October signals that it’s time to share my anticipated fourth quarter book releases. Given that list posts are not my favorite to do, I cram three months’ worth of new releases into one post four times per year. This is the last one of the year and October is stacked! Surprisingly, I didn’t find as many upcoming December releases that caught my interest. Or perhaps I didn’t stumble upon them or they haven’t been uploaded to NetGalley yet. If there’s something you’re really excited for in December (or even November), let me know!
October
Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs
Series: None
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Age Category: New Adult
Publisher: Redhook
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 416
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
Both epic and intimate, Sharon Emmerichs’s extraordinary debut novel reimagines Beowulf from the perspective of a young woman reclaiming her power.
All her life, Fryda has longed to be a shield maiden, an honor reserved for Geatland’s mightiest warriors. When a childhood accident leaves her tragically injured and unfit for the battlefield, her dreams are dashed–or so she thinks. But a strange, unfathomable power is awakening within her, a power that will soon be put to the test.
For when foreign lords and chieftains descend upon Fryda’s home to celebrate her uncle King Beowulf’s fifty-year reign, she realizes not all their guests come with good intentions. Treachery is afoot, and Fryda must gather her courage to fight for her people…as a queen should–as a shield maiden would–and as only Fryda can.
But as Fryda’s power grows stronger, something ancient hears its call. For buried deep in her gilded lair, a dragon awakens…and Fryda must prove herself once and for all.
The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon
Series: The Hurricane Wars Book 1
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: New Adult
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 480
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
The fates of two bitter enemies with opposing magical abilities are swept together in The Hurricane Wars, the spellbinding debut in a fantasy romance trilogy set in a Southeast Asia-inspired world ravaged by storms, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and The Poppy War
The heart is a battlefield.
All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, she found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.
Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty shadow magic. He discovers the greatest threat yet in Talasyn: a girl burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. He tries to kill her, but in a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.
This war can only end with them. But an even greater danger is coming, and the strange magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Talasyn and Alaric must decide… are they fated to join hands, or destroy each other?
An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters and sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance set in a richly drawn world, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Series: None
Genre: Fantasy, Gothic
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Tor Books
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 320
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
tarling House is a gorgeously modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.
I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen….
Opal is a lot of things–orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier–but above all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.All she left behind were dark rumors–and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.
I should be scared, but in the dream I don’t hesitate.
Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House–and make some extra cash for her brother’s escape fund–she can’t resist.
But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.
In my dream, I’m home.
And now she’ll have to fight.
Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.
Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco
Series: None
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 576
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kerri Maniscalco makes her adult debut with a “hot” new standalone romantic fantasy (Jennifer L. Armentrout) set in her fan-favorite Kingdom of the Wicked world, about a dark prince battling an impossible curse–and the artist who might be the only one who can set him free.
Sinner. Villain. Wicked.
The Prince of Envy has never claimed to be a saint. But when a cryptic note arrives, signaling the beginning of a deadly game, he knows it will take more than a hint of sin to win and save his falling demon court. Riddles, hexed objects, anonymous players, nothing will stand in his way, though none of his meticulous plans prepare him for her, the frustrating artist who ignites his sin like no other…Virtuous. Darling. Liar.
The trouble with scoundrels and blackguards is that they haven’t a modicum of honor, a fact Miss Camilla Antonius learns after one desperate mistake allows Waverly Green’s most notorious rake to blackmail her. To avoid a ruinous scandal, Camilla is forced to enter a devil’s bargain with Envy, little expecting his game will awaken her true nature . . .Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Underworld–from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm and beyond–while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love.
Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
Series: Witch and Hunter Book 1
Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 416
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
New York Times bestselling authors Sara Raasch and Beth Revis weave a tale of romance, vengeance, and magic in this start to the Witch and Hunter duology, an epic enemies to lovers fantasy romance.
