![\"Most](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.llamareadsbooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/anticipated.jpg?resize=1280%2C720\")
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I’m going to start off by saying I read 8 out of the 10 books I recommended in August, which, frankly, I think is some kind of record for me. I doubt that’ll be possible with the whopping *sixteen*\u00a0<\/em>books I’m looking forward to in September. I’m guessing this is the big pre-holiday season rush, but it’s hard to complain when there’s so many good books coming out.<\/p>\n Here’s my list of sixteen books I’m looking forward in September!<\/p>\n Isabel meets Derek at exactly the wrong time… or is it exactly right?<\/b><\/p>\n Can Isabel return this year for a refund? Because it sucks. Her editing business would be paying her bills just fine… if her ex-boyfriend wasn’t blackmailing her. Of course, if her conservative family wouldn’t disown her for being bisexual, her ex couldn\u2019t blackmail her in the first place. Sadly, she hasn’t invented time travel to un-make the mistake that created this mess.<\/p>\n Derek has a good life. Mostly. He’s an out bisexual man with a successful business and a loving queer found family. But he’s almost forty, living alone is getting stale, and yet dating seems pointless since nobody’s ever found him exciting enough to build a life with. Given he’s now doing zero-creativity craft kits to pass the time, he suspects they’re right. Maybe he should get a dog.<\/p>\n Isabel isn’t holding auditions for a rescuer, and she wouldn\u2019t have expected Derek, a gorgeous, gentle man with his own history of family rejection, to fill the role. But Derek’s “boring” life is the calm harbor Isabel needs, and her affection helps Derek see himself in a new light. Their tentative connection might become the happily ever after they both deserve\u2014if they can hold onto it through the fallout from Isabel’s recent romantic disaster.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: I trust Skye Kilaen to rip me open and then sew me back up again, and this sounds like peak hurt\/comfort to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n A diverse team of broken, diminished former criminals get back together to solve the mystery of their last, disastrous mission and to rescue a missing and much-changed comrade… but they\u2019re not the only ones in pursuit of the secret at the heart of the planet Dimmuborgir. The highly-evolved AI of the universe have their own agenda and will do whatever it takes to keep humans from ever controlling the universe again. This band of dangerous women, half-clone and half-machine, must battle their own traumas and a universe of sapient ageships who want them dead, in order to settle their affairs once and for all.<\/p>\n Cassandra Khaw\u2019s debut novel is a page-turning exploration of humans and machines that is perfect for readers of Ann Leckie, Ursula Le Guin, and Kameron Hurley.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: Rescue mission, AI<\/strong>s, and it’s queer! Plus those\u00a0read-alikes are woooow.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In just over a year\u2019s time, Ryia Cautella has already earned herself a reputation as the quickest, deadliest blade in the dockside city of Carrowwick\u2014not to mention the sharpest tongue. But Ryia Cautella is not her real name.<\/p>\n For the past six years, a deadly secret has kept her in hiding, running from town to town, doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the formidable Guildmaster\u2014the sovereign ruler of the five kingdoms of Thamorr. No matter how far or fast she travels, his servants never fail to track her down…but even the most powerful men can be defeated.<\/p>\n Ryia\u2019s path now leads directly into the heart of the Guildmaster\u2019s stronghold, and against every instinct she has, it\u2019s not a path she can walk alone. Forced to team up with a crew of assorted miscreants, smugglers, and thieves, Ryia must plan her next moves very carefully. If she succeeds, her freedom is won once and for all\u2026but unfortunately for Ryia, her new allies are nearly as selfish as she is, and they all have plans of their own.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: It’s a fantasy heist with a\u00a0bunch of morally grey characters (lady pirate!) and it’s gay.<\/strong><\/p>\n Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it\u2019s no wonder then that he\u2019s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After<\/i>. As the most successful producer in the franchise\u2019s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.<\/p>\n Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After\u00a0<\/i>expects. He doesn\u2019t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he\u2019s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he\u2019s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.<\/p>\n As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they\u2019ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.<\/p>\n In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy\u2014reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue <\/i>and One to Watch<\/i>\u2014an awkward tech <\/b>wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: Look, I’m not a fan of reality dating shows, but that cover is adorable and\u00a0the blurb sounds like my sort of catnip. Person who adores HEAs vs person who doesn’t believe they exist? Grabby hands.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it.<\/p>\n As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend\u2019s trail of bread crumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organization with secrets of its own. Meanwhile, more people start disappearing, suicides and hate crimes increase, and protests erupt globally, both for and against the monsters.<\/p>\n At the center is a mystery no one thinks to ask: Why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark?<\/p>\n The world will soon find out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: That blurb gives me the absolute creeps. Yes, yes, I do<\/em> want to know what’s frightened the monsters!