New Books Thursday 1st September Edition

 New Books Thursday

I don't know what it is, but every so often we hit a day where it just feels like so many amazing books are released all at once.

Today, Thursday 1st September, is one of those days.

So I thought I'd do a round up of some of the books coming out today that I've already reviewed, and some that I'm really looking forward to reading. This is not an exhaustive list, because that would be exhausting, and I'm bound to miss a few, so if you'd like to add some, please use the comments to do so!

Books I've Reviewed

Dread Wood Fear Ground by Jennifer Killick

There’s a new craze at Dread Wood High. Flinch is a game of fear. The more you scare your friends, the more points on the app you get. At first it’s fun, but soon fun is replaced by fear. And Angelo and his friends notice that everyone is behaving more and more strangely every day – almost as if something is taking over their brains…

With the fair arriving in town, adrenaline and excitement levels are high. But who are the people behind the super-creepy clown masks? With fights breaking out and Flinch in full force, it’s time for the final showdown at the Fear Ground. Let the REAL games begin!

Dread Wood Fear Ground is another terrifyingly good kids' horror story from the wonderful Jennifer Killick, who is really staking her claim as the queen of middle grade horror!.

It's gruesome and creepy and funny, everything I've come to hope for and expect, as she just gets better and better with each book.

Check out the full review here. It's published by Farshore.

With Fire in Their Blood by Kat Delacourt

When sixteen-year-old Lilly arrives in Castello, she isn't impressed.
A secluded town in the Italian mountains is not where she saw her last years of high school playing out.

Divided for generations by a brutal clan-family war, the two halves of Castello are kept from destroying each other by the mysterious General, a leader determined to maintain order and 'purity'. . . whatever the cost.

Lilly falls in with the rebellious Liza, brooding Nico and sensitive Christian, and sparks begin to fly. But in a city where love can lead to ruin, Lilly isn't sure she can trust anyone -- not even herself.

And then she accidentally breaks Castello's most important rule: when the General's men come to test your blood, you'd better not be anything more than human...

This is a book about ambition and the need for power, and then more power. It's about how much someone is willing to sacrifice for power, the lengths they'll go to for it, lies and betrayals and all. But it's also about love and friendship and what they'll sacrifice for each other. It's brutal, dark and unforgiving, definitely not a book that pulls its punches! 

Check out my blog tour review with TheWriteReads here. It's published by Penguin Random House.

The Whisperling by Hayley Hoskins

When you're dead, you're dead.

When you're gone, you're gone.

Unless, of course, you're not.

And that's where I come in.

The year is 1897, and Peggy Devona can speak with ghosts.

She hides her gift from those afraid of a girl with such powers, terrified of the secrets the dead could reveal through her. But when her best friend is accused of murdering her rich mistress, Peggy knows only she - a whisperling - can save her.

Peggy escapes to her uncle's psychic emporium in the city, seeking out new ghosts to help her solve Sally's case.

Yet time is running out, and each step towards uncovering the truth also brings Sally one step closer to the gallows. . .

The Whisperling is a sublime ghost story, with a terrifying villain, an endearing heroine, some incredibly powerful emotional punches, a strong sense of social justice and an almost overwhelming sense of peril. A beautiful and powerful book! Check out the full review here. It's published by Penguin.

The Light Thieves by Helena Duggan.

Who would you trust to save the world...a boy or a billionaire?

The earth has shifted on its axis and a mysterious dark mark has appeared on the sun - the whole world is in peril! But billionaire tech genius Howard Hansom has a plan...

When Grian's sister goes missing he's convinced she has run off to Hansom's new city to help save the world. But when Grian and his two friends Jeffrey and Shelli track her there they find that nothing is quite as it seems.

Why is everything so secret? Where is the mysterious Area 13? What does Howard Hansom want with all the people he has enticed to live in his city?

The days are getting darker but what's really happening to the sun?

The Light Thieves is action packed and mysterious, with some very important things to say about our reliance on technology. I cannot wait to see where this series goes next! Check out my review here. This one is published by Usborne.

Timberdark by Darren Charlton

With the tide turned against the Dead, Peter and the remaining community on Wranglestone prepare to leave for town, where the comforts of the world before await them. Could this be the home that finally brings both safety and unity for all?

Cooper isn't so sure. He harbours feelings from that terrible night on the lake and worse, a secret ... codename, Timberdark.

With Cooper's new found connection to the Dead, Peter's suspicions about what he might do next grow. Faced with losing the boy he loves, Peter must uncover the truth about the mysterious Timberdark before their future together and the world around them is placed in danger.

Timberdark broke my heart. 

It's a gay zombie Western, about love and how painful it is to love someone and to realise that they no longer love you the same way, and how hard it is to see that canyon form and fill with silence. This really hit a nerve with me, and was at times almost painful to read. The emotional resonance is just so overwhelmingly powerful. And you can read all about how and why in my full review, here. Timberdark is published by Little Tiger and has a gorgeous sprayed edge edition!

Babel by R. F. Kuang

Oxford, 1836.

The city of dreaming spires.

It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.

And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

Until it became a prison…

But can a student stand against an empire?

Babel is a novel about the power of words, a novel about the people swallowed up and spit out by colonialism, a novel about what separates us and what brings us together, a novel about revolutions and power, a novel about violence and where it leads, a novel about friendship and sacrifice.

