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The Most Anticipated Fall 2019 Books to Add to Your Shelf

by  | September 20

Whether you’re a fan of spooky thrillers, heartwarming love stories, futuristic dystopian worlds, or stories set in the past, our team has a selection for you! Working in publishing allows us the perk of being surrounded by great books, so we’ll totally understand if you have a hard time picking which one to dig into first!

Here are some of the books releasing this fall that we can’t wait for you to read along with us. Let us know which one(s) you’re most excited to read by sharing on social with #GetLit.

This Tender Land

This Tender Land

by William Kent Krueger

Dana’s Pick

This Tender Land is the kind of book you can hand to anyone and know for certain that they are going to love it. It ticks all the boxes.

  • Historical fiction? Check. ☑️
  • Coming of age? Check. ☑️
  • Fascinating characters? Check. ☑️
  • Twists and turns? Check. Check. Check. ☑️☑️☑️

The storytelling will transport you down the banks of the mighty Mississippi, and the four orphans will steal your heart without your even knowing you’ve been robbed. There’s action, adventure, and danger at every turn, but there’s also human kindness and growth and hope in a time of Depression-era desperation. William Kent Krueger is a master storyteller, and This Tender Land is truly a once-in-a-lifetime novel.

Publication date: September 3, 2019

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The Nightjar

The Nightjar

by Deborah Hewitt

Sara’s Pick #1

If you're at all like me, your daydreams often revolve around suddenly becoming privy to a world behind the one we already see, living with us but not among us. That's why I am so excited for The Nightjar, Deborah Hewitt's latest work, which will make you think about life, death, and even birds in a whole new light. Alice always seems to be surrounded by birds, and yet she has no idea why, until a man called Crowley tells her that she's special. More specifically, that she's an aviarist, someone who can see magical birds called nightjars, which guard each human’s soul. Things get even trickier when Alice's best friend gets into a car accident, causing Alice to hone her skills in an alternate London called the Rookery, where her life is in danger at every turn. Who can you trust and who can you betray is the name of this novel’s game, and the twisting turns of a girl discovering herself and hell-bent on saving her friend make this book the perfect prelude to autumn.

Publication date: September 3, 2019

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The Institute

The Institute

by Stephen King

Nick’s Pick

Literally four days after It: Chapter 2 hits the big screen, this one is going to drop. We are getting sooooo spoiled with Stephen King content for the month of September, and I CANNOT wait! Like It, this one stars a bunch of badass kids, but this time they come equipped with superpowers like telekinesis and telepathy. They get abducted from their homes and sent to a place called The Institute. Here, they are surrounded by other kids who have similar powers to themselves. But they know that they are there for

sinister reasons and they’re trying to find a way out, while the staff of The Institute is trying to extract their powers and keep them from ever leaving. Trying to escape sounds great and all, but no one has ever done so….

Publication date: September 10, 2019

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The Testaments

The Testaments

by Margaret Atwood

Taylor’s Pick #1

Attention fans of The Handmaid’s Tale. Margaret Atwood is back with a brilliant sequel, finally answering the question we’ve all been asking: What happens to Offred? The Testaments starts 15 years after the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, and it’s narrated by three female characters from Gilead.

Publication date: September 10, 2019

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Out of Darkness, Shining Light

Out of Darkness, Shining Light

by Petina Gappah

Cara’s Pick #1

Out of Darkness, Shining Light is the kind of book that I never expected to pick up, since historical fiction is pretty low on my reading list. But I have been utterly entranced by this novel. Once I picked it up, I quickly finished it without realizing how fast I was flying through the pages. The novel tells the story of Halima, Jacob Wainwright, and the rest of the group of Africans who carry the body of David Livingstone—the Scottish explorer and missionary who died during their late 19th-century journey with him—out of Africa. It’s a powerful and sweeping story that pulls you into a tale that you might not have considered reading before. And I’m convinced that everyone is going to be talking about it this fall!

Publication date: September 10, 2019

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Red at the Bone

Red at the Bone

by Jacqueline Woodson

Taylor’s Pick #2

Red at the Bone is sure to be one of the literary events of the season. Just check out the Oprah.com cover reveal if you don’t believe me. A beloved, award-winning author of young people’s literature, Jacqueline Woodson has penned an extraordinary new novel (for adults) about two very different families joined together by an unexpected pregnancy—and the ways in which young people often have to make huge decisions about their lives.

