Hi and welcome to the reading world!
Today’s post is another installment of anticipated new releases, this time for September!
As usual, I want to start off this post with a disclaimer: there are a ton of incredible sounding upcoming releases, and this list is by no means comprehensive nor will I be able to read every single one of these. I’m just curious about these books coming out soon and want to share a little about them in case one also is of interest to other readers!
One particular read is coming out at the end of September. I heard about this one from the author, and so I wanted to share a little more about the short story collection here by sharing the cover and Goodreads link for anyone interested!
Let’s get into the rest of the list, organized by release date at the time of writing this post! Please note, Less is Lost is the sequel to Less so I’ve hidden the synopsis on that one to avoid any spoilers for the first book!
September 6
For fans of Jonathan Tropper, KJ Dell’Antonia, and Kevin Kwan, this “sharp, smart, and gloriously extra” (Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee) debut follows a family of estranged Vietnamese women—cursed to never know love or happiness—as they reunite when a psychic makes a startling prediction. Everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed. It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage for true love—so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons. Oanh’s current descendant Mai Nguyen knows this curse well. She’s divorced, and after an explosive disagreement a decade ago, she’s estranged from her younger sisters, Minh Pham (the middle and the mediator) and Khuyen Lam (the youngest who swears she just runs humble coffee shops and nail salons, not Little Saigon’s underground). Though Mai’s three adult daughters, Priscilla, Thuy, and Thao, are successful in their careers (one of them is John Cho’s dermatologist!), the same can’t be said for their love lives. Mai is convinced they might drive her to an early grave. Desperate for guidance, she consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. This prophecy will reunite estranged mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins—for better or for worse. A multi-narrative novel brimming with levity and candor, The Fortunes of Jaded Women is about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family. It shows how Vietnamese women emerge victorious, even if the world is against them.
The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh
Published by Atria Books on September 6, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Asian American, Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Women
Pages: 272
The author of Hamnet—New York Times best seller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner—brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court. Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on September 6, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Historical / Renaissance, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 352
Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?
As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.
Full of the beauty and emotion with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell turns her talents to Renaissance Italy in an extraordinary portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.
For fans of Alexandria Bellefleur and Casey McQuiston comes a charming, hilarious, and heartwarming LGBTQIA+ romcom about two separate couples finding love over the holidays from acclaimed author Roan Parrish! FROM A COZY NEW ENGLAND HAVEN TO THE HEART OF NEW ORLEANS COMES ONE HOLIDAY THAT'LL CHANGE THEIR LIVES Greta Russakoff loves her tight-knit family and tiny Maine hometown, but they can't seem to understand what it's like to be a lesbian living in such a small world. When an act of familial meddling goes way too far, she realizes just how desperately she needs space to figure out who she is. Truman Belvedere's heart is crushed when he learns that his boyfriend has a secret life including a husband and daughter. Reeling, all he wants is a place to lick his wounds far, far away from Louisiana. Enter a mutual friend with a life-altering idea: swap homes for the holidays. For one perfect month, Greta and Truman will have a chance to experience a whole new world...and maybe fall in love with the partner of their dreams. But all holidays must come to an end, and eventually these two transplants will have to decide whether the love (and found family) they each discovered so far from home is worth fighting for.
The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish
on September 6, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Holidays, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Holiday, Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Gay, Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 448
A young poet tells the unforgettable story of his harrowing migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine in this moving, page-turning memoir hailed as “the mythic journey of our era” (Sandra Cisneros)
Solito by Javier Zamora
Published by Random House Publishing Group on September 6, 2022
Genres: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Social Science / Emigration & Immigration
Pages: 400
“A new landmark in the literature of migration, and in nonfiction writ large.”—Francisco Cantú, author of The Line Becomes a River
Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago—“one day, you’ll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.”
Javier Zamora’s adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a “coyote” hired to lead them to safety, Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks.
At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents’ arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family.
A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.
September 13
“One of my favorite books I have read in years.” —Quiara Alegria Hudes, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter of In the Heights From the beloved author of Dominicana, a GMA Book Club Pick and Women’s Prize Finalist, an electrifying and indelible new novel about a woman who has lost everything but the chance to finally tell her story. Write this down: Cara Romero wants to work. Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight. Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages.