Babel is a quite extraordinary novel. My review is here. This one is Harper Voyager, and I'm off to see R. F. Kuang tonight at Toppings Edinburgh!

Books I've Read and Not Yet Reviewed

The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields

In search of a new life, seventeen-year-old Adriana Clark’s family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.

Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.

The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?

Wow! The Last Girl to Die is one of the most shocking, most surprising and boldest crime thrillers I've read! It's published by Avon and you can expect a review in the next few days.

Books I'm Excited to Read

Nothing More to Tell by Karem M. McManus

True crime can leave a false trail.

Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favourite teacher. The case was never solved, but she's sure that the three kids who found Mr. Larkin's body know more than they're telling, especially her ex-best friend Tripp Talbot. He's definitely hiding something.

When Brynn gets an internship working on a popular true-crime show, she decides to investigate what really happened that day in the woods. But the further she dives into the past, the more secrets she finds.

Four years ago someone got away with murder. Now it's time to uncover the truth . . .

Published by Penguin Random House

Beyond the Frozen Horizon by Nicola Penfold

The earth is thriving – with wilderness status protecting land and wildlife, and scientific organisations researching new ways to support human life sustainably. Rory’s mum is a geologist on one of these projects, and Rory is beyond excited to join her on a work trip to the Arctic. But the project isn’t all that it seems, and Rory soon learns what’s at stake for the people and animals that live there…

Published by Little Tiger

The Elemental Detectives by Patrice Lawrence

Step into a London lit up by the Elemental spirits: the fiery Dragons, the airy Fumis, the watery Chads and the earthbound Magogs. But humans have been causing chaos for centuries, trampling through the landscape trailing noise, mess and pollution. What if the Elements could slow down this new world... or stop it all together?

The revenge-fuelled Shepherdess, who moves between the everyday and the supernatural London worlds, is the perfect weapon. She brings a sleeping sickness down on the city with the destruction of society in her sights. Marisee and Robert are the Elemental Detectives chasing the clues to avoid catastrophe: they must face the ghosts of Hyde Park, the monstrous coiled snake of the Serpentine, and a whole host of other fantastical creatures in their mission to stop the Shepherdess and prevent London slumbering for all eternity...

Published by Scholastic.

Spell Tailors by James Nicol

Hen dreams of becoming a spell tailor, stitching magic into clothing like his beloved Nana.

But thanks to new factories, spell tailors are struggling. His Uncle Bertie’s fancy shop has shut down, and when he, Aunt Lucia and stuck-up cousin Connie move in, it’s a disaster for all the family.
Then Hen stumbles upon a new kind of stitch – one which causes Nana and Bertie to ban him from sewing.

What is the power of the stitch that can sew memories into clothes – and could it be the very thing to save them all?

Explores the real magic of clothes as Hen, a spell tailor’s apprentice, struggles to master his family craft – and discovers a new kind of stitch in the process!

Published by Chicken House Books.

The Treekeepers by Kieran Larwood

Here come the roots of the Shadow Tree. Whatever they touch will never get free. Liska lives in Arborven, a city surrounding an extraordinary tree that gives all those living there special powers. 

As a shapeshifter, Liska is training as a warrior. When she discovers that the Tree is under threat, it is her duty to act - but she can't convince anyone to listen to her. So with Lug, whose power over earthworms is dismissed as useless, and a ghost-girl, Elowen, she goes on an epic journey to defeat the worst threat their world has ever known.

Published by Faber & Faber

Lost in Time by A. G. Riddle

Control the past. Save the future.

One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to find that the woman he loves has been murdered.

For Sam, the horror is only beginning.

He and his daughter are accused of the crime. The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted. And so, to ensure his daughter goes free, Sam does what he must: he confesses.

But in the future, murderers aren't sent to prison.

Thanks to a machine Sam helped invent, the world's worst criminals are now sent to the past – approximately 200 million years into the past, to the dawn of the time of the dinosaurs – where they must live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race.

Sam accepts his fate. But his daughter doesn't.

Published by Head of Zeus

Festergrimm by Thomas Taylor

When Herbie and Violet's arch-enemy Sebastian Eels turns up in Eerie-on-Sea, seemingly back from the dead, it can only spell bad news. The town may welcome his entrepreneurial scheme to resurrect Festergrimm's Waxworks, a dusty and defunct old gallery of spooky characters from Eerie legend, but Herbie and Violet are suspicious of his motives. And when they learn the legend of Ludo Festergrimm the clockmaker, creator of a vast mechanical robot that wrought havoc in the wrong hands, they KNOW they're on the right track. But how can they get the residents of Eerie-on-Sea to believe them?

Published by Walker Books

Safe by Vanessa Harbour

In the chaotic last days of World War II, Jakob and Kizzy are tricked into a life or death journey.

Heinz, their guardian, thinks they are simply helping to fetch some rare horses, but they are really being used to get over the border. Far from home, they are attacked and only just escape. They hide in a seemingly deserted mansion, but they keep hearing strange noises…

Investigating, they find it shelters not only forty abandoned horses but a small band of lost children, displaced by the war. With danger on every side, can Kizzy and Jakob keep them safe and get them all home?

Published by Firefly Press.

Such an amazing collection of new releases! What are you excited for? What have you already read? What have I missed?

Let me know in the comments!