Fritzi is a witch. The lone survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only remaining family member and bring the hexenjägers–zealot witch hunters–to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader, the merciless and enigmatic Kommandant Dieter Kirch.
Otto is a hexenjäger–but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjägers burned his innocent mother alive, and he has been plotting his revenge against the people who tore apart his family ever since. And now the time has come for them to pay for what they’ve done.
When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other. The reluctant truce fueled by their common enemy takes them from the city at the heart of the hexenjägers’ power to the wild and mysterious Black Forest. As old truths come to light and new dangers are revealed, Fritzi and Otto uncover a horrifying magical plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks that leads back to Kommandant Kirch . . . but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.
Making It So by Patrick Stewart
Series: None
Genre: Memoir
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 480
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
The long-awaited memoir from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart!
From his acclaimed stage triumphs to his legendary onscreen work in the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, Sir Patrick Stewart has captivated audiences around the world and across multiple generations with his indelible command of stage and screen. Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of an artist whose astonishing life–from his humble beginnings in Yorkshire, England, to the heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim–proves a story as exuberant, definitive, and enduring as the author himself.
After the Forest by Kell Woods
Series: None
Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Tor Books
Publish Date: October 3, 2023
Print Length: 384
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.”
Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.
Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.
Greta has a secret, though: the witch’s grimoire, hidden away and whispering in Greta’s ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you’ve ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.
But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.
And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta’s magic–magic she is still trying to understand–may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn’t kill her first.
The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa
Series: None
Genre: Literary Fiction
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publish Date: October 10, 2023
Print Length: 288
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Travelling Cat Chronicles, seven cats weave their way through their owners’ lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa.
Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever.
Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death–as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.
The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo
Series: None
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publish Date: October 10, 2023
Print Length: 384
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
From Alexandra Christo, the author of To Kill a Kingdom, comes The Night Hunt, a dark fantasy romance about a monstrous girl who feeds on fear and the Gods-cursed boy who falls in love with her.
Atia is a monster who feeds on fear. As the last of her kind, she hides in the shadows of the world to escape the wrath of the unpredictable Gods. Silas is a Herald, carrying messages and ferrying the dead as punishment for a past he can’t remember. Stripped of his true name, he yearns to recover his identity.
Atia would never dream of allying with someone like him, but when she breaks a sacred law and the Gods send monsters to hunt her, Silas offers an irresistible deal: he’ll help avenge her family and take on the Gods who now hunt her, if she helps him break his curse and restore his humanity. All they need to do is kill three powerful creatures: a vampire, a banshee, and one of the very Gods who destroyed both their lives. Only together can they finally rewrite their destinies.
Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros
Series: None
Genre: Historical Fiction (Holocaust), Horror
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Publish Date: October 10, 2023
Print Length: 336
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
Frankenstein meets Inglourious Basterds in this stunning Jewish historical horror novel from the award-winning author of The City Beautiful
Vera was made for vengeance.
Lithuania, 1943. A father drowns in the all-consuming grief of a daughter killed by the Nazis. He can’t bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can use kishuf — an ancient and profane magic — to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death.
When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose thrumming within her. But she can also feel glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amidst the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren’t hers, and Vera doesn’t know if she gets–or deserves–to have a life beyond what she was made for.
Vera’s strength feels limitless–until she learns that there are others who would channel kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter’s death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave her: Not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live.
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez
Series: Secrets of the Nile #1
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publish Date: October 31, 2023
Print Length: 416
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in What the River Knows, Isabel Ibañez’s lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt and filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents–who frequently leave her behind.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and a golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance–or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
What the River Knows is the first book in the thrilling Secrets of the Nile duology.
A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather
Series: None
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Horror
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Tordotcom
Publish Date: October 31, 2023
Print Length: 160
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
Lina Rather’s A Season of Monstrous Conceptions is an eldritch historical fantasy of midwifery, monstrosity, and the rending of the world, for fans of The Essex Serpent and The Death of Jane Lawrence.