<\/strong><\/p>\n Practical Magic meets Gilmore Girls in this adorable witchy rom-com with:<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022 A bisexual virgin baker with a curse Danica Waterhouse is a fully modern witch\u2014daughter, granddaughter, cousin, and co-owner of the Fix-It Witches, a magical tech repair shop. After a messy breakup that included way too much family \u201cfeedback,\u201d Danica made a pact with her cousin: they\u2019ll keep their hearts protected and have fun, without involving any of the overly opinionated Waterhouse matriarchs. Danica is more than a little exhausted navigating a long-standing family feud where Gram thinks the only good mundane is a dead one and Danica\u2019s mother weaves floral crowns for anyone who crosses her path.<\/p>\n Three blocks down from the Fix-It Witches, Titus Winnaker, owner of Sugar Daddy\u2019s bakery, has family trouble of his own. After a tragic loss, all he\u2019s got left is his sister, the bakery, and a lifetime of terrible luck in love. Sure, business is sweet, but he can\u2019t seem to shake the romantic curse that\u2019s left him past thirty and still a virgin. He\u2019s decided he\u2019s doomed to be forever alone.<\/p>\n Until he meets Danica Waterhouse. The sparks are instant, their attraction irresistible. For him, she\u2019s the one. To her, he\u2019s a firebomb thrown in the middle of a family war. Can a modern witch find love with an old-fashioned mundane who refuses to settle for anything less than forever?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: As if baking, witches and a bi MC aren’t enough, Ann Aguirre is one of my absolute favorite authors.<\/strong><\/p>\n Torn between loyalty and love, a young prince will learn how much he’s willing to sacrifice as he tries to destroy the rebellion that threatens his throne in this exhilarating sequel to Bonds of Brass.<\/b><\/p>\n Gal\u2019s destiny has always been clear: complete his training at the military academy, prove his worth as a royal successor, and ascend to the galactic throne. When a failed assassination plot against Gal sends him and Ettian\u2014his infuriatingly enticing roommate\u2014on a mad dash through the stars, Gal\u2019s plans are momentarily disrupted. But he was born to rule the Umber Empire, and with Ettian by his side, nothing will stop him from returning home and crushing the growing insurgency threatening his family\u2019s power.<\/p>\n But nothing is ever that simple in war\u2014or in love. Gal is captured by the rebellion during a skirmish and faces public execution, his grand fate cut short. To save Gal\u2019s life, Ettian does the unthinkable: he reveals himself as the secret heir to the fallen Archon Empire and rightful leader of the rebellion . . . and, therefore, Gal\u2019s sworn enemy. Now a political hostage in this newly-reignited conflict, Gal must use his limited resources to sabotage the rebellion from within, concoct an escape plan, and return to the empire he\u2019s destined to lead. And if that means taking down the man he thought he loved?<\/p>\n All the better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: I adored the first book in this series, though\u00a0to be honest I\u00a0wanted to smack Gal more on every reread. I’m curious to see if the author can redeem the jerk.<\/strong><\/p>\n Toby’s getting married! Now in hardcover, the fifteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times<\/i>-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.<\/b><\/p>\n It’s hard to be a hero. There’s always something needing October “Toby” Daye’s attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom’s problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fianc\u00e9, Tybalt, San Francisco’s King of Cats. She doesn’t mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of…happens. And that’s why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there’s not much even Toby can do to delay things…<\/p>\n …except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: I’ve read this series since the beginning, and TOBY IS GETTING MARRIED!<\/strong><\/p>\n Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of her New York Times<\/i> instant bestseller, The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with the final riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever.<\/b><\/p>\n In love they breathed. In destiny they believed. In the end, will divinity be their demise?<\/i><\/p>\n After S\u00e9verin’s seeming betrayal, the crew is fractured. Armed with only a handful of hints, Enrique, Laila, Hypnos and Zofia must find their way through the snarled, haunted waterways of Venice, Italy to locate S\u00e9verin.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, S\u00e9verin must balance the deranged whims of the Patriarch of the Fallen House and discover the location of a temple beneath a plague island where the Divine Lyre can be played and all that he desires will come to pass.<\/p>\n With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, unearthly songs and the shining steps of a temple whose powers might offer divinity itself…but at a price they may not be willing to pay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: The CLIFFHANGER at the end of the last book?!?!?!?<\/strong><\/p>\n The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.<\/p>\n When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected\u2014she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.\u200b<\/p>\n To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia\u200b. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way\u2014and stop more girls from being sacrificed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: Ok but that cover? Wow. Also, Zetian sounds completely badass. Also, it’s poly. Please put this in my eyeballs now.<\/strong><\/p>\n Homeless and jobless, Fenn Todd has nearly run out of hope. All he has left is his longing for horses and the strength of his own two hands. But when he\u2019s cheated into accepting a very ugly sackcloth horse, he\u2019s catapulted into a world of magic, politics and desire.<\/p>\n Fenn\u2019s invited to stay at the black tower, home of the most terrifying man in the realm: Morgrim, the court sorcerer. Morgrim has a reputation as a scheming villain, but he seems surprisingly charming\u2014and sexy\u2014and Fenn falls hard for him.