If you’re new to Hide Your Wallet, this is where we list new releases we’re pretty excited for in the coming month.
Each reviewer has a book maximum (five per person), and we’ve separated HYW into two parts. The first HYW of the month will cover books that release from the 1st to the 14th. The second HYW will cover books released from the 15th to the end of the month.
We also think this will help us feature books from smaller publishers who don’t have buy links up as early as the bigger trade houses.
As always, if we missed any books that you’re particularly looking forward to, tell us all about them in the comments.
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Sailor’s Delight
Author: Rose Lerner
Released: September 16, 2022
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, RomanceSelf-effacing, overworked bookkeeper Elie Benezet doesn’t have time to be in love. Too bad he already is—with his favorite client, Augustus Brine. The Royal Navy sailing master is kind, handsome, and breathtakingly competent. He’s also engaged to his childhood sweetheart. And now that his prize money is coming in after years of delay, he can afford to marry her…once Elie submits the final prize paperwork.
When Augustus comes home, determined to marry by the end of his brief leave, Elie does his best to set his broken heart aside and make it happen. But he’s interrupted by one thing after another: other clients, the high holidays, his family’s relentless efforts to marry him off. Augustus isn’t helping by renting a room down the hall, shaving shirtless with his door open, and inviting Elie to the public baths. If Elie didn’t know better, he’d think Augustus didn’t want to get married.
To cap it all off, Augustus’s fiancée arrives in town, senses that Elie has a secret, and promptly accuses him of embezzling. Has Elie’s doom been sealed…or is there still time to change his fate.
Aarya: Always here for regencies featuring working class main characters.
Susan: If you can hear someone squeaking “New Rose Lerner! New Rose Lerner!” then that’s me! There’s a new Rose Lerner book, AND it’s historical m/m with working class protagonists, AND it sounds like it involves pining! This is basically all of my interests in one book.
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A Merry Little Meet Cute
Author: Julie Murphy
Released: September 20, 2022 by Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceCowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone—a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with.
Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.
Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.
But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around—and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.
And if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.
Amanda: Making an exception from my “no holiday romances” rule for this one.
Aarya: I would not have expected these two authors to collaborate on a romance novel, but it’s pretty cool.
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Only Bad Options
Author: Jennifer Estep
Released: September 20, 2022
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Galactic Truebond #1New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep blasts off with an exciting new science-fiction fantasy adventure with a dash of historical romance. This action-packed space opera features a mix of magic and technology, along with a soul mates and enemies-to-lovers story. Perfect for fans of Star Wars, Bridgerton, and Pride and Prejudice.
A WOMAN WHO SEES EVERYTHING . . .
Few people know the name Vesper Quill. To most folks, I’m just a lowly lab rat who designs brewmakers and other household appliances in the research and development lab at the powerful Kent Corp. But when I point out a design flaw and a safety hazard in the new line of Kent Corp spaceships, everyone knows who I am—and wants to eliminate me.
I might be a seer with a photographic memory, but I don’t see the trouble headed my way until it’s too late. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by enemies and fighting for my life.
I don’t think things can get any worse until I meet Kyrion Caldaren, an arrogant Regal lord who insists that we have a connection, one that could be the death of us both.
A MAN WHO CAN’T FORGET HIS PAST . . .
The name Kyrion Caldaren strikes fear in the hearts of people across the Archipelago Galaxy. As the leader of the Arrows, the Imperium’s elite fighting force, I’m used to being a villain, as well as the personal assassin of Lord Callus Holloway. Even the wealthy Regals who live on the planet of Corios are afraid of me.
But everything changes when I meet Vesper Quill. I might be a powerful psion with telepathic, telekinetic, and other abilities, but Vesper sees far too many of my secrets.
Thanks to an arcane, unwanted quirk of psionic magic, the two of us are forced to work together to unravel a dangerous conspiracy and outwit the deadly enemies who want to bend us to their will.
Amanda: Always a fan of more sci-fi romance!
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The Witch and the Tsar
Author: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
Released: September 20, 2022 by Ace
Genre: Science Fiction/FantasyIn this stunning debut novel, the maligned and immortal witch of legend known as Baba Yaga will risk all to save her country and her people from Tsar Ivan the Terrible—and the dangerous gods who seek to drive the twisted hearts of men.
As a half-goddess possessing magic, Yaga is used to living on her own, her prior entanglements with mortals having led to heartbreak. She mostly keeps to her hut in the woods, where those in need of healing seek her out, even as they spread rumors about her supposed cruelty and wicked spells. But when her old friend Anastasia—now the wife of the tsar, and suffering from a mysterious illness—arrives in her forest desperate for her protection, Yaga realizes the fate of all of Russia is tied to Anastasia’s. Yaga must step out of the shadows to protect the land she loves.