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
Published by Flatiron Books on September 13, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Hispanic & Latino, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 208
September 20
Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
on September 20, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Humorous / General, Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Gay, Fiction / Literary
Pages: 272
Lambda Literary Award winner Larissa Lai (The Tiger Flu) returns On the eve of the return of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong to Emily's marriage--three times--to her father's mortal enemy causes a stir With great heart, The Lost Century explores the intersections of Asian
The Lost Century by Larissa Lai
Published by Arsenal Pulp Press on September 20, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Asian American, Fiction / Historical / World War II, Fiction / Women
Pages: 272
with a sprawling historical novel about war, colonialism and queer experience during
Japan's occupation of Hong Kong during World War II.
China in 1997, young Ophelia asks her peculiar great-aunt Violet about the
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II and the disappearance of
her uncle Theo. From Violet, she learns the story of her grandmother, Emily.
among three very different Hong Kong Chinese families, as well as among the young
cricketers at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, who've just witnessed King Edward
VIII's abdication to marry Wallis Simpson. But the class and race pettiness of
the scandal around Emily's marriage is violently disrupted by the Japanese
Imperial Army's invasion of Hong Kong on Christmas Day, 1941, which plunges the
colony into a landscape of violence none of its inhabitants escape from unscathed,
least of all Emily. When her situation becomes dire, Violet, along with a crew
of unlikely cosmopolitans determines to rescue Emily from the wrath of the
person she thought loved her the most, her husband, Tak-Wing. In the middle of
it all, a strange match of timeless Test cricket unfolds, in which the ball has
an agency all its own.
relations, queer Asian history, underground resistance, the violence of war, and
the rise of modern China― a sprawling novel of betrayal, epic violence and
intimate passions.
September 27
WANTED - Bloodmaid of exceptional taste. Must have a keen proclivity for life's finer pleasures. Girls of weak will need not apply. Marion Shaw has been raised in the slums, where want and deprivation are all she know. 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. At the center of it all is Countess Lisavet. The countess, 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 she discovers that the ancient walls of the House of Hunger hide even older secrets, 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.
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
Published by Penguin Publishing Group on August 7, 2022
Pages: 304
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.
Love is the trickiest spell of all. 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.
Witchful Thinking by Celestine Martin
Published by Grand Central Publishing on September 27, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Paranormal / Witches, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Small Town & Rural
Pages: 352
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.
“A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces.” —Madeline Miller “A shining tour de force about a long friendship’s respects, disrespects, loyalties and moralities.” —Ali Smith From the acclaimed author of Home Fire, the moving and surprising story of a lifelong friendship and the forces that bring it to the breaking point
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie
Published by Penguin on September 27, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Feminist, Fiction / Friendship
Pages: 320
Zahra and Maryam have been best friends since childhood in Karachi, even though—or maybe because—they are unlike in nearly every way. Yet they never speak of the differences in their backgrounds or their values, not even after the fateful night when a moment of adolescent impulse upends their plans for the future.
Three decades later, Zahra and Maryam have grown into powerful women who have each cut a distinctive path through London. But when two troubling figures from their past resurface, they must finally confront their bedrock differences—and find out whether their friendship can survive.
Thought-provoking, compassionate, and full of unexpected turns, Best of Friends offers a riveting take on an age-old question: Does principle or loyalty make for the better friend?
An immersive, electrifying space-fantasy, Neon Yang's debut novel The Genesis of Misery is full of high-tech space battles and political machinations, starring a queer and diverse array of pilots, princesses, and prophetic heirs. Download a FREE sneak peek today! This is the story Misery Nomaki (she/they), a nobody from a nowhere mining planet. Misery has abilities they shouldn’t though: they can bend the will of stone, a dangerous magic that only "saints" are said to have. These abilities lead Misery to the center of the Empire, where rumors spread that Misery is the next Messiah, and where those in power seek to use Misery to win a terrible war. Amid a nest of vipers, Misery grows close to a rebellious royal, Lady Alodia Lightning, and decides to embrace the legacy the prophecies speak of. True or false, for better or worse, Misery Nomaki will be the Ninth Messiah. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Genesis of Misery Sneak Peek by Neon Yang
Published by Tom Doherty Associates on July 19, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera
Pages: 82
What are some new releases you’re excited for this upcoming month? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
Thanks for stopping by!
Rae