Happy October! We are officially in Pumpkin Spice season. Bring on the fall colors and fall temperatures as we enter the final quarter of 2020. May you all find cozy moments with books in the coming days. Here are some of the new ones out this week!
Books for Kids – Board Books and Picture Books
The Princes Bride: A Counting Story (Board Book) – A fun counting book based on the movie The Princess Bride.
All Because You Matter – A picture book assuring Black and Brown children that they matter, and that their worth is not changed by circumstances.
Attack of the Underwear Dragon – A rhyming picture book about a boy who wants to be a knight.
Click Clack Good Night – Farmer Brown is putting the farm to bed, but Duck isn’t tired.
Elf – The story of Buddy the Elf, in a picture book.
A Jedi You Will Be – A celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.
Sophie Johnson, Unicorn Expert Is a Detective Genius – Sweet, clueless Sophie is back, this time as a detective trying to solve the mystery of her lion’s missing tail with her new assistant puppy, Bella. I loved the first book in this series, and this one looks just as great!
Thesaurus Has a Secret – At first glance, it seems as though Thesaurus is a dinosaur like all the rest, just one with a better vocabulary. But it turns out Thesaurus is keeping a secret. This looks darling!
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball – The story of one of the first African-American NBA players and the one-man protest he launched when hotels and restaurants on road trips would turn him away because he was Black.
Perkin’s Perfect Purple: How A Boy Created Color with Chemistry – The true story of the chemist who developed a new way to make the color purple. I am excited to read this one!
Books for Kids – Transitional Chapter Books
Cutiecorns: Rainy Day Rescue – Book 3 in the Cutiecorns series. A new friend gets lost in a storm.
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Deluxe Edition) – An oversized, illustrated edition of the very first Magic Tree House book.
Dragon’s Merry Christmas – Book 5 in the Dragon series from Scholastic ACORN. Dragon celebrates Christmas
Dragon Masters: Fortress of the Stone Dragon – Book 17 in the Dragon Masters series from Scholastic BRANCHES. The Dragon Masters work together to stop an evil wizard who is trying to become the most powerful wizard in the world.
Hog on a Log – Book 3 in the Frog and Dog series from Scholastic ACORN. Frog and Dog make a new friend who is not good at sharing.
I Want to Sleep Under the Stars! – Part of the Unlimited Squirrels series. Zoom Squirrel wants to sleep outside under the stars. The squirrels are excited to help, but their “help” might be too much.
Izzy in the Doghouse – When Izzy and her friend have a disagreement, she wonders if getting a new puppy will help them mend their friendship. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Lucy Lopez, Coding Star – Book 3 in the After-School Superstars series. Lucy and her older sister have coded together, but when Elena starts coding more, Lucy feels left out until she joins a coding club at school.
Max Meow Cat Crusader (Graphic Novel) – Max is best friends with a superstar scientist. But when a lab accident turns Max into a superhero, he gets too arrogant to be a good friend. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem – Book 8 in the Princess in Black series. The Princess in Black is going to need all of her friends to defeat the giant who has come to smash everything in its path.
The Secret Explorers and the Tomb Robbers – One of two new books releasing in this series today. (The other is the Secret Explorers and the Jurassic Rescue.) The Explorers go up against pyramid thieves in book 3, and they take on dinosaurs in book 4.
Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote – Book 7 in the Questioneers series. Sofia is put in charge of the vote to determine their class pet and one vote goes missing, leaving the question in a tie.
Unicorn and Yeti: Cheer Up – Book 4 in the Unicorn and Yeti series from Scholastic ACORN. Three new friendship stories.
Disney/Marvel Advent Calendars – Each day reveals another small story for kids to enjoy.
Books for Older Kids/Teens
Alien Superstar: Lights, Camera, Danger – Book 2 in the Alien Superstar series. Someone arrives from Buddy’s planet to take him back home by any means necessary.
Ashton’s Dancing Dreams – Book 2 in the Daniels Sisters series from Faithgirlz. The Daniels sisters are slowly rebuilding their lives after the death of their mother (not unlike the authors who lost their mother, Wynter Evans Pitts). Each of the girls has an interest she is passionate about, and for Ashton it’s dancing. But her dancing might be at risk when her father says they could be moving to London. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Bark vs Snark -Book 3 in the Queenie and Arthur series. When Queenie wins a feline beauty contest, Arthur thinks she will be even more insufferable than usual, but she’s actually nicer than ever. That’s how he knows that this isn’t Queenie but an imposter.