In 17th-century London, unnatural babies are being born, with eyes made for the dark and webbed digits suited to the sea.
Sarah Davis is intimately familiar with such strangeness–having hidden her uncanny nature all her life and fled to London under suspicious circumstances, Sarah starts over as a midwife’s apprentice to a member of the illegal Worshipful Company of Midwives, hoping to carve out for herself an independent life. But with each new unnatural birth, the fear in London grows of the Devil’s work.
When the wealthy Lady Wren hires her to see her through her pregnancy, Sarah quickly becomes a favorite of her husband, the famous architect Lord Christopher Wren, whose interest in the uncanny borders on obsession. Sarah soon finds herself caught in a web of magic and intrigue created by those who want to use her power for themselves, and whose pursuits threaten to unmake the earth itself.
November
Tonight, I Burn by Katharine J. Adams
Series: Thorn Witch, #1
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Orbit
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 448
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
A thorn witch with the power to walk between the realms of Life and Death finds herself at the center of a magical rebellion–and a dangerous romance–that could destroy her coven and her soul in this dark and decadent debut.
Thorns, Tides, Embers, Storms, and Ores. All five covens are bound in servitude to the tyrant High Warden of Halstett.
Penny Albright is a daughter of the thorn coven, forced to patrol the veil between the realms of Life and Death. Each night, one thorn witch–and only one–must cross the veil by burning at the stake. Each morning, that witch draws on their magic to return. Failure to follow the rules risks the veil and risks them all.
But one morning, Penny’s favorite sister Ella doesn’t return. And that night, determined to find her, Penny breaks the rules. She burns in secret. And she discovers that all isn’t as it seems in Life or Death.
Her journey leads her to Malin, a devastating lord with too many secrets; to Alice, a mysterious captive prophet; and to a rebellion brewing in the shadows beneath the city. And as Penny’s world splits, she’ll face a devastating choice. Because it’s not just her sister’s life that hangs in the balance. It’s the fate of all magic.
All it takes is one witch–and one spark–to set the world ablaze.
Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Series: None
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 368
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.
Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist….As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)
A Rome of One’s Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon
Series: None
Genre: Nonfiction
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Abrams Press
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 416
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
From the acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum comes a wildly entertaining new history of Rome that uses the lives of 21 extraordinary women to upend our understanding of the ancient world.
The history of Rome has long been narrow and one-sided, essentially a history of “The Doing of Important Things,” and as far as Roman historians have been concerned, women don’t make that history. From Romulus through “the political stab-fest of the late Republic,” and then on to all the emperors, Roman historians may deign to give you a wife or a mother to show how bad things become when women get out of control, but history is more than that.
Emma Southon’s A Rome of One’s Own is the best kind of correction. This is a retelling of the history of Rome with all the things Roman history writers relegate to the background, or designate as domestic, feminine, or worthless. This is a history of women who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry; who lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. Told with humor and verve as well as a deep scholarly background, A Rome of One’s Own highlights women overlooked and misunderstood, and through them offers a fascinating and groundbreaking chronicle of the ancient world.
The Autists: Women on the Spectrum by Clara Törnvall
Series: None
Genre: Nonfiction
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Scribe Us
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 224
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
An incisive and deeply candid account that explores autistic women in culture, myth, and society through the prism of the author’s own diagnosis.
Until the 1980s, autism was regarded as a condition found mostly in boys. Even in our time, autistic girls and women have largely remained undiagnosed. When portrayed in popular culture, women on the spectrum often appear simply as copies of their male counterparts — talented and socially awkward.
Yet autistic women exist, and always have. They are varied in their interests and in their experiences. Autism may be relatively new as a term and a diagnosis, but not as a way of being and functioning in the world. It has always been part of the human condition. So who are these women, and what does it mean to see the world through their eyes?
