New Releases to add to your TBR this week (9th September)

Romance and Romantasy readers are in luck this week with so many new titles from our favourite series or favourite authors. The first one that has been stacking up in our little bookshop as people come to collect their pre-orders is Burn of the Everflame by Penn Cole. This is book four, and the HUGE finale to the popular Kindred's Curse Saga, an epic romantasy that I have added to my own TBR after hearing everyone rave about it. Amelia is reading Burn of the Everflame right now and loving it, so I'm excited to read her review soon! The other romance fantasy/romantasy read that I was excited to see arrive yesterday is Tempest by Victoria Aveyard - the first new book in several years from the author of Red Queen (and her adult debut!). It's an epic adventure of pirates and love (and betrayal) on the Lyrian Sea that sounds absolutely amazing.

The book that I picked up yesterday and will be starting as soon as I feel emotionally prepared is Psychotic Obsession by Leigh Rivers. This is technically a prequel to her Edge of Darkness series which was the series that made me a dark romance reader, and the cool thing about this book is you will love it if you loved the series, but it can also be read first if you're new to Leigh Rivers and don't mind your romance with a lot of morally grey flags. Fellow dark romance readers will probably also be excited to see a new Penelope Douglas book arriving this week - Midnight Curfew, an intense queer, dark love story set in a hot and humid summer of southern Floida. It's forbidden love which as we know, Douglas is rather an expert at writing. 

The other fiction releases this week for the less romance inclined include the Booker Longlisted Marlon James, The Disappearers, which sounds gritty and devastating. Shirl read his other novel set in Jamaica, A Brief History of Seven Killings, which took out the Booker Prize in 2015 and sounds like an incredible read so no doubt this one will be as well.

We also have the latest Kate Atkinson, Our Noble Selves, which is a quirky historical fiction novel set right after World War 2 with The Festival of Britain as people try to recover and rebuild a sense of self and purpose. It sounds fascinating and Kate always does such interesting things with narrative and story so I'm excited to read this one soon. For the cozy fiction readers, check out The Nine Lives of a Bookshop Cat by Kentara Utsugi, a story about a bookshop where cats who belonged to authors seem to be drawn to. 

Lastly, husband, Edd, read an ARC of Massif which is a new sci-fi book from Garth Nix. The premise and the world building sounded incredibly unique as he explained it to me - think massive sentient mountain ranges that can move? He said about it "At its heart, this is a found family story built around a rescue mission, and that's where the book's emotional weight sits. The mystery ties it all together and keeps you engaged through to the end." 

It's a big week for cookbooks with three new ones that all sound incredible, featuring both big international authors and our local amazing talent too. Ottolenghi is back with more amazing, flavour packed recipes in Simple Too, whilst the amazing local Two Raw Sisters are back with another cookbook too, How We Cook, all about making eating well easier and more adaptable. For a modern take on traditional Scottish recipes, make sure to check out Scran by Ali Stoner - it looks stunning.

I am so excited to get my copy of More by Gillian Anderson. I love the project she started with Want, getting women from around the world and from every age 18+ to share their deepest desires and fantasies. Full of anonymous letters that are unapologetically honest, this book is not for the faint of heart but I'm so here for it. 

The World Beneath Our Feet sounds right up my microhistory loving alley, focused on the hidden life of soil and why it's so important for us all. I'm also keen to read Never Say War by Asne Seierstad, an insider look into life within Putin's Russia that has just been longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. 

There's also a book investigating the confusing world of wellness (Make Me Well by Xand van Tulleken), a thorough portrait of the region of the Modern Middle East and it's making with The Cauldron by Simon Sebag Montefeiore, and a curiosity piquing showcase of 31 Inventions that Built Our World by John Elledge. So much good stuff!