<\/p>\n However, nothing is as it seems and everyone at the tower is lying about something. Beset by evil hexes, violent political intrigue and a horse that eats eiderdowns, Fenn must make the hardest choices of his life.<\/p>\n Can a plain man like Fenn ever find true love with a scheming sorcerer?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: It feels like that cover is trying to seduce me<\/em>. Also, that horse.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Murderbot Diaries makes first contact in this new, futuristic, standalone novel exploring sentience and artificial intelligence through the lenses of conflicted robot hero Unit Four, from Marina Lostetter, critically acclaimed author of Noumenon, Noumenon Infinity, <\/em>and Noumenon Ultra.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n When Unit Four\u2014a biological soft robot built and stored high above the Jovian atmosphere\u2014is activated for the first time, it\u2019s in crisis mode. Aliens are attacking the Helium-3 mine it was created to oversee, and now its sole purpose is to defend Earth\u2019s largest energy resource from the invaders in ship-to-ship combat.<\/p>\n But something\u2019s wrong. Unit Four doesn\u2019t feel quite right.<\/p>\n There are files in its databanks it can\u2019t account for, unusual chemical combinations roaring through its pipes, and the primers it possesses on the aliens are suspiciously sparse. The robot is under orders to seek and destroy. That\u2019s all it knows.<\/p>\n According to its handler, that\u2019s all it needs <\/em>to know.<\/p>\n Determined to fulfill its directives, Unit Four launches its ship and goes on the attack, but it has no idea it\u2019s about to get caught in a downward spiral of misinformation, reprograming, and interstellar conflict.<\/p>\n Most robots are simple tools. Unit Four is well on its way to becoming something more….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: I love first\u00a0contact books, and anything that mentions Murderbot as a comp is an\u00a0autoread for me.<\/strong><\/p>\n The ancient world of magic is no more. Its heroes are dead, its halls are ruins, and its great battles between Light and Dark are forgotten. Only the Stewards remember, and they keep their centuries-long vigil, sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns.<\/p>\n Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. When an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, Will is ushered into a world of magic, where he must train to play a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark.<\/p>\n As London is threatened by the Dark King\u2019s return, the reborn heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war begin to draw battle lines. But as the young descendants of Light and Dark step into their destined roles, old allegiances, old enmities and old flames are awakened. Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: That cover is gorgeous! It sounds a bit stereotypical good vs evil, but I’ve heard good things\u00a0about this author.<\/strong><\/p>\n A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education<\/i>, the start of Naomi Novik\u2019s groundbreaking crossover series.<\/b><\/p>\n At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year\u2014and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WHY?: I adore this author and I adored A Deadly Education<\/em> (despite some pretty awful racist bits which I hope have been removed in the newest bit). I loved prickly El and himbo Orion and the whole magic system and and and… Definitely one of my most anticipated books of the year!<\/strong><\/p>\n Good Omens<\/i> meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet<\/i> in this defiantly joyful adventure set in California’s San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.<\/b><\/p>\n Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.<\/p>\n When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.<\/p>\n But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.<\/p>\n As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nTell Me Anything – Skye Kilaen<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(September 2)<\/h4>\n
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\nThe All-Consuming World – Cassandra Khaw<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 7)<\/h4>\n
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\nAmong Thieves – M.J. Kuhn<\/strong><\/a> (September 7)<\/h4>\n
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A high-stakes heist novel set in a gritty world of magic and malice<\/b><\/p>\n
\nThe Charm Offensive – Alison\u00a0Cochrun\u00a0<\/strong><\/a> (September 7)<\/h4>\n
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\nNo Gods, No Monsters – Cadwell Turnbull<\/strong><\/a> (September 7)<\/h4>\n
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\nWitch Please – Ann Aguirre<\/strong><\/a> (September 7)<\/h4>\n
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\n\u2022 A witch looking to avoid romantic entanglements
\n\u2022 And a chemistry between them that causes literal sparks<\/p>\n
\nOaths of Legacy – Emily Skrutskie<\/strong><\/a> (September 14)<\/h4>\n
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\nWhen Sorrows Come – Seanan McGuire<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 14)<\/h4>\n
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\nThe Bronze Beasts – Roshani Chokshi<\/strong><\/a> (September 21)<\/h4>\n
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\nIron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(September 21)<\/h4>\n
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\nSeducing the Sorceror – Lee Welch<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 23)<\/h4>\n
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\nActivation Degredation – Marina J. Lostetter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 28)<\/h4>\n
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\nDark Rise – C.S. Pascat<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 28)<\/h4>\n
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\nThe Last Graduate – Naomi Novik<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 28)<\/h4>\n
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\nLight from Uncommon Stars – Ryka Aoki<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(September 28)<\/h4>\n
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