In The Autists, Clara Törnvall reclaims the language to describe autism and explores the autistic experience in arts and culture throughout history. From popular culture, films, and photography to literature, opera, and ballet, she dares to ask what it might mean to re-read these works through an autistic lens — what we might discover if we allow perspectives beyond the neurotypical to take centre stage.
Compass Points by Jillian Witt
Series: Compass Points #1
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: New Adult
Publisher: Myth and Magic Book Club LLC
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 276
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
A magical weapons master just might be the key to saving the continent from a deadly plague; if only she didn’t have to romantically entangle herself with a dangerous fae leader to do it.
Rose has kept her head down and life private for the last ten years, making weapons in the remote northern village and staying away from the world of the Compass Points. Running from her past seemed like the easiest way to deal with her pain. When a representative of the Suden Point, the leader of the earth fae, comes looking for a magical weapons master, her secrets may start to unravel.
Deadly and determined, Luc needs Rose’s skills to help fight a mist plague overtaking the continent. When the plague hits too close to home, Rose must decide her fate. Continue to run from her past? Or go to the one place she swore never to return, Compass Lake.
A romantic fantasy in a world inspired by United States National Parks. Fans of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries will love this enchanting new fantasy series with enemies to lovers, fake dating, and elemental magic.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Series: The Empyrean Book 2
Genre: Fantasy Romance, Epic Fantasy
Age Category: New Adult
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Publish Date: November 7, 2023
Print Length: 640
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
“The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.” –Xaden Riorson
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College–Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is-unless she betrays the man she loves.
Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits–and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.
But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.
Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College–and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.
The Manuscripts Club by Christopher de Hamel
Series: None
Genre: Nonfiction, History
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Penguin Press
Publish Date: November 14, 2023
Print Length: 624
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
The acclaimed author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts introduces us to the extraordinary keepers and companions of medieval manuscripts over a thousand years of history.
The illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages are among the greatest works of European art and literature. We are dazzled by them and recognize their crucial role in the transmission of knowledge. However, we generally think much less about the countless men and women who made, collected and preserved them through the centuries, and to whom they owe their existence.
This entrancing book describes some of the extraordinary people who have spent their lives among illuminated manuscripts over the last thousand years: a monk in Normandy, a prince of France, a Florentine bookseller, an English antiquary, a rabbi from central Europe, a French priest, a Keeper at the British Museum, a Greek forger, a German polymath, a British connoisseur and the woman who created the most spectacular library in America–all of them members of what Christopher de Hamel calls the Manuscripts Club.
This exhilarating fraternity, and the fellow enthusiasts who come with it, throw new light on how manuscripts have survived and been used by very different kinds of people in many different circumstances. Christopher de Hamel’s unexpected connections and discoveries reveal a passion that crosses the boundaries of time. We understand the manuscripts themselves better by knowing who their keepers and companions have been.
In 1850 (or thereabouts) John Ruskin bought his first manuscript “at a bookseller’s in a back alley.” This was his reaction: “The new worlds which every leaf of this book opened to me, and the joy I had in counting their letters and unravelling their arabesques as if they had all been of beaten gold–as many of them were–cannot be told.” The members of de Hamel’s club share many such wonders, which he brings to us with scholarship, style and a lifetime’s experience.
Calamity by Constance Fay
Series: Uncharted Hearts Book 1
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, Space Opera
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Bramble
Publish Date: November 14, 2023
Print Length: 320
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
Winter’s Orbit meets Ilona Andrews in this sexy enemies-to-lovers romance.
The captain of a ragtag mercenary ship is given an offer she can’t refuse by the ruthless head of an intergalactic noble family. The only catch? She’ll have to team up with his son–an upsettingly competent hardbody with his own agenda–to get her reward.
She’s got a ramshackle spaceship, a misfit crew, and a big problem with its sexy newest member…Temperance Reed, banished from the wealthy and dangerous Fifteen Families, just wants to keep her crew together after their feckless captain ran off with the intern. But she’s drowning in debt and revolutionary new engine technology is about to make her beloved ship obsolete.
