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Posted by Amanda

Happy Tuesday!

It’s the last release week in October! November and December tend to be pretty light for releases, so we may combine some release weeks.

Which books are on your TBR pile this week? Let us know in the comments!

Calling All Blessings

Calling All Blessings by Beverly Jenkins

Author: Beverly Jenkins
Released: October 28, 2025 by Avon
Genre: , , ,
Series: Blessings #12

NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins celebrates her beloved Blessings series with a heartwarming novel set in Henry Adams, Kansas.

“If you haven’t yet gotten your hands on [this] author’s work, you should do so immediately.”—Shondaland

Tamar July, town matriarch of Henry Adams, KS, is being haunted by dreams of her humiliating wedding day, sixty years ago, when she discovered her intended, Joel Newton, was already married. The truth left her furious, heartbroken, and carrying a child, her son Malachi “Mal” July. Why are these dreams coming to her now? And is the great horned owl perched on her backyard shed somehow connected? When Joel’s legitimate son comes to Henry Adams wanting to meet his half-brother, Mal, Tamar must deal with her past, her anger, and explore what it means to truly forgive.

Tamar isn’t the only one being tested. Teenager Devon July wants to be anyone but himself. When he first arrived in Henry Adams, as an eight-year-old foster child, he wanted to be a preacher. Then, to be like his adopted brother, Amari. Now, he’s decided to be a variant of James Brown—wig included—rather than who he really is, a boy who lost his beloved grandmother and is the son of a mentally challenged woman. Will Tamar be able to guide his spirit quest and place him on the road to finally being at peace within himself?

As the big August 1st celebration nears, town owner Bernadine Brown has a lot on her plate, chief among them, what to do with former mayor Riley Curry’s monstrous tribute to his hog Cletus. There are no secrets in Henry Adams, but there’s never a dull moment either.

Sarah: I love this series, I’ve recommended it to people, and KJ Charles did a whole podcast with me about how this series got her through the pandemic. This is the final book, and it’s a bittersweet blessing to see this lovely series come to an end. Congrats and bravo, Ms. Bev!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Claiming the Princess

Claiming the Princess by Charis Michaels

Author: Charis Michaels
Released: October 28, 2025 by Avon
Genre: ,
Series: Hidden Royals #3

USA Today bestselling author Charis Michaels concludes her delicious Hidden Royals series in this enchanting romance between a young woman, unaware of her royal birth, and the rugged sea captain who comes to claim her as his future wife.

Princess Danielle Allard d’Orleans grew up believing that she was a simple village girl raised in Kent by surrogate parents. That simple life vanishes when she discovers she’s actually a princess in hiding— especially as the first order of royal business is to marry a war hero she’s never met.

Captain Luke Bannock wasn’t trying to become a hero—and even less so, a husband. But he shows selfless courage in a fierce Naval battle and the Crown offers him a reward for valor. His chosen prize? The hand in marriage of an obscure princess, living in exile. The reason? Revenge against his sworn enemy.

What begins as an arranged marriage between a village girl and a cynical captain evolves into dance of passion and self-discovery. As Luke helps Dani reckon with her secret royal blood, his thirst for revenge is replaced by desire for his new wife. The shock and hurt burn away, and an all-consuming love sails this fated couple into their happily ever after.

Lara: I enjoyed my time with this book and I’m definitely going to be exploring this author’s back catalogue. Full review is up!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

The Everlasting

The Everlasting by Alix Harrow

Author: Alix Harrow
Released: October 28, 2025 by Tor Books
Genre: , , ,

From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters—but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory—failed soldier, struggling scholar—falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives—and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend—if they want to tell a different story–they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Amanda: I see Alix Harrow and I’m buying.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Julia Song is Undateable

Julia Song is Undateable by Susan Lee

Author: Susan Lee
Released: October 28, 2025 by Canary Street Press
Genre: ,

CEO seeks dating coach

Critically acclaimed and reader-favorite author Susan Lee’s hilarious adult debut is a shimmering and joyful look at the magnificent—and sometimes suffocating—weight of family, the ways we limit ourselves, and the irresistible power of love.

