I started September slow and ended it clutching a brand-new favorite. The month opened with a book I wanted to be obsessed with and only ended up intrigued by, and it closed with one that walked straight onto my favorites shelf and took my whole personality with it. That's the fun of being a mood reader: you never know which one's going to reach into your chest. Here's what got me, spoiler-free.
The Anatomy of Magic by Alexis L. Menard
The one that stole the whole month, straight onto my favorites shelf, and I'm still not over it. Nina is a pickpocket with illegal magic and a sharp mouth; Max is the crime boss she robs and then can't stop orbiting, and their banter is top-shelf, the enemies-who-insult-each-other-into-love kind. Then it stops being funny. A murder she didn't commit, a trail of bodies, a found family I'd throw hands for, and reveals that kept landing right when I thought I had it figured out. I finished it with tears drying on my face and no personality left. Book two owes me my heart back in one piece.
Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison
My cozy-season pick snuck up and made me cry, which I didn't sign up for. A grim reaper who's over death and a guardian angel who runs a bar get forced onto the same side, and grumpy-meets-grumpy might be my new favorite flavor of trope. Underneath the warm, funny fall rom-com is a real story about grief and what it actually means to live. Four stars, cozy with a soft spot that aches in the best way. Bonus: I timed it so I rolled straight from here into the Fourth Wing world, which brings me to the next one.
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
I inhaled all thirteen of these in a single sitting, and I'm already mad there aren't thirteen more. It's a collection from across the Empyrean series: one story per rider, the day their bond began, and the dragons absolutely steal the show. One of them refusing to answer to anything as lowly as "dragon" and demanding to be called "Glorious One" had me howling. The whiplash from funny to devastating is pure Yarros, and if you love the Fourth Wing world, this is the fix to tide you over. Five stars, gone in an afternoon.
The Dark in Her Veins by M.K. Lobb
The honest one. I wanted to be obsessed with this and landed on really intrigued instead, which still counts. The concept is fantastic: a city where sin shows up as a rot that climbs your veins and takes your mind before your life, and an assassin with already-black hands who's out for nobody but herself. I loved her for it, and the diabolist who carries half the book is exactly my kind of trouble. But I guessed most of the twists before they hit, and the opening dragged for me, which might have been as much me being sick and busy as the book. Still, I want book two, and I want it now. Three and a half stars, with plenty of curiosity left over.
What's on the Nightstand Now
Here's where October gets away from me a little. I've fallen headfirst into a full ACOTAR reread, and right now I'm deep in A Court of Silver Flames. There's a reason for the timing: A Court of Splintered Harmony, the sixth book, lands October 27, and I'm getting my whole heart in order first. It also means I've got a lot of thoughts piling up, including a few deeply unhinged tin-foil-hat theories. So consider this your heads-up: an ACOTAR post is coming later this month, before the new book drops. Bring a tissue and an open mind.
That's the nightstand for September. Tell me what reached into your chest this month. I'm always building the next stack.
