Happy Wednesday! Today, I’m spotlighting 15 of my most anticipated book releases in September. There are so many books I need to add to my bookshelves, including contemporary and historical romances, a couple of retellings, ya fantasy, and more. Let’s check out the 15 books I’m most looking forward to!
Sept. 6th: Ithaca by Claire North
Title: Ithaca
Author: Claire North
Series: Penelope #1
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Sept. 6, 2022
Publisher: Orbit Books
Synopsis: ‘The greatest power we woman can own, is that we take in secret . . . ‘
Seventeen years ago, king Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them have returned, and the women have been left behind to run the kingdom.
Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. Whilst he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that husband is dead, and suitors are starting to knock at her door . . .
But no one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne – not yet. Between Penelope’s many suitors, a cold war of dubious alliances and hidden knives reigns, as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip one way or another. If Penelope chooses one from amongst them, it will plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning and her spy network of maids can she maintain the delicate balance of power needed for the kingdom to survive.
On Ithaca, everyone watches everyone else, and there is no corner of the palace where intrigue does not reign . . .
Sept. 6th: Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah
Title: Monsters Born and Made
Author: Tanvi Berwah
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Sept. 6, 2022
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Synopsis: She grew up battling the monsters that live in the black seas, but it couldn’t prepare her to face the cunning cruelty of the ruling elite.
Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Fable, this South Asian-inspired fantasy is a gripping debut about the power of the elite, the price of glory, and one girl’s chance to change it all.
Sixteen-year-old Koral and her older brother Emrik risk their lives each day to capture the monstrous maristags that live in the black seas around their island. They have to, or else their family will starve.
In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers―the ruling elite, have indentured Koral’s family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others―if they’re lucky―survive.
When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family’s financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can’t afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral’s only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race.
But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against contenders―including her ex-boyfriend―who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. When a rebellion rises and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose―her life or her sister’s―before the whole island burns.
Sept. 6th: The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friedland
Title: The Most Likely Club
Author: Elyssa Friedland
Page Length: 368
Publication Date: Sept. 6, 2022
Publisher: Berkley Books
Synopsis: At their milestone high school reunion, a group of friends make a pact to finally achieve their high school superlatives one way or another, in the lively new novel from the acclaimed author of Last Summer at the Golden Hotel.
In 1997, grunge is king, Titanic is a blockbuster (and Blockbuster still exists), and Thursday nights are for Friends. In Bellport, Connecticut, four best friends and high school seniors are ready to light the world on fire. Melissa Levin, Priya Chowdury, Tara Taylor, and Suki Hammer are going places. Their yearbook superlatives confirm it: Most Likely to Win the White House, Cure Cancer, Open a Michelin-Starred Restaurant, and Join the Forbes 400.
Fast forward twenty-five years and nothing has gone according to plan as the women regroup at their dreaded high school reunion. When a forgotten classmate emerges at the reunion with a surprising announcement, the friends dig out the yearbook and rethink their younger selves. Is it too late to make their dreams come true? Fueled by nostalgia and one too many drinks, they form a pact to push through their middle-aged angst to bring their teenage aspirations to fruition, dubbing themselves the “Most Likely Girls.”
Through the ensuing highs and lows, they are reminded of the enduring bonds of friendship, the ways our childhood dreams both sustain and surprise us — and why it’s deeply uncool to peak in high school.
Sept. 13th: The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
Title: The Ballad of Never After
Author: Stephanie Garber
Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart #2
Page Length: 416
Publication Date: Sept. 13, 2022
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Synopsis: Not every love is meant to be.
After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she’ll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.
But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.
Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can. . . .
Sept. 13th: Daisy by Libby Sternberg
Title: Daisy
Author: Libby Sternberg
Page Length: 232
Publication Date: Sept. 13, 2022
Publisher:
Synopsis: A fresh take on classic characters, Daisy gives readers insight into Daisy Buchanan’s viewpoint of the events of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. While simultaneously remaining true to the original and adding new information, Sternberg weaves Daisy’s perspective and Nick Carraway’s account together, correcting what Daisy knows is inaccurate from her cousin’s novel. Sternberg pulls readers in from the first page, and while the outcome of Daisy and Gatsby’s affair is universally known, readers still cannot help but root for the pair.
As the novel progresses, the tension in Daisy’s love life heightens the stakes, and while it’s easy to want to see Daisy and Jay make it work, the reader can also feel Daisy’s ambiguous feelings about leaving her husband for Gatsby. As the story climaxes, readers are left feeling as confused as Daisy is in regard to the decisions she needs to make. While there are noticeable changes to the overall story―it is a different perspective, after all―Daisy provides readers of romantic and/or feminist fiction and fans of The Great Gatsby alike with a satisfying story that is faithful to the original, yet unique in its own right.
Sept 20th: Something in the Heir by Suzanne Enoch
Title: Something in the Heir
Author: Suzanne Enoch
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Sept. 20, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Synopsis: In Something in the Heir, smart, capable heiress Emmeline Pershing will do anything to keep her beloved home; and all it takes is an arranged marriage and a teeny white lie to fulfill her family’s silly inheritance rules! But now her little fib means that she and her completely unsuspecting husband are going to inherit big — and very messy! —trouble in this spicy, sexy delight from bestseller, Suzanne Enoch.
