Book of the Month is a subscription box in which members choose up to 3 hardcover books to receive each month. Once you become a BOTM BFF, you can receive up to 5 books per month.
You can sign up here to get your first book for $5.
Every month, I make pretty accurate (80-100%) predictions about which books will be featured by Book of the Month (BOTM). I take a lot of time to research upcoming releases, analyze past selections, and choose books that are solid bets.
I am sad to say that I think there is a solid possibility that October 2024 is the month BOTM embraces Frieda McFadden. I mentioned my thoughts on this in the October Hints post. Although I am still holding out hope that this month’s first hint refers to Entitlement, I decided not to include McFadden’s The Boyfriend below. If BOTM does end up selecting The Boyfriend, you can bet I will have some strong opinions about it.
Since 2024 is an election year, publishing slows down after the summer. This results in fewer big titles, especially in the last quarter of the year. I think there are still some decent choices this month, including a number of horror novels, although I still anticipate some complaints from members about the picks’ lack of “spookiness”.
I think the books will most likely drop on Monday, September 30.
Contemporary & Literary Fiction
I wavered whether to include a few books but ultimately ruled them out, including Love Can’t Feed You by Cherry Lou Sy and How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? by Anna Montague, .
Entitlement
Rumaan Alam
Synopsis: A novel of money and morality from the New York Times bestselling author of Leave the World Behind. Taut, unsettling, and alive to the seductive distortions of money, Entitlement is a riveting tale for our new gilded age, a story that confidently considers questions about need and worth, race and privilege, philanthropy and generosity, passion and obsession. It is a provocative, propulsive novel about the American imagination.
Repeat Author
The Book of George
Kate Greathead
Synopsis: From the author of the critically acclaimed Laura & Emma comes a The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. for our times: Kate Greathead’s razor-sharp but big-hearted excavation of millennial masculinity, The Book of George. As hilarious as it is resonant and as singular as it is universal, The Book of George is a deft, unexpectedly moving portrait of one man—but also countless others.
Hate Follow
Erin Quinn-Kong
Synopsis: This riveting, thought-provoking novel pulls back the curtain on influencer culture to reveal a story of a mother and daughter grappling with what they owe one another as they struggle to navigate life in the glaring public eye.
Debut
Libby Lost and Found
Stephanie Booth
Synopsis: Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don’t know who they are without the books they love. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves and the chapters of our lives we regret. Most importantly, it’s about the endings we write for ourselves.
A Reason to See You Again
Jami Attenberg
Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Jami Attenberg comes a dazzling novel of family, following a troubled mother and her two daughters over forty years and through a swiftly changing American landscape as they seek lives they can fully claim as their own.
Repeat Author
This Motherless Land
Nikki May
Synopsis: From the acclaimed author of Wahala, a vibrant decolonial retelling of Mansfield Park, exploring identity, culture, race, and love. Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted.
Early Release
Historical Fiction
The Witches of El Paso
Luis Jaramillo
Synopsis: A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this richly imagined and empowering story of motherhood, magic, and legacy in the vein of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and La Hacienda.
Debut
Our Evenings
Alan Hollinghurst
Synopsis: From the internationally acclaimed winner of the Booker Prize, a piercing novel of modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed experiences
The Secret War of Julia Child
Diana R. Chambers
Synopsis: Before she mastered the art of French cooking in midlife, Julia Child found herself working in the secrets trade in Asia during World War II, a journey that will delight both historical fiction fans and lovers of America’s most beloved chef, revealing how the war made her into the icon we know now.
Like Mother, Like Mother
Susan Rieger
Synopsis: An enthralling novel about three generations of strong-willed women, unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past. Spanning generations, and populated by complex, unforgettable characters, Like Mother, Like Mother is an exhilarating, portrait of family, marriage, ambition, power, the stories we inherit, and the lies we tell to become the people we believe we’re meant to be.
Early Release
Romance
I wavered whether to include a few books but ultimately ruled them out, including Double Apex by Josie Juniper. I have not included The Wedding Witch (The Ex Hex, #3) by Erin Sterling because it is a Christmas novel. I assumed that because it is holiday themed, it would more likely be a December pick.
Best Hex Ever
Nadia El-Fassi
Synopsis: A kitchen witch with a penchant for baking and a (literally) cursed love life meets someone who’s worth breaking a hex for in this enchanting romance debut written with a heap of spice and an equal measure of heart.
Debut
I Did Something Bad
Pyae Moe Thet War
Synopsis: In this smart and swoony adventure rom-com, a journalist and a movie star find themselves teaming up to cover up a murder…and falling for each other in the process. Will they get away with murder? Can Khin get the exposé she needs for her dream job? And is she willing to risk Tyler’s trust in the process?
Debut
Fang Fiction
Kate Stayman-London
Synopsis: She’s out for adventure. He’s out for blood. The world of your favorite fantasy novels is real, and you’re invited to visit. The only catch? It’s filled with thirsty vampires. Devour this page-turning romance from the bestselling author of One to Watch.
