Happy Tuesday, everyone!
We have another handful of new releases. Lots of sci-fi and fantasy, plus a holiday romance and some horror. Next week is shaping up to be pretty substantial in terms of new books we’re really excited for.
What releases are on your TBR pile? Let us know in the comments.
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The Dividing Sky
Author: Jill Tew
Released: October 8, 2024 by Joy Revolution
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young AdultSerpent & Dove meets Arcane in this dystopian romance debut that follows a cunning memory merchant who deals a little extra happiness on the side and the handsome rookie officer on her tail!
In 2460, eighteen-year-old Liv Newman dreams of a future beyond her lower-class life in the Metro. As a Proxy, she uses the neurochip in her brain to sell memories to wealthy clients. Maybe a few illegally, but money equals freedom. So when a customer offers her a ludicrous sum to go on an assignment in no-man’s-land, Liv accepts. Now she just has to survive.
Rookie Forceman Adrian Rao believes in order over all. After discovering that a renegade Proxy’s shady dealings are messing with citizens’ brain chemistry, he vows to extinguish the threat. But when he tracks Liv down, there’s one problem: her memories are gone. Can Adrian bring himself to condemn her for crimes she doesn’t remember?
As Liv and Adrian navigate the world beyond the Metro and their growing feelings for one another, they grapple with who they are, who they could be, and whether another way of living is possible.
Shana’s pick!
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How to Summon a Fairy Godmother
Author: Laura Mayo
Released: October 8, 2024 by Orbit
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Fairies and Familiars #1If a fairy godmother can get one sister into a marriage, getting another out of one should be easy…
Lady Theodosia Balfour has certainly gotten the short end of the stick—her stepsister, the newly crowned Princess Beatrice, is telling everyone in polite society that Theo, her sister, and their mother are evil, wicked, and horrid people who treated her like a slave. Though Theo knows this isn’t exactly true, it seems her life is thoroughly ruined by the rumor. With the Balfour family estate on the verge of bankruptcy, Theo’s only path forward is a forced betrothal to the Duke of Snowbell, a foul-tempered geezer who wishes only to use her as a brood mare for spare heirs.
Desperate for help, Theo clings to the only thing that might save the rumor of a fairy godmother, one that supposedly helped her stepsister secure a prince. After discovering a way to summon a fairy in Beatrice’s old room, Theo thinks her prayers have been answered. But the fairy she meets isn’t at all what she imagined. Drop-dead gorgeous, incredibly cunning, and slightly devious, Cecily of the Ash Fairies is much more interested in gathering powerful favors and smoking her pipe than providing charitable magic for humans in a bind.
Before she receives magical assistance, Cecily sets Theo to three tasks, seemingly to prove that Theo is a selfless and kind person. Helping her along the way are Cecily’s familiars, the flirty human-turned-mockingbird Phineas and the aloof Kasra, a fox shapeshifter who should not be as handsome as he is for someone with such cutting remarks. As Theo works on her tasks, she shockingly finds kinship with the magical creatures she’s helping, and starts to wonder if a continued life among her human peers is what she really wants after all.
From debut author Laura J. Mayo comes a hilarious new spin on the Cinderella tale!
Amanda: What a fun cover and concept!
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I Did Something Bad
Author: Pyae Moe Thet War
Released: October 8, 2024 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Mystery/Thriller, RomanceIn this smart and swoony adventure rom-com, a journalist and a movie star find themselves teaming up to cover up a murder…and falling for each other in the process.
When freelance journalist Khin Hlaing is assigned by Vogue to get a scoop on Tyler Tun, Hollywood’s hottest movie star who has returned home to Myanmar to shoot a film, she’s determined to succeed. If Khin’s able to get an explosive exclusive, there may well be a permanent position waiting for her at Vogue Singapore, and a ticket out of the city that’s felt too small since her recent divorce.
Tyler has done his very best to keep his private life private, and he doesn’t show any sign of letting down his walls for Khin. But then one night on set, a strange man follows Khin into the surrounding park grounds. When he threatens her, Tyler steps in and things escalate fast. Khin knows they can’t go to the police, even if it was self defense. And when she learns that this man seems to have targeted her specifically, she needs to do everything she can to find out why.