Emmeline and William Pershing have enjoyed a perfectly convenient marriage for eight years. Their relationship is a seamless blend of their talents and goals. They’ve settled into separate, well-ordered lives beneath the same roof, and are content to stay that way—or so Emmeline thinks. And if William has secretly longed for a bit more from the woman he adores, he’s managed to be content with her supreme skills as a hostess and planner, which has helped him advance his career.
Then when Emmeline’s grandfather, the reclusive Duke of Welshire, summons them both for his birthday celebration and demands they bring their two little angelic children, William is stunned to discover that his very proper wife invented not one, but two heirs to fulfill the agreement for living at Winnover. But surely if Emmeline and William team up and borrow two cherubs to call their own, what could go wrong? Enter George, age 8, and Rose, 5—the two most unruly orphans in Britain.
As the insanity unfolds, their careful, professional arrangement takes some surprisingly intimate turns as well. Perhaps it takes a bit of madness to create the perfect happily ever after.
Sept. 20th: Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man by LaQuette
Title: Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man
Author: LaQuette
Page Length: 272
Publication Date: Sept. 20, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis:
LaQuette’s debut sexy romantic comedy Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man tells the story of a woman getting her groove back and getting a second chance at love.
Vanessa Jared, a 40-something divorcee, decided that the best way to pull herself out of their post-divorce slump was to form The Savvy, Sexy, Singles Club and start the “Do Me” portion of her and her friends’ lives.
But on the two year anniversary, a sexy sheriff shows up on Vanessa’s doorstep wanting her to help him keep his little sister from marrying her no-good ex. Vanessa is not down for this at all. She wants nothing to do with her ex…until she spots a photo of her ex’s new fiancee wearing her grandmother’s ring–which he clearly stole from her. So now it’s on. Vanessa is ready to take this trifling (fill-in-the-blank) down. What she does not expect is to fall in love along the way.
Sept. 27th: Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong
Title: Foul Lady Fortune
Author: Chloe Gong
Series: Foul Lady Fortune #1
Page Length: 528
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis: It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.
Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption from her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.
Code name: Fortune.
But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.
To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.
Sept. 27th: A Spark of Death and Fury by Nicole Bailey
Title: A Spark of Death and Fury
Author: Nicole Bailey
Series: Apollo Ascending #4
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Synopsis: The world is on fire.
But one thing burns hotter.
Revenge.
The high gods have fallen.
The spark is gone.
And chaos is the new king.
Amidst a scrabble to survive, gods step up to steal Zeus’ place. The treachery they cause pushes characters’ moral boundaries and forces them into one last fight for survival.
A blaze of wrath may save them all or finally lead to their ruin.
A Spark of Death and Fury is the riveting fourth installment of the Apollo Ascending series, full of love, heartbreak, and unexpected turns wrapped in an explosive finale.
Sept. 27th: How the Wallflower Was Won by Eva Leigh
Title: How the Wallflower Was Won
Author: Eva Leigh
Series: Last Chance Scoundrels #2
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Avon
Synopsis: Finn Ransome is an expert on Lady Luck, which is why he refuses to take a chance on love. Experience has taught him that he’s happier at a gaming table than around people he will, inevitably, disappoint. However, the clock is ticking on his father’s matrimonial demands. But the only woman to catch his eye is a bluestocking who would never consider a rogue like him.
After a disastrous first Season, Tabitha Seaton decided to focus on books instead of ballrooms. She hopes to join the Sterling Society, a collective of the most brilliant, influential minds in London. Except, they will never admit an unmarried lady. Now Tabitha needs a husband, and a notorious, handsome gambler may be her best bet.
Finn and Tabitha are opposites who have no intention of wagering on a love match, and a calculated marriage of convenience solves all their problems–with no risk to their hearts. Once married, however, their potent attraction boils over into a deep passion that neither expected. When a painful mistake drives the new lovers apart, Finn will risk it all to prove a scoundrel and a wallflower are a winning pair…
Sept. 27th: Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Synopsis: A rural island community steeped in the mystical superstitions of its founders and haunted by an unsolved murder is upended by the return of the suspected killer in this deeply atmospheric novel.
Emery Blackwood’s life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among the community that fractured her world in two. She’d once longed to run away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saiorse Island and chase new dreams; now, she maintains her late mother’s tea shop and cares for her ailing father. But just as the island, rooted in folklore and tradition, begins to show signs of strange happenings, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past that no one wants to remember.
August Salt knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night that changed everything. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from the past that has never healed—Emery. But the town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises that span generations threatens to reveal the truth behind Lily’s death once and for all.
Evocative and compelling, Spells for Forgetting is a vivid exploration of lost love and the unraveling of a small town and its many secrets.
Sept. 27th: Witchful Thinking by Celestine Martin
Title: Witchful Thinking
Author: Celestine Martin
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: What does a witch do when life’s a bore? You wish for something more.
