Today, let’s look back on September and look forward to October.
Favourite September reads
I read eight book in September and DNF’d one—but we won’t talk about that one because nobody cares. My favourite few of the month are below. Just click on the images to be taken to the book’s Amazon page.
The Bridge Kingdom and The Traitor Queen are books one and two in The Bridge Kingdom series, and it’s honestly one of my new favourite series! These books were outstanding and so fun. I almost started a reread as soon as I’d finished them. The series has got romance, intrigue, politics, battles, banter, a feisty heroine and a swoon-worthy hero, a really cool fantasy world, excellent world-building. Do yourself a favour and give it a read if you like adult fantasy romance.
The Bear and the Nightingale is one of the most atmospheric books I’ve ever read and is a beautiful and enchanting read.
Raybearer is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read in terms of world-building and magic systems. It started off a bit slow, but once the book picked up, I didn’t want to set it down. There are so many intricate plot, character development, and world-building pieces that are seemlessly woven together. I definitely understand why Raybearer has a 4.5 rating on Goodreads.
Abstract Love was so good! I stayed up way past midnight on a work night to finish it because I just had to know what happens to Sam and Donovan. Office romance, age gap, opposites attract, enemies to lovers, witty banter… Could you ask for anything else?
Books I’m looking forward to reading in October
You might remember that I also had Cemetery Boys and The Bone Shard Daughter on last month’s High Five Friday post in the “Books I’m looking forward to reading in September” section. Well, these came via mail, Cemetery Boys as part of Rainbow Crate’s September box (Rainbow Crate is a new LGBTQ+ subscription box! Check it out!), and The Bone Shard Daughter via Illumicrate’s author debut box, and I only received them recently and haven’t had time to read them. So onto the October TBR they go! (Of note, I accidentally/on purpose ended up with three copies of Cemetery Boys, which means I’ll be giving at least one away in my Facebook Group at some point in the next few weeks. If you’re not a member, you’ll want a join!)
Love Always, Wild is my current read. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from A.M. Johnson. I have a feeling it’s going to be a little angstier than I tend to like, but I’m only 34% into the book at the time of this writing, and I’m already loving the two main characters. I can’t wait to see where this book takes me. And check out the beautiful cover! [I don’t think this is up for pre-order yet, so the image below links to A.M. Johnson’s Facebook profile instead.]
Brothersong. I mean, do I really need to explain this one? Raise your hand if you, too, have been waiting FOREVER for this book.
I loved The Bear and the Nightingale so much and I’m told that the Winternight Trilogy actually gets better with each book, so I’m so excited to read the second book in the series, The Girl in the Tower, in October!
On the writing front
I’m about 40K words into my current WIP—the one I’ve been calling Ethan + Casey because I haven’t been able to think of a better title—my college romance between two childhood best friends turned fake boyfriends. It’s slowly coming along. The goal is to have it with my beta readers by the third week of October. I’ll most likely be releasing this one in February or March 2021.
Last month I released Risking the Shot, the fourth book in my Stick Side series. If you haven’t read it, do check it out! The series itself can be read in any order, so you can even start with the fourth book if you’re new to the series.
Gingerbread Mistletoe, my Christmas enemies to lovers romance, is off to my copyeditor! This is book two in the Lighthouse Bay series and is releasing on November 17th. I’m currently working on the blurb (in case you’re wondering—it’s not going well 
), so more to come on that in a few weeks.
Blurb writing for Gingerbread Mistletoe is going about like this…
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Audiobook news! My narrator completed edits to the On the Ice audiobook and it has been submitted to ACX! They’re doing quality checks, or whatever they do with audiobooks, which can take up to 30 days. Lame, I know, but what can you do? So look for more info about that nearer to the end of the month (I hope).
Italian readers! On the Ice is coming in Italian on October 22nd! (I know I said September 30th last month, but my Italian publisher had to push it back.) And the cover reveal is coming on October 12. Stay tuned for more details, or sign up for my newsletter to be kept up to date.
That’s it for the September edition of High Five Friday. Thanks for reading!
What books are you looking forward to reading in October? Leave a comment below!