My October Most Anticipated Releases

Happy October everyone! Did you know October it my favorite month? It’s the month of Halloween, which is my all time favorite holiday. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that my birthday is on Halloween.. Nope, not at all! This month will be a good one again, so let’s dive straight into my most anticipated October releases!

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – October 8

It seemed like the entire world got an arc for Ninth House except for me (not that I requested one, but still), so I’ve already seen a lot of people’s thoughts about it. This book deals with sexual abuse and overcoming trauma, so use caution when reading! Nevertheless I’m still incredibly excited for this book. You can’t deny that there is a bunch of hype around it.

Goodreads blurb:

The mesmerizing adult debut from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Leigh Bardugo.

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett – October 8

I hadn’t heard of this novel before until my good friend Lisanne from ohmybooksandplants brought it to my attention. For some reason it was out in The Netherlands in September, and she read it in one day, that’s how good she thought it was. Since I trust her judgment, it is now one of my most anticipated releases! The prompt sounds very promising as well.

Goodreads blurb:

A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power. Optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks to be a major motion picture!

“A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner. Liggett’s deeply suspenseful book brilliantly explores the high cost of a misogynistic world that denies women power and does it with a heart-in-your-throat, action-driven story that’s equal parts horror-laden fairy tale, survival story, romance, and resistance manifesto. I couldn’t stop reading.” – Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author

Survive the year.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden. 

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive. 

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other. 

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman – October 3

Literal years and years ago I read His Dark Materials, or the Golden Compass series. I loved those books as they really make you think. Two years ago the first book in The Book of Dust came out; a new series set in the world of The Golden Compass. I remember exactly when I got this book; my big got it for me during our clue week (clue-what? I guess that’s a story for another time? My experiences of being in a sorority?)! Well the second book is coming out soon, and this time, the story takes place seven years after the events of His Dark Materials. I’m 120% sure I need to reread the series or find a really good summary first. It’s been way too long since I’ve read His Dark Materials.

Goodreads blurb:

It is twenty years since the events of La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One unfolded and saw the baby Lyra Belacqua begin her life-changing journey.

It is seven years since readers left Lyra and the love of her young life, Will Parry, on a park bench in Oxford’s Botanic Gardens at the end of the ground-breaking, bestselling His Dark Materials sequence.

Now, in The Secret Commonwealth, we meet Lyra Silvertongue. And she is no longer a child . . .

The second volume of Sir Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust sees Lyra, now twenty years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined, and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed.

Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right.

Theirs is a world at once familiar and extraordinary, and they must travel far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search for what is lost – a city haunted by daemons, a secret at the heart of a desert, and the mystery of the elusive Dust.

Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo – October 8

Have you guys read To Kill a Kingdom? I read it a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. It was only a stand-alone, so it was the perfect book to read in between series for me! Alexandra Christo is now coming with a duology, the first book of which is coming out October 8th. The premise sounds very interesting, and there’s magic! I love books with magic.

Goodreads blurb:

Into the Crooked Place begins a gritty two-book YA fantasy series from Alexandra Christo, the author of To Kill a Kingdom.

The streets of Creije are for the deadly and the dreamers, and four crooks in particular know just how much magic they need up their sleeve to survive.

Tavia, a busker ready to pack up her dark-magic wares and turn her back on Creije for good. She’ll do anything to put her crimes behind her.

Wesley, the closest thing Creije has to a gangster. After growing up on streets hungry enough to swallow the weak whole, he won’t stop until he has brought the entire realm to kneel before him.

Karam, a warrior who spends her days watching over the city’s worst criminals and her nights in the fighting rings, making a deadly name for herself.

And Saxony, a resistance fighter hiding from the very people who destroyed her family, and willing to do whatever it takes to get her revenge.

Everything in their lives is going to plan, until Tavia makes a crucial mistake: she delivers a vial of dark magic—a weapon she didn’t know she had—to someone she cares about, sparking the greatest conflict in decades. Now these four magical outsiders must come together to save their home and the world, before it’s too late. But with enemies at all sides, they can trust nobody. Least of all each other.

The World of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – Probably somewhere in October?

Okay, so this one is kind of hard to pin down. Goodreads says the expected publication date is October 1st, but I never trust that. There’s also no official cover yet, sooo I don’t know when the book’ll come out exactly. The SJM website isn’t particularly helpful either. But I wanted to put the book on the list anyway, because surely it’ll come out if not the 1st, then soon after that? I know it was supposed to come out way earlier, but I read that SJM wanted to take a break from TOG.

Either way, I’m really excited for this book because I love it when an entire literary world gets its own book. There will be a bunch of art inside, a timeline of events, and we’re going to read about Terrasen’s future!

Goodreads blurb:

The official guide to the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series complete with characters, creatures, new artwork, and more! Everyone knows the story of the assassin queen.

But now, fans of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series will be immersed in her journey like never before. From Adarlan’s dark past to Terrasen’s bright future, this comprehensive guide will bring the people, creatures, settings, magic, gods, and world of Aelin’s epic journey to life in stunning illustrations and descriptive portrayals. Complete with an expansive vocabulary and timeline of events, this is the must-have official companion to the Throne of Glass series. 

Wow, I have five books on the list this month. That’s more than I’ve had the last couple of months! I do think all these books are going straight to my birthday wish list!

More Blogtober here!