As she travels to Moscow, Yaga witnesses a sixteenth century Russia on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan—soon to become Ivan the Terrible—grows more volatile and tyrannical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore weaves a rich tapestry of mythology and Russian history, reclaiming and reinventing the infamous Baba Yaga, and bringing to life a vibrant and tumultuous Russia, where old gods and new tyrants vie for power. This fierce and compelling novel draws from the timeless lore to create a heroine for the modern day, fighting to save her country and those she loves from oppression while also finding her true purpose as a goddess, a witch, and a woman.
Elyse: I’m intrigued about a book with Baba Yaga as its heroine.
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A Scandalous Kind of Duke
Author: Mia Vincy
Released: September 22, 2022 by Inner Ballad Press
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
Series: Longhope Abbey #4Two friends. Too many missed chances.
Leopold Halton, the Duke of Dammerton, is the man with everything: perfect hair, beautiful waistcoats, and London’s finest collection of decorative objects. But two years after his highly entertaining divorce (entertaining for everyone but him, that is), Leo still doesn’t have what he wants most: another wife.
Leo is ready to propose to a suitable lady, but with gossip dissecting his every move, the family of his nearly-ideal bride demands that he first stop calling on artist Juno Bell, the first woman he ever kissed and now, a decade later, his friend.
After ten years of hard work to become an artist, Juno has everything she dreamed of: a flourishing studio, a wealthy patroness, and the freedom to live as she pleases. She even receives visits from a duke (and don’t London’s gossips love that!).
Juno has always known she can never hold on to Leo, yet when he declares their friendship must end, she finds it harder than expected to let him go. At least, not without a kiss.
After all, if their friendship must end anyway, then they have nothing more to lose … right?
Aarya: Love a painter heroine in a historical.
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A Ghost in Shining Armor
Author: Therese Beharrie
Released: September 27, 2022 by Zebra Books
Genre: Paranormal, RomanceOnce haunted…
Gemma Daniels has never been quite the “down to earth” woman her adoptive parents raised her to be. She even has a unique gift: she can see ghosts—and she likes helping them settle their unfinished business. But the hotter-than-hot stranger she impulsively kisses on a bet is not only a phantom, he’s determined to help her. And the only way Gemma can explain his presence is to pretend they’re a real-life couple…
Twice shy…
Levi Walker lived—and died—to save his sister. Now he’s got a second chance at life if he assists Gemma in reuniting with her own long-lost sibling… and then never sees Gemma again. But as he starts to enjoy her irrepressible personality, he’s finding it hard to abide by any rules at all…
Third time’s the unforgettable charm…
Gemma is thrilled to be getting to know her sister, but it causes a family rift she may not be able to heal. On top of that, she’s falling for a ghost with a dilemma. For Levi must decide what loyalty—and living—is truly all about. To fix their mistakes, Gemma and Levi must risk being real with themselves—and each other—if they’re ever to claim true love…
Aarya: How does kissing work if he’s a ghost?!
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Foul Lady Fortune
Author: Chloe Gong
Released: September 27, 2022 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: Historical: Other, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Foul Lady Fortune #1From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends comes the first book in a captivating new duology following an ill-matched pair of spies posing as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders in 1930s Shanghai.
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.
Amanda: I feel like Gong’s books inhabit that grey area that is new adult and I’m all for spies having to pose as married couples.
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The Genesis of Misery
Author: Neon Yang
Released: September 27, 2022 by Tor Books
Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/FantasyAn immersive, electrifying space-fantasy from Neon Yang, author of The Black Tides of Heaven, full of high-tech space battles and political machinations, starring a queer and diverse array of pilots, princesses, and prophetic heirs.
This is the story of Misery Nomaki (she/they) – a nobody from a nowhere mining planet who possesses the rare stone-working powers of a saint. Unfortunately, these saint-like abilities also manifest in those succumbing to voidmadness, like that which killed Misery’s mother. Knowing they aren’t a saint but praying they aren’t voidmad, Misery keeps quiet about their power for years, while dreaming and scheming up ways off their Forge-forsaken planet.
But when the voice of an angel, or a very convincing delusion, leads Misery to the center of the Empire, they find themself trapped between two powerful and dangerous factions, each hoping to use Misery to win a terrible war.
Still waiting to be convinced of their own divinity and secretly training with a crew of outlaws and outcasts, Misery grows close to a rebel royal, Lady Alodia Lightning, who may know something of saints and prophecy herself. The voice that guides Misery grows bolder by the day, and it seems the madness is catching…
Amanda: Joan of Arc retelling in space!
