This weekly meme is hosted by Broke and Bookish.
Summer might be the season of reading on the beach, but for me fall is all about curling up with a hot drink, a good book, and watching the leaves turn colors.This week’s Top Ten list is to talk about your Fall To-Be-Read List, and my TBR is a grab-back of LBGT romance, YA, crime thriller, and more!
So here are the books that I’m most looking forward to this autumn! Are any of these on your list?
Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo
Release Date: September 29, Pre-Order from Author’s Website
Are you sick of me talking about this book yet? Yes? Too bad! Because I’m going to be waxing poetic about this novel for at least the next year (ie, until the second book comes out). It’s a fantasy, it’s a YA story, it’s an action, it’s a heist novel… it’s absolutely phenomenal.
You don’t have to read her Grisha Trilogy to understand this at all, but I’d definitely recommend checking out that series while you wait for Six of Crows to come out. You won’t regret it, I promise!
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.
The Anatomy of Curiosity, by Brenna Yovanoff, Tessa Gratton, and Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date: October 1, Pre-Order on Amazon.com
I still have half a year to wait until Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven King is released, but at least there’s this fantastic collection of stories to tide me over, from some of the most creative voices in YA literature!
In an unassuming corner of Brooklyn, a young woman learns to be ladylike, to love context, and to speak her mind from a very curious sort of tutor.
In a faraway land convulsed by war, a young soldier hears the desert’s curious hum as he disarms bombs with the person he doesn’t know how to love.
In a place so shriveled by drought that any drowning is a curiosity, a young writer tries again and again to tread water beneath the surface of a vast and unusual sea.
Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell
Release Date: October 6, Pre-Order from Author’s Website
I’ve never read a book by Rainbow Rowell. I know, gasp, right? But I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about this book. Is it fanfiction? Is it canon? Is it canon of a fanfiction of a canon? WHO KNOWS?! But it sounds delightful!
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.
That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.
Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters
How to Be a Normal Person, by TJ Klune
Release Date: October 16, Pre-Order from Dreamspinner Press
I fell in love with TJ’s writing with the Bear, Otter, and the Kid trilogy. His characters are funny, quirky, and utterly real, and his newest book is about what normal really means. Plus, an asexual romance? Sign me up!
Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.
Gus is not normal. And he’s fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.
Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie’s Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.
But Gus isn’t normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith
Release Date: October 20, Pre-Order on Amazon
If you’ve been living under a rock lately, you may not know that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for JK Rowling. Yes, that JK Rowling. And while she may not be writing wizards and spells anymore, there’s definitely magic in these delightful crime/thriller novels. They’re BRILLIANTLY written, with tons of on-the-edge-of-your-seat tension.
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.
Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible–and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
The World as He Sees It, by A.M. Arthur
Release Date: October 20, Pre-Order from Samhain Publishing
I will read everything that A.M. Arthur puts out. Her romances are so organic and beautiful that I can’t help but fall in love with every character she writes. I’m so excited for this book too, because Tristan (who first appeared as a secondary character in The Truth as He Knows It is fascinating.
Gabe lives a double life. As Gabriel Henson, he works multiple jobs to support his remorseless, alcoholic mother. As Tony Ryder, he does internet porn for extra cash and regular safe sex without complications.
Yet when he encounters a scared young man freaking out in a night club, he’s compelled to reach out. Ever since then, the memory of that young man has haunted him.
Tristan Lavelle lives his life thirty minutes at a time. After a traumatic brain injury three years ago, he gets through his day recording his life in spiral notebooks and sticky note reminders.
A month after Tristan’s embarrassingly public meltdown, another chance meeting with Gabe sparks a warm, emotionally fulfilling email relationship. Both men crave more, but fear of the next step stands between them.
Until Tristan gets the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial that could improve his memory—if the side effects don’t kill him. But for Tristan, the possibility of a real life with Gabe is worth any risk…
Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Release Date: October 20, Pre-Order from Random House
(I love this cover so much, wow! Click for full size!!)
This may very well be one of the biggest books of the year, if the early buzz is anything to go by. Told in a mixed-media style of pictures, censored documents, and transcripts, it looks to be a story that’s both entertaining and visually stunning.
This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.
This afternoon, her planet was invaded.
The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.
What We Left Behind, by Robin Talley
Release Date: October 27, Pre-Order on Harlequin.com
This year looks to be an amazing one for LGBTQIA+ novels, especially ones aimed towards young adults. When I first read the summary for this book, I knew I needed it in my life. It’s a coming of age story about identity, finding yourself, and understanding the limits of love.
Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. They’ve been together forever. They never fight. They’re deeply, hopelessly in love. When they separate for their first year at college—Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU—they’re sure they’ll be fine. Where other long-distance relationships have fallen apart, theirs is bound to stay rock-solid.
The reality of being apart, though, is very different than they expected. Toni, who identifies as genderqueer, meets a group of transgender upperclassmen and immediately finds a sense of belonging that has always been missing, but Gretchen struggles to remember who she is outside their relationship.
While Toni worries that Gretchen won’t understand Toni’s new world, Gretchen begins to wonder where she fits in this puzzle. As distance and Toni’s shifting gender identity begin to wear on their relationship, the couple must decide—have they grown apart for good, or is love enough to keep them together?
A Seditious Affair, by K.J. Charles
Release Date: December 15, Pre-Order on Amazon.com
KJ Charles knows how to write history, and she knows how to write m/m romance. Her Magpie series was unbelievably perfect in every way, and the first book in her Society of Gentlemen series blew me away. I’m eagerly waiting the second book in the series, about two men in very different social and economic classes, who find a common thread to bind them together.
Silas Mason has no illusions about himself. He’s not lovable, or even likable. He’s an overbearing idealist, a Radical bookseller and pamphleteer who lives for revolution . . . and for Wednesday nights. Every week he meets anonymously with the same man, in whom Silas has discovered the ideal meld of intellectual companionship and absolute obedience to his sexual commands. But unbeknownst to Silas, his closest friend is also his greatest enemy, with the power to see him hanged—or spare his life.
A loyal, well-born gentleman official, Dominic Frey is torn apart by his affair with Silas. By the light of day, he cannot fathom the intoxicating lust that drives him to meet with the Radical week after week. In the bedroom, everything else falls away. Their needs match, and they are united by sympathy for each other’s deepest vulnerabilities. But when Silas’s politics earn him a death sentence, desire clashes with duty, and Dominic finds himself doing everything he can to save the man who stole his heart.
Please note this book was chosen prior to the revelation of author’s identity and actions. Please read this statement from Riptide Publishing for more information. [Dreamspinner Press no longer sells any titles by this author.]
Sunset Park, by Santino Hassell
Release Date: December ?, no pre-order yet
This is the second book in Hassell’s Five Boroughs series. This is another author that I will read EVERYTHING they publish, because Hassell co-wrote one of the most heart-wrenching and emotionally-compromising series I’ve ever read (In the Company of Shadows), and the first book in this series, Sutphin Boulevard, was stunning.
Raymond Rodriguez’s days of shoving responsibility to the wayside are over. His older brother wants to live with his boyfriend so Raymond has to get his act together and find a place of his own. But when out-and-proud David Butler offers to be his roommate, Raymond agrees for reasons other than needing a place to crash.
David is Raymond’s opposite in almost every way—he’s Connecticut prim and proper while Raymond is a sarcastic longshoreman from Queens—but their friendship is solid. Their closeness surprises everyone as does their not-so-playful flirtation since Raymond has always kept his bicurious side a secret.
Once they’re under the same roof, flirting turns physical, and soon their easy camaraderie is in danger of being lost to frustrating sexual tension and the stark cultural differences that set them apart. Now Raymond not only has to commit to his new independence—he has to commit to his feelings for David or risk losing him for good.
Bonus Pick: Part & Parcel (Sidewinder #3), by Abigail Roux. I think it’s due out in November, but there’s no information on it yet. I love the entire Cut & Run universe, so I’m really looking forward to this book!
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