Publication date: September 17, 2019

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Love on Lexington Avenue

Love on Lexington Avenue

by Lauren Layne

Heather’s Pick #1

Autumn in New York is a special time of year, and not just because there’s a movie called Autumn in New York. The air is crisp, the leaves golden, the fashion on point. The only thing that could make it better is the second installment of Lauren Layne’s New York–set Central Park Pact series, Love on Lexington Avenue. Claire’s a young widow with zero interest in falling in love again after learning her late husband was unfaithful. Scott is the equally cynical, grumpy new contractor she’s hired to renovate her Upper East Side townhouse. You know you want to see him knock down the walls around her heart.

Publication date: September 17, 2019

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The World That We Knew

The World That We Knew

by Alice Hoffman

Erin’s Pick

When I picked up this book, I didn’t think I needed another World War II story, but I was definitely wrong. Alice Hoffman has crafted a beautiful, sweeping tale of three women attempting to survive in 1941 Nazi Germany and France. Beginning with a mother creating a rare and mystical golem to protect her daughter, this novel combines the fantastical with historical fiction, taking readers from Berlin to Paris to a convent in western France. Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman’s Rules of Magic and The Dovekeepers, I couldn’t put this searing story down.

Publication date: September 24, 2019

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SLAY

SLAY

by Brittney Morris

Nicole’s Pick #1

I have been waiting for months to yell about this book, and the time is finally here! As soon as I saw the cover art and read the synopsis, I knew this story would be everything I ever wanted. And it was. SLAY follows Kiera, a young black gamer who attends high school as your average teenager by day, but by night runs the expansive online RPG world known as SLAY. SLAY is unique because it was built as a place for people of color to truly be themselves—a world built so beautifully and with such care. I won’t go into the mechanics of the game because the author, Brittney Morris, details it in the most magical way. But suffice it to say, I wish I could go play SLAY right now!

Reading this book, I felt like I knew Kiera. I was Kiera—the girl who acted one way in her “real life,” only to rush home and escape into a world where she could actually be herself; the girl who was only one of a handful of POC in her friends group.

Kiera’s world is turned upside down, however, when she learns a SLAY player is murdered because of an in-game dispute, and an anonymous troll threatens to sue her for anti-white discrimination.

SLAY is Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give. But it’s more than that. SLAY gives voice to the millions of black gamers and blerds (black nerds) out there looking for safe spaces to be themselves in a world so ready to take those spaces away.

Publication date: September 24, 2019

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Right After the Weather

Right After the Weather

by Carol Anshaw

Sienna’s Pick #1

Cate is in her early 40s and feeling stuck. She’s a talented set designer in the Chicago theater world, but she isn’t making much money, and her career has stalled. Her parents are still helping her pay the bills and her ex-husband  (they are still friends) has moved in with her after another failed marriage. Cate is trying to work on herself, including getting out of debt and committing to a healthy partnership with her girlfriend, but she keeps getting drawn back to a toxic relationship with an old love. Her most stable influence in her life is her yoga instructor friend, Neale, a single mom who is raising her son in a rough neighborhood in Chicago. When Cate walks in on Neale getting attacked by a drug addict during a home invasion, her violent impulse to save her friend upends her life dramatically—and changes how her friends and family perceive her (and how she views herself).

Publication date: October 1, 2019

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Ninth House

Ninth House

by Leigh Bardugo

Heather’s Pick #2

Leigh Bardugo’s adult debut is one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Her YA fantasy novels Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom stressed and thrilled me in equal measure, so I can only imagine what Ninth House has in store. Our window into her new universe is Alex Stern, whose path to Yale is an unconventional one; she’s gifted a scholarship by mysterious benefactors after surviving an unsolved homicide that left everyone else dead. All she has to do to keep her full ride is to report on what Yale’s secret societies get up to in eight “tombs” where the school’s elite hang out. What does she discover? Well, apparently it involves “occult activities” that are both sinister and extraordinary, so I, for one, can’t wait to find out.

