Welcome back to a new week of new releases!
We’ve switched Hide Your Wallet to a weekly basis in an effort to cover more books in a more digestible format. There’s some scifi, fantasy, horror, and even non-fiction. Also, a lot of interesting covers!
Which books do you want to pick up or put on hold this week? Let us know in the comments!
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A Study in Drowning
Author: Ava Reid
Released: September 19, 2023 by HarperTeen
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young AdultEffy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad – author Emrys Myrddin’s beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.
Effy’s tattered, dog-eared copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to design the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.
But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favorite author is a fraud.
As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them – and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
Amanda: Getting strong whiffs of dark academia.
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A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel
Author: KJ Charles
Released: September 19, 2023 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: The Doomsday Books #2Major Rufus d’Aumesty has unexpectedly become the Earl of Oxney, master of a remote Norman manor on the edge of the infamous Romney Marsh. There he’s beset on all sides, his position contested both by his greedy uncle and by Luke Doomsday, son of a notorious smuggling clan.
The earl and the smuggler should be natural enemies, but cocksure, enragingly competent Luke is a trained secretary and expert schemer—exactly the sort of man Rufus needs by his side. Before long, Luke becomes an unexpected ally…and the lover Rufus had never hoped to find.
But Luke came to Stone Manor with an ulterior motive, one he’s desperate to keep hidden even from the lord he can’t resist. As the lies accumulate and family secrets threaten to destroy everything they hold dear, master and man find themselves forced to decide whose side they’re really on…and what they’re willing to do for love.
Sarah: A sequel, with an unexpected earldom and smuggling, and all sorts of mayhem.
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Black Sheep
Author: Rachel Harrison
Released: September 19, 2023 by Berkley
Genre: HorrorA cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.
Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly…something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.
Amanda: I’ve been enjoying Harrison’s horror novels and this one features one of my favorite horror themes: cults!
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Every Duke Has His Day
Author: Suzanne Enoch
Released: September 19, 2023 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Historical: European, RomanceBrain meets Beauty in this sparkling, fresh take on the classic Bringing Up Baby – if Jane Austen had written it! A romantic comedy with a dash of chaos featuring the most ill-behaved poodle in Regency London, by New York Times bestseller Suzanne Enoch.
Michael Bromley, Duke of Woriton, has a passion, but it’s not for chasing ladies or gambling till dawn. No, his is the far more dangerous pursuit of the science of chemistry. He may be a tad eccentric, but he can navigate a society ballroom, and manage a polite conversation—if he must. He’s certainly capable of taking care of his aunt’s perfectly behaved poodle, Lancelot, while she’s on holiday.
Elizabeth “Bitsy” Dockering, third daughter of a viscount, is enjoying her second, spectacular Season in London. She is a Diamond of the Season and is adored by all—and especially by her precious black poodle, Galahad. To everyone else, however, Galahad is a demon dog. So much so that Bitsy’s most insistent beau and particular victim of Galahad’s bad manners, has hired a thief to steal the dog, clearing the way for his suit.
But none of them can plan for a chaotic encounter in the park, resulting in lost notes, a soaking in the Serpentine and an accidental dog swap…and Lancelot being kidnapped instead of Galahad! Determined to locate the dog, Michael isn’t thrilled to be saddled with a flighty female insisting on helping—except that Bitsy has a great deal more sense than he expected. And a sharp tongue to match. Still, what’s a scientist to do but continue to pursue an outcome, however unexpected it may be? But chemistry is all about attraction, and this is one formula with some hilariously romantic results.
Nerdery and poodles with big personalities!
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Leslie F*cking Jones
Author: Leslie Jones
Released: September 19, 2023 by Grand Central Publishing
Genre: MemoirHey you guys, it’s Leslie. I’m excited to share my story with you.
Now, I’m gonna be honest: Some of the details might be vague because a b*tch is fifty-five and she’s smoked a ton of weed. But while bits might be a touch hazy, I can promise you the underlying truth is REAL. Whether I’m talking about my childhood growing up in the South, my early stand-up days driving from gig to gig through the darkest parts of our country and praying I wouldn’t get murdered, what Chris Rock told Lorne Michaels, that time I wanted to shoot Whoopi Goldberg on SNL, and yeah, I’ll tell you all about Ghostbusters and the nudes and Supermarket Sweep and The Daily Show . . . I’m sharing it all in these pages. It’s not easy being a woman in comedy, especially when you’re a tall-*ss Black woman with a trumpet voice. I have to fight so that no one takes me for granted, and no one takes advantage. These are the stories that explain why. (Cue the Law & Order theme.)
Leslie Jones’ memoir is now out and I bet it’s going to be wonderful on audio.
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Starter Villain
Author: John Scalzi
Released: September 19, 2023 by Tor Book
Genre: Science Fiction/FantasyInheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.
Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.
Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.
But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.
It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.
In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.
Some have you already mentioned this one in the comments and look at that cover.
