Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For September, we’re looking at the first book in two very different romance series, a space opera, the latest Lisa See book, a historical suspense novel that involves Jack the Ripper, a novel that made the Booker Longlist this year, an epic fantasy written by an author known as the Korean J. R. R. Tolkien, a rom com set on a ship, and nonfiction about iconic American food.
If you love sweet romance:
Emma St. Clair’s Just Don’t Fall (2023)*
Parker works for her local minor league hockey team as a social media manager, and she never dreamed in a million years that NHL star Logan, who broke her teenaged heart, would ever return to their hometown of Harvest Hollow. But he did after his career crashed and burned, and now, he is on her team and as difficult as ever. But the heart wants what the heart wants. The first in a romance series about Harvest Hollow.
*Audiobook also available on Hoopla.
Recommended for fans of Jenny Proctor and Melanie Jacobson.
If you prefer romantasy:
Sariah Wilson’s A Tribute of Fire (2024)
The first book in The Eye of the Goddess trilogy (we have the other two as well), A Tribute of Fire introduces readers to the dying desert world of Locris, which is a Classical Greek-inspired world. Centuries ago, a goddess of their rival world Ilion cursed them, and every year since, two Locris women must compete with each other in a race to the goddess’s temple. So far, none have survived, but Princess Lia is determined to be the first. Complicating her mission is her feelings for an Ilionian sailor named Jason.
Recommended for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros.
If you like science fiction:
Claire North’s Slow Gods (2025)
Mawukana na-Vdnaze (Maw for short) is a former pilot, reborn into something not quite human but plotting revenge. But in the middle of Maw’s personal drama is also a future supernova event that will doom the galaxy. Complications ensue in this leisurely paced, philosophical space opera with elaborate, imaginative worldbuilding.
Recommended for fans of Ann Leckie, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Iain M. Banks, and Arkady Martine.
If you want historical fiction:
Lisa See’s Daughters of the Sun and Moon (2026)**
In the summer of 1870, three very different Chinese women find themselves in Los Angeles–Dove, the naive daughter of a scholar; Petal, the impoverished daughter of a peasant; and Moon, the educated wife of a doctor. Despite their very different backgrounds, the three are drawn together in a community ruled by rival criminal tong organizations and on the cusp of a historic tragedy.
**Ebook and audiobook also available on Libby/OverDrive.
Recommended for fans of Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky.
A. Rae Dunlap’s The Dreadfuls (2026)***
Dell and Pippa are two delinquents in the Whitechapel Hall Reform School in 1888. They bond together over lurid penny dreadfuls focused on crime and scandal. When the Jack the Ripper murders start, the two join forces with a local butcher’s son to conduct their own dangerous investigation.
***Ebook and audiobook also available on Hoopla.
Recommended for fans of Anna Lee Huber.
If you enjoy literary fiction:
Douglas Stuart’s John of John (2026)****
John-Calum Macleod returns home to the Isle of Harris after finishing art school and not finding many prospects for employment in Edinburgh. Cal doesn’t have many better options on his remote Hebrides Island home either, but his return reunites him with his strict lay minister/sheep farmer father John and his fiery maternal grandmother Ella. Cal and John tiptoe around each other’s very different personalities while also harboring secrets in this evocative, character-driven novel.
****Ebook also available on Hoopla.
Recommended for fans of Rabih Alameddine’s The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, and Bryan Washington’s Family Meal.
If you want audiobooks:
Lee Young-do’s The Heart of the Nhaga (2026)
In this atmospheric fantasy, the Line of Limit absolutely divides two very different worlds. To the north live humans, as well as the Tokkebi (fire people) and the Rekon (bird men), while to the south are the Nhaga (reptile people). Nobody has crossed the line in centuries, but when the residents of the north hear that a Nhaga is coming to their land, a reception committee is put together to ensure that he arrives safely. But that job may be far more difficult (and important) than any of them realize.
Recommended for fans of epic fantasy inspired by Asian folklore.
Katherine Center’s The Shippers (2026)*****
JoJo decides to use her sister’s wedding cruise as an excuse to remedy her own hard luck at love. She focuses her attentions on a former neighbor and recruits her childhood best friend Cooper to be her wing man. The more shenanigans they get into together as part of JoJo’s plot, the more she starts to realize she may have the wrong target for her plan after all.
*****Ebook and audiobook also available on Libby, and physical copies in regular and large type are also in the system.
Recommended for fans of Meghan Quinn’s Vacation Wars and Chelsea Curto’s In Stormy Weather.
If you need tasty nonfiction:
Taste of Home: America the Tasty : 100+ Iconic Eats from Coast to Coast (2026)
The United States has a wealth of unique, delicious regional cuisines, and this book takes readers (and cooks) on a road trip to explore some of the most famous. Packed full of photos and trivia, this book will teach you more about American food culture and history. Recipes include Nashville Hot Chicken, New England Clam Chowder, Philadelphia Cheesesteak, Nebraska Runzas, and more.
Recommended for those interested in iconic regional dishes and recipes.
Julissa Hernández Roberts’s The New American Diner Cookbook: Classic and New Favorites from (and Inspired By) Diners Across the U.S.A. (2026)
The diner is just about as quintessentially American as, well, apple pie, and this book celebrates all things diner. It includes fun trivia and updated recipes for everything from pancakes to grilled cheese to burgers to ice cream sundaes. The book is also designed to look like a classic diner menu.
Recommended for diner fans.
George Motz’s Hamburger America: A State-By-State Guide to 220 of the Greatest Burger Joints Across the Country (2026)
A travel guide rather than a cookbook, this book profiles over 200 places to grab a great burger in the United States, including one location in Arkansas. Check it out and call it research for your next road trip. 🙂
Recommended for burger aficionados.
Don’t forget our new shelves have a new home in the new library. They are located at the end of adult fiction. Just look for the signs!
Look at all that space for new books!
What’s your favorite new-ish books? What books are you buzzing about for 2026? Have you read any of these books? Tell us in the comments! As always, please follow this link to our online library catalog for more information on any of these items or to place them on hold.
Berryville Book Buzz 