How is it September already? Wow, this year just continues to fly by! August was a good month for me and bookish books. I read six (my Goodreads ratings are in parentheses):

What Happened to Rachel Riley by Claire Swinarski (5 stars)

The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor (3 stars)

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado (4 stars)

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher (3 stars)

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (4 stars)

The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman (4 stars)

Not too shabby, overall.

I'm not sure what bookish books I'm going to try to read in September. Since there are only four months left in the year, I'm working on completing all my reading challenges. I do still need a book set in Utah, so I'll probably read at least this one in the next few weeks:

It's the story of a Salt Lake City librarian who struggled to control the tics he experienced because of Tourette Syndrome. A strongman suggested weightlifting as a way to wrangle them. The practice has since become a practical, successful way to manage his symptoms. In this memoir, Josh Hanagarne tells his own story about Tourette's, books, and more. 

Which bookish books are you planning to read this month?

Besides seasonal TBR lists, my most favorite Top Ten Tuesday prompts are the ones about upcoming new releases. It's always fun to see what books loom on the publishing horizon and which titles everyone is excited about. This topic will be dangerous for my already overwhelming TBR pile mountain mountain chain, but I'm here for it!

My list is heavy on mysteries and thrillers, which is no surprise. Fall seems to be the time when lots of readers are in the mood for darker reads. I'm always up for a suspenseful novel and there seem to be many of them coming out soon. I've already mentioned a number of new releases I'm excited for in recent posts, so this list will be focused on ones I haven't talked about yet. 

As always, TTT is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Make sure you click over there and give her some love. 

1. Thicker Than Water by Megan Collins (available July 11)—Sienna and Julia are not just best friends, they're also business partners and sisters-in-law. Although they believe their unique bond can never be broken, it starts to bend when Jason—Sienna's beloved brother and Julia's imperfect husband—is accused of a brutal crime. Comatose Jason can't answer any questions, so it's up to the two women who love him most to clear his name. If he is, indeed, innocent, which is looking less and less likely...

2. Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker (available July 18)—This one sounds a little zany, but still intriguing. It's about four moms who send their darling toddlers to the same preschool. When the pupils are overtaken by a strange medical condition that has them craving blood, their mothers are a bit...taken aback. Then, the kids' teacher is found dead. Suddenly, the moms and their adorable little bloodsuckers are all suspects in the murder.

3. Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders (available July 18)—Inspired by the real story of the only all-Black battalion of women in the Women's Army Corps to serve overseas during World War II, this novel focuses on several American women who are sent to England with their unit to do the important task of sorting over one million pieces of mail for the troops. The assignment quickly becomes personal as the ladies get to know each other and discover a mysterious letter addressed to one of them. 

4. I'll Tell You No Lies by Amanda McCrina (available August 1)—After a devastating accident kills her mother, 18-year-old Shelby Blaine is wracked with grief. Adding insult to injury, her Air Force intelligence officer father receives a new assignment that requires them to move from West Germany to New York. It's 1955 and Shelby's dad is tasked with interrogating an escaped Soviet pilot. When Shelby meets the accused, she becomes hopelessly entangled in his story. As the stakes stack higher and higher against him, she must decide where her loyalties lie.

5. Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister (available August 1)—When a young woman is kidnapped, a detective starts searching for her. Then, the policewoman's family is threatened and she knows that solving the case will mean dooming everyone she loves most. Does she have the strength not to seek truth and justice? Can she really go through with framing an innocent person in order to save her family?

6. A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (available August 8)—This triple-timeline novel tells the story of three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women in part through the eyes of the dolls they turned to for comfort in difficult times.

7. Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead (available October 5)—I'll read anything described as "Southern gothic" and this one sounds especially compelling. It's set in a small, God-fearing Louisana town that is steeped in eerie stories and superstition. When a skull is found in a swamp next to strange carved symbols, it puts the entire town on edge. Ruth, a librarian and the daughter of the town's charismatic preacher, soon realizes it's up to her and an old friend to confront their hometown's secrets in order to keep them all safe.

8. Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity by Elizabeth C. Bunce (available October 24)—I've mentioned how much I love this middle-grade mystery series before. It's super fun, especially on audio with the talented Bethan Rose Young narrating. This installment, #5, sees Myrtle accompanying Miss Judson to the estate the governess has just inherited on a remote Scottish island. Myrtle is thrilled to find out that not only is the old house rumored to be haunted, but also that it hides multiple mysteries. 

9. The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer (available October 24)—As a genealogist and an adoptive mother, I'm always intrigued by stories about DNA, adoption, long-lost family reunions, etc. This YA novel sounds right up my alley. It's about two half-siblings who are brought together through a DNA test. Together, they launch a search for the biological father neither of them has ever known, with whom they hope to reconnect for varying reasons. 

10. The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor (available November 28)—Nothing is going right for novelist Olivia Fitzgerald. Not only is her writing career in jeopardy, but her personal life is in tatters as well. When her publisher offers her a tantalizing and mysterious ghostwriting job, she jumps at the chance. Nothing is quite as it seems at the billionaire's estate where she will be working, nor is its owner...

There you go, ten new releases I can't wait to read. Which up-and-comers are you most excited for? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor. I also reply to TTT comments made here (although I'm still behind from last week).

