I know I’m not alone in my desire for school to start back up again. Though our schedules are insane once school is back in session, at least there is some semblance of normalcy and routine that comes along with it!
September launches the big fall season in the publishing world! I have quite a list of books I’m excited about. The following list is just the first two weeks!
Included is the publisher’s book summary (my own personal comments in bold!) and a link to preorder the title (through the title link)! Get your wallets at the ready!
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (Sept. 1):
My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
Infinite in Between by Carolyn Mackler (Sept. 1):
Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney meet at freshman orientation. At the end of that first day, they make a promise to reunite after graduation. So much can happen in those in-between years….
Zoe feels like she will live forever in her famous mother’s shadow. Jake struggles to find the right connections in friendship and in love. Mia keeps trying on new identities, looking for one that actually fits. Gregor thinks he wants to be more than just a band geek. And beautiful Whitney seems to have it all, until it’s falling apart around her. In the beginning they’re strangers. By the end, they are forever changed in the most unexpected and amazing ways.
In a vein similar to The Breakfast Club, Carolyn Mackler skillfully brings the stories of these five disparate teens, who form surprising relationships, together to create a distinct and cohesive whole.
Did you say The Breakfast Club? Sign me up!
Catacomb by Madeleine Roux (Sept. 1):
Sometimes the past is better off buried.
Senior year is finally over. After all they’ve been through, Dan, Abby, and Jordan are excited to take one last road trip together, and they’re just not going to think about what will happen when the summer ends, or about their terrifying experiences at Brookline. But on their way to visit Jordan’s uncle in New Orleans, the three friends notice that they’re being followed and photographed. Then Dan starts receiving phone messages from someone he didn’t expect to hear from again—someone who died last Halloween.
As the strange occurrences escalate, Dan is forced to accept that everything that has happened to him in the past year may not be a coincidence but fate—a fate that ties Dan to a group called the Bone Artists, who have a sinister fascination with notorious killers of the past.
Now Dan’s only hope is that he will make it out of his senior trip alive.
I’m all kinds of obsessed about this series. Uber creepy, with chilling illustrations/images.
Abandon by Blake Crouch (Sept. 1):
On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins, and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town so that they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic, and a paranormal photographer—as the town is rumored to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from again. What this crew is about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.
Although technically a re-release, I can’t wait to start reading this one. Fan of the Wayward Pines television series? Blake Crouch wrote the books on which it was based.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel, Continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series by David Lagercrantz (Sept. 1):
Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return
She is the girl with the dragon tattoo—a genius hacker and uncompromising misfit. He is a crusading journalist whose championing of the truth often brings him to the brink of prosecution.
Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Salander for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals, and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it…
The duo who captivated millions of readers in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire,and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest join forces again in this adrenaline-charged, uniquely of-the-moment thriller.
I know, I know. It’s not Stieg Larsson. I can’t resist, though. The Millennium Series is my kryptonite!
Chapelwood: The Borden Dispatches (Borden Dispatches) by Cherie Priest (Sept. 1):
Birmingham, Alabama is infested with malevolence. Prejudice and hatred have consumed the souls of its populace. A murderer has been carving up citizens with a hatchet. And from the church known as Chapelwood, an unholy gospel is being spread by a sect that worships dark gods from beyond the heavens.
The church’s parishioners plan to sacrifice a young woman to summon beings never meant to share reality with humanity. An apocalypse will follow in their wake which will scorch the earth of all life. And only Lizzie Borden can stop it…
Lizzie Borden, I can’t quit you!
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart (Sept. 1):
Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters into hiding fifteen years ago. One day a belligerent and powerful silk factory owner runs down their buggy, and a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as he unleashes his gang on their family farm. When the sheriff enlists her help in convicting the men, Constance is forced to confront her past and defend her family — and she does it in a way that few women of 1914 would have dared.
“A smart, romping adventure, featuring some of the most memorable and powerful female characters I’ve seen in print for a long time. I loved every page as I followed the Kopp sisters through a too-good-to-be-true (but mostly true!) tale of violence, courage, stubbornness, and resourcefulness.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg (Sept. 1):
The stunning debut novel from bestselling author Bill Clegg is a magnificently powerful story about a circle of people who find solace in the least likely of places as they cope with a horrific tragedy.
On the eve of her daughter’s wedding, June Reid’s life is completely devastated when a shocking disaster takes the lives of her daughter, her daughter’s fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend, Luke—her entire family, all gone in a moment. And June is the only survivor.
Alone and directionless, June drives across the country, away from her small Connecticut town. In her wake, a community emerges, weaving a beautiful and surprising web of connections through shared heartbreak.
From the couple running a motel on the Pacific Ocean where June eventually settles into a quiet half-life, to the wedding’s caterer whose bill has been forgotten, to Luke’s mother, the shattered outcast of the town—everyone touched by the tragedy is changed as truths about their near and far histories finally come to light.