Julia Song, CEO of Starlight Cosmetics, is at the height of her career. Then why does she feel like such a failure? Maybe because she’s thirty and single, with a terrible track record at dating. And in the eyes of her Korean family, that is just unacceptable. It never really bothered her—that is until her beloved grandmother drops the bomb that she is sick and her dying wish is for Julia to get married. Impossible. So in a moment of weakness, Julia asks her family for help. Set her up on three dates to help her find The One. But it will never work—Julia is undateable. If only there was a coach for that…

Tae Kim knows about the weight of familial expectation. He’s currently unemployed, living in his parents’ basement to care for his ill father. Sure, he’s become somewhat of a fix-it man for the Korean community around town, but that’s not a real job. And the pressure to get his life together is getting to be too much. So when the Julia Song—his childhood crush—asks for his help, it may be just the distraction he needs. He’ll do whatever it takes, even coach her for these three dates. Problem is, the more time they spend together and the closer they get, the more Tae wonders if anyone is good enough for Julia…including him.

Susan Lee’s latest has a CEO heroine and dating lessons from a childhood friend.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Never Over

Never Over by Clare Gilmore

Author: Clare Gilmore
Released: October 28, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: ,

A swoony second-chance romance where facing the one who broke your heart could be the thing that makes your dream come true.

Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.

In a rare, impulsive move, Paige contacts Liam Bishop after four years of no contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.

Across three months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.

But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever intensifying feelings blur the lines of what’s actually real and what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide what’s more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.

Amanda: This is in my Book of the Year top spot.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Our Vicious Oaths

Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport

Author: N.E. Davenport
Released: October 28, 2025 by Harper Voyager
Genre: , ,

Enter a new world of romantic fantasy from award-winning author N.E. Davenport—a journey of powerful magic, enemies-to-lovers, and political intrigue—as a warrior-princess and a vengeful king from rival fae courts form a fierce alliance to take down a merciless despot.

Princess of the Aether Dominion, Kadeesha wants nothing to do with fae politics. She is a warrior, first and foremost, and believes her greatest strength is leading her squadron of elite winged serpent flyers to protect her homeland. But bound since infancy to be betrothed to the Hyperion High King, ruler of all Dominions, she has no choice but to do what men have chosen for her.

Repulsed by the idea, she decides to spend one last night of freedom—in the arms of a dangerous stranger who takes her to sexual heights she’s never experienced before…but who is only using Kadeesha to set a trap for the High King.

For the High King and the kings of his six Dominions were responsible for the decimation of the Apollyon Court, and its new king, Malachi, wants his pounds of flesh.

On Kadeesha’s wedding day, Malachi and his special forces attack. Her father is killed, and Malachi wounds the High King, ultimately taking Kadeesha as hostage back to his land.

But she is no true hostage. The two form a she will help lure the High King so Malachi can kill him once and for all, and he in turn will not harm Kadeesha or the Aether people. And as much as Kadeesha hates politics, she is now the Queen of her folk. Fae bonds are unbreakable…and so, perhaps, is the attraction Kadeesha and Malachi feel for each other. For even as they must publicly display their connection to provoke the High King’s jealousy, they struggle to resist the powerful allure between them in order to achieve their ultimate goals.

A new, diverse fantasy romance from the author of the very good The Blood Trials.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Some Kind of Famous

Some Kind of Famous by Ava Wilder

Author: Ava Wilder
Released: October 28, 2025 by Dell
Genre: ,

In this steamy and emotional small-town romance, a disgraced ex-musician and a local handyman try to resist their growing attraction for each other—until a house renovation forces them together—from the author of How to Fake It in Hollywood and Will They or Won’t They

“Real, raw, and deeply romantic.”—Ashley Herring Blake, USA Today bestselling author of Dream On, Ramona Riley

It’s been a decade since Merritt Valentine’s height as a celebrated singer-songwriter . . . and her subsequent career-ending mental breakdown. In the following years, she’s abandoned the glitz of Los Angeles to move in with her sister, Olivia, in the sleepy Colorado ski town of Crested Peak, hoping to heal her lingering emotional wounds somewhere out of the spotlight.

