I’m looking forward to soaking up the historical setting along the way.
Blurb
A mesmerizing coming-of-age story of an extraordinary young woman in turn-of-the-century France as she rises to find a life she’d never dreamed possible
She had always felt that she must stay in the shadows, that if she asked for little, she could not feel loss. But here was life and joy.It’s 1897 in Sèvres, France and, from her bedroom window, Odette Huré watches a funeral procession carry her father’s coffin away. She is twenty-one and she has not left the house for ten years.
Odette has long spent her days reading and soothing herself with food. With the sudden death of her father, the walls she has built around herself begin to crumble. Forced into society, she discovers she is responsible for her father’s considerable fortune and his celebrated stockings factory—renowned for its exquisite designs that adorn the slender ankles of Parisian femmes célèbres.
Now Odette must try and navigate the world she has hidden from for so long. In doing so, she will excavate the secrets left behind by her father and in turn, accept the shocking truth of her own identity. With the help of an unorthodox found family, she will discover all that she is capable of. Odette is a heroine for the ages—complex and flawed, but compelling and full of warmth—and we share her joy as she begins to soar.
Mystery Play
Elizabeth Kostova
Dudes and dudettes, Kostova is gracing us with another book and it is DRACULA inspired *sounds all the sirens of joy*. I’ve decided I am a diehard Dracula fan since I read it a few years ago, so one needs only mention the word in the blurb and I will instantly stop reading and start buying. I do hate the cover, though, so that’s a shame.
I feel like it’s worth suggesting you actually read the blurb, as this is Dracula adjacent, I believe, and perhaps not as tangled up with the myth and legend as I’m leading you to think it is.
Blurb
The youngest son in a family of historians who has been hunted by dark forces associated with Dracula finds himself in peril at the hands of a new threat—a thrilling novel from the bestselling author of The Historian.
When his mother passes away suddenly, Jay Turner finds himself at a crossroads. She was always secretive, raising him alone in Boston and staying single until her death. Returning to their brownstone to clear out her possessions, he finds two unusual objects: a partially burned scrap of newspaper bearing the name “Gael Brogan,” and a small antique volume bound in leather.
The sight of the volume is chilling. As a young scholar, his mother had been given the medieval book—one of a set commissioned by Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Dracula, just before his death in 1477. She’d always warned Jay of how dangerous it was, and had donated it to a museum before she died . . . yet here it sits before him.
Taking leave from his position as a history instructor at a boys’ boarding school, Jay sets out to learn more about Gael Brogan, a prominent nineteenth century actor whose last and most famous role was the Count himself in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As Jay begins to dig deeper—helped by a mysterious woman named Rhiannon he meets along the way—he uncovers a frightening story of a young actress who fell under Brogan’s sway long ago. And before long, Jay and Rhiannon realize that something similarly implacable is also pursuing them.
Hypnotic and atmospheric, Mystery Play is a novel richly steeped in lore, pulsating with tension as it chronicles a dark secret history of rituals, religion, and immortality.
Peck & Peck
Bonnie Garmus
Lads, we’ve got a new Bonnie Garmus on our hands. How on earth are we supposed to keep our heads and keep our cool while waiting for it? This cover is much nicer than the Australian cover, however, the Australian cover has the intriguing tagline of ‘Saving humanity. It takes the right type’, which is very fun. This sounds like it’s a publishing-adjacent story (love, love, love), but beyond that I’ve really got no idea where it’s going. Will I buy it anyway? Of course.
Blurb
The number one bestselling author of global sensation Lessons in Chemistry returns with an irresistible, delightful, and tender story about a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world: the renowned Peck & Peck of New York City.
Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was eleven, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect, security, 401Ks. Now Batter is in his early twenties, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some readers and bores most. Poetry. And yet—to him and exactly thirty-nine editors at a company called Peck & Peck—poetry not only represents the power of humanity but holds the key to its survival.
Batter is named after his mother’s heroic dog. An identical twin who lost his brother at birth, he finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life: right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, rejection vs. acceptance. It’s almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story.
No, wait. Make that three.
Royal Witch
Philippa Gregory
I think my favourite thing about this, is that Gregory has shamelessly published yet another book in this series that boldly inserts itself as the new number one book in the series. So now we are all morally obliged to go out and buy it to make sure our collections of the convoluted and somewhat confusing series of the The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels are up to date. No more needs be said, really. Duty calls.