Elegant and heartrending, and one of the most accomplished fiction debuts of the year, Did You Ever Have a Family is an absorbing, unforgettable tale that reveals humanity at its best through forgiveness and hope. At its core is a celebration of family—the ones we are born with and the ones we create.
Bloody Mary #02: Mary: Unleashed by Hillary Monahan (Sept. 8):
Mary in the mirror.
Mary in the glass.
Mary in the water.
Mary lurks in the emptiness, in the darkness . . . in the reflection. That is, until Jess unleashes her into the world. Now Mary Worth is out and her haunting is deadlier than ever.
No one is safe.
Shauna, Kitty, and Jess must band together to unearth the truth about Mary’s death to put her soul to rest for good. Their search leads them back to where it all began—to Solomon’s Folly, a place as dangerous as the ghost who died there a century and a half ago. Quick sand, hidden traps and a phantom fog are the least of their worries. To stop Mary, they need to follow a dark string of clues and piece together a gruesome mystery that spans generations.
But time is running out.
As chilling facts come to light, Mary inches ever closer to her prey. Can Jess, Shauna, and Kitty break Mary’s curse before it’s too late? Or will history repeat itself until there is no one left to call her name . . . ?
I loved the first book, can’t wait for this one!
The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan (Sept. 8):
Deborah Birch is a seasoned hospice nurse whose daily work requires courage and compassion. But her skills and experience are tested in new and dramatic ways when her easygoing husband, Michael, returns from his third deployment to Iraq haunted by nightmares, anxiety, and rage. She is determined to help him heal, and to restore the tender, loving marriage they once had.
At the same time, Deborahs primary patient is Barclay Reed, a retired history professor and expert in the Pacific Theater of World War II whose career ended in academic scandal. Alone in the world, the embittered professor is dying. As Barclay begrudgingly comes to trust Deborah, he tells her stories from that long-ago war, which help her find a way to help her husband battle his demons.
Told with piercing empathy and heartbreaking realism, The Hummingbird is a masterful story of loving commitment, service to country, and absolution through wisdom and forgiveness.
I discovered Kiernan’s previous novel, The Curiosity, and became an instant fan of his work. I can’t wait to read this one!
The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Sept. 8):
In the middle of his usual hard-won morning nap in the basement of police headquarters, Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, receives a call from a colleague working on the Danish island of Bornholm. Carl is dismissive when he realizes that a new case is being foisted on him, but a few hours later, he receives some shocking news that leaves his headstrong assistant Rose more furious than usual. Carl has no choice but to lead Department Q into the tragic cold case of a vivacious seventeen-year-old girl who vanished from school, only to be found dead hanging high up in a tree. The investigation will take them from the remote island of Bornholm to a strange sun worshiping cult, where Carl, Assad, Rose, and newcomer Gordon attempt to stop a string of new murders and a skilled manipulator who refuses to let anything—or anyone—get in the way.
This is the sixth book in the series. A great series for audio (quite helpful when it comes to pronunciation of the foreign names!
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie (Sept. 8):
Once upon a time, in a world just like ours, there came “the time of the strangenesses.” Reason receded and the loudest, most illiberal voices reigned. A simple gardener began to levitate, and a powerful djinn—also known as the Princess of Fairyland—raised an army composed entirely of her semi-magical great-great-great-grandchildren. A baby was born with the ability to see corruption in the faces of others. The ghosts of two philosophers, long dead, began arguing once more. And a battle for the kingdom of Fairyland was waged throughout our world for 1,001 nights—or, to be more precise, for two years, eight months, and twenty-eight nights.
Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights is a masterful, playfully enchanting meditation on the power of love and the importance of rationality, replete with flying carpets and dynastic intrigue.
Salman Rushdie. Need I say more?
Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash (Sept. 8):
Les, a long-time sheriff just three-weeks from retirement, contends with the ravages of crystal meth and his own duplicity in his small Appalachian town.
Becky, a park ranger with a harrowing past, finds solace amid the lyrical beauty of this patch of North Carolina.
Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have indelibly marked them, they are drawn together by a reverence for the natural world. When an irascible elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream on the property of a nearby resort, Les and Becky are plunged into deep and dangerous waters, forced to navigate currents of disillusionment and betrayal that will force them to question themselves and test their tentative bond—and threaten to carry them over the edge.
If you haven’t read Ron Rash yet you are missing out. He so perfectly captures small town life, with the sort of beauty that induces and evokes tears. Simply breathtaking.
Whew! There you have it. Quite list, right?! Stay tuned…many, many more September titles to come!
Reports of school shootings occur in a chillingly too frequent basis. They talk of the victims, of the shooter. In many cases, the individual yielding the gun takes his own life before questions can be answered. Survivors are left wondering why.