The Boys in the Back Row – Two boys plan a final hurrah at a comic book convention before one of them moves away.
The Captive Kingdom – The much celebrated 4th book in what we though was the Ascendance Trilogy which kicked off with the amazing The False Prince. Once again, Jaron is fighting for his throne. I can’t wait to dig into this one!
Catwad: Four Me – Book 4 in the Catwad comics collection series.
Class Act (Graphic Novel) – A companion graphic novel to the 2020 Newbery winner, New Kid (♥♥♥♥). Drew wrestles through life as one of the few students of color at his private school.
Cleo Porter and the Body Electric – The latest from the fantastic Jake Burt (Greetings from Witness Protection was in my Top 10 from 2017!). A family securely locked away for protection during a pandemic (! This was written before Covid.) receives a package of medicine meant for someone else who desperately needs it. I can not WAIT to read this!!!
Closer to Nowhere (Older Middle Grade) – A novel in verse about a girl whose cousin moves in after the death of his mom and causes upheaval for her and her family.
DC Super Sons: Escape to Landis – The final book in the Super Sons series. Batkid, Superboy, and Tilly try to stop a deadly virus from destroying the world.
Homerooms and Hall Passes: Heroes Level Up – Sequel to the book I have been carrying around on my TBR all year, Homerooms and Hall Passes. This time, the adventurers travel back into their game of Homerooms and Hallpasses as high school freshmen in Suburbia. Maybe by the end of the year I will get caught up on both of these books.
Nightwing Rising – Comics collection that looks at the birth of Nightwing.
Premeditated Myrtle AND How to Get Away with Myrtle (Older Middle Grade) – Myrtle Hardcastle, daughter of the local Prosecutor, investigates first the mysterious death of her neighbor and then the disappearance of a tiara and it’s insurance agent aboard a train. I’ll be reviewing Premeditated Myrtle soon.
Revenge of Magic: Timeless One – Book 4 in the Revenge of Magic series. Fort has been expelled from school and some of his friends are lost in time. But the most pressing issue is Fort’s battle against the Timeless One, a villain who can see all timelines and plan for them, which leaves Fort and his friends to wonder if there is anything they can do to triumph.
Spy School Revolution – Book 8 in the Spy School series. Superspy Ben is feeling pretty great after finally defeating SPYDER. But when one of his friends bombs the CIA, he has to find out if she has turned, which is what the CIA believes, or if a centuries-old insurgent group is pulling her strings.
A Thousand Questions – A new novel from Saadia Faruqi. Mimi’s summer with grandparents she doesn’t know in Pakistan takes a positive turn when she gets to know the daughter of her grandparents’ cook and they discover that they can help each other.
Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero (Older Middle Grade) – The fifth and final book in the Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan. Lester and Meg are headed from Camp Jupiter back to Camp Half-Blood as they face a new prophecy.
Tristan Strong Destroys the World – Book 2 in the Tristan Strong series. Tristan, freshly back from the land of African American folk heroes and African gods, and suffering with PTSD, faces a new challenge when his grandmother is abducted.
Twins (Graphic Novel) – A new graphic novel from the author of The Parker Inheritance and The Great Greene Heist (♥♥♥♥). Just before the start of 6th grade, a pair of twins who do all the same things start to grow apart as one seeks out new friends and new school activities.
Wings of Fire: Winglets Quartet – The first four Winglet books, which were originally available as e-books, are now collected in a print volume.
50 Adventures in the 50 States – Highlights things to do in each state. The art work in this is fantastic!
Becoming Muhannad Ali – James Patterson and Kwame Alexander (The Crossover – ♥♥♥♥, Solo) team up to bring this biographical novel of Cassius Clay written in both prose and verse.
Who Was Benedict Arnold? AND Who Was Nellie Bly? – The latest Who Was biographies.
Wolfpack Young Readers Edition – A young readers adaptation of the terrific Wolfpack (♥♥♥♥♥) by World Cup Champion Abby Wambach about finding your voice.
Books for Teens/Young Adults
Blazewrath Games – In the Blazewrath World Cup, dragons and their riders compete. Lana wants to compete for Puerto Rico, and she’s about to get her chance when a former champion and cursed dragon in human form threaten to destroy dragon sanctuaries unless the World Cup is cancelled.