Blurb
Ambition. Sorcery. Treason. How will one woman dare to go?
Eleanor Cobham arrived at court with nothing — her greatest hope was simply to marry well. But her ambition carried her further than any woman before her had dared. She wanted to rule her own destiny. To rule England itself. They say she summoned the devil himself to secure her fate. They say she plotted to murder a king.
Now, it’s time to finally hear her story.
This is the tale of the woman they called witch. Who would have called herself queen.The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse
Heather Morris
I kid you not that this is a month of big names releasing books. Even Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, is releasing something new. And quite the change in cover design, I might say – though nothing new to break the trend; it is exactly what we would expect of this genre. If you’re anything like me, there is little need to actually read the blurb before knowing this will be good. Heather Morris + WWII writing = autobuy.
Blurb
In 1942, the Nazis came for a Jewish family living in the Montparnasse area of occupied Paris. In the chaos, the 11-year-old daughter ran to the only person she could trust—her piano Andrée Levallois, secretly a French Resistance operative, took her in, risking everything. But the authorities were closing in, and soon Andrée and the girl were caught in a desperate race to stay alive.
Andrée was denounced, arrested, tortured, and sent to the hell of Ravensbrück Women’s Concentration Camp. There, she fought for her life, determined to return and honor her promise to save the girl who had been entrusted to her care.
Epic in scope, and based on true life people and events, Heather Morris has written a story of breathtaking beauty—at once gripping, heartbreaking, and uplifting.
The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City
Susanna Clarke
Even Susanna Clarke is adding to this smorgasbord of choice in October, though be it with a very slight book. Clocking in at only 96 pages, this is a far cry from the doorstopper of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Though, that being said, it is indeed a short story set in that world, just 700 years earlier. Nonetheless, an intriguing title, no? Have a read of the blurb, I couldn’t do it justice to summarise.
Blurb
From the bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.
‘He had already served three kings. He did not see why he should not be useful to a fourth.’
During the conquest of Northern England, the fairy host sweeps across the countryside. The city of Durham finds itself surrounded. But the encircling forces are not fairies, nor even other humans, but trees that trap the city within an eerie wood.
Ranulf, Bishop of Durham-a consummate politician-understands that the survival of the Northern English people depends on his finding a way to unite the two races, human and fairy. And he’s not averse to improving his own position at the same time. With these aims in view, he sets off for the New Castle, in search of the new King-the leader of the fairy host, rumored to be a mysterious human boy, no more than fourteen years old, who speaks no word of any human language.
Set 700 years before the events of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City is a bewitching, must-have addition to any fantasy reader’s shelf, featuring beautiful illustrations throughout.
The Two Wills
Blair Fell
A queer love story featuring William Shakespeare? Well, obviously we need this and surely it isn’t even fiction. Firstly, love the cover – claps for that. Secondly, love the inspo – more claps for that. And lastly, this just sounds like it’s going to be filled gloriously with longing, angst and romance. Claps all round.
Blurb
From the USA Today bestselling author of Disco Witches of Fire Island comes a stunningly beautiful queer love story for fans of Hamnet and The Song of Achilles.
It’s the late sixteenth century, and eighteen-year-old Willy Hughes is still heartbroken over the loss of his first great love, Barnaby Stubb. He’s also desperate to escape his impoverished existence. To survive, beyond mucking out the toilets for pennies, he cons drunken men into believing he’s a beautiful young woman—then robs them of their purses.
Willy’s hope for a brighter future appears doomed until a newly famous poet (also named William) spots Willy in an alehouse and asks him to join his acting company. Willy is instantly smitten and determines to see if the poet’s heart might be open to a love that dares not speak its name.
Alas, the poet Will has a wife and a mistress and says he’s only interested in Willy as an actor. But why does he look at Willy that way?
Despite being untrained and illiterate, Willy quickly rises to fame on the stage, creating the roles of Juliet, Rosalind, and Cleopatra. Soon, the private love sonnets arrive, and Will’s romantic ambiguity is driving Willy mad. Is he made differently than Willy thought? Or is it that mistress who’s blocking Willy’s quest to possess the poet? Or the poet’s wife? And what happens when a sexy rival poet by the name of Christopher Marlowe comes knocking on Willy’s door?
Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s theory of Shakespeare’s sonnets, The Two Wills explores romance in all its forms, both on the page and between the lines, where no love is ever really lost—especially when you are the “master mistress” of the greatest writer in history.
The Stolen Women
Alysandra Dutton
Look, if you asked me whether this is on my list purely because of the cover, I might have to say yes. But, it was also suggested as something great for fans of Natalie Haynes, so there’s that too.
I do love reading historical fiction set in this time period, though. Pre-Rome + a young, female warrior? Yes, please.
Blurb
A case of missing noble women and a determined young warrior who sets out to bring them home in this new and exciting ancient historical set just before the founding of Rome, for fans of The Song of Achilles, Circe, and A Thousand Ships.
Safinia is fine to focus on her training as a warrior, providing for her sisters, and minding her own business. She feels no great need to meddle in anyone else’s, until women in her town, including her former lover, begin disappearing. Quietly, at first, but disappearing just the same. All of the missing women have vanished from powerful households, but their formidable fathers are in utter denial, claiming their daughters are off on trips, sure to be back shortly, with perfectly reasonable explanations for their absences.
Dissatisfied with the half-hearted attempts to hand wave away the alarming and mysterious cases of the vanishing women, Safinia takes matters into her own hands, embarking on a journey to a neighboring village in search of answers or at the very least clues that might unearth threads she can begin to pull at. Along the way, she meets an unlikely yet helpful search partner, a historian who calls himself Livy. But despite his eerie sense of knowledge, Safinia is unable to uncover to missing women, thwarted more often than not by the girls’ fathers themselves. As war with Rome looms on the horizon, Safinia must face the reality that the only one she can trust to bring them home is herself.
Alysandra Dutton has crafted an expertly researched and indepth look at the Sabine women, one of history’s most overlooked yet crucial stories that has inspired countless works of art throughout the centuries. It’s a fresh, page-turning adventure, perfect for readers of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes.
Slave Concubine Queen
Sally Neighbour
Having recently read The Tournament by Matthew Reilly, which features Sultana Roxelana, I’m actually really excited for this. This is a whole historical fiction novel focused on her incredibly story of ascending from slave to Queen in Turkey. And of course I’ve taken Reilly’s writing as gospel truth, so I’m fully expecting her to be the same in this one.
Blurb
A sweeping saga of passion, betrayal, salvation and revenge set in the opulent Othman palace of Suleyman the Magnificent, as one fierce slave girl rises from captivity to the position of queen, using all the intrigue necessary for her own and her sons’ survival. Inspired by the wondrous and compelling true story of Sultana Roxelena.
Stolen from far outside the empire and sold into slavery in the Sultan’s palace, Roxelana vows to live – and to rise. In the ferocious world of the imperial harem she learns its language, its rules, its music – and the secrets of how to survive.
When she captivates Suleyman the Magnificent and is crowned as queen, her unprecedented ascent ushers in a scandalous new the Sultanate of Women. But power in the Ottoman court is fickle. Whispers brand her a witch. How else could this concubine have captured the heart of a sultan? Enemies circle. Mahidevran, mother of the beloved heir, and Ibrahim, the Sultan’s boyhood confidant-turned-grand vizier know her as a rival. And the old law of fratricide threatens every son she bears.
From the perfumed corridors of the Topkapi palace to the battlefields where Suleyman vies for dominion over the kings of Europe, Roxelana must exert wit and iron resolve to protect her position and her family. In a realm where love is leverage and loyalty can be fatal, how far will she go to keep what she has won?
A sweeping story of desire, intrigue and the devastating price of power.
The Art Lovers
Fiona McIntosh
It’s always a good day when there’s a new Fiona McIntosh historical fiction! This is about a young woman whose path crosses with a downed flight lieutenant, who happens to also be an art historian. All those things immediately have my attention! Oh, and it’s set in Malta, did I mention that?
Blurb
While war rages across the city of Valletta, a local barkeeper’s daughter Valentina Camilleri is on the cusp of womanhood when Flight Lieutenant Peter Fox falls out of the sky from his Spitfire and into her world. In that fateful moment, he captures not just her imagination and her dreams, but also her young heart.
As he convalesces, Peter, an art historian, is captivated by Malta’s spectacular cathedral and its treasure, the famed artwork of Caravaggio. His passion for the subject ignites Valentina’s ambition and sparks the dream of a life far from her dreaded destiny.
