October is upon us, and the month brings some fantastic new book releases! From the highly anticipated release from the ACOTAR series to some cute rom-coms to some fabulous sounding YA reads, there’s a lot to look forward to. Let’s check them out!
October 6: The Divines by Rachel Greenlaw
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Fantasy / Romantasy
Synopsis: Dangers and magics new and old build to God-like proportions as Sophia and her allies fight for their lives, and their very world, in this steamy, propulsive follow-up to The Ordeals.
The Great Hunt has begun. Still mourning the loss of her friends and mentors, and adjusting to her awakening powers, Sophia has no time to waste honing her abilities. As the waves of attacks by the Cold Ones continue to escalate, the group is led into dangerous territories and an even more dangerous need for vengeance. But when a loved one is attacked by a Cold One, Sophia and her closest allies must turn their attention to a new critical task: finding an antidote.
As Sophia and her friends learn more about the origins of the Cold Ones, they also uncover disturbing secrets being kept by the Crown. It’s clear there’s something even bigger at play than they could have ever imagined. As they navigate the maze of who can or cannot be trusted, new and unknown threats ambush them at every turn.
Sophia has always heard the stories of the Old Gods, long since gone from their world. But what if they weren’t truly gone, just simply biding their time? What if the Great Hunt is only the beginning? For the gods are hungry and have a will of their own, and to save the world as they know it, Sophia will have to face their wrath.
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 6: Falling Like Snow by Misty Wilson
Genres: Young Adult / Contemporary / Romance
Synopsis: After Bramble Falls’s wildly successful Falling Leaves Festival, Sloane Sullivan is looking forward to some downtime—especially kicking back and marathoning Nora Ephron movies with her best friend, Asher. But they barely make it through Sleepless in Seattle before Sloane’s mom calls an emergency tourism department meeting; it’s all hands on deck—Bramble Falls is having its first ever Falling Snow Festival!
Sloane may still be recovering from the last seasonal event, but she’s also excited. After all, Christmas is the best time of year! And she’ll have her whole crew by her side, including her cousin Ellis and, of course, Asher. But when irresistible, hockey-playing Micah catches Sloane’s attention, she finds herself a bit distracted. The emotions her unexpected flirtation brings up make Sloane feel confused about Micah…and Asher.
She’s never thought of Asher as more than her best friend, but even if Sloane is seeing Asher in a new light, what does that mean for her and Micah? Uncertain and more than a little overwhelmed, Sloane throws herself into festival preparations, hoping to get a little Christmas magic in return that will help her figure out where her heart lies.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 6: The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson
Genre: Magical Realism; fantasy
Synopsis: 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.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 6: Reap & Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Fantasy / Romantasy
Synopsis: 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.
This stunning hardcover edition of Reap & Sow will feature deluxe embellishments, including a dazzling metallic jacket, full color printed edges, patterned end papers, and a specially designed case.
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 own: Kit’rath, an infuriating demon with a curious penchant for humanity and the only being in Blackbridge that 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.
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 6: This Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth
Genres: YA/Dystopia
Synopsis: 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.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 6: The Way We Become by Amber Smith
Genres: Young Adult / Contemporary / Romance
Synopsis: Eden struggled to find her voice for years after her brother’s friend Kevin raped her. It wasn’t until Kevin’s ex-girlfriend Gen and his sister, Amanda, came forward, that Eden knew she wasn’t alone. Telling her family was hard, reporting to the police even harder—and giving testimony on a witness stand was next to impossible.
Eden, Gen, and Amanda have done everything in their power to pursue justice. And now, in the wake of the jury’s decision, they are expected to move on—even as they’re still grappling with grief and hurt after their lives were turned inside out. With Amanda finishing high school, Eden still adjusting to college, and Gen determining what she wants to do when she graduates, each girl has to chart her own course forward to find healing and discover the woman she’ll become.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 13: Nightcurse by Emma Hinds
Genres: NA Fiction/ Fantasy / Romance / LGBTQ+
Synopsis: Cursed with eternity, haunted by love–discover the truth about living forever in this achingly atmospheric dark academia fantasy
Emrys Swift is so dead. One hundred and fifty seven years worth of dead, to be exact. He’s a Revenant, nightcursed, destined to be stuck being seventeen forever. Hidden away, he spends his infinite days as an undead librarian of witchlore at the NeverEnd library–until a new Revenant arrives and magical artifacts start going missing, jeopardizing his beloved home.
Emrys’s mortal enemy and annoyingly attractive shapeshifter Aubrey Vale is determined to solve the mystery – with Emrys’s help. Suddenly Emrys and Aubrey are magically bonded together on a quest into the dark and frost-bitten world of night-kin. But as Emyrs and Aubrey interrogate ghosts and face drowning by mermaids, deathly creatures aren’t the only spectres haunting them. With the ghoulish Night Hunt chasing them down, can they outrun the secrets of Emrys’ death and Aubrey’s life? And if they can save NeverEnd’s future, can they have a future together?
Hauntingly gorgeous and tender, Emma Hinds’ Nightcurse is both a Gothic mystery and an enemies-to-lovers romance about navigating life and love in the face of death.
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 13: When the World Was Happy by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genres: Young Adult / Contemporary / LGBTQ
Synopsis: CheChe knows that he and his twin sister Emma lead an unusual life. They enjoy spending time with their parents and grandparents, love to read, and don’t have a huge circle of friends—and they’re happy. Then, just a few months after they turn seventeen, three gunmen show up one morning at their El Paso, Texas, high school, and everything changes.
CheChe loses a leg, and both he and Emma have friends who die. Suddenly, the world feels like a very different place. But what they find hasn’t changed—or has only gotten deeper—is their love for their family, their close friends, and one another, and as they begin to heal, they create their own little community, one that wields the power of humor, kindness, and hope.
CheChe finds himself doing all kinds of things he never expected from his junior relearning to walk, falling in love with the boy he’s nursed a longtime crush on, making friends with a kid he always found intimidating. By the end of this life-changing school year, none of them will be the same, and many of them will have found their voices in ways they never imagined.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 13: Written in Starlight by Sloane Brooks
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Fantasy
Synopsis: For fans of Tusk Love and The Spellshop comes a romantic portal fantasy with a cosmic twist about a storybook chambermaid and an intergalactic bounty hunter whose worlds—and hearts—collide through a magical book, threatening to rewrite fate.
Della Farley has always known her place in the scrubbing floors, keeping her head down, and dreaming of something more. But when she stumbles upon a strange book that seems to be writing itself—a story about a man named Ansel Tulzok, a wanted fugitive traveling the stars—her quiet life turns extraordinary.
Light-years away, Ansel finds a mirror copy of the same book. Page by page, the story unfolds with details of a woman he’s never met—one whose words feel achingly familiar. As the two begin writing to each other through the mysterious pages, they open doors not just to each other’s worlds, but to their most vulnerable hopes and fears.
When Della takes an impossible leap of faith and writes herself into Ansel’s story, she soon finds herself aboard his ship, surrounded by stars, danger, and a crew of outlaws who might just become her family. Together, Della and Ansel strike a she’ll help him clear his name in exchange for passage to the planet that holds the cure for her mother’s deadly illness.
But every story has its price. And as their worlds entwine and their hearts collide, Della and Ansel must decide how far they’re willing to go to change the ending fate has written for them.
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 20: Knight of the God King by Lauren Blackwood
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Fantasy / Romantasy
Synopsis: A powerful knight and her handsome squire must stop the deadly schemes of a savior king in this romantic fantasy of dark deeds and court intrigue.
Calliope’s wish has always been to become a knight, an elite healer and protector who uses music to summon magic. Yet despite her exceptional skill, she’s stuck lifting up her talentless cousin, whose family begrudgingly took Cali in as a child. But when an opportunity to become the royal knight of the immortal God King arrives, Cali finally gets a chance at a fairytale life – until her cousin blackmails her.
Forced to bring her cousin to court so she won’t share Cali’s shameful past, Cali immediately snubs Beric, the alluring, handsome squire tending to her. Now she must contend with his ire, even while feeling helplessly drawn to him. If that wasn’t enough, her duty means accompanying the king into The Dark, a demonic entity that only the king’s magic is powerful enough to battle – a battle he has been waging for centuries. She must also keep the king’s secret under pain of death: that he’s not a god at all, and every royal knight’s magic that came before her was the only thing keeping him alive. It seems serving the God King isn’t a fairytale at all, and when people start dying around her, she and Beric realize that they have no choice but to take their fate – and that of an entire kingdom – into their own hands.
In Lauren Blackwood’s thrilling fantasy, Knight of the God King, a knight’s power and her squire’s love are the only things that can help her defeat a man playing at being a god.
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 20: Legally Yours, Violet Lopez by Elba Luz
Genres: Young Adult / Contemporary / Romance
Synopsis: Violet Lopez has planned exactly how her life will She’ll graduate valedictorian, attend Harvard, and become a big shot lawyer, all so that her injury-prone single dad can finally take a break.
As a member of her elite private school’s law society, Violet is proud to hold a near-perfect record of defending students against the disciplinary board. But when the popular and infuriatingly charming Theo Hudson is accused of a prank he swears he didn’t commit, Violet recuses herself from his case on the grounds of despising the school’s privileged golden boy, and not even a couple classmates’ offer of a four-figure payout to purposely tank his trial can change her mind.
