Book Radar

Listen to a Blurb from ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros and More Book News!

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Emily Martin

Contributing Editor

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at emily.ecm@gmail.com.

October is tomorrow, and I’ve got my bat socks ready. It truly is the most magical time of the year. So if I seem a little bit more joyous today than usual, that’s why. Please enjoy my extra enthusiasm, and enjoy this talk about books, because I got a lot of book things to throw your way. Let’s dive in.

Book Deals and Reveals

Here’s the cover of Elle Kennedy’s The Charlie Method. If you’re familiar with Kennedy’s work, you’ll know each book follows a member of the hockey team at the fictional Boston-area Briar University. This novel follows actually two hockey players from the Briar U hockey team. It’s out on February 25, 2025.

And here’s the cover of the tell-all memoir from Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter. Carter’s When the Going Was Good will be out on March 25, 2025, from Penguin Press.

Rebecca Yarros has released a blurb for Onyx Storm, the upcoming third chapter in the Empyrean series. Listen to voice actor Michael Eok narrate new details of what we can expect from book three!

Good Morning America has launched a new young adult version of their book club! Their first YA book club pick? Sabaa Tahir’s Heir.

Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella The Life of Chuck has been picked up by distribution company NEON. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Zoe Kazan will be adapting John Steinbeck’s East of Eden into a seven-part series for Netflix. The series will star Florence Pugh, who is also executive producing the project.

Idris Elba is set to star in the television adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. The series is produced by A24.

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, author of Such Lovely Skin, will be publishing her adult horror debut in fall 2025! According to the author, The Mean Ones is inspired by the works of Grady Hendrix, Clay McLeod Chapman, and T. Kingfisher. Here’s the synopsis: “This dual timeline novel is about a powerlifter who’s roped into staying at a cabin in the woods with her toxic BF and their friends, and her past as the girl who lived through summer camp cult murders in 2006. Surely, the haunting images and talking dead animals are all her imagination and symptoms of PTSD…or are they.”

Book Riot Recommends

Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!

Prepare Your Shelves!

cover image for The Blue Hour

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (Mariner Books, October 29)

I’m such a sucker for a good Paula Hawkins thriller. The Girl on the Train. A Slow Fire Burning. Into the Water. These thrillers are such a fun ride. And fall is the perfect time of year to read a book like this. Thankfully, we’re getting this one at the end of October. So just a month away! Prepare those shelves!

Eris is an island off the coast of Scotland that’s only accessible for 12 hours of each day. There’s only one house on the whole island. For that matter, there’s only one person who lives in that house. You get the vibe. This island was once home to Vanessa, a famous artist whose cheating husband mysteriously disappeared 20 years ago. Now the island is inhabited by Grace and Grace alone, and Grace is perfectly happy with that arrangement.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, an unwelcome visitor arrives on Eris with questions for Grace. The mysteries of Eris will finally be revealed, whether Grace likes it or not.

What I’m Reading This Week

pet book cover

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Curdle Creek by Yvonne Battle-Felton

And Here’s a Cat Picture!

Remy is such a good little helper while I’m writing these newsletters! He’s actually the one who picks my TBR. Fun fact. Can you tell how much he knows about books? Look how alert he is.

And wow…we are out of time, book friends. Thanks so much for joining me today, and have a wonderful final few hours of September. Most importantly, HAPPY OCTOBER!!!

Emily