Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in November 2021
November is a bit of an odd month for new releases – although as you look through this list, the reason for that will become apparent. The decks have been cleared for the release of the ninth (and final?) book in Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander series, Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone, and it’s the brave author/publishing house who’s willing to put anything out to compete with it! It’s the Marvel Blockbuster of Romancelandia – so the week of 22nd November looks a bit bare in terms of new romances, with a real glut of new releases the following week. Still, there are plenty of goodies coming out in November, and as usual, we’ve been sifting through the new release lists to find the books we think are going to be the best of the bunch. You guys are also great at finding titles we might have missed, so please tell us which new books YOU’RE looking forward to reading next month!
Note: All the Feels and Duke, Actually were originally slated for release in October, but have been moved to November.
Releasing week of 1st Nov
Releasing week of 8th Nov
Releasing week of 15th Nov
Releasing week of 22nd Nov
Releasing week of 29th Nov
This is such a great list. I am an avid romantic suspense reader and I am super excited for some of these books. I have added “Murder Most Actual” and “Rare Danger” to my list – thank you. I have a fantastic novel I just finished called “Scattered Legacy” from Marlene Bell (here is her website if you want to check it out – https://www.marlenembell.com/) I was searching for a suspenseful, bingeable book series and google led me to this. I have always been fascinated by the dynamics in these globe-trotting mysteries and I love the way this one is written. It’s chilling, exciting and has some dark humor as well! To an outsider the main characters, Annalisse and Alec, seem like they have the perfect relationship. (But if you’re familiar with the series they are often confronted with trouble and an occasional dead body). They are headed to Italy so that Alec can show Annalisse his mother’s birth place and mix in some business as well. It soon turns into a murder mystery that also threatens to ruin the legacy of Alec’s family. I really felt like this book had it all and I am looking forward to seeing what’s next for this treasure hunting couple. Happy reading!
I’m looking forward to the books by Annabeth Albert, Olivia Dade, Jenny Holiday, Mary Balogh and Julie Anne Long.
I’m also looking forward to:
A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn (M/F; fake fiancee)
The Jerk Next Door by Mia Monroe (M/M; warring neighbors)
Beard in Hiding by Penny Reid (M/F; latest in the series)
Hostile Takeover (M/M; billionaire takes revenge on guy who wronged him as a teen)
Sweeper by Amy Daws (M/F; rugby player falls for his neighbor)
And a bunch of Christmas novellas:
Kringle Family Christmas – M/F trilogy by 3 authors (Molly O’Keefe, Julie Kriss, S. Doyle)
Christmas Wish List by N.R. Walker (M/M; related to her Tic-Tac-Mistletoe from 2020)
Dearest Malachi Keogh by N.R. Walker (M/M; related to the very excellent Dearest Milton James that she released earlier this year)
Reindeer Falls books 4-6 by Jana Aston (M/F; she released books 1-3 in 2019)
Holiday Brothers trilogy by Willa Nash (M/F; she also writes as Devney Perry)
I have Dearest Malachi Keogh on my list as well! I also read in N.R. Walker’s newsletter yesterday about her Christmas Wish List,which I didn’t know was dropping.
Same here. It’s great to have plenty of new books from favourite authors but I often find out about them too late to include in these posts!
I only discovered N.R. Walker earlier this year. I bought Tic-Tac-Mistletoe but was saving it to read closer to Christmas. Now I get the bonus of a related Christmas novella with Christmas Wish List! But I know I will read Dearest Malachi Keogh as soon as it’s out – no waiting!
Thank you for the heads up about Kringle Family Christmas. I love Molly O’Keefe and Julie Kriss (I think Kriss is one of the most underrated writers in romance today). I’ve never been able to get into S. Doyle, but I’ll be looking forward to the other two books.
Julie Kriss is my favorite of the 3 authors as well. I’m not sure if you knew but the same 3 authors did a set of Christmas novellas last year too. It was the Kane Christmas trilogy and Julie Kriss’ book is called My Fake Christmas Fiance.
