There are a lot of new books coming out every week. With New Release Radar, I’ll help you narrow down the week’s new book releases into the titles you should get excited about. This week, I have eight titles to share with you, including a queer, locked-room retelling of Hamlet and a new series from Jennifer L. Armentrout. Read on!

Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

In a post-apocalyptic world, pleasure-seeking royalty rule the last remaining cities. Calista knows her unfailing intuition could spell danger in this power-hungry society. To keep safe, she hides as a courtesan for the Baron of Archwood. However, when she rescues a traveling prince, her instincts warn of danger — and desire. Calista must navigate a treacherous landscape of power and danger, torn between following her intuition to safety or her heart to potential downfall.

Fall of Ruin and Wrath is the start of a new series by romantasy superstar Jennifer L. Armentrout. Her new book release has all the romance and intrigue you should expect from an Armentrout story. It’s also the perfect place for new fans to start reading her work.

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Rouge by Mona Awad

The cover of Rouge by Mona Awad is black with red and white letters. There's a rose in the center that turns into a glass.

After her mother’s mysterious death and the appearance of a strange woman in red at the funeral, Belle falls into the enigmatic world of La Maison de Méduse, a cult-like spa her mother frequented. With the help of a pair of red shoes, she uncovers chilling secrets about the spa, her mother’s obsession with beauty and the dark forces lurking behind the mirror.

Mona Awad fans know she doesn’t shy away from the surreal and the truly bizarre, and Rouge is no exception. It’s a strange, seductive exploration of the beauty industry’s dark side that delves into envy, grief and a truly complex mother-daughter relationship.

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown

Amid the constant threats of enemy attacks in 1942 London, Nellie Morris finds normalcy in her family, job and best friend. After a chance encounter with an American airman named Ray, her world opens to new possibilities. When tragedy strikes, however, Nellie must find a way for hope and love to triumph.

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Nineteen Steps is a debut novel by Millie Bobby Brown — yes, that Millie Bobby Brown. Inspired by her family’s experiences during World War II, this new book release is moving, propulsive and personal.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

The cover of The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff has a tree with green leaves against a white background.

After fleeing her remote, colonial settlement with nothing but her wits and a few meager possessions, a servant girl finds herself alone in the world. What she finds once out on her own is so astonishing that it challenges her beliefs in everything her society taught her.

Taking place over just a few weeks, The Vaster Wilds is a story of survival and solitude in a brutal landscape. Lauren Groff’s fifth novel is an adventure tale and an indictment against colonialism that you don’t want to miss.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

After zealots sacrificed her family to a fire god, Kissen became a godkiller, slaying deities and seeking vengeance for her family’s murder. One day, however, she encounters a god she can’t kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, is inexplicably bound to the life of a young noble girl, Inara. Kissen reluctantly agrees to help them sever their connection. Together, they set out to Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods dwell. Each seeks a divine favor, but demonic pursuit and a looming civil war hinder their quest at every turn.

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Godkiller is an epic fantasy tightly woven into a small package. Hannah Kaner’s debut is a story of found family and gods, monsters and kings that’s perfect for fantasy fans.

The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern

The cover of The Free People's Village is bright pink with a person drawn in black swinging a bat at a machine drawn in white and gray.

In an alternate 2020, where Al Gore won the 2000 election and started a War on Climate Change, the United States is a transformed world of green infrastructure projects and carbon taxes. Maddie Ryan, an English teacher and punk guitarist, searches for meaning in Houston’s Eight Ward. With her neighborhood facing destruction for a new hyperway to wealthy suburbs, she joins “Save the Eighth,” a Black-led resistance movement. As tensions escalate into an anti-capitalist revolution, Maddie dreams of a liberated future with her bandmate, Red, while reconciling her actions as a white woman in a gentrifying neighborhood.

The Free People’s Village is a thought-provoking look at the power of revolutions and what liberation is truly worth. Sim Kern explores issues of identity and morality with skill and passion.

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Monstrous by Jessica Lewis

When Latavia arrives in Sanctum, Alabama, for the summer, her aunt immediately gives her a strange set of rules. Don’t go out after dark; come right home after church and never enter the Red Wood. She soon suspects that something unusual is happening in Sanctum and that the residents are going to great lengths to appear normal. As Latavia investigates the mysteries of Sanctum, she realizes that breaking her aunt’s rules could trap her in the town forever.

Jessica Lewis’ new book release is an inventive and genuinely scary novel. Monstrous is the perfect read as fall approaches and the nights get longer.

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

The cover of The Death I Gave Him is neon green with a pink skull made of DNA sequences.

After finding his father murdered in their labs, Hayden Lichfield knows the killer could only have been after one thing: their groundbreaking research into the Sisyphus Formula to reverse death. Determined to expose the killer, Hayden steals the research and unearths a recording from his father, urging him to avenge his murder. Trapped in the lab and surrounded by suspects, Hayden must rely on an AI companion, Horatio, as he delves into secrets, unravels his father’s deceptions, and teeters on the edge of sanity in his quest for revenge.

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Both a retelling of Hamlet and a locked-room thriller, The Death I Gave Him is unlike anything you’ve read before. Em X. Liu’s new novel is an immersive and tense page-turner you must pick up as soon as possible.

You can check out these new book releases at Bookshop.org or your local bookstore. What September 12 new release are you most excited to read? Let us know below, and tune in next week to grow your TBR.

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