In case you missed my squee of spooky delight these last two years, I've loved both of Hester Fox's gothic historicals. While her debut, The Witch of Willow Hall, leans more into the "what the hell is happening?!" style (with an HEA), her second novel, The Widow of Pale Harbor, has a more prominent romance to go alone with the dead birds and scary happenings. As I get into more of my Spooky Season reading, I'm looking forward to the third gothic from Fox, The Orphan of Cemetery Hill, out September 15.

Mini-reviews of More Than Maybe, Hairpin Curves, I Think I Might Love You and The Fell of Dark. That's an f/m contemporary YA, an f/f contemporary, an f/m contemporary and an m/m YA contemporary fantasy.

Kate Stayman-London's debut novel One to Watch falls neatly within the bounds of "women's fiction," focusing on Bea's character arc as she's propelled from her popular plus-size fashion blog to the role of first-ever plus-size star on a Bachelorette-esque dating show.

September. WTF.

Sorry, that wasn't terribly inspiring or coherent.

Anyway... Here are some books we're excited about that release this month!

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Tools of Engagement is the third and (as far as I know) final book in Tessa Bailey's Hot & Hammered series, following Fix Her Up and Love Her or Lose Her. I enjoyed Fix Her Up but skipped the second because I don't think Bailey has the tools to write outside her lane with two POC protagonists.

Female friendships were central to Kit Rocha’s Beyond books, with their leather-clad sisterhood ready to fight for their chosen family. In Deal with the Devil, Dani, Maya and Nina are a misfit trio of former bodyguards, information couriers, and genetically modified soldiers, serving and protecting a small community in the ruins of Atlanta, trading in information and creating community through a post-apocalyptic library. Scarred by losses they fiercely protect each other and are deeply suspicious of the band of renegade super-soldiers who show up on their doorstep with a tempting offer, the location of one of the Rogue Library of Congress cache’s.

We’re almost through 8 months of the hellscape that is 2020, congratulations I guess?  It’s something to wake up every day and wonder what new WTF’ery awaits us, and given the stress of, you know, life right now I’m doing my best to snatch moments of joy where I can.  Which, hello, books are my go-to for that.  Well, and wine - but books aren’t bad for my liver.

So let’s look at what indulgences caught my eye this month:

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It's been a while since I shared any of these, so here are a few of the romance reviews I've written for Shelf Awareness!

Intense action, illusion/deception, trust and loyalty are at the heart of each Hidden Legacy novel. Can the Baylors hold together as family against all-comers, can they stay true to who they are when things are at their worst? Just how much sacrifice and punishment can one family take?

Better Than People is the charming, cozy, low-angst comfort read I didn't know I needed. The anxiety rep is startlingly accurate, and Jack's once-scorned-now-grumpy mood is relatable as heck. It's kind of a hurt-comfort bring-the-life-back-into-me book for both characters. Simon discovers that, despite what he's felt, been told, and experienced in his life thus far, he can be loved and fall in love and enjoy a wonderful relationship that becomes his life alongside the anxiety.