If wishes were fish, homebody witch Lucy Caraway could open an aquarium and gift shop. When she isn’t grading papers over homemade tea blends, Lucy’s leafing through spellbooks to protect her familial magic from complete mayhem. On the eve of her ten year high school reunion, Lucy yearns for more—the soul mate she’s searching for, the cute cottage she’s coveting, and to be the best version of herself. Fueled by nostalgia and spiced rum, Lucy casts a spell that brings trouble in the form of a big lie and reunites her with her high school crush merman Alex Dwyer.
Like all merfolk, Alex saw the world and all its splendors, destined never to make a home on land. When he’s unexpectedly given a jinxed cottage, he returns to his small hometown of Freya Grove, NJ, determined to get his life on track after a string of bitter disappointments. Alex believes a merman needs a house like a fish needs a bicycle. He plans on flipping it and getting as far away from the Grove as his tail can take him. But once he discovers that his new neighbor is the witch who got away, Alex starts to rethink his plan.
As the spell unfolds, baking disasters, flirtatious tea readings, and midnight meetups spark their decade old chemistry, Lucy and Alex wonder whether their newfound love is strong enough to outlast the fleeting power of a wish.
Sept. 27th: The Dark King by Gina L. Maxwell
Title: The Dark King
Author: Gina L. Maxwell
Series: Deviant Kings #1
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Entangled Pub.
Synopsis: I thought a weekend away would be the perfect escape. Until I woke up married and trapped…by the king of the Dark Fae.
“Neon Gods meets Fifty Shades… Deliciously dark and sexy!” —#1 NYT bestselling author Helen Hardt
For Bryn Meara, a free trip to the exclusive and ultra-luxe Nightfall hotel and casino in Vegas should’ve been the perfect way to escape the debris of her crumbling career. But waking up from a martini-and-lust-fueled night to find herself married to Caiden Verran, the reclusive billionaire who owns the hotel and most of the city, isn’t the jackpot one would think. It seems her dark and sexy new husband is actual royalty—the fae king of the Night Court—and there’s an entire world beneath the veil of Vegas.
Whether light or shadow, the fae are a far cry from fairy tales, and now they’ve made Bryn a pawn in their dark games for power. And Caiden is the most dangerous of all—an intoxicating cocktail of sin and raw, insatiable hunger. She should run. But every night of passion pulls Bryn deeper into his strange and sinister world, until she’s no longer certain she wants to leave…even if she could.
Sept. 27th: The Duke’s Rules of Engagement by Jennifer Haymore
Title: The Duke’s Rules of Engagement
Author: Jennifer Haymore
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Synopsis: Some matches are made in hell…
Joanna Porter loves being one of London’s hottest up-and-coming matchmakers. But her heavenly vocation is about to turn into a nuptial nightmare—thanks to the Duke of Crestmont. He’s as handsome as he is insufferable and obsessed with all things proper. Matching him would cement Jo’s status as England’s greatest matchmaker. Except, of course, the impossible-to-please duke refuses all of her most eligible ladies…confirming his status as a complete and utter pain in her petticoats.
The Duke of Crestmont can’t believe he needs a matchmaker—let alone this spitfire of a woman whose kissable mouth and dancing, impertinent gray eyes tease him ruthlessly. But the people of his estate are counting on him to find a duchess. A proper lady with a flawless pedigree and immaculate deportment. So why can’t he stop himself from wanting his pert, lively matchmaker…instead of the perfect duchess?
Now the entire ton is watching as this determined, audacious matchmaker takes on the most powerful man in London in USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Haymore’s lively new Regency romp. And this show might just be the most outrageous one yet…
Sept. 27th: The Highlander’s Holiday Wife by Vanessa Kelly
Title: The Highlander’s Holiday Wife
Author: Vanessa Kelly
Series: Clan Kendrick #5
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Sept. 27, 2022
Publisher: Zebra
Synopsis: It’s Christmastime in Edinburgh, but Lady Samantha Penwith’s secret mission takes no holiday: the Highlands-born lass vows to find the assailants who murdered her beloved husband, founder of a charitable school for orphaned boys. On her latest undercover excursion, she closes in on a pair of armed attackers and interrupts another assault, then disappears into the darkness, leaving the lone victim mystified–and lucky to be alive…
Braden Kendrick may be the sensible brother, yet the dedicated doctor routinely ignores the dangers of his late-night calls to the city’s slums. But when a fleet-footed rescuer saves his life, he’s determined to uncover the stranger’s identity. And once he does, he’ll find himself facing his own past loss for the first time–and more than willing to risk his heart again, just in time to make the Clan Kendrick’s Christmas celebrations more festive than ever…
I’m excited for Ithaca and Spells for Forgetting!
Yes!! I hope you enjoy them both!!
I like the look of Witchful thinking!
Right! Sounds so good!
So excited for my copies of The Ballad of Never After to come!
It’s such a great series so far!!!
All these titles look fantastic. I’m super interested in Ithaca.
Oooh, it’s a good one! I hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to read it!