Happy Halloween!
Of course, we have a horror novel on this list. But we also have some new adult romance, a fantasy mystery, and more. We’ll see you all in November!
Got any spooky season reads on your TBR pile this week? What new releases are you hoping to read this week?
A Dish Best Served Hot
Author: Natalie Caña
Released: October 31, 2023 by MIRA
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Vega Family Love Stories #2“From a comedic cast of supporting characters to an emphasis on the importance of community… A vibrant second-chance love story about repairing community and romantic connection.” — Kirkus Reviews (STARRED)
Santiago “Saint” Vega gets a second shot at love with Lola León, but when duty to his family forces him to do something she’ll never forgive, will everything he’s built come crumbling down?
Years ago, Saint walked away from the girl he loved to fulfill his duty. Now he’s struggling to build bridges between his drifting family, take on more responsibilities at his uncle’s construction company, figure out why his daughter refuses to talk at school and curtail his mischievous abuelo’s escalating pranks. Then she walks back into his life.
Social justice advocate Lola León has returned to Humboldt Park for two to help care for her dear abuelo and to serve the community center she loved, particularly the shelter for unhoused LGBTQIA+ youths. When she finds out that the Vegas are responsible for endangering both, she is more than ready to go to war—even if the boy she never forgot is standing at the front of the battlefield.
Neither of them expects to become allies in saving the shelter, helping Saint’s daughter or ending the decades-long feud between their grandfathers. They definitely don’t expect all of their old feelings to come rushing back. As Saint and Lola enter combat, they can’t help but wonder where the other’s true allegiance lies, and whether they’ll win these battles only to lose each other.
The latest in Natalie Caña’s contemporary romance series, which is always packed with yummy food descriptions.
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Author: Elle Kennedy
Released: October 31, 2023 by EKI
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult, Romance
Series: Campus Diaries #1Gigi Graham has exactly three goals: qualify for the women’s national hockey team, win Olympic gold, and step out of her famous father’s shadow. So far, so good, except for two little things. Fine–a little thing and a big, grumpy thing. She needs to improve her game behind the net, and she needs help from Luke Ryder.
Ryder is six-foot five, built, opinionated, rude…and sexy as hell. But he’s still the enemy.
Briar’s new hockey co-captain has his reasons, though. The men’s team just merged with a rival program, leaving Ryder with an angry roster where everyone hates one another’s guts. To make matters worse, the summer coaching spot he’s angling for with the legendary Garrett Graham is out of reach after he makes the worst possible first impression on his hero. So, really, this compromise with Gigi is win-win. He helps her make the national team, she puts in a good word
with her dad.The only potential snag? This bone-deep, body-numbing, mind-spinning chemistry they’re trying to ignore. It’s a dangerous game they’re playing, but the risks just might be worth it.
Elle Kennedy is out with a new college-set sports romance series!
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Reformatory
Author: Tananarive Due
Released: October 31, 2023 by Gallery/Saga Press
Genre: Historical: American, HorrorA gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
Gracetown, Florida
June 1950
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.
The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.
Of course we had to talk about a horror novel on Halloween, and this release by horror titan Tananarive Due sounds perfectly scary.
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As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!What the River Knows
Author: Isabel Ibañez
Released: October 31, 2023 by Wednesday Books
Genre: Historical: American, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Secrets of the Nile #1The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt 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 an ancient 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.
Elyse: This was described as The Mummy meets Death on the Nile, so of course I need to read it.
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So I live a county over from where The Dozier School was located, and I read the description of The Reformatory to my husband. At the end of it, I looked at him and he went “Yeah, I knew 2 sentences into that it was going to be a take on the Dozier School”. It’s a black mark on this history of this state and the regional community, but it’s an important story, and this book sounds like one I need to read.
Here’s what I’m looking forward to: “The Takedown, by Lily Chu, “Bookshops & Bonedust” by Travis Baldree, and “Inheritance “ by Nora Roberts. Happy reading!
@Crystal I have family in Jackson County, so my mind went straight to Dozier, too. This is at least the second novel inspired by the school!
Yes, Tananarive Due said that it’s based upon a relative of hers who was sent to that school so she decided to write about him but with a different story. Looking forward to reading it
The Graham Effect isn’t too good, sadly, but I have everything else on my TBR!
I LOVED the Graham Effect. It felt very much like falling back into her other Briar U books. I can’t wait for the sequel.