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A Study in Drowning looks interesting. Just a heads-up that the Amazon link for me (Amazon UK) leads to “Case Studies in Drowning Forensics”, which is not what I was expecting, though am sure it would be educational.
Only one book on my tbr this week—and it was there this morning when I opened my kindle: HOTT SHOT (September 19) is the first in Serena Bell’s Hott Springs Eternal series about a group of siblings who run a spa & salon (we met the sister of the family when she was the heroine of Bell’s WILDER AT LAST, the last book in her Wilder Adventures series). HOTT SHOT is a romance between the woman who manages the Hott Springs spa and one of the owners. Bell always finds a way to make a trope individualized, so I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with grumpy-sunshine here.
Audio book of Leslie F*cking Jones! She is amazing! Rarely get audio books bez I prefer to read but this is ideal!
The Enoch is megacute but not my favorite from her, and Black Sheep is VERY gory but fun, snarky and entertaining. The Jones is on my to-buy, along with A Study in Drowning and the Charles.
Very excited for Richard Osman’s THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, book #4 in his Thursday Murder Club series, which releases today in the US (though I think it’s already out in the UK).
@DiscoDollyDeb, HOTT SHOT is on my TBR too–I loved Serena Bell’s Wilder Adventures series, and am excited to see what she does with the Hott siblings!
Others on my radar this week–Samantha Chase’s LOVING YOU, which kicks off The Donovans: Sweetbriar Ridge; Brigham Vaughn’s THE HEAD GAME; Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey’s THE AMAZING ALPHA TAU BOYFRIEND PROJECT… excited about all these!
Black Teeth is good, though Such Sharp Teeth remains my favorite Rachel Harrison.
I really enjoyed Starter Villain. A nice li’l sci-fi snack when you need something fun.
I just finished Every Duke Has His Day (read it straight through on a transcontinental plane trip this morning) and thought it was adorable, escapist fun. I’ve also read A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing A Scoundrel and loved it.
Leslie Jones’s book looks fantastic.
Am already enjoying Starter Villain. Scalzi is an auto read for me, although the Kaiju Preservation Society wasn’t my favorite of his, I have high hopes for this one!
Yup…. I’ve had my eye on the Leslie Jones memoir too. I don’t really enjoy fiction audio books because the narrator’s voice just never sounds as right as the voices my brain cooks up. But celebrities reading their own autobiographies (with huge bonus points for being funny/comedic) are right up my alley!
I read an ARC of Starter Villain and it was fun, in the way that Kaiju Preservation Society was fun – don’t think about it too much, or else it all falls apart.
One thing that a friend pointed out to me about Starter Villain and is making me really evaluate how I engage with books – I don’t think Scalzi ever explicitly states the gender of the main character, Charlie. I assumed masculine presenting, as I did with Kaiju Preservation Society (even though I don’t think we ever find out the main character’s name or gender). Similarly, I mentally imagined Murderbot as masculine, which was astonishing to my entire book club, who all think of Murderbot as feminine. Considering I actively search out books that aren’t told from a MMC POV, the fact that I default to male when it’s not actively declared is very telling.
ANYWAY. Starter Villain is fun, and I’m now interested in A Study in Drowning.
The Amazing Alpha Tau Boyfriend Project by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey is out this week and it looks cute (even though I worked in higher ed too long to really be able to read college romances).
Here’s the blurb:
At first glance Archer Calloway is your typical frat boy—preppy, pre-law, privileged. But one thing he’s not is a jerk. So when a shy guy at a wedding gives Archer his number, Archer is impressed by his courage in putting himself out there.
What starts as a courtesy call to the guy turns into friendship. Eli is awesome, and Archer can’t understand why he’s single. With the help of his fraternity brothers at Alpha Tau, Archer comes up with the perfect project for the Get Eli Fuller the perfect boyfriend or die trying.
It’s a flawless plan and nothing could possibly go wrong.
Uh oh.
The Amazing Alpha Tau Boyfriend Project is a lighthearted contemporary m/m romance containing banter, bad dates, and an oblivious frat boy who is about to discover something new about himself. Or something.
I started the audiobook for Murder at Midnight, book 4 in Katharine Schellman’s Lily Adler Mysteries, which I thought had just come out but checking just now it apparently released last week! Commenting anyway on the assumption others may have missed it like I did.
I’m only 28% in but I’m already enjoying it MUCH more than the previous installment which probably has something to do with Jack being present and essential the plot in this one!
The KJ Charles was a rare disappointment for me – a two star. It didn’t quite work for me but I can’t put my finger on why.
Looking forward to the Ava Reid and cautiously optimistic about the Suzanne Enoch.
I’m very curious about the YA mystery-thriller Thieves’ Gambit by 23(!) year old Kayvion Lewis, which sold at auction in a 7 figure, 3 book deal and has already been optioned by Lionsgate. Not sure if I’m curious enough to actually pick it up though.