Oh yes! They also did the King Family saga (TYCOON, BODYGUARD, BASTARD, COWBOY) a few years back. That’s where I first read Julie Kriss and since then I’ve read everything she’s published.
I read the King Family saga too!
After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long is the best book in the Palace of Rogues series and my favorite book of the year so far. I was lucky to get an advanced copy. I’m also looking forward to Jayne Castle’s Guild Boss Nov. 16th (yay dust bunnies).
My random comments:
I’m afraid I don’t have any more info on the plot than what is written, but I looked through Harlequin Special Edition’s “multicultural & interracial romance” category and found it to be inconsistent. That is to say, Laurel Greer’s Holiday by Candlelight and In Service of Love weren’t in that category, even though both stories feature interracial couples where one partner is Jewish. Also, the upcoming Christmas at the Chateau is under the multicultural category, even though both cover models appear to be white and the characters’ names are Viola Williamson and Dom Shaw. It doesn’t seem to take place in France either, unless I’m mistaken, so I’m not sure why it is under the “multicultural & interracial romance” category. Maybe the answer will become clear later.
Sorry if this is a long way of saying their classification system needs some cleaning up.
Books I’m looking forward to:
-Christmas Mountain by Garrett Leigh. I’m still trying to find a Leigh book I like as much as Angels in the City. I loved that book.
-The Geek That Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert. I like the author and I know odds are good I will enjoy it.
-Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall. I don’t know anything about it, but with that author I’ll give it a try.
**NOTE: The link for Murder Most Actual takes you to the Annabeth Albert book.**
-House On Fire by Jenn Burke. I need to catch up with the first book, or I might wait until all three are published.
My kids all loved the Sabriel books by Garth Nix, so I’ll tell them about this new prequel, Terciel & Elinor.
I’m hoping Josh Lanyon’s new Secrets and Scrabble mystery, Body at Buccaneer’s Bay, will finally be released this month after being pushed back at least once. It’s due out Nov 18th.
Oops on the link – the Hall is actually a Kobo exclusive so no Kindle/Amazon edition which means I wasn’t able to link to it. The code from the Albert must’ve ‘bled over’ somehow. I have the Leigh, Albert and Burke on my review list, so watch this space!
And yes, the Lanyon – which I included in last month’s post – as been moved, and I forgot to include it here – there have been several release date changes this month and I’ve lost track!
No worries. Bummer about the Hall. I remember now that saw it in his newsletter. I’ll see how reviews are before I look into getting a Kobo app to read it. I look forward to your reviews!
Body at Buccaneer’s Bay has been pushed back to Dec 18th. Bummer!
Pickings are mighty slim in November. As of now, I only have three books on my November tbr—and one of those had been scheduled for October but got moved:
November 1 brings Caitlin Crews’s latest HP, THE BRIDE HE STOLE FOR CHRISTMAS. This one features the second-chance trope: a woman (about to walk down the aisle in an arranged marriage) reconnects with the man with whom she once had a passionate affair.
Amelia Wilde’s DARK REIGN arrives November 9. It’s part of the multi-author Midnight Dynasty series and I’m assuming this will be the first book in a duet or trilogy. The heroine is a young artist, the hero is a reclusive billionaire art collector who wants the heroine’s art…and her.
Sybil Bartel’s VICTOR, the latest book in her Alpha Elite romantic-suspense series, was originally scheduled for October but has now been moved to November 24. In this one, the hero falls for the woman he has been hired to keep under surveillance.
Looking forward to the Balogh, as Estelle has been an interesting side character. Also very excited about the Thomas book. That series is really excellent. I like Louise Allen, too. Never read Holloway and wasn’t familiar with her but from your description, I’ll give her a go!
A more encouraging list this month. Of course, for me, The Huge Biggie is the Diana Gabaldon’s Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone. I have been waiting years, not months, for this one and it has been on pre-order from Day One. The Balogh is already pre-ordered as well for she is an