Susan: Jeanne d’Arc in space with mechs, you say?
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House of Hunger
Author: Alexis Henderson
Released: September 27, 2022 by Ace
Genre: Horror, LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/FantasyWANTED – Bloodmaid of exceptional taste. Must have a keen proclivity for life’s finer pleasures. Girls of weak will need not apply.
A young woman is drawn into the upper echelons of a society where blood is power, in this dark and enthralling gothic novel from the author of The Year of the Witching.
Marion Shaw has been raised in the slums, where want and deprivation is all she knows. Despite longing to leave the city and its miseries, she has no real hope of escape until the day she spots a peculiar listing in the newspaper, seeking a bloodmaid.
Though she knows little about the far north—where wealthy nobles live in luxury and drink the blood of those in their service—Marion applies to the position. In a matter of days, she finds herself the newest bloodmaid at the notorious House of Hunger. There, Marion is swept into a world of dark debauchery—and at the center of it all is her.
Countess Lisavet, who presides over this hedonistic court, is loved and feared in equal measure. She takes a special interest in Marion. Lisavet is magnetic, and Marion is eager to please her new mistress. But when her fellow bloodmaids begin to go missing in the night, Marion is thrust into a vicious game of cat and mouse. She’ll need to learn the rules of her new home—and fast—or its halls will soon become her grave.
Amanda: I’ve been waiting for Alexis Henderson’s next book since Year of the Witching.
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Witchful Thinking
Author: Celestine Martin
Released: September 27, 2022 by Forever
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Series: Elemental Love #1Love is the trickiest spell of all.
Lucinda Caraway loves living in Freya Grove, the mystic seaside town where charms, hexes, and magical beings of all kinds are the norm. She spends her days teaching high school history and her nights reading tea leaves and tending to her conjure garden. It’s a good life . . . but she can’t stop wishing for more.
Until one night, that wish turns into a spell, and suddenly Lucy can’t say no. Not to a public karaoke performance. Not to running a 10K. And, most alarmingly, not to her high school crush, Alexander Dwyer, who needs her help unjinxing his new house—which just happens to be right across the street from hers.
Alex has spent the last ten years traveling the world on adventures Lucy has only ever dreamed of, and he’s planning to leave again as soon as his house is safe to sell. But until Lucy can unhex herself, she and Alex are stuck together. And with so much magic in the air, maybe the next spell Lucy casts will be the one that convinces him to stay.
Aarya: Perfect autumn witchy vibes.
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The Rose Lerner is on sale for $2.99 as a pre-order price. Looking at prices for Rose’s other books, this may be the regular price, but seems like a ridiculously good deal to me.
I’m also interested in the Vincy and the Beharrie. The plot for the Vincy doesn’t seem too interesting to me, but I’ve enjoyed her previous novels, so I’ll give it a shot. As for the Beharrie? I watched Casper (the Christina Ricci movie)at a VERY impressionable age. Best believe I want to find out about ghost smooching.
To celebrate my retirement from contemporary romance, the three I wrote as Ren Benton have been bundled into the Back Seat Collection (so titled because I apparently have strong convictions about the necessity of automotive sex in contemporary romance). It contains a reunion of childhood sweethearts, a vacation fling that ends up close to home, and mid-30s celebrities reigniting an old flame while working together.
Full descriptions, content warnings, etc., linked in my name above.
Link to all stores: https://books2read.com/backseatcol
@Ely—thanks for pointing out the pre-order price on the Rose Lerner! I snapped that one up. And I checked out the Vincy which has a preorder price of $3.99, so that was also an easy yes. (Woot! New books soon!)
I have quite a few books on my TBR for the remainder of September, but the two I’m most looking forward to are both by Rachel Ember (one of my favorite author “discoveries” of 2022): on September 22, Ember releases WONDERLAND, which is part of the new m/m In Vino Veritas series (an offshoot of the Vino & Veritas series) from Sarina Bowen’s Heart Eyes Press. This is a second-chance romance that also features an abandoned amusement park. Then, Ember’s WHEN THE RIVER RISES arrives on September 27. This is the fifth book in her m/m Wild Ones series (I inhaled the first four books when I found them earlier this year). WHEN THE RIVER RISES features both enforced-proximity and bodyguard tropes. Can’t wait!
This Potion is da Bomb (The Case Files of Henri Davenforth Book 8) by Honor Raconteur releases on the 16th. I’m hooked on this series but suggest you start with book 1 (Magic and the Shinigami Detective), as relationships and jobs/careers develop throughout the series. (It’s steampunkish other universe fantasy magical mysteries/procedurals with hilarity.) (Also warning: the first books contain quite a lot of “sodding this” and “sodding that” in that inconceivable I-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means way. I mean, as a reader of historical romance it just jarred me out of the story.)