Publication date: October 8, 2019

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The Giver of Stars

The Giver of Stars

by Jojo Moyes

Taylor’s Pick #3

Fans of Me Before You will be delighted to hear that Jojo Moyes has a new novel coming out this fall. Set in the 1930s, about a little-known group of women who bring the love of reading and education to those who've never had it, it's the book we book lovers have all been waiting for. Plus, it’s based on the true story of the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. What more could we ask for?!

Publication date: October 8, 2019

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The Grace Year

The Grace Year

by Kim Liggett

Saimah’s Pick #1

If you’re a fan of speculative fiction, you won’t want to miss Kim Liggett’s The Grace Year. I got an advanced copy of this novel at BookExpo earlier this year and could not stop turning the pages! At the age of sixteen, young women are banished, sent to live on a remote island to release their “magic” into the wild so they can return purified and able to marry and bear children. The magic is said to be a powerful aphrodisiac that makes men crazed with lust and women consumed with jealousy.

While on the island, the girls are forced to fight for their lives—banding together for protection against the elements and the poachers who are said to kill girls and sell their body parts on the black market. But the real threat may be within their own ranks…. This book has already been optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks, so make sure to read the story before it hits the screen!

Publication date: October 8, 2019

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Marley

Marley

by Jon Clinch

Michael’s Pick

We've all read or watched some version of A Christmas Carol in our lifetime. Heck, I've got three different editions of it sitting on my bookshelf at home. And while each of us has our favorite (looking at you, Muppets Christmas Carol faithful), I think we can agree they're all basically the same. Enter something new: Marley by Jon Clinch, the brilliant and artful reimagining of the Charles Dickens classic. This is the story of Jacob Marley, business partner to Ebenezer Scrooge, and the man who will be both the making and undoing of Scrooge. Clinch paints for us a complex portrait of the man we only know of as a ghost in chains; a man who in life was outgoing, fearless, and driven by greed. It's a story about friends-turned-rivals, passion, and morality. Marley is dark, at times hilarious, and 100% my cup of tea.

Publication date: October 8, 2019

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How We Fight for Our Lives

How We Fight for Our Lives

by Saeed Jones

Nicole’s Pick #2

I had the pleasure of meeting Saeed Jones at this year’s Book Expo/BookCon, and listening to him talk about the struggles he faced as a gay black man was both heart-wrenching and inspiring. In this gorgeous memoir, Saeed takes readers on a journey from his childhood into adolescence into adulthood, in an America hell-bent on tearing him down at every turn. Each story he tells builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another—and to one another—as we fight to become ourselves. This memoir will be an integral part of societal conversations for years to come.

Publication date: October 8, 2019

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Twice in a Blue Moon

Twice in a Blue Moon

by Christina Lauren

Saimah’s Pick #2

When I heard that Christina Lauren had a new book coming this fall, I had to get my hands on it! This writing duo has published over 20 novels together to date, and they are on a roll. Earlier this year their rom-com The Unhoneymooners was at the top of many summer reading lists and had me laughing out loud. Twice in a Blue Moon is less rom-com and more heartfelt story of young love and second-chance romance. During a whirlwind two-week vacation to London, Sam and Tate fall head over heels for each other. Tate reveals her biggest secret to Sam, and he betrays her. Fourteen years later, they meet again…. Tate is now an up-and-coming actress, who has landed the role of a lifetime. The last person she expects to see on set is Sam. As the days pass and they are forced to spend more time together, secrets are revealed and truths are uncovered. Can Tate find it in her heart to forgive Sam and trust him again? You’ll have to pick up the book to find out!

Publication date: October 22, 2019

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White Elephant

White Elephant

by Trish Harnetiaux

Sienna’s Pick #2

I’ve been known to get pretty, let’s just say aggressive, when I’m at a holiday party and there’s a White Elephant exchange. You know that party game, where people bring a wrapped gift that goes in a pile, and you get to pick a gift at random based on a number that you’ve drawn? The best part is that people can steal your gift if they like it better than the one they originally picked. I might have almost gotten into an altercation over a lava lamp at a party not so long ago. White Elephant is a Christmas mystery about an office party gone wrong. A real estate agency owned by Henry Calhoun and his wife, Claudine, host an over-the-top White Elephant exchange at their holiday party in Aspen, Colorado, each year. Instead of exchanging tacky gifts, all the real estate agents compete to see who can provide the most expensive and exotic gifts. This year, stakes are at an all–time high because the hottest pop star, Zara, is a last-minute invite, and Claudine is obsessed with selling her a fabulous house a and wants to impress her with the best party ever. The Christmas party takes a dark turn when an antique cowboy is unwrapped during the gift exchange. Unbeknownst to most of the party guests, the cowboy was used as a weapon during a murder that Henry committed years ago, which Claudine helped cover up. Who planted the cowboy? Who knows about the murder? And how can Henry and Claudine figure out who is behind this party foul while everyone is trapped inside during an epic blizzard.

