15 Book Releases We’re Excited About This Month

And What You Can Read in the Meantime

Reading Ahead

No matter how many books we may already have in our towering TBR piles, we still can't resist browsing (and buying!) all the exciting new reads. This month’s most anticipated list is packed with big names and long-awaited follow-ups! Here are fifteen volumes available for preorder, plus a previously published book with a similar vibe you can get right now.

September 7

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Known for rich, layered novels, Groff has been wowing us ever since her hauntingly original 2008 debut. This historical novel set in twelfth-century Europe is a defiant exploration of the raw power of female creativity.

What to read first: The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang

An incandescent and heartrending memoir about the author's five years living undocumented after immigrating with her parents from China to New York City in 1994. Wang's story is searing and unforgettable.

What to read first: The Leavers by Lisa Ko

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

In this YA fantasy, Orquídea Divina's family arrives at her funeral hoping that her tightly held secrets will be revealed. Instead, the mystical matriarch is transformed, leaving her progeny with more questions than answers.

What to read first: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Meet Irish millennials Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon. They desire each other, they delude each other. They worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness?

What to read first: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Poet Warrior: A Memoir by Joy Harjo

The second memoir from the first Native American to serve as US poet laureate is a musical, kaleidoscopic meditation. It's a luminous journey of becoming that sings with all the jazz, blues, tenderness, and bravery that infuses her work.

What to read first: Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo

September 14

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Biologist Olive Smith doesn't believe in the possibility of lasting love. But after staging a fake relationship with a colleague to satisfy her best friend, she is surprised to find that it is her own heart under the microscope.

What to read first: The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Following up on back-to-back Pulitzer-winners, the author invokes 1960s New York City with this entertaining heist novel. As central character Ray Carney navigates a double life, it gets harder and harder to keep it all together.

What to read first: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

From the bestselling author behind Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers comes another page-turning thriller about a set of four adult siblings divided by the mysterious disappearance of their mother. Is their father responsible?

What to read first: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

This dark, adult fantasy (the first in a new series!) incorporates the use of original illustrations by artist Nan Fe. It's an edge-of-your-seat epic with legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won.

What to read first: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

September 21

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

This whimsical fantasy features a newly dead spirit who isn't ready to abandon his barely lived life. Given one week to cross over, Wallace sets about learning how to live with the help of the man tasked with ferrying him to the other side.

What to read first: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

An intimate and moving account of a widowed father struggling to save his troubled son. As with the author's Pulitzer-winning The Overstory, this cli-fi novel is about environmental endangerment, particularly that of animals.

What to read first: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

September 28

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

They may be pushing eighty, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. This sequel, a cozy mystery about four septuagenarians who find themselves solving murder mysteries, is just as much fun as its predecessor.

What to read first: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

Hooray for the second installment in the bestselling Scholomance Series! Our favorite dark sorceress is caught between a rock and a hard place as she tries not to yield her formidable powers while the savagery of the school takes hold.

What to read first: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

It's been a long wait (over six years!) for a follow-up from the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author. His new novel, a celebration of resilience and hope, weaves together the stories of children living worlds and centuries apart.

What to read first: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A Calling for Charlie Burnes by Joshua Ferris

This wildly funny story is about the modern American family and the larger-than-life father at the center of it. Charlie Burnes is a lifelong schemer and an eternal romantic who's presented with a second chance at love.

What to read first: Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

Hopefully there's something here that catches your eye! Let us know which new books you're most excited about this month. And be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily book recommendations, literary tidbits, and more.

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon