A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver comes the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic.
"The dark school of magic I’ve been waiting for." Katherine Arden, author of Winternight Trilogy
I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.
Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.
I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.
At least, that’s what the world expects me to do. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that’s crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school itself certainly does.
But the Scholomance isn’t getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone’s idea of the shining hero, but I’m going to make it out of this place alive, and I’m not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either.
Although I’m giving serious consideration to just one.
With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a heroine for the ages - a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come."
Dark magic here I come!
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado and Dani
Published by: DC Comics
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 3160 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From New York Times bestselling author Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body And Other Parties, In The Dream House) comes a story so horrifying you won't dare to forget!
When your memories are stolen, what would you give to remember? Follow El and Vee as they search for answers to the questions everyone else forgot.
Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, is plagued by a mysterious illness that eats away at the memories of those affected by it. El and Octavia are two best friends who find themselves the newest victims of this disease after waking up in a movie theater with no memory of the past few hours.
As El and Vee dive deeper into the mystery behind their lost memories, they realize the stories of their town hold more dark truth than they could've imagined. It's up to El and Vee to keep their town from falling apart...to keep the world safe from Shudder-to-Think's monsters."
Collects issues # 1-6."
A wonderfully creepy entry into the Hill House catalog with a coming of age mystery with interesting time jumps that make you wonder if you're in Shudder-to-Think and losing your memories as well.
The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A new stand-alone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Early Riser and the Thursday Next series.
England, 2022. There are 1.2 million human-size rabbits living in the UK. They can walk, talk, drive cars, and they like to read Voltaire, the result of an Inexplicable Anthropomorphizing Event fifty-five years before.
A family of rabbits is about to move into Much Hemlock, a cozy little village in Middle England where life revolves around summer fetes, jam making, gossipy corner stores, and the oh-so-important Best Kept Village awards.
No sooner have the rabbits arrived than the villagers decide they must depart, citing their propensity to burrow and breed, and their shameless levels of veganism. But Mrs Constance Rabbit is made of sterner stuff, and her and her family decide they are to stay. Unusually, their neighbors--longtime resident Peter Knox and his daughter, Pippa - decide to stand with them . . . and soon discover that you can be a friend to rabbits or humans, but not both.
With a blossoming romance, acute cultural differences, enforced rehoming to a MegaWarren in Wales, and the full power of the ruling United Kingdom Anti-Rabbit Party against them, Peter and Pippa are about to question everything they had ever thought about their friends, their nation, and their species.
An inimitable blend of satire, fantasy, and thriller, The Constant Rabbit is the latest dazzlingly original foray into Jasper Fforde's ever-astonishing creative genius."
The thing I love about Jasper Fforde books is they sound bonkers but somehow they're actually very relatable. And the best thing about The Constant Rabbit? I'm getting a signed copy as a birthday present from my friend Marie!
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices...Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?'
A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place."
Libraries are magic. This library is even more magical.
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SERIOUS FOR HARRY DRESDEN, CHICAGO’S ONLY PROFESSIONAL WIZARD, in the next entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.
Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.
But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.
Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever."
Remember earlier this year when it had been AGES since there was a new Dresden Files book? Well here's another one two months since the last one!
The Nesting by C.J. Cooke
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The woods are creeping in on a nanny and two young girls in this chilling modern Gothic thriller.
Architect Tom Faraday is determined to finish the high-concept, environmentally friendly home he’s building in Norway - in the same place where he lost his wife, Aurelia, to suicide. It was their dream house, and he wants to honor her with it.
Lexi Ellis takes a job as his nanny and immediately falls in love with his two young daughters, especially Gaia. But something feels off in the isolated house nestled in the forest along the fjord. Lexi sees mysterious muddy footprints inside the home. Aurelia’s diary appears in Lexi’s room one day. And Gaia keeps telling her about seeing the terrifying Sad Lady....
Soon Lexi suspects that Aurelia didn’t kill herself and that they are all in danger from something far more sinister lurking around them."
GOTHIC! GOTHIC! GOTHIC! Say it like Animal from the Muppets!
A Pretty Deceit by Anna Lee Huber
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In the aftermath of the Great War, the line between friend and foe may be hard to discern, even for indomitable former Secret Service agent Verity Kent, in award-winning author Anna Lee Huber’s thrilling mystery series.
Peacetime has brought little respite for Verity Kent. Intrigue still abounds, even within her own family. As a favor to her father, Verity agrees to visit his sister in Wiltshire. Her once prosperous aunt has fallen on difficult times and is considering selling their estate. But there are strange goings-on at the manor, including missing servants, possible heirloom forgeries, and suspicious rumors - all leading to the discovery of a dead body on the grounds.
While Verity and her husband, Sidney, investigate this new mystery, they are also on the trail of an old adversary - the shadowy and lethal Lord Ardmore. At every turn, the suspected traitor seems to be one step ahead of them. And even when their dear friend Max, the Earl of Ryde, stumbles upon a code hidden among his late father’s effects that may reveal the truth about Ardmore, Verity wonders if they are really the hunters - or the hunted..."