Enter Arcadio Escajeda. Second child of the terrifying Escajeda Family, he’s the thorn in Temper’s side as they’re sent off on a scouting mission on the backwater desert planet of Herschel 2. They throw sparks every time they meet but Temper’s suspicions of his ulterior motives only serve to fuel the flames between them.
Despite volcanic eruptions, secret cultists, and deadly galactic fighters, the greatest threat on this mission may be to Temper’s heart.
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
Series: None
Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publish Date: November 28, 2023
Print Length: 416
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.
It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.
They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen’s childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.
Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen’s royal brother. Lex Croucher’s Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
Series: None
Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: New Adult
Publisher: Dutton
Publish Date: November 28, 2023
Print Length: 368
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
This gloriously transportive reimagining of The Nutcracker tells the tale of twin sisters, divided by envy and magic, set against each another one fateful Christmas Eve.
Light and dark–this is the cursed birthright placed upon Clara and Natasha by their godfather, Drosselmeyer, whose power and greed hold an entire city in his sway. Charming Clara, the favorite, grows into a life of beauty and ease, while Natasha is relegated to her sister’s shadow, ignored and unloved.
But Natasha seizes the opportunity for revenge one Christmas Eve, when Drosselmeyer arrives at the family gala with the Nutcracker, an enchanted gift that offers entry into an alternate world: the Kingdom of Sweets.
Following Clara into the glittering land of snow and sugar, Natasha discovers a source of power far greater than Drosselmeyer: the Sugar Plum Fairy, who offers her own wondrous gifts . . . and chilling bargains. But as Natasha uncovers the truth about a dark destiny crafted long before her birth, she must reckon with forces both earthly and magical, human and diabolical, and decide to which world she truly belongs.
December
A River of Golden Bones by A.K. Mulford
Series: The Golden Court #1
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publish Date: December 5, 2023
Print Length: 400
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
From bestselling author and TikTok sensation A.K. Mulford comes the first riveting, enchanting book in the all-new Golden Court romantasy trilogy–A River of Golden Bones begins a journey of self-discovery, romance, and adventure for a young heir as she/they comes out of hiding to save her sister from a malicious, powerful sorceress and her dangerous sleeping curse.
A sleeping curse. A fallen court. A secret twin.
Twins Calla and Briar have spent their entire lives hiding from the powerful sorceress who destroyed their kingdom…and from the humans who don’t know they are Wolves. Each twin has their own purpose in life: Briar’s is to marry the prince of an ally pack and save the Golden Court. Calla’s purpose is to remain a secret, her twin’s shadow . . . the backup plan.
No one knows who Calla truly is except for her childhood friend–and sister’s betrothed–the distractingly handsome Prince Grae. But when Calla and Briar journey out of hiding for Briar’s wedding, all of their well-made plans go awry. The evil sorceress is back with another sleeping curse for the last heir to the Golden Court.
Calla must step out of the shadows to save their sister, their kingdom, and their own legacy. Continuing to hide as a human and denying who she truly is, Calla embarks on a quest across the realm, discovering a whole world she never knew existed. Outside the confines of rigid Wolf society, Calla begins to wonder: who could she be if she dared to try?
Full of adventure, love, gender exploration, and self-discovery, A River of Golden Bones follows Calla’s journey through treacherous Wolf kingdoms, monster-filled realms, and the depths of their own heart in this thrilling romantic fantasy.
Him by Geoff Ryan
Series: None
Genre: Science Fiction
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Angry Robot
Publish Date: December 5, 2023
Print Length: 376
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
The long-awaited new book from multi-award winner Geoff Ryman.
An extraordinary science-fiction novel about identity, divinity and alternate reality – the story of the son of God.
“Women, of course, can not be sons of God,”
In the village of Nazareth, virgin Maryam and the wife of Yosef barLevi gives birth to a miracle: a little girl. She is named Avigayil, after her grandmother.