Life in Crested Peak would be uncomplicated if not for Merritt’s inconvenient crush on the local contractor and handyman, Nikolaos Petrakis. Niko is disarmingly handsome and too kind-hearted to ever be right for the complex and prickly Merritt. Though tempting, a fling with Niko would only invite the kind of drama Merritt has vowed to leave behind.

After his last heartbreak, Niko is done dating his fellow townies. Still, he can’t shake his fascination with the brilliant Merritt, even as he heeds their mutual friends’ warnings to steer clear of her chaos. But when Merritt needs help fixing up a house of her own, Niko is glad to be the only man for the job.

As the two spend more time together, their mutual attraction sparking a deeper connection than either one expects, they’re forced to confront the idea that they may have underestimated each other—and themselves.

A renovation romances with a blue collar hero and singer-songwriter heroine.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

Witches of Dubious Origin

Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay

Author: Jenn McKinlay
Released: October 28, 2025 by Ace
Genre: ,

When a librarian discovers she’s descended from a long line of powerful witches, she’ll need all of her bookish knowledge to harness her family’s magic, in this enchanting cozy fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.

Zoe Ziakas enjoys a quiet life, working as a librarian in her quaint New England town. When a mysterious black book with an unbreakable latch is delivered to the library, Zoe has a strange feeling the tome is somehow calling to her. She decides to consult the Museum of Literature, home to volumes of indecipherable secrets, some possessing magic that must be guarded. The collection is known as the of Books of Dubious Origin.

Here, Zoe discovers that she is the last descendant of a family of witches and this little black book is their grimoire. Zoe knows she must decode the family’s spell book and solve the mystery of what happened to her mother and her grandmother. However, the book’s potential power draws all things magical to it, and Zoe finds herself under the constant watch of a pesky raven, while being chased by undead Vikings, ghost pirates, and assorted ghouls.

With assistance from the eccentric staff of the Books of Dubious Origin—including their annoyingly smart and handsome containment specialist, Jasper Griffin—Zoe must confront her past and the legacy of her family. But as their adventure unfolds, she’ll have to decide if she’s ready to embrace her destiny.

Librarian witch alert!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

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[personal profile] burnhername posting in [community profile] su_herald
GILES: South wall.
Willow stares at the window in fascination. Angel casts no reflection in it.
GILES: (to Willow) What are you doing?
WILLOW: Oh! Sorry. (turns to Angel) The reflection thing that you don't have. Angel, how do you shave? (the men exchange a look)

~~Reptile Boy~~




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[personal profile] leecetheartist posting in [community profile] drawesome
Title: Bridge of Stars
Artist: [personal profile] leecetheartist
Rating: G
Fandom:[personal profile] rdm 's fiction
Characters/Pairings: Rose and Nathan's meet cute
Content Notes: This is based on one of my husband's short fictions, which you can read here if you like. The ink is Cosmic Glow from Diamine and the line work is done with my beloved Rotring Art Pen.



Night time and a dragon landing next to someone on a bridge.

[#279 | Haunted Library] Voting Post

Oct. 27th, 2025 09:42 pm
fanweeklymod: (Default)
[personal profile] fanweeklymod posting in [community profile] fandomweekly
Here are the entries for this challenge:

List of entries )

Please Note: Because we only have 3 entries this week, there is only a First Place and Runner Up to vote for!

In order to vote, please reply to this post using the form provided. All comments are screened, and entries are listed in the order they were submitted. For your vote to qualify, you must fill out your entire voting card (both spots) in order to be counted. Winner votes are worth 2 points, Runner Up votes are worth 1 point. Meeting the bonus goal on an entry gets an extra point for that submission.

