There are so many wonderful books released every month I wanted to pull together some of the ones I’m most looking forward to each month. I’ve been meaning to do this pretty much since the beginning of the year, we’re now in September so it’s only taken me two thirds of the year to get here!

To save the post becoming really really long I’m featuring 3 titles in each section, and then listing the titles of some of the other books I’ve spotted that sound super interesting!

Clicking on the title will lead to the Goodreads page. Web links to order are not affiliate links just me being helpful an enabler!

Children’s

Books for younger children don’t really feature on the blog but my goddaughter’s birthday and the dreaded C word are fast approaching and I always get her at least one book as part of her presents so I’ve been keeping my eyes open!

Head Kid – David Baddiel

Bracket Wood is about to be visited by the school inspectors. But there’s one big problem: Ryan Ward.

The maestro of practical jokes, Ryan has played so many tricks that in the end the Head Teacher just walks out. And then the new Head Teacher, Mr Carter, arrives. A man so strict even the teachers are scared of him. So imagine his surprise – and Ryan’s – when they swap bodies.

Now Ryan is Head Teacher – and his mortal enemy is one of his pupils. It’s every naughty kid’s dream!

But soon Bracket Wood School is in a total mess – and only its worst ever pupil can fix it…

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Amazon UK // Amazon US // Waterstones // Book Depository

Tilly and the Bookwanderers – Anna James

A magical adventure to delight the imagination. A curl-up-on-the-sofa debut from a uniquely talented author.

Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents’ bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.

One day Tilly realises that classic children’s characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of `book wandering’ – crossing over from the page into real life.

With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.

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Amazon UK // Waterstones // Book Depository

Property of the Rebel Librarian – Allison Varnes

When twelve-year-old June Harper’s parents discover what they deem an inappropriate library book, they take strict parenting to a whole new level. And everything June loves about Dogwood Middle School unravels: librarian Ms. Bradshaw is suspended, an author appearance is canceled, the library is gutted, and all books on the premises must have administrative approval.

But June can’t give up books . . . and she realizes she doesn’t have to when she spies a Little Free Library on her walk to school. As the rules become stricter at school and at home, June keeps turning the pages of the banned books that continue to appear in the little library. It’s a delicious secret . . . and one she can’t keep to herself. June starts a banned book library of her own in an abandoned locker at school. The risks grow alongside her library’s popularity, and a movement begins at Dogwood Middle–a movement that, if exposed, could destroy her. But if it’s powerful enough, maybe it can save Ms. Bradshaw and all that she represents: the freedom to read.

Equal parts fun and empowering, this novel explores censorship, freedom of speech, and activism. For any kid who doesn’t believe one person can effect change…and for all the kids who already know they can!

Pre-Order 

Amazon UK // Amazon US // Waterstones // Book Depository

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Young Adult

I’ve been buying a lot of YA recently as you might have noticed from yesterday’s book haul! I love the sound of Not Even Bones and Happy Doomsday – and I read the first of The Rosewood Chronicles when it was released, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either I just found it a little slow moving so I’m keen to see if the action picks up a little in Princess in Practice

Not Even Bones – Rebecca Schaeffer

Dexter meets This Savage Song in this dark fantasy about a girl who sells magical body parts on the black market — until she’s betrayed.

Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet—her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” But when her mom brings home a live specimen, Nita decides she wants out — dissecting living people is a step too far.

But when she tries to save her mother’s victim, she ends up sold on the black market in his place — because Nita herself is a supernatural being. Now Nita is on the other side of the bars, and there is no line she won’t cross to escape and make sure no one can ever capture her again.

Nita did a good deed, and it cost her everything. Now she’s going to do a lot of bad deeds to get it all back.

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Amazon UK // Amazon US

Princess in Practice – Connie Glynn

As they return to Rosewood after the dramatic events of their first year, Lottie and Ellie are hoping for a peaceful term.

But strange things are happening at Rosewood. Pupils are being poisoned. 

Is the threat of secret organisation Leviathan growing closer?

Lottie and Ellie are determined to find the culprit; but danger could be closer than they think…

Pre-Order 

Amazon UK // Waterstones // Book Depository

Happy Doomsday – David Sosnowski

The end of the world is the weirdest time to come of age.

Welcome to the end of the world. One minute, people are going about their lives, and the next—not. In the wake of the inexplicable purge, only a handful of young misfits remains.

When it all went down, “Wizard of Odd” Dev Brinkman was seeking shelter from the taunts of his classmates. Goth girl Lucy Abernathy had lost her best friend and had no clue where to turn. And Twinkie-loving quarterback “Marcus” Haddad was learning why you never discuss politics and religion in polite company—or online.

As if life when you’re sixteen isn’t confusing enough, throw in the challenges of postapocalyptic subsistence, a case of survivor’s guilt turned up to seven billion, and the small task of rebuilding humankind…

No one said doomsday would be a breeze. But for Dev, Lucy, and Marcus, the greatest hope—and greatest threat—will come when they find each other.

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Amazon UK // Amazon US // Waterstones // Book Depository

Also published in September – A Room Away From The Wolves by Nova Ren Suma; The Leading Edge of Now by Marci Lyn Curtis; It Ends With You by S. K. Wright; Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton and The Opposite of Innocent by Sonya Sones

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Adult

I have been eagerly awaiting Lethal White since before anyone knew the title was Lethal White! I can’t wait to see what’s next for Cormoran and Robin! I’m a bit of a medicine geek so I love memoirs from surgeons and doctors, Unnatural Causes is the memoir of a forensic pathologist. Carol Wyer is the author behind one of my favourite crime series of last year, The Birthday is the first in her new series so I’m looking forward to picking it up.

Lethal White – Robert Galbraith

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott—once his assistant, now a partner in the agency—set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been—Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.

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Amazon UK // Amazon US // Waterstones // Book Depository

Unnatural Causes – Richard Shepherd

As the country’s top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead.

When death is sudden or unexplained, it falls to Shepherd to establish the cause. Each post-mortem is a detective story in its own right – and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them. Through his skill, dedication and insight, Dr Shepherd solves the puzzle to answer our most pressing question: how did this person die?

From serial killer to natural disaster, ‘perfect murder’ to freak accident, Shepherd takes nothing for granted in pursuit of truth. And while he’s been involved in some of the most high-profile cases of recent times, it’s often the less well known encounters that prove the most perplexing, intriguing and even bizarre. In or out of the public eye, his evidence has put killers behind bars, freed the innocent and turned open-and-shut cases on their heads.

But a life in death, bearing witness to some of humanity’s darkest corners, exacts a price and Shepherd doesn’t flinch from counting the cost to him and his family.

Unnatural Causes is an unputdownable record of an extraordinary life, a unique insight into a remarkable profession, and above all a powerful and reassuring testament to lives cut short.

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Amazon UK // Waterstones // Book Depository

The Birthday – Carol Wyer

When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party …

Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward . A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone, and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that ended very badly.

Natalie soon discovers that Ava’s mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi and as she digs deeper, she’s sure Ava’s father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden centre Elsa see that day? Something that she’s not telling Natalie …

Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn’t come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer before more innocent lives are taken?

Pre-Order 

Amazon UK // Amazon US

Also published in September – The Body on the Shore by Nick Louth; Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves and The Other Sister by Sarah Zettle

I’d love to know if any of these have piqued your interest! Are there any other books I should be looking out for this coming month? Let me know in the comments!