I always look forward to creating and reading seasonal TBR lists, so I'm excited for today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt: Top Ten Books On My Summer To-Read List.  You know I'm all about the reading part.  Summer, though?  Not a fan.  I'm especially unenthusiastic right now since I just got back from a long weekend in the Columbia River Gorge, a beautiful national scenic area in Washington and Oregon, where it was cool and drizzly with lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's.  Landing in Arizona, where it was 112 degrees at 7 p.m., was a very rude awakening for me.  I grew up in the Gorge.  Why did I ever leave?  Oh, the things we do for love!  

Although I reveled in the lovely Gorge weather, I was really there to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Since COVID pretty much nixed our plans for a blow-out party with lots of family and friends, my siblings and I decided to surprise Mom and Dad instead.  Five of their seven children were able to be there.  Although my youngest brother accidentally spilled the beans a little bit, we still pulled off a great surprise.  I was hiding at the top of my parents' long driveway when my oldest sibling approached them in the backyard and I heard my mom's astonished gasp clear from where I was standing.  It was awesome!  I think this picture of me and my dad (taken by Renée Alumbaugh) says everything about how the weekend went:

(Since someone is bound to ask, the device on my arm is an Omnipod insulin pump.  You may also sometimes spy my Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor [CGM] in pictures of me, since I wear both on the backs of my arms.  Although Type 1 diabetes is a horrendous, not-fun-at-all disease, these devices are literally life-changing for diabetics.)

Now that I'm back to the scorching heat, I guess it really is time to start thinking about what I want to read this summer.  I've got some library books I need to finish as well as a few new releases I'm looking forward to.  It's too hot to read by the pool (ours doesn't have much shade and I burn at the mere thought of sunshine), so I'll be enjoying these books inside under the ceiling fan with the a/c blasting.

As always, if you're interested in joining the TTT party, you can find all the details at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1.  The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny—I brought this mystery on my trip as a back-up book (I never travel without one!) and it's a good thing I did since I couldn't get my stupid Kindle to connect at all.  It's the 11th book in the incomparable Armand Gamache series, which I love.  It's about a young boy who goes missing and the shocking thing that is found in the woods because of the ensuing search for him.

2.  Searcher of the Dead by Nancy Herriman—I've enjoyed a couple of Herriman's historical mysteries, so I'm interested to see how I like this series opener.  It's about a woman in Tudor England who's hiding from a killer in a bucolic little town.  When someone close to her is murdered, it appears she has been found and that she's next on someone's hit list.

3.  The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn—I'm always up for a dual-timeline novel featuring old secrets and new discoveries.  This one revolves around a woman in the present who discovers a cache of love letters written during another woman's stint in a mental hospital on a remote island in the 1950's.  As she digs into the past to learn more about the letters, she finds an intriguing mystery that just might answer questions about her own family.

4.  The Hours Count by Jillian Cantor—A month or so ago, I read and enjoyed my first Cantor book.  I'm excited to try another one.  This historical concerns a neighbor of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, with whom the spies' children were left after their arrest.  Sounds interesting.

5.  Survive the Night by Riley Sager (available June 29, 2021)—I've already talked about this thriller, which is about two strangers on a road trip that goes awry.  I'm 31 of 32 on the library's waiting list, so we'll see how long it takes for me to get my hands on this one.  

6.  A Cup of Silver Linings by Karen Hawkins (available July 6, 2021)—I just received this novel from the publisher.  It's the second book in a series, so I'll have to read The Book Charmer first (I've been meaning to anyway).  This one is about three women who "embark on a reluctant but magical journey of healing, friendship, and family."  Sounds like a nice, feel-good read perfect for summer.

7.  Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (available November 30, 2021)—I'm a Picoult fan, although it's been a hot minute since I read anything by her.  To be honest, her newer novels haven't been as good for me as her older ones.  However, I am intrigued by this one, her newest.  It's about a woman who's on a dream trip to the Galàpagos Islands by herself when the pandemic hits.  I've heard some people say it's too soon for them to enjoy a book like this, but I'm all in for it.

8.  The Pact by Sharon Bolton—I'm *trying* to take a break from dark thrillers, but I'm a big Bolton fan, so I probably won't be able to resist this one.  It's about a woman who agrees to take the fall for a group crime in exchange for "favors" done by each member of the group after her release from prison.  

9.  A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson—While this doesn't sound like a very summery book, it's still one I want to read soon.  The first in a series, it's about a marine biologist who is researching wolverines in Montana, a mission that angers some locals.  When she discovers a different kind of predator in the wildlife sanctuary, the authorities are strangely dismissive of her claims.  Just what

exactly has she stumbled upon?

10.  The Next Ship Home by Heather Webb (available February 8, 2022)—As you probably know, I'm very into researching family history.  While most of my ancestors came to the United States before Ellis Island opened, I'm still fascinated by the place and its role in the nation's history.  I have an e-ARC of this novel, which concerns a woman emigrating from Italy and an American woman who has just started a job at the immigration center.  Their fates entwine as they both struggle to navigate their new lives.

There you are, ten books I'm hoping to read this summer.  Have you read any of them?  Any look like novels you would enjoy as well?  What's on your list today?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.