As Khin and Tyler work together to hide their secret and find out more about her attacker, they grow closer and Tyler finally starts opening up. The job at Vogue suddenly looks more promising, but Khin can’t help feel a twang of uncomfortable morality-related guilt. Before long, everything hangs in the balance. Will they get away with murder? Can Khin get the exposé she needs for her dream job? And is she willing to risk Tyler’s trust in the process?
Amanda: I’ve been really loving the mix of wacky mystery and romance – see Elyse’s review of It Had to Be You.
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Love You a Latke
Author: Amanda Elliot
Released: October 8, 2024 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceLove comes home for the challah-days in this sparkling romance.
Snow is falling, holiday lights are twinkling, and Abby Cohen is pissed. For one thing, her most annoying customer, Seth, has been coming into her café every morning with his sunshiny attitude, determined to break down her carefully constructed emotional walls. And, as the only Jew on the tourism board of her Vermont town, Abby’s been charged with planning their fledgling Hanukkah festival. Unfortunately, the local vendors don’t understand that the story of Hanukkah cannot be told with light-up plastic figures from the Nativity scene, even if the Three Wise Men wear yarmulkes.
Desperate for support, Abby puts out a call for help online and discovers she was wrong about being the only Jew within a hundred miles. There’s one Seth.
As it turns out, Seth’s parents have been badgering him to bring a Nice Jewish Girlfriend home to New York City for Hanukkah, and if Abby can survive his incessant, irritatingly handsome smiles, he’ll introduce her to all the vendors she needs to make the festival a success. But over latkes, doughnuts, and winter adventures in Manhattan, Abby begins to realize that her fake boyfriend and his family might just be igniting a flame in her own guarded heart.
Dahlia: This looks like such a delicious Hanukkah romance!
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Swordcrossed
Author: Freya Marske
Released: October 8, 2024 by Bramble
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance, Science Fiction/FantasyHigh heat. Low stakes. Sharp steel.
The cozy, low stakes of Legends & Lattes meets the scorching bodyguard fantasy of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash in this enemies-to-lovers romance where, yes, the swords do cross.
A LitHub most anticipated book of 2024
Mattinesh Jay, dutiful heir to his struggling family business, needs to hire an experienced swordsman to serve as best man for his arranged marriage. Sword-challenge at the ceremony could destroy all hope of restoring his family’s wealth, something that Matti has been trying—and failing—to do for the past ten years.
What he can afford, unfortunately, is part-time con artist and full-time charming menace Luca Piere.
Luca, for his part, is trying to reinvent himself in a new city. All he wants to do is make some easy money and try to forget the crime he committed in his hometown. He didn’t plan on being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to a chronically responsible—and inconveniently handsome—wool merchant like Matti.
However, neither Matti’s business troubles nor Luca himself are quite what they seem. As the days count down to Matti’s wedding, the two of them become entangled in the intrigue and sabotage that have brought Matti’s house to the brink of ruin. And when Luca’s secrets threaten to drive a blade through their growing alliance, both Matti and Luca will have to answer the how many lies are you prepared to strip away, when the truth could mean losing everything you want?
“There’s nothing in fantasy or queer romance that Marske can’t do.”—Sarah Rees Brennan
Freya Marske’s cozy, queer fantasy romance release post-The Last Binding trilogy.
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This Cursed House
Author: Del Sandeen
Released: October 8, 2024 by Berkley
Genre: Gothic, Historical: American, HorrorIn this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.
But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.
As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.
Amanda: I love a good Southern Gothic.
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Did the sword crossed release move up? I thought for sure it was coming out in early November.
This Cursed House looks perfect for a cozy October read! Sadly our libraries don’t have How to Summon a Fairy Godmother, so I’ll be suggesting that one.
There’s a new Carla Kelly Christmas book out today, REGENCY GLAD TIDINGS. It includes 3 new holiday novellas!
All on my TBR!
The cover of How to Summon a Fairy Godmother is really cool! It reminds me of Alphonse Mucha’s art.
Considering the actual situation in Myanmar, I am kind of irritated by the idea of a romcom being set there… had a look at the sample – it’s really set there. So I guess the book features a not-real version of the country. I don’t I could read that.
@Midge: As a note, the author was born and raised in Myanmar. I don’t know if I begrudge her wanting to write a rom-com in an idealized version of her country.
I’m excited about MELTING THE ICE, the first book in Beth Bolden’s new Portland Evergreens m/m hockey series.