When voting, please copy/paste the ENTRY NUMBER and the FIC TITLE from the list above into the spot you're voting for (this prevents accidentally mis-numbering a vote and casting it for the wrong entry). It should look like this:

First Place: 61. Fic Title Here
Runner Up: 88. Another Fic Title

Please note that you cannot vote for your own entry, and that votes cannot be made anonymously. You do not have to be a member of the community in order to vote, nor have submitted an entry for this week; everyone is welcome to participate in the voting. IP addresses are logged to prevent duplicate voting.



Voting closes Wednesday, October 29 at 9:00PM EST.
[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

queenangst:

idk if this is a young fan thing or new fandom culture but some of yall think fics are abandoned way too quickly. a few months or a year or two is not unusual to go without a fic update. sometimes fics take longer to write, other times writers have rl events, or maybe there’s multiple fics and one gets more priority. there are tons of reasons for fics not to be updated every week or every month. it also isn’t uncommon for people to come back and update fics after a number of years—ive read updates that took five, or ten years. people’s lives change, but they still want to tell their stories. personally, i never consider a fic abandoned unless the author has said so; though if it’s been a few years i manage my expectations. but a last update being a year ago is… generally not a sign that a writer has abandoned their fic

[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

json-derulo:

json-derulo:

json-derulo:

json-derulo:

having the Aviation Accident Investigations Autism™️ has actually done wonders for the way I process and respond to my own fuck-ups

And I don’t just mean “oh, my little work mistake is actually nothing compared to a fiery crash that kills people,” either. The reason commercial flight is so many orders of magnitude safer than any other form of transportation is because after every accident and incident, an independent regulatory body investigated it with the express goal of figuring out exactly what happened, why, and how to prevent the same thing from ever happening again—not to root out which person deserved the blame or the liability.

It’s a simple, shockingly effective idea. It’s also worlds away from how most people approach their own mistakes and the mistakes of others.

Because it’s never just one person’s fault. And even when it is, it still isn’t. 

The sharpest, best-trained pilots make worse decisions when they’re tired or sick or stressed out, so there’s two of them. The most dedicated and experienced air traffic controllers garble an instruction over the radio sometimes, so pilots are trained to always repeat clearances back to catch misunderstandings quickly. The best and brightest maintenance mechanic still overlooks a screw or misconnects a wire once or twice in her career, so aircraft systems are built with two or three or four layers of redundancy, and pilots are exhaustively trained to deal with failures safely. 

Everyone eventually has a bad day. Every component breaks down. Every computer gets a bad a Windows update and spirals into a reboot doom loop. If it’s possible for one person’s mistake to domino into a mushroom cloud of a fuckup, then that task is too critical to be one person’s sole responsibility. The accident sequence starts with the design of the system—so how do you improve the system to keep it from happening again?

oh yeah. The “modern commercial aviation is the safest form of transport” thing only applies to planes, btw. A helicopter is a beautiful metal horse that wants to break its legs and die so so so badly

[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

teaboot:

teaboot:

I just had a physical exam today and I haven’t done the little knee hammer reflex test since I was like four years old so I was just like “yeah it’ll just make me flinch or whatever nbd” but when the doctor actually DID it my whole ass leg fucking launched into the air like I was David fucking Beckham. She didn’t even give me a second to recover either, I was gripping onto the exam table for dear life like “oh my god I’m so sorry” and WHAM she nails the other one. My entire body jolts as my foot flies three feet in the air and she twirls out of the trajectory of a five toe death kick to the groin like a capoeira master and just says “you have very brisk reflexes”. Like miss ma’am with the PHD didn’t just Ratitouille my whole shit. Like respectfully your honour you just played my skeleton like a piano, what the hell

Seems like this one struck a nerve

[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

queerliblib:

tjalexandernyc:

queerliblib:

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (sapphic eldritch horror romance) ALT
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen (sapphic gothic seance horror) ALT
Flux by Jinwoo Chong (speculative neo-noir with a bi male asian american protagonist) ALT
How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D. N. Bryn (achillean vampire romance) ALT
A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock (gothic horror featuring two Victorian men and their monstrous experiment) ALT
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson (sapphic romance with a dark twist) ALT
The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate (Dracula’s voyage to England from the pov of the gay ship captain) ALT
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (historical 1920s Appalachian horror with speculative elements and a trans male protagonist) ALT
ebook!: Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella (title says it all)ALT

audiobooks:

