Fall is finally here! Well, the official start of autumn begins in a couple of weeks but the beginning of September is an exciting month! The weather starts dropping to those cooler temperatures, the leaves start changing to those beautiful, vibrant colors and we are hit with exciting new releases that are perfect to jumpstart your fall reading! This month we have a slew of exciting new releases, including the highly anticipated novel by Sally Rooney to a much talked about literary novel by Natasha Brown, these books will definitely get you excited about Fall 2021!
Featured Book of the Month
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up, and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.
Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world? (Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
You should never trust a psychopath. But what if you had no choice?
It would be easy to underestimate Chloe Sevre… She’s a freshman honor student, a legging-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. She spends her time on yogalates, frat parties and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.
Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study of psychopaths–students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.
When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan for revenge into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths–and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath. (Credit: Park Row)
The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville
Sara Keane’s husband, Damien, has uprooted them from England and moved them to his native Northern Ireland for a “fresh start” in the wake of her nervous breakdown. Sara, who knows no one in Northern Ireland, is jobless, carless, friendless–all but a prisoner in her own house. When a blood-soaked old woman beats on the door, insisting the house is hers before being bundled back to her care facility, Sara begins to understand the house has a terrible history her husband never intended for her to discover. As the two women form a bond over their shared traumas, Sara finds the strength to stand up to her abuser, and Mary–silent for six decades–is finally ready to tell her story . . . (Credit: Soho Crime)
When Can We Go Back to America? : Voices of Japanese American Incarceration during WWII by Susan H. Kamei,
It’s difficult to believe it happened here, in the Land of the Free: After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States government forcibly removed more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific Coast and imprisoned them in desolate detention camps until the end of World War II just because of their race.In what Secretary Norman Y. Mineta describes as a “landmark book,” he and others who lived through this harrowing experience tell the story of their incarceration and the long-term impact of this dark period in American history. For the first time, why and how these tragic events took place are interwoven with more than 130 individual voices of those who were unconstitutionally incarcerated, many of them children and young adults.
Now more than ever, their words will resonate with readers who are confronting questions about racial identity, immigration, and citizenship, and what it means to be an American.
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
On a beautiful summer night in a charming English suburb, a young woman and her boyfriend disappear after partying at the massive country estate of a new college friend.
One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of the woods that border the same estate. Known locally as the Dark Place, the dense forest is the writer’s favorite area for long walks and it’s on one such walk that she stumbles upon a mysterious note that simply reads, “DIG HERE.”
Could this be a clue towards what has happened to the missing young couple? And what exactly is buried in this haunted ground? (Credit: Atria Books)
Under the Rainbow: Voices from Lockdown by James Attlee
As Britain entered lockdown in the spring of 2020, images and signs proliferated in its windows, symptoms of the human desire to communicate as face-to-face contact became impossible. When restrictions temporarily eased, writer James Attlee began ringing doorbells in his hometown of Oxford. On doorsteps and park benches, on council estates and among genteel terraces, he recorded the voices of those briefly emerging from isolation.
He won the trust of rainbow painters and anti-vaxxers, a Covid nurse, an LGBTQ+ artist, a VE Day celebrator and Black Lives Matter protesters, as well as frontline workers in a bakery and a supermarket. Their words, Attlee’s pithy observations and 16 pages of his photographs make Under the Rainbow a unique record of an extraordinary year and a tribute to creativity and resilience. (Credit: And Other Stories)
A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks
Expected Publication Date: September 14
Joy Taylor has always believed home is the house she lived in her entire life. But then her dad lost his job, and suddenly, home becomes a tiny apartment with thin walls, shared bedrooms, and a place for tense arguments between Mom and Dad. Hardest of all, Joy doesn’t have her music to escape through anymore. Without enough funds, her dreams of becoming a great pianist–and one day, a film score composer–have been put on hold.
A friendly new neighbor her age lets Joy in on the complex’s best-kept secret: the Hideout, a cozy refuge that only the kids know about. And it’s in this little hideaway that Joy starts exchanging secret messages with another kid in the building who also seems to be struggling, until–abruptly, they stop writing back. What if they’re in trouble?
