Hello, everyone! Fall is somehow upon us — which keeps throwing me off, to be honest. Even with my sister back at Cedarville, a significant part of me still feels like it's supposed to be June or July or something. But, on the upside, we have a new season's worth of books to get excited for! (Never mind that I'm at least a year behind on reading in general . . . it's fine.) And some of this fall's releases are ones I've been looking forward to for a very long time indeed.

Fall 2020 Reads

1. Dear Hero by Hope Bolinger and Alyssa Roat (September 2020). Superheroes and and a story told, somewhat like Illuminae, primarily through messages between the characters? Sign me up! Also, the concept — that there is, essentially, a hero/villain nemesis site that works like a dating app — sounds absolutely golden.

2. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (September 1). Mystery! Puzzles! Strange inheritances! Probably murder! Secrets! I am a fan, as you can tell. I'm 90% hoping that this will be a properly puzzle-and-riddle-filled book. Odds are that it'll end up disproportionately focused on romance, but, y'know. A girl can dream.

3. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (September 15). Urban fantasy and King Arthur vibes? Storms yes; hand it over! (Also: a little bit of mystery/detective vibe? Maybe? This may just be wishful thinking, I don't know.) I haven't read a good King Arthur-based story in a while; let's hope this one delivers.

4. Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (October 6). Ahhhhhh I've been waiting so long for this! Or I feel like I have, haha. I'm so sad that the series is ending, but at the same time, I'm excited to return to this world and these characters after so long, especially since it's going to be another Eugenides-focused novel. (I love A Conspiracy of Kings and Thick as Thieves, but Gen-centric stories are my favorite.)

5. The Monster in the Hollows and The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson (October 6, rerelease). The rerelease of these got pushed back a long while because of at least one of the many trials and terrors of 2020 (I can't remember which), but that's ok — it just means more time to get excited. That said, I do have eARCs of these, and I'm currently rereading Monster in the Hollows, and I love the art in these new editions. I know I said that about the new editions of the first two, but it really is one of my favorite things.

6. Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater (October 13). I think this is a graphic novel? Which I have recently gotten back into reading, so that's cool. Apparently it's also related to some DC Comics super-something, which . . . I do not care about. It sounds like a good story, and I know Maggie Stiefvater does beautiful-magical-and-creepy very well indeed, and that is what I care about.

7. The Merchant of Menace by Kendra E. Ardnek (October 19). So, I forgot this when I originally made this list. Oops. I blame the fact that it didn't show up in the proper section of my Goodreads TBR list. Anyway. I am currently alpha-reading this book, and I can confirm that it's pretty fun. It takes a special author to combine Cinderella, The Merchant of Venice, and The Odyssey and make it work, but Kendra manages. (Kendra also has a promo going on where if you preorder the ebook and let her know, you have a chance to win a paperback copy, if she gets ten preorders. So you should go do that.)

8. Among the Beasts and Briars by Ashley Poston (October 20). Ok, the description doesn't say fey explicitly . . . but I'm hearing fey. Like, properly magical and wild and wondrous fey. And the description also implies there's a magical fox in the book, which — what more could I ask for? The only thing better than a magical (probably faerie) fox is a magical (faerie) cat. (We all know who I'm talking about here, right?)

9. Magic Dark and Strange by Kelly Powell (October 27). It's a historical fantasy mystery with a heavy dose of delicious creepiness; how could I resist? Even if the lead character's power does sound a bit sketch, the story sounds too good to pass up. The few reviews that are currently up also imply that the romance is pretty low-key, so that's a bonus.

10. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (November 17). I'm not sure if this is historical fantasy or historical magical realism, but either way, it sounds pretty great. A Romeo and Juliet retelling in 1920s Shanghai? With monsters and madness and murder (mystery?) mayhem? I'm here for it.

11. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (November 17). IT'S ALMOST HERE! For a given defintion of almost. I am so excited to get back to Kaladin and Shallan and Adolin and Lift and the rest. And, yes, I know they're posting the first part of the book chapter-by-chapter on Tor.com, and no, I have not been reading it. I want to wait until it comes out, then devour it all at once. Or, you know, in a few sittings, since it's a big book. In any case, I am SO EXCITED.

What books are you looking forward to this fall? Did I miss any on my list? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!