The Code for Love and Heartbreak – A contemporary retelling of Austen’s Emma. Emma creates a dating app with flawless code that has happy couples forming all over school. But when those perfect couples start breaking up, Emma has to wonder if her code and her idea is as perfect as she thought.
Crown of Secrets (e-book) – Verene is the daughter of the most powerful mage/queen in history, yet she personally has no powers. Darius is the strongest mage in his family which is how his father has managed to stay on the throne of their kingdom as long as he has. When Verene and Darius arrive at the Academy they don’t trust one another. But some would do anything to get Verene to leave. The one person who might be able to help her is Darius. At the time of this writing this is available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers to read for free.
Five Total Strangers – Mira is so eager to get home for the holidays that when a blizzard strikes and her connecting flight is cancelled, she agrees to travel with her seatmate from her initial flight. It turns out that all five of the people in the car are total strangers and mysterious and dangerous things begin to happen. Mira has to wonder if she can possible make it home alive.
I Hope You’re Listening – Ten years ago Dee witnessed the abduction of her friend Sibby. Even though she told the police everything she remembered, they never found Sibby. So Dee turns her guilt into energy for her secret true crime podcast. When another girl is abducted and the case is tied to Sibby, Dee will work with her fellow virtual detectives to dig into the case.
The Mirror: Broken Wish – First in a four-book fairy tale series written by four different authors focused on one family over generations. Elva has magic which is forbidden in her community. But when she has a disturbing vision of the future, Elva digs further into her magic in an effort to keep her vision from becoming reality.
More Than One Voice (October 11) – A short story collection that takes a look at the lives of girls around the world.
One Way or Another – Paige takes the concept of “choice anxiety” to a whole new level, feeling paralyzed by fear of making the wrong choice in everything from her art elective to what she should do with her Christmas vacation. But fate steps in on the latter when Paige has an accident that causes her to split into two people so she can follow both of her holiday options – one, a trip with her crush to his family’s mansion in the mountains and the other, a trip with her mom to New York City. All of this will force Paige to deal with her anxiety for the first time.
The Rule of All – The third and final book in the Rule of One series. Ava and Mira have stared down their enemy, but he has fled. Now they will prepare for their final show down that holds the freedom of the country in the balance. This series has always sounded amazing. I have this on my list. At the time of this writing this whole series is available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers to read for free.
The Shadow Mission – Sequel to The Athena Protocol. Jessie is back on the elite team of female spies, The Athena Project, just in time to help them take down the very man who prompted the creation of the agency in the first place.
Books for Adults – Fiction
An Amish Christmas Wedding (Trade Paperback) – A collection of four Amish Christmas stories. They all sound great!
Christmas Charms (Trade Paperback) – When Ashley’s holiday plans with her almost-fiancé fall through, she meets an older woman on the train home. Ashley pours out her woes and nods off. When she wakes up she is alone, but the woman has left her an antique charm bracelet. Before long Ashley realizes that the charms on the bracelet are lining up to unexpected holiday events she experiences at home. You can read my full review of this one here.
The Christmas Table (Hardcover) – In 1972 Joan is teaching herself to cook from her mother’s recipes and her husband is learning to build a table from scratch while they raise their young children. Then Joan is diagnosed with cancer. In 2012, Lauren finds a secret drawer in her new kitchen table full of recipes with family stories on them. She is determined to find the owner. You can read my full review of this one here.
A Death Long Overdue (Hardcover) – Book 7 in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. The Lighthouse Library is hosting a college reunion when the former library director is found dead.
Elsewhere (Hardcover) – A man and his daughter discover a device that lets them jump to parallel universes. They hope that in one they can find his missing wife and her missing mother. But others are on the hunt for the device as they want to use it for far more dangerous purposes. At the time of this writing this is available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers to read for free.
In a Holidaze (Trade Paperback) – Mae finds herself in a Christmas time loop where she lives the same week over and over. You can read my full review of this one here.
The Indivisible Life of Addie LaRue (Hardcover) – In France, in the 1700s, a young woman bargains to live forever. In exchange, she is forgotten by everyone she meets, until she encounters a young man in a bookstore 300 years later who remembers her.