Repeat Author
Wish I Were Here
Melissa Wiesner
Synopsis: In this witty and charming love story perfect for fans of Sophie Cousens, Ashley Poston, and Josie Silver, a buttoned-up math professor is forced to rely on her carefree doorman when her identity mysteriously disappears.
Repeat Author
Catch and Keep
Erin Hahn
Synopsis: In Erin Hahn’s cozy, swoony romance, Maren Laughlin’s just turned down her boyfriend’s proposal, walked away from her decade-long position as a park ranger, and returned to her childhood playground to accept her inheritance: a decrepit waterfront bait shop. She’s ready to start making her own moves, even if everyone else thinks she’s making the wrong ones. Well, not everyone―at least the local heartstopper and resort owner is on her side.
Repeat Author
Thrillers, Mysteries, & Horror
I also waffled about a couple of books, primarily No One Will Know by Rose Carlyle, The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak, and The Queen by Nick Cutter, but ultimately left them off my prediction list.
Society of Lies
Lauren Ling Brown
Synopsis: A dark and haunting debut that explores secret societies, the bonds of sisterhood, and the intricacies of privilege at an elite college.
Debut
The Undercurrent
Sarah Sawyer
Synopsis: An overwhelmed new mother becomes obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a young girl from her small Texas hometown—and unearths her own family’s dark secret. Told in multiple perspectives with two different timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, obsession, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.
Debut
This Girl’s A Killer
Emma C. Wells
Synopsis: For readers of Finlay Donovan is Killing It and The Bandit Queens comes a bright and biting thriller following Cordelia Black, a best friend, a businesswoman, and, in her spare time, a killer of bad men.
Debut
The Last One at the Wedding
Jason Rekulak
Synopsis: From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.
The Blue Hour
Paula Hawkins
Synopsis: Welcome to Eris: an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for 12 hours each day. Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago. Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation. But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling. And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge….
Repeat Author | Early Release
Horror & Gothic Fiction
I debated about including I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong but ultimately decided the books below are more likely.
The Book of Witching
C.J. Cooke
Synopsis: A mother must fight for her daughter’s life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.
This Cursed House
Del Sandeen
Synopsis: In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.
Debut
The House at Watch Hill
Karen Marie Moning
Synopsis: #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets…
Model Home
Rivers Solomon
Synopsis: Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring, Model Home is the story of secret histories uncovered, and of a queer family battling for their right to live, grieve, and heal amid the terrors of contemporary American life.
Tiny Threads
Lilliam Rivera
Synopsis: In this sinister, slow-burn novel of supernatural suspense, a young woman gets her dream job working for a famous designer—and discovers the dark side of high-stakes fashion.
Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism
I debated about whether to include It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson.
The Crescent Moon Tearoom
Stacy Sivinski
Synopsis: An endearing debut novel about three clairvoyant sisters who face an unexpected twist of Fate at the bottom of their own delicate porcelain cups.
Debut
Run
Blake Crouch
Synopsis: A gripping apocalyptic thriller about a man and his family running for their lives in an America gone mad—from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion.
Repeat Author
Sorcery and Small Magics
Maiga Doocy
Synopsis: From debut author Maiga Doocy comes the charming tale of an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival as they venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell that can break the curse between them—only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.
Debut
The Ancients
John Larison
Synopsis: A richly imagined, sweeping novel of hope, love, and adventure set in the unforgiving world of our own descendants, by the acclaimed author of Whiskey When We’re Dry.
Blood Over Bright Haven
M.L. Wang
Synopsis: The first woman ever admitted to a prestigious order of mages unravels a secret conspiracy that could change the practice of magic forever, in this standalone dark fantasy from the author of The Sword of Kaigen.
Early Release
The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells
Rachel Greenlaw
Synopsis: In a magical new direction for One Christmas Morning author Rachel Greenlaw, an evocative and mysterious story about lost love and the magic of coming home, for readers of Adrienne Young and Breanne Randall.
New & Young Adult
The Dagger & the Flame
Catherine Doyle
Synopsis: In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love in this searing young adult fantasy.
For She Is Wrath
Emily Varga
Synopsis: A sweeping, Pakistani romantic fantasy reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo, where one girl seeks revenge against those who betrayed her—including the boy she used to love.
Debut | Early Release
Heir
Sabaa Tahir
Synopsis: Prepare for a ruthless and romantic new fantasy from #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award winning author Sabaa Tahir that introduces a new generation of characters set in the same world as the unforgettable An Ember in the Ashes series.
Where the Library Hides
Isabel Ibañez
Synopsis: Where the Library Hides is Isabel Ibañez’s stunning conclusion to the story that started in What the River Knows. A lush immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, and a rivals-to-lovers romance like no other!
Repeat Author | Early Release
Short Stories
Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, & Betrayal
Olivie Blake
Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Januaries, a stunning collection of short fiction featuring fourteen magical ruminations on life, death, and the love—or desire for revenge—that outlasts both.
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