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.
With September 30 as a release date, I think there is a solid chance we will see some September books among the selections. I have not included those below, but you can see my September predictions here.
I think that October books will most likely drop on Monday, September 29; Tuesday, September 30; or Wednesday, October 1.
Literary Fiction
I wavered whether to include a few books but ultimately ruled them out (including The Devil Is a Southpaw by Brandon Hobson, Wreck by Catherine Newman, and Sacrament by Susan Straight.)
The Ten Year Affair
Erin Somers
Synopsis: A hilariously acerbic sliding doors novel about a chance meeting between two young parents, both happily married (just not to each other) that sparks a will-they-won’t-they romance—perfect for fans of Big Swiss and Acts of Service.
Debut
Workhorse
Caroline Palmer
Synopsis: A richly drawn, unsettling, and wickedly funny story of envy and ambition set against the glamor and privilege of media and high society in New York City at its height. A brilliant page-turner about what it means to be in thrall to wealth, beauty, and influence, and the outrageous sacrifices women must make for the sake of success.
Debut
Bad Bad Girl
Gish Jen
Synopsis: The award-winning author of The Resisters returns with an engrossing, blisteringly funny-sad autobiographical novel tracing a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship. Spanning continents, generations, and cultures, Bad Bad Girl is a novel only Gish Jen could have written: genre-bending, courageous, wise, and as immensely incisive as it is compassionate.
Bog Queen
Anna North
Synopsis: The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North–a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.
Repeat Author
A Guardian and A Thief
Megha Majumdar
Synopsis: Megha Majumdar’s electrifying new novel, following her acclaimed New York Times bestseller A Burning is set in a near-future Kolkata, India, ravaged by climate change and food scarcity, in which two families seeking to protect their children must battle each other. A piercing and propulsive tour de force.
Repeat Author
Historical Fiction
I also considered I Am You by Victoria Redel but decided to ultimately leave it off my predictions.
The Last Spirits of Manhattan
John A. McDermott
Synopsis: Based on a true story, this sparkling and witty novel whisks you to 1956 Manhattan, where famed director Alfred Hitchcock is hosting a star-studded party in an allegedly haunted house…only for the soiree to be interrupted by a ghostly party crasher.
Debut
The Women of Artemis
Hannah Lynn
Synopsis: Mothers. Daughters. Warriors. Women. This is the never-before-told story of history’s most ferocious heroines: this is the rise of the Amazons. From award-winning and critically acclaimed author Hannah Lynn comes a gripping tale about women who fight back, perfect for fans of Madeleine Miller and Elodie Harper.
The Hong Kong Widow
Kristen Loesch
Synopsis: Hong Kong, 1953: In a remote mansion, witnesses insist a massacre took place. The police see nothing but pristine rooms and declare it a collective hallucination. Until decades later, when one witness returns…from the Edgar®-nominated author of The Last Russian Doll.
Repeat Author
Romance
I also waffled about a couple of books, primarily Alice Rue Evades the Truth by Emily Zipps, Overdue by Stephanie Perkins, The Best Worst Thing by Lauren Okie, Kitty St. Clair’s Last Dance by Kate Robb, and Witch of the Wolves by Kaylee Archer.
The Second Chance Cinema
Thea Weiss
Synopsis: A magical theater atop a cobblestone path alters what a couple knows about themselves—and each other—in this scintillating debut brimming with nostalgia and life-affirming wonder.
Debut
Never Over
Clare Gilmore
Synopsis: A swoony second-chance romance where facing the one who broke your heart could be the thing that makes your dream come true.
Backslide
Nora Dahlia
Synopsis: The author of the sexy, smart, and sweetly satisfying Pick-Up returns with a second chance romance perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez! Exes are thrown together at their best friends’ wine country un-wedding and forced to reckon with their past…and lingering sparks.
Thrillers, Mysteries, & Crime Fiction
I also waffled about a couple of books, primarily The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong, Keep This for Me by Jennifer Fawcett, and The Intruder by Frieda McFadden.
Boom Town
Nic Stone
Synopsis: Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl meets P-Valley in Nic Stone’s adult thriller debut about two missing erotic dancers from Atlanta’s most notorious gentlemen’s club and the woman committed to finding them. This tantalizing thriller will take you on a heart-pounding and page turning journey through the peaks and valleys of Atlanta’s underworld.
Debut
The Gallery Assistant
Kate Belli
Synopsis: This twisty and sinister thriller follows a New York art gallery assistant reckoning with her past and now trapped in a web of deceit after an up-and-coming painter is murdered—perfect for fans of Katy Hays and Julia Bartz.
The Hitchhikers
Chevy Stevens
Synopsis: The open road beckons. A chance for them to reconnect. Then they make a fatal mistake. A chilling, twist-laden ride to the final page, The Hitchhikers is that rare novel that will break your heart as well as hold you in suspense.
Horror & Gothic Fiction
I also considered Atlas of Unknowable Things by McCormick Templeman before deciding to leave it off my list.
If the Dead Belong Here
Carson Faust
Synopsis: When a young girl goes missing, the ghosts of the past collide with her family’s secrets in a mesmerizing Native American Southern Gothic. Steeped in Indigenous folklore and drawing from the author’s own family history, If the Dead Belong Here examines what it means to be haunted—both by the supernatural and by terrors of our own making.
Debut
The Last Witch
C. J. Cooke
Synopsis: A deeply compelling historical horror novel following a woman accused of being a witch who must use her voice to fight for her life—and the truth—from the acclaimed author of The Book of Witching.
Repeat Author
Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism
I wavered whether to include a few books but ultimately ruled them out (including The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell and Kill the Beast by Serra Swift.) If there is an early release this month, Fallen City by Adrienne Young is the best bet.
Red City
Marie Lu
Synopsis: The Godfather meets The Magicians in the sweeping adult debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Red City is a dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a glittering alternate Los Angeles.
Conform
Ariel Sullivan
Synopsis: In the far future, one young woman finds herself torn between two loves—and two sides of a rebellion boiling under the surface—in the first novel of a sweeping dystopian romance series.
Debut
The Everlasting
Alix E. Harrow
Synopsis: From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.
The Book of Autumn
Molly O’Sullivan
Synopsis: For readers of Adrienne Young, Olivie Blake, Erin Sterling, and Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, a spellbinding debut about ambition, privilege, second chance romance, and ancient magic set at an enchanted school tucked among the red mesas of rural New Mexico, where a formidable pair of magicians are summoned to pursue an alleged killer.
Debut
The Women of Wild Hill
Kirsten Miller
Synopsis: A witty, spectacular, and timely tale of modern-day witches waging war on the patriarchy, from fan favorite Kirsten Miller, the author of The Change and Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books.
Repeat Author
The Keeper of Magical Things
Julie Leong
Synopsis: An almost-mage discovers friendship—and maybe something more—in the unlikeliest of places in this delightfully charming novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Teller of Small Fortunes.
Repeat Author
Young Adult
Hazelthorn
C.G. Drews
Synopsis: Instant New York Times-bestselling author of Don’t Let the Forest In returns with another deeply unsettling and yet hauntingly beautiful tale of murder and botanical body horror, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White, Annihilation, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Nonfiction
Paper Girl
Beth Macy
Synopsis: From one of our most acclaimed chroniclers of the forces eroding America’s social fabric, her most personal and powerful work: a reckoning with the changes that have rocked her own beloved small Ohio hometown.
Next of Kin
Gabrielle Hamilton
Synopsis: An electrifying memoir about the demise of a singular family—a stunning new book by Gabrielle Hamilton, author of the New York Times bestseller and James Beard Award winner Blood, Bones & Butter.
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