A dozen years on, Peter returns to the island as an art expert for newly crowned Queen Elizabeth’s forthcoming visit. When he reconnects with Valentina, a woman now, he is horrified to see what has become of her.
Facing a war of her own within her heart, Valentina must find the courage to fight for her son and her future – but will freedom come at a cost?
Mysteries 🔍
The Undercover Bookshop
Katherine Reay
Hark! Do I hear the south of a historical bookish mystery? Why, yes I do. Set in the Cotswolds in the 1950s, and following an amateur sleuth, we already have all the ingredients we need for a great cosy mystery. It also starts off with the main character suspecting the town’s baker is a Soviet spy, and doesn’t that just sound glorious?
Blurb
During the winter of 1950 in the small Cotswold village of Great Rollright, amateur sleuth Gemma Brown starts to suspect that the town’s best baker, Ursula Beurton, is a Soviet spy, tumbling her headlong into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that ends with a decision that will lead her to the Undercover Bookshop and change her life forever.
Recently moved to the English Cotswolds, Gemma Brown desperately wants to create the kind of idyllic life she’s read about in her favorite mystery novels, with herself as the leading lady. But fitting in proves difficult as Gemma is more adept at solving mysteries and setting up the village’s first bookstore than she is at baking cakes or grasping social niceties. Nevertheless, she finds a friend in Peggy, a young woman recently moved to town herself, and Ursula Beurton, who is not only the village’s best baker but an enigmatic figure who sparks controversy in the small-town gossip network.
As Gemma spends more time with Ursula, she begins to suspect all those novels are affecting her thinking. The oddities she starts to notice must be her imagination because, if not, they point to something far more dangerous than winning the local baking contest or being placed on the church committee. Could her neighbor be a real spy?
Following her instincts and a few skills learned through fiction, Gemma soon becomes embroiled in an international intrigue involving the village’s mysterious benefactor, Lady Marchmont, MI5, and the KGB. In an unexpected twist, however, Ursula asks Gemma for a favor which may endanger all their lives as their next chapter unfolds in Gemma’s new venture, the Undercover Bookshop.
Sequels 📚
Tales from the Territory
Travis Baldree
It doesn’t take much (well, anything, really) to get me to add another Travis Baldree to my shelves. Particularly when it’s part of the Legends and Lattes series. This appears to be a collection of short stories featuring the characters we love. I have no idea where it technically sits in the series, or if it perhaps spans the entire timeline and therefore floats omniscient above it all. But nonetheless, sign me up!
Blurb
From international bestseller Travis Baldree, Tales from the Territory is a beautiful collection of cosy fantasy tales, set in the much-loved world of Legends & Lattes.
There are many tales yet untold . . .
‘GOBLINS & GREATCOATS’: Chaos goblin Zyll is involved in a case of mistaken identity, where she solves a murder at an inn whilst simultaneously stealing all the cutlery.
‘JUST A THIMBLEFUL’: The sweet rattkin baker Thimble finds a new home for his soon-to-be famous cinnamon rolls.
‘PAGES TO FILL’: An act of mercy leads to a life-changing discovery for warrior orc Viv.
In ‘MIROGRAPH’, young succubus Tandri assists a university professor on a mysterious project where art and science collide.
In ‘CAVALIERS & COFFEES’, Viv, now the owner of Legends & Lattes coffee shop, discovers that imitation is not the highest form of flattery.
Victorious / book #3 in the Villains series
V. E. Schwab
I have made the great effort of reading exactly and only the first book in this series, a number of years ago, and then promptly forgetting about it despite loving it. But I remember it now! This is book three coming our way (don’t spoil me!) and I’m really keen to get back into the series (and probably need to reread book one, let’s be honest).
Blurb
The triumphant conclusion to the Villains trilogy from V.E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.
The ExtraOrdinary of Merit City, a secret group of individuals gifted with a power connected to their manner of near-death experience, have been keeping a low profile, avoiding the ever-watchful eye of EON in the wake of the showdown with Marcella, Eli, and Serena.