Mistletoe & Mr. Right (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Moose Springs, Alaska series after the delightful The Tourist Attraction (♥♥♥♥♥). Socialite Lana Montgomery has decided to prove she belongs in Moose Springs by finding the elusive Santa Moose. When she tranquilizes Rick instead of the moose, it’s clear she needs some help. Maybe this will be his chance to get Lana to really see him for the first time. I already have this one on hold at the library.
Murder Is in the Air (Hardcover) – Book 12 in the Kate Shackleton Mystery series. When a drayman, a beer delivery driver, is found dead during a celebration of a new “queen” of the local pubs, Kate is sleuthing again.
Murder on Cold Street (Trade Paperback) – Book 5 in the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte’s friend, Inspector Treadles, is a murder suspect when he is found with two dead bodies, men tied to his wife’s recent inheritance. The Inspector refuses to testify on his own behalf, so Charlotte begins investigating.
On Borrowed Crime (Hardcover) – First in the new Jane Doe Book Club Mystery series. Lyla hosts a Jane Doe group of folks who love true crime as much as she does. But when one of their own is killed and Lyla’s best friend is the prime suspect, Lyla starts her own investigation. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Point of Danger (Trade Paperback) – Book 1 in the new Triple Threat series. A police detective and a radio talk show host team up to find out who is sending the host increasingly harassing surprises.
The Price of Valor (Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Global Search and Rescue series. When Signe’s cover is blown, she sends her daughter to her father – a former Navy Seal who thinks Signe is dead and who has no idea he has a daughter.
Saddled with Murder (Mass Market Paperback) – First in the new Dr. Kate Vet Mysteries series. A cozy holiday mystery starring a vet with a complicated personal life and two unhappy customers who are found dead.
The Shepherd’s Wife (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Jerusalem Road series by Angela Hunt. When Pheodora’s husband is jailed for his debts, she wonders if the God who cares for Israel could also care for a poor shepherd’s wife.
Spoiler Alert (Trade Paperback) – When April’s plus-sized take on her favorite character in the Aeneas/Lavinia fandom goes viral, the star who plays Aeneas on TV asks her out to drown out the trolls. But Marcus, that actor, has a secret. He is a prolific fanfic writer; if Hollywood ever found out, he would be scorned. Marcus really likes April, though, and he recognizes that she is his close fandom friend in the fanfic world. He hates keeping this secret from her. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
A Waffle Lot of Murder (Trade Paperback) – Book 4 in the All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery series. (Book 1 is Scone Cold Killer – ♥♥♥♥) – Gia and Savannah stumble across a body at the Haunted Town Festival.
Zits: Screentime (Comics collection) – The latest collection.
Books for Adults – Nonfiction
40 Days on Being a Two AND 40 Days on Being a Three (Hardcover) – New Enneagram devotionals, this time from a series edited by my favorite Enneagram teacher, Suzanne Stabile. Includes 40 daily readings with an action prompt.
Avocado Obsession: 50+ Creative Recipes to Take Your Love of Avocados to the Next Level (Paperback) – Includes 55 avocado recipes. At the time of this writing this is available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers to read for free.
Be Anti-Racist: A Journal for Awareness, Reflection, and Action (Trade Paperback) – A guided journal from the author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be An Antiracist.
Chasing Perfect: Peace and Purpose in the Exhausting Pursuit of Something Better (Trade Paperback) – Learn to prioritize the things that matter to God.
Clean Paleo One-Pot Meals: 100 Delicious Recipes from Pan to Plate in 30 Minutes or Less (Paperback) – “Fast food doesn’t have to be junk food.” Recipes are grain-free, gluten free, and dairy free.
Getting to Know God’s Voice: Discover the Holy Spirit in Your Every Day Life (Trade Paperback) – A 31-day interactive journey. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Jesus Calling Note Taking Edition (Imitation Leather) – A large-format edition of Jesus Calling with room for note taking in the sidebars.
Pie Camp: The Skills You Need to Make Any Pie You Want (Hardcover) – Focuses on pie-making techniques.
Republican Jesus: How the Right Has Rewritten the Gospels (Hardcover) – The author examines the Republican take on various social issues – immigration, abortion, climate change, etc. in a Biblical context.
A Very Dunder Mifflin Christmas (Hardcover) – A Christmas celebration with The Office.
White Tears Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color (Trade Paperback) – The history of the impact of white feminism of women of color. This is on my list for this week.