Yes, interwar intrigue and goings-on at a manor house! Squee!
Murder at Queen's Landing by Andrea Penrose
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The murder of a shipping clerk...the strange disappearance of trusted friends...rumors of corruption within the powerful East India Company...all add up to a dark mystery entangling Lady Charlotte Sloane and the Earl of Wrexford in a dangerous web of secrets and lies that will call into question how much they really know about the people they hold dear - and about each other...
When Lady Cordelia, a brilliant mathematician, and her brother, Lord Woodbridge, disappear from London, rumors swirl concerning fraudulent bank loans and a secret consortium engaged in an illicit - and highly profitable - trading scheme that threatens the entire British economy. The incriminating evidence mounts, but for Charlotte and Wrexford, it’s a question of loyalty and friendship. And so they begin a new investigation to clear the siblings’ names, uncover their whereabouts, and unravel the truth behind the whispers.
As they delve into the murky world of banking and international arbitrage, Charlotte and Wrexford also struggle to navigate their increasingly complex feelings for each other. But the clock is ticking - a cunning mastermind has emerged...along with some unexpected allies - and Charlotte and Wrexford must race to prevent disasters both economic and personal as they are forced into a dangerous match of wits in an attempt to beat the enemy at his own game."
Here for East India Company corruption!
A Natural History of Fairies by Emily Hawkins and Jessica Roux
Published by: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Publication Date: September 29th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 64 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"This enchantingly illustrated natural history of fairies, compiled in the 1920s by the botanist Professor Elsie Arbour for her niece, is now unveiled for readers of today. Featuring a gold foil-embossed cloth cover, a ribbon marker, and sprayed gold edges, this gorgeous volume is filled with colorful sketches and precise notes detailing the secret life of fairies and their important role in the natural world.
Inside, you will discover the wide and wonderful array of different species of fairies around the globe and explore where and how they live. Delight in this hidden world as you learn all about:
- The anatomy of a fairy (Land-based fairies have individual, separated toes, just as humans do. However, many species of water fairies have webbed feet.)
- The life cycle of a fairy (When walking in the heather, be careful of the tiny flutterpillar of the Wicklow Fairy, decked out in greens and purples.)
- Clever fairy camouflage (Reed fairies living in wetlands usually wear striped clothes to hide among the tall reeds.)
- Fairies around the world (Meet the Lily Hopper of sub-Saharan Africa, the Queen Fairy of New Guinea, the Penguin Fairy of the Antarctic, and many more.)
- Fairy habitats (Fairies make their homes in all types of places: woodlands, jungles, deserts, the Poles, and even human homes.)
Concluding with a reminder that we must protect the endangered habitats of fairies, and all other creatures too, this is a book to be treasured for a lifetime."
Ever since I first discovered Cicely Mary Barker I have been a fairy fanatic!
My mom died earlier this year after a long battle with Parkinson's. If you knew one thing about my mom you knew she loved books. She also loved gardening and musicals and NCIS, but above all, books. She had different books she was reading in each room of our house. She'd be reading about genealogy in the living room and her latest obsession which would most likely turn into a display at the school where she was the librarian in the TV room and she'd be reading murder mysteries up in her bedroom usually until right before she went to sleep, which could be late in the night depending on the quality of the killing. Really the only way to celebrate my mom's life was to share her favorite books with everyone. Because what we love, what we read, informs us and becomes part of our DNA. Therefore for November and December I'm going to share with you the books she shared with me in order to mold me into the reader I am today, even if I tend to usually give the credit to Timothy Zahn and his Star Wars books over anyone else. The truth is my mom was there from day one, sorry Timothy, reading to me and making me watch The Sound of Music on Christmas while I lay on the couch with the chicken pox, because I had to see her second favorite musical, her first being My Fair Lady. That's when I was eleven. But there's also the time I was nineteen and she shoved Harry Potter at me long before he became the sensation he is today. And the time I was so young that I can't remember how old I was but she let me put food in the wall for the Borrowers because I got it out of a book she loved. So here's to my mom and her love of literature. 
Back in 2007 two things happened that opened up new horizons for me with regard to my reading habits. I found Lauren Willig and I joined Goodreads. Lauren has easily become one of my favorite authors ever and because of my vocal love of her on Goodreads I found a plethora of like minded individuals who started recommending other authors to me. In fact one of my new friends was so insistent on another author they sent me the first book in the series, And Only to Deceive. And that, right there, was my first introduction to Tasha Alexander. Before the end of 2007 I was giving And Only to Deceive as a Christmas present and was thrilled to find her second book, A Poisoned Season, at the local library book sale. Since then my love of Tasha's writing and Lady Emily has only increased so while it was inevitable that I'd do a theme month praising this delicious historical mystery series instead I kind of feel like it should have happened sooner. In other words, it's about time for Alexander Autumn! It's about time to spend two, yes TWO months praising Lady Emily and all her adventures. So while it should have happened sooner, I hope that I can at least do it justice now. Here's to Alexander Autumn!
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