But when EON―and its relationship to the ExtraOrdinaries― begins to change under the leadership of a new director with a terrifying agenda, the time for hiding is over. The path to the truth of what happened to EON leads Victor, Sydney, Mitch and the rest into the enemy’s lair at EON headquarters, where they encounter unexpected allies, shocking new abilities, and the ultimate confrontation.
Against all the years, the betrayals, and the odds―the arch rivals and their allies will meet for a final time, on a chess board laid out by a rival they didn’t expect.
The Thrice-Bound Fool / book #2 in the Blacktongue series
Christopher Beuhlman
I am so, so excited about this one. I’ve been lapping up this series on audiobook (all two of the books that exist so far), and this has been long-awaited for me. We had The Blacktongue Thief first – loved it – and then jumped backwards in the prequel, The Daughter’s War – also loved it – and now FINALLY, we can continue the series in The Thrice-Bound Fool, which is book two. Get in on this series if you haven’t already.
Blurb
The Thrice-Bound Fool is the epic, rollicking next chapter in the bestselling and “awesome as hell” (Nicholas Eames) fantasy adventure series that began with The Blacktongue Thief.
Professional thief and inveterate trickster Kinch Na Shannack has always enjoyed a good book. But now his life, and the future of all of Manreach, depends on him deciphering a very bad book indeed; a stolen, sentient tome that tries to kill him every time he opens it—and often when it’s closed.
Galva, veteran of the goblin wars and death’s sworn handmaiden, has vowed to protect Kinch while he mines the book for its dark magic and even darker secrets. She does so not for Kinch’s sake—though the cheeky bastard is growing on her—but because the book is the key to stopping the shadowy tyrants out to kill the queen she serves, and loves.
The ruthless, all-seeing Taker’s Guild dogs their every step, and thief and knight must flee the known world entirely if they hope to succeed in their mission. But trouble finds Kinch wherever he goes, and the pair may have traded the devil they know for horrors far darker and hungrier as they enter lands unknown.
The Crossword Murders / book #5 in the Secret Detective Agency series
Helena Dixon
I am thrilled and delighted that this series continues on. I read the first book on a bit of a whim, and honestly, I then fell promptly in love with this series. It’s peak cosy crime, set smack-bang in the middle of WWII London, and has the most delicious slow-burn innocent romance going for it. This is the perfect series to not take too seriously and to enjoy thoroughly.
Blurb
A crossword that’s tricky to crack, a hot cup of coffee… and hidden clues? Can Jane Treen work this mystery out?
England, 1942. Jane Treen is hot-footing it to Devon, having received an urgent message from her colleague and fellow sleuth, Arthur Cilento. He had been deeply worried for his mentor, crossword writer Professor Watkins. And the invitation he’s sent Jane is to the Professor’s funeral… he’s dead.
Arthur suspects foul play, but before they have time to fill in the blanks, their clues lead them into a secret vault nearby. Jane, fluffy ginger cat by her side, begins to connect the dots. But then another man is murdered, and she realises that Professor Watkins’ death is one piece in a much larger and deadlier game.
But who could be behind the untimely deaths? Could the professor’s beloved sister be responsible? Or a wealthy and influential benefactor and her assistant? And someone else close to the professor – also no stranger to compiling a crossword – seems to be increasingly cryptic too.
It’s clear that the killer isn’t playing by the book. And when the clue the professor left in the last crossword he wrote doesn’t help them to solve the crime, Jane and Arthur are back to square one and must think outside the box to crack the code. But just as they start to figure out what’s happening, they find themselves trapped, their lives at stake…
Can the duo solve the puzzle and escape before it’s too late?
A Court of Splintered Harmony / book #6 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series
Sarah J. Maas
Okay, so the plan is, that on the 27th of October we will all call in sick and then run – RUN – to the bookstore to buy this and feverishly read it. Okay? Deal.
In all seriousness, I’m somewhat apprehensive about this. I lowkey hated A Court of Silver Flames, but I have faith! It is the only book of Maas’ I’ve not liked, so surely this will resurrect my passion for the series. Shame they gave up on designing good covers though, hey?
As a side note, hilariously, every edition on Goodreads is currently in Lithuanian for me right now. No idea what’s going on there, but if it’s a practical joke, I applaud.
Blurb
What was broken will be remade.
Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he’s been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands.
The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day.
To make matters worse, those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable.
But to defeat Koschei’s creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances. To survive, they must find a way to repair the splintered harmony all around them.
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