& one ebook!: Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella (title says it all)

I feel VERY confident in saying The Woods All Black is gonna hit just right for the tumblr demo that loves a monster

so, conservatively, about 80% of folks here? 😂

[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

obaewankenope:

thebibliosphere:

thebibliosphere:

One of my friends recently fell face first into the resurgence of paganism and witchcraft we’re currently seeing (happens every major recession, lmao) and has been pestering me non stop about witchy shit. Which is fine. I’d rather she learn to prioritize the mundane from me rather than giving some TikTok witch all her money in exchange for opening her third eye or whatever the kids are grifting these days.

Anyway, with Samhain this week she’s getting super excited to have her first ever Silent Feast (or Dumb Supper) and asked me what food I’ll be putting out for my ancestors and I just started laughing. Like bestie, you just saw the mess I went through living with my parents for the last two months. I’m not laying out food for the people who raised them.

She paused for a moment then went, “yeah, no, I see where you’re coming from….”

😂.

Her: so what are you doing for Samhain?

Me: the great time honored tradition of laying in bed and watching the Addams Family with my dog.

Her, nodding seriously: a sacred act.

Lay food out for the ancestors further back who are as impressed with your DNA providers as you are, all hang round the buffet table like it’s the ancestor scene in Mulan

Gonna be real with you, from what little I know about the family lineage, I’d be going back pretty far to find anyone who’s not an irredeemable cunt lmao.

There’s bound to be someone in there, though. If so, they’re welcome to a piece of gluten-free shortbread and some tea. Everyone else can fuck off.

[syndicated profile] notbecauseofvictory_feed

guivret:

Nostalgia moments 1,5 years ago on big main art account. Before Erec et Enide I did sketches for Mort d'Arthu but decided that thing would be too huge to make in a year. Here’s some sketches for the first tome. Or so.

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[personal profile] cimorene
Yesterday Wax and I went and bought a new curtain rod to replace the one in the bedroom that's been hanging crooked for... several years.

We haven't put it up yet, but we got it!
[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

deadnettled:

Something they never tell you about being an adult is the power of just being The Person Who Reliably Shows Up. Even if you don’t think you have much to bring to the table except being kind to people, wanting to learn, and contributing when you can. Many of the good things that have happened to me and many of the connections I’ve made have been because I just kept showing up and people were like, whelp, I guess we can’t get rid of your ass and now you’re a load bearing part of the community

[syndicated profile] thebibliosphere_feed

William is doing quite well so far! He's eating well, and doesn't need a completely smooth puree anymore. His guts have also adapted to his new diet so no more raging diarrhea. He's not running away from people or flinching anymore. His fur is starting to grow back. While he sometimes urinates in his kennel overnight, he is in there for 12 hours. He's no longer having accidents during the day and is asking to be let out.

Still need to find him a permanent place to land, but he's trucking along


*edit*

He loves face rubs


[syndicated profile] notbecauseofvictory_feed

I went and saw “The Sound of Music” with a friend, and afterwards we were talking about it—the way it so straightforwardly and earnestly erases presents a very complicated moment, how limiting that approach is; how there are in fact other musicals that tackle it differently (e.g., I brought up Caberet.) Given sheer overexposure of the Rogers & Hammerstein story, I think that we’d be better served with a show that tried to grapple with this, or maybe a miniseries that acknowledged that Maria von Trapp (a control freak who married a guy who happened to father the children she adored) managed to coexist at the same time and in almost the same place as Chistopher Isherwood (an arty Brit who hung out with the demimonde of Berlin and understood them very little).

Maybe Lisel should have broken it off with Rolf and promptly run off to Berlin, forcing a collision between those worlds, and then maybe someone could have told Maria that there was more to music than solfège and folk songs.

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