Also, someone on Goodreads with a review copy of Sailor’s Delight tagged it as novella/short. Which might explain the price? (Don’t take this as fact, it was just one person.)
Jayne Castle’s latest dust bunny story releases on the 20th. I mean, her futuristic paranormal romance, Sweetwater and the Witch. There’s nothing like a JC dust bunny story for warm fuzzies. (Much needed in these times!)
Marie Force’s State of the Union also releases on the 20th. I love her, but I’m behind on a lot of contemporary series for some reason…if I could clear this brain fog I’m sure I could name that reason…
Ooh, and I am also excited for Naomi Novik’s third book in her Scholomance series, THE GOLDEN ENCLAVES, which is out on the 27th.
I’m waiting for a couple of books this month, in addition to the library hold I have on Sweetwater and the Witch. Months ago, I requested that they buy the audio version and now I’m first in line. Score!
9/27 – The Scavenger Door, book 3, I think, in Suzanne Palmer’s Finder Chronicles. I haven’t read book 2 yet though so I’ll have to get on that.
9/29 – Subway Slayings, book 2 in C.S. Poe’s Memento Mori series.
Only Bad Options sounds enticing; it’s on my list.
Not a romance, but Richard Osman’s THE BULLET THAT MISSED (book #3 in the delightful Thursday Murder Club series) comes out September 20 in the U.S. And as @FashionablyEvil noted, THE GOLDEN ENCLAVES is out the following week — I’m excited to see how the Scholomance series will end!
Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory is out Sept 20.
Roan Parrish’s Garnet Run Series continues with the Rivals of Casper Road out Sept 27.
I’m looking forward to The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling, which is out on September 20th.
I too read Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone and had to do a double take. I’m definitely curious.
Have all of these on the TBR; have only read Foul Lady Fortune so far, which ranks slightly below the TVD series for me but is still excellent. By the way this is a sequel to the These Violent Delights duology, and you’ll probably need to read it before reading this duology.
@DiscoDollyDeb – Ember’s first book in the Wild Ones series — LONG WINTER — is currently free on Kindle. I snapped that up!
@MaryK: Book 2 of Finder is my favorite! And book 3 has a lot of Ignacio.
@FashionablyEvil, how did I miss that a new Scholomance book is coming out in September?!?!?! In the space of the last month or so, there’s been a new Jessie Mihalik book, a new Patricia Briggs, a new Seanan McGuire October Daye book and now a new Naomi Novik? The only way this gets better is if Skyla Dawn Cameron releases the new Livi Talbot early (looks hopefully around).
The Rose Lerner mm sounds wonderful! And thanks for the heads up re The Golden Enclaves, @fashionablyevil. I can’t wait to see how this series ends. The MC is such a compelling character and I’m very curious about how Novik will handle the transition to a broader canvas (if that’s how the novel goes), outside the claustrophobic, vivid Scholomance setting.
@Ely. Charon’s Gold (Livi Talbot Book 6) October 25
@RoseRead: That’s exactly how I was introduced to Ember’s work–someone had posted a link to a bunch of free books and LONG WINTER was one of them. I read it and loved it, then glommed the next three books in the Wild Ones series. The books all have interconnecting characters, but the first two books, LONG WINTER and SIGNS OF SPRING, are a duet: they feature the same MCs and there’s an overarching storyline. The third book, BURNING SEASON, is a “historical romance” set in 1972. I’m not sure I want to consider 1972 (when I was 15 years old) as being “historical”, but here we are, lol. The fourth book, AS THE TALL GRASS GROWS, brings the storyline back to the present. Ember is a wonderful writer, especially when writing about nature and animals, particularly horses. I’m so looking forward to WHEN THE RIVER RISES.
I’m waiting for Any House in a Storm (Hidden Sanctuary Book 1) a new book by Jenny Schwartz. Out September 28.
It focuses on a secondary character from the previous series – The House That Walked Between Worlds (Uncertain Sanctuary Book 1) which featured “a descendant of Baba Yaga creates house that walks between worlds. “
W00t! Lauren Dane has a new release, Reckless coming on the 26th! It is a Brown Family spin-off featuring Miles!!! https://www.amazon.com/Reckless-Lauren-Dane-ebook/dp/B0BFRT4J66
Hopping from foot to foot waiting for Naomi Novak’s final book in the Scholomance trilogy to be published on 27/9. Volumes. 2 ended on huge cliffhanger and I’m dying to find out how the story ends.