Joy is determined to find out who this mystery writer is, fast, but between trying to raise funds for her music lessons, keeping on a brave face for her little sister, and worrying about her parents’ marriage, Joy isn’t sure how to keep her own head above water. (Credit: Katherine Tegen Books)
Assembly by Natasha Brown
Expected Publication Date: September 14
Come of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment. Go to college, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy an apartment. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.
The narrator of Assembly is a black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend’s family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can’t escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?
Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of The English Country House After World War II by Adrian Tinniswood
Expected Publication Date: September 21
As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history—from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change. (Credit: Basic Books)
Stray Dogs by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner
Expected Publication Date: September 21
It’s scary being the new dog.
In this suspenseful new series, readers meet Sophie, a dog who can’t remember what happened. She doesn’t know how she ended up in this house. She doesn’t recognize any of these other dogs. She knows something terrible happened but she just… can’t… recall… Wait! Where’s her lady? It’s all coming back to her now, and it’s enough to raise Sophie’s hackles. Now Sophie has to figure out where she is, what’s happening and how she’s going to survive this.
They say there’s no such thing as a bad dog, just bad owners. (Credit: Image Comics)
The Moon, The Stars and Madam Burova by Ruth Hogan
Expected Publication Date: September 21
Madame Burova—beloved Tarot reader, palmist, and clairvoyant—is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront.
After inheriting her mother’s fortune-telling business as a young woman, Imelda Burova has spent her life on the Brighton pier practicing her trade. She and her trusty pack of Tarot cards have seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Now, after a lifetime of keeping other people’s secrets, Madam Burova is ready to have a little piece of life for herself. But she still has one last thing to do—to fulfill a promise made in the 1970s, when she and her girlfriends were carefree, with their whole lives still before them.
In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when a sudden and unlikely discovery leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail…which leads to Brighton, the pier, and directly to Madame Burova’s door. (Credit: William Morrow Paperbacks)
Own Your Period: A Fact-Filled Guide to Period Positivity by Chella Quint and illustrated by Giovana Medeiros
Expected Publication Date: September 28
This fact-filled guide to periods is bursting with positive, honest advice on managing and understanding menstruation. Having a period is an incredible thing – Own Your Period celebrates what the body can do and provides young people (age 9+) with everything they need to be prepared… and empowered.
Includes the fascinating science behind why things happen, with all the details of menstruation through to the menopause. Answers all essential questions like what’s a vulva and what does it look like, what do periods actually feel like, and what happens if blood stains your clothes? Chella Quint’s witty text slays superstitions, busts common myths, and fights period shame, while providing practical information about menstrual products, tracking cycles, and sharing her own personal stories. (Credit: QEB Publishing)
No Words by Meg Cabot
Expected Publication Date: September 28
Jo Wright always swore she’d never step foot on Little Bridge Island—not as long as her nemesis, bestselling author Will Price, is living there.
Then Jo’s given an offer she can’t refuse: an all-expense-paid trip to speak and sign at the island’s first-ever book festival.
Even though arrogant Will is the last person Jo wants to see, she could really use the festival’s more-than-generous speaking fee. She’s suffering from a crippling case of writer’s block on the next instalment of her bestselling children’s series, and her father needs financial help as well.
Then Jo hears that Will is off-island on the set of the film of his next book. Hallelujah!
But when she arrives on Little Bridge, Jo is in for a shock: Will is not only at the book festival, but seems genuinely sorry for his past actions—and more than willing not only to make amends but prove to Jo that he’s a changed man.
Things seem to be looking up—until disaster strikes, causing Jo to wonder: Do any of us ever really know anyone? (Credit: William Morrow Paperbacks)
The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman
Expected Publication Date: September 28
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim–the Thursday Murder Club–are still riding high off their recent real-life murder case and are looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet at Cooper’s Chase, their posh retirement village.
But they are out of luck.
An unexpected visitor–an old pal of Elizabeth’s (or perhaps more than just a pal?)–arrives, desperate for her help. He has been accused of stealing diamonds worth millions from the wrong men and he’s seriously on the lam.
Then, as night follows day, the first body is found. But not the last. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are up against a ruthless murderer who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can our four friends catch the killer before the killer catches them? And if they find the diamonds, too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus? You should never put anything beyond the Thursday Murder Club.
Discover more from cup of tea with that book, please
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
One thought on “Books to Read This Month: September Edition”