Publication date: October 29, 2019

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The Deep

The Deep

by Rivers Solomon

Cara’s Pick #2

The Deep is a powerful, moving story that uses fantasy to weave a deep story about humanity. Following Yetu and her aquatic people, who are descendants of creatures born when pregnant slave women were thrown from slave ships, this novel contends with memory, history, and pain unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Based on a song created by Clipping, and written by the incredible Rivers Solomon, this one you have to read!

Publication date: November 5, 2019

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The Starless Sea

The Starless Sea

by Erin Morgenstern

Taylor’s Pick #4

It’s been eight years since the publication of the international phenomenon The Night Circus, and now Erin Morgenstern is gifting us the perfect follow-up novel. The Starless Sea takes everything we loved about The Night Circus—the imaginative world-building, the magic, the mouth-watering detail—and brings these elements to a whole new realm. I can’t wait to read this timeless love story set in an underground world populated by pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and, most importantly, books.

Publication date: November 5, 2019

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The Family Upstairs

The Family Upstairs

by Lisa Jewell

Sienna’s Pick #3

I’m a Lisa Jewell fan-girl, and her books keep getting better and better. Although I hate to have favorites, I have to tell you that The Family Upstairs is her best one yet. It has all the elements that I love in a psychological thriller—a creepy house with a haunting past, eccentric families, cults, and dark secrets. It tells the story of Libby Jones, who was adopted as an infant and is finally, at the age of 25, going to learn who her birth parents are. When she opens the letter that reveals who her birth parents are, she also learns that she has inherited a dilapidated mansion in London’s Chelsea, which is worth millions of pounds! The house has a dark history: twenty-five years ago the police were investigating the report of a baby crying in the home and found an infant playing in her crib, as well as three dead adults all dressed in black. The four other children who were reported to live at the house were all gone, never to be found again. As Libby tries to understand what actually happened in her new home, some other people are anxious to reach out to her, but are their motives good or bad? You will not want to put this book down!

Publication date: November 5, 2019

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In the Dream House

In the Dream House

by Carmen Maria Machado

Sara’s Pick #2

Carmen Maria Machado made some seriously big waves with her short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, and she was quickly, and rightly, elevated to the top of modern horror lists. Now she’s coming back with her newest work, In the Dream House, a memoir about her time in an abusive relationship. The title, an allusion to the picturesque plastic abode for Barbie, evokes the perfect public-facing façade that comes with having an abusive partner. Using her singular voice to shine light on the topic of domestic violence between queer women, Machado comes to terms with her own past through illustrating moments of her relationship, as well as by examining pop culture artifacts, such as an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This book is messy, complicated, funny, and deeply tragic, and crafts a journey that will leave you feeling raw and whole at the same time.

Publication date: November 5, 2019

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Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Children of Virtue and Vengeance

by Tomi Adeyemi

Nicole’s Pick #3

She’s baaaack! Tomi Adeyemi is blessing us with the follow up to her explosive novel Children of Blood and Bone. And if that isn’t enough, have you seen this new cover?! SWOON! In the first book in Tomi’s Legacy of Orïsha trilogy, Zélie goes on a quest to bring magic back to the land of Orïsha. Now that she and Amari (spoiler alert) have succeeded, they find themselves, in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, dealing with some unexpected effects of the ritual: the noble families who had magic, have it yet again. The enemies are now just as powerful as the maji Zélie worked so hard to help. I loved Children of Blood and Bone so much, and cannot wait to see how Zélie and Amari try to bring the kingdom together in this second book in the series.

Publication date: December 3, 2019

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Photo Credit // hannah grace on Unsplash

Categories // Bookish Fun

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