10 Most Anticipated September 2021 Book Releases

 

The leaves are starting to fall, the air is getting crisper...autumn is just around the corner, and with it, all of the new book releases which this season has in store for us. It's time to start adding these books to your autumn TBR, starting off with September 2021's top book releases.

 

Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr

 

"Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna’s will cross.

 

 

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege. And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father. She has never set foot on our planet."

This new novel from the author of the bestselling All The Light We Cannot See is no doubt top of many readers' lists this month. I still haven't read ATLWCS (I know, I know)...so it looks like I've got some catching up to do.

 

Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty

 

"If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

 

 

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

 

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

 

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

 

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

 

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light."

 

Yes yes and more yes. I cannot WAIT for this one - I'm a huge fan of Liane Moriarty and have been ever since I discovered her through Big Little Lies when I was around 14. Her new book sounds amazing - a perfect thriller for the season.

Rock Paper Scissors - Alice Feeney

 

"Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

 

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after."

 

I love a good domestic thriller, and this one sounds ideal for fans of The Wife Between Us - I can't wait to read it.

Never Saw Me Coming - Vera Kurian

 

"Meet Chloe Sevre. She’s a freshman honor student, a leggings-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties, and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.

 

 

Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study for psychopaths—students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.

 

When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths—and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath."

 

A voice driven thriller told from the perspective of a psychopath? Err...yes please.

The Night She Disappeared - Lisa Jewell

 

"2017: 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim.

 

 

Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

 

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah's friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

 

She never returns.

 

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

 

'DIG HERE' . . ."

I'm not apologising for the amount of thrillers on this list - autumn is thriller season after all, and I can't think of a better setting for an autumnal thriller than a creepy abandoned mansion.

 

The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman

 

"It's the following Thursday.

 

 

Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

 

As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?

 

But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?"

 

If you were a fan of Richard Osman's hugely popular Thursday Murder Club, you'll want to keep your eye out for his new book coming out this month.

The Wish - Nicholas Sparks

 

"1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at sixteen to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind . . . until she meets Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point, Bryce gradually shows her how much there is to love about the wind-swept beach town—and introduces her to photography, a passion that will define the rest of her life.

 

 

By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him.

 

As they count down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined."

 

So many popular authors releasing new books this month! If you're a fan of Nicholas Sparks' classic romantic, tragic, heart-wrenching story lines, I'm sure you'll be adding this one to your list.

Beautiful World, Where Are You - Sally Rooney

 

"Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?"

 

I have seen so much about this book since it released earlier this month. If you're a Sally Rooney fan, no doubt you will already have your hands on a copy of this one! I did enjoy Normal People, but dare I say I actually enjoyed the TV adaptation more than the book...and I couldn't get into Conversations with Friends either. I think I'll wait and see how more of the reviews for this one turn out and then maybe I will cave and read it!

 

Once Upon A Broken Heart - Stephanie Garber

 

"Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.

 

 

But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…"

 

From the author of the much loved Caraval trilogy comes a new series about love and curses. I wasn't personally a huge fan of Caraval and did not finish the trilogy - however, if you were a fan, this is one to look out for.

The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood

 

"As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

 

 

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs.

 

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope."

 

If you're looking for a lighter, fluffier romance - this might be the book for you this season.

Portrait of a Scotsman - Evie Dunmore

 

"London banking heiress Hattie Greenfield wanted "just" three things in life:

 

 

1. Acclaim as an artist.

2. A noble cause.

3. Marriage to a young lord who puts the gentle in gentleman.

 

Why then does this Oxford scholar find herself at the altar with the darkly attractive financier Lucian Blackstone, whose murky past and ruthless business practices strike fear in the hearts of Britain's peerage? Trust Hattie to take an invigorating little adventure too far. Now she's stuck with a churlish Scot who just might be the end of her ambitions....

 

When the daughter of his business rival all but falls into his lap, Lucian sees opportunity. As a self-made man, he has vast wealth but holds little power, and Hattie might be the key to finally setting long-harbored political plans in motion. Driven by an old revenge, he has no room for his new wife's apprehensions or romantic notions, bewitching as he finds her.

 

But a sudden journey to Scotland paints everything in a different light. Hattie slowly sees the real Lucian and realizes she could win everything—as long as she is prepared to lose her heart."

 

The third book in The League of Extraordinary Women series is set to be as charming, romantic and feminist as the other books.

 

Those are ten of the most anticipated book releases of September 2021? Will you be adding any to your list?