Then Theo uncovers a secret Violet wants to keep under wraps and blackmails her into representing him. Sick of being pushed around by rich kids, Violet decides she can get sweet revenge on the arrogant jock and some much-needed cash at the same time. She’ll twist his alibi, lose key evidence, mislead witnesses—all while playing the perfect lawyer on the surface. Theo goes down, and Violet gets paid.
But the closer Violet gets to Theo, the more she sees beneath his devil-may-care attitude to someone caring and surprisingly sensitive…who she’s been planning to sabotage. Is it too late to change her mind? And even if she does, would Theo ever forgive her?
Violet can object to falling in love all she wants, but her heart overrules every time.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 20: Shadow and Son by Gretchen Powell Fox
Genres: Fantasy/Romance/Romantasy
Synopsis: Scorch the realm. Bring the dawn.
Throne of Glass meets The Return of the King in the highly anticipated conclusion to the Best of #BookTok Shattered Crown trilogy.
A Fractured World
The fragile peace forged in the wake of the Crucible is unraveling. With the rise of an old foe and ancient magic stirring, the scars dividing Arcanis have begun to bleed anew, and the future of the realm hangs by a thread.
A Queen of Shadow
Elyria Lightbreaker has paid a devastating price to save her loved ones. Now, she faces a whole new darkness—and must decide how much more of herself she is willing to give to save a world that has already taken so much.
A Man on the Brink
Rocked by the secrets of his past and the truth behind his power, Cedric Thorne scours the continent in search of the woman he loves. But as enemies emerge from hiding and Elyria is pulled ever farther from reach, he must face the terrifying possibility that saving her may mean becoming something unforgivable. And once his fire is unleashed, there may be no putting it out.
A Final Reckoning
Bound by love but burdened by prophecy, Elyria and Cedric stand at the crossroads of Arcanis’s future. Together, they will confront a truth neither can Not all wounds can be healed, and the price victory demands may not be worth paying.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 20: The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy
Synopsis: 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.
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 27: A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas
Genres: Fantasy/Romance/Romantasy
Synopsis: 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.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 27: Daughter of the Tempest by Braidee Otto
Genres: Fantasy/Romance/Romantasy
Synopsis: Songbird. Traitor. Runaway. Heroine.
Aella is on the run. Abducted by the very person she risked everything to save, she is branded a traitor and has no choice but to flee with the silver-eyed stranger across the Empyrieos. As they evade capture, the two must grow to trust each other, but soon Aella discovers a truth that complicates everything.
With Aella accused of treason, her best friend, Nyssa, is under suspicion as an accomplice. Disguised as a servant, her sole aim is to find Aella and ensure her best friend’s safety. But between the upcoming Empyrieos Games, the threat of discovery, and a reluctant alliance with Aella’s brother, Prince Kallias, risk waits around every corner.
As both women fight to survive against the dangerous political power of the Southern Kingdom, the Aviary, and the Prince of Eretria, the two must also claim their identities and destinies in a world that seeks to define them.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 27: Haunted Hearts by Hanna Harp
Genres: Dark Romance/Romance/Paranormal Romance
Synopsis: The haunting has only just begun.
Cade Halloway is done running. The Covenant still stands—fractured, desperate, and willing to burn the world to reclaim their power. They still want his sister, Callisto, but Callisto is no longer the girl they marked for death. She trains in secret, learning to wield the power she was born with. And the rules begin to change. With the help of an old friend, a monster forced into human skin, and you—the unseen presence bound to Cade—they prepare for the war coming to their door.
As Cade moves to finally dismantle the Covenant, his connection to you deepens into something he no longer questions. You are no longer a ghost, you are a part of him now. And he intends to find you. But while alliances take shape, something else watches from the shadows. Waiting for every piece to fall into place.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 27: Mortal Things by Marie Lu
Genres: YA/Fantasy/Romance/Romantasy
Synopsis: 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?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
October 27: To Dream in Darkness by Ann Liang
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Fantasy / Romantasy
Synopsis: 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…
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
October 27: An Uncertain Magic by A.M. Kvita
Genres: Fantasy
Synopsis: To save the city, Brooklyn’s most chaotic coven takes on the gods (yes, the gods) in An Uncertain Magic, the second book in AM Kvita’s award winning Green Witch Cycle. No big deal.
Joan Greenwood has been adjusting nicely to her life away from her powerful family of witches. She has an apartment full of friends, her dream job at an architecture firm, and a constant companion in the sentient magic that makes up New York City. For once, everything’s coming up Joan.
Until her best friend gets possessed.
There’s a god wearing his skin, a new cult springing up around him, magic is going haywire, and things go from bad to worse when Joan’s rival-turned-crush Astoria Wardwell arrives from California with the news that her best friend is also possessed. That’s one hell of a coincidence, and the strange dreams they share just might hold the key to saving their best friends before these gods corrupt them. Unless their pesky feelings for each other get in the way.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