But as Avigayil grows, it’s clear she believes that she is destined to be someone greater than just the daughter of Maryam. From leading a gang of village boys to challenging the priests in the temple, Avigayil is determined to find her way as Yeshu, a man.
Yeshu can work miracles. He can see futures. He can speak for God.
A gripping, thoughtful sci-fi novel, tackling family, the multiverse and the survival of love through immense change and crisis.
Gold by Raven Kennedy
Series: The Plated Prisoner, #5
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Self-Published
Publish Date: December 7, 2023
Print Length: —
Purchase: Amazon
Synopsis to come.
Legion of Shadows by Kristin Ward
Series: Daughter of Erabel, #4
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Self-Published
Publish Date: December 14, 2023
Print Length: —
Purchase: Amazon
Synopsis to come.
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
Series: Letters of Enchantment, #2
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publish Date: December 26, 2023
Print Length: 432
Purchase: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in Divine Rivals.
Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.
Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.
Are any of these in your list of anticipated 2023 fourth quarter book releases?
A bunch of these are on my list too, but there are also some new to me books that sound really good. Hard to believe it’s the last quarter of the year!
Yea this year went by fast! Or it feels that way. Maybe that’s what I say every year. 🤪
Iron Flame and Making it so are both on my most wanted list for the next couple of months. I loved The Hurricane Wars and Shield Maiden. There are so many great releases coming out soon!!!
If you’re looking forward to MAKING IT SO, I also learned while making this list that Billy Dee Williams (the actor who played Lando Calrissian in Star Wars) has a memoir coming out next year. I added that to my TBR already!
So many great releases!! We have a lot in common. So, I won’t list them all, but I really hope we enjoy them. 🙂 Some of my most anticipated that didn’t make your list include A POWER UNBOUND, TRAITOR OF REDWINTER, ONE NIGHT IN HARTSWOOD, ALL THE HIDDEN PATHS, THE BITTER CROWN, CURIOUS TIDES, & SHADOW BARON. There’s just so many great books.
Oh yea, there’s definitely a good amount of sequels I didn’t include in this list, mainly because I haven’t read the first book so I don’t know if I’d like them haha. CURIOUS TIDES intrigues me…I’m resisting buying it, though…might go the library route.
So many on here I wasn’t tracking myself yet! Thanks for the list!
Of course!
So many good picks! I’m swamped with a huge TBR and really want to prioritise my review copy backlog for the rest of the year (the optimistic part of me says I can totally read all the books I have on my NetGalley TBR in three months lol) but I know myself and I’ll definitely be checking out some of the new releases as well. In particular, Starling House intrigues me! I haven’t read anything from the author before but the vibes sound exactly like my kind of book!
Oh, I remember that swamped feeling! I did that to myself my first year of NG and it took me 6 months to dig myself out of that hole haha. I still have 3 books I haven’t yet read from that time. So I understand! Good luck with your review copy reading!
I haven’t heard of half of these but quite a few of them were already on my radar/TBR. They’ll be joined by a few more after reading this list 😂 I’m overwhelmed by all the books I want to read, damnit! I hope you enjoy all the ones that you get your hands on 🙂
Hahaha well yay! Happy to enable, er, introduce you to some more interesting books! I feel overwhelmed as well. I really need to cull by Goodreads TBR, which I tend to just use as an “oooo that’s interesting” bookmark.
Hey girl,
oh my, I shouldn’t have opened your post.
Now, my wishlist gets even longer, and I think I already have 25% of your books pre-ordered and another 25% on my wishlist. You are killing my bank account! 😁
I have to admit, my most anticipated book is Iron Flame. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. 😍
Cheerio
RoXxie
As always, happy to introduce you to more books. It helps keep the book economy going. 😉 I’m looking forward to IRON FLAME as well. I don’t think I’ll get it exactly on the preorder date, though, since shipping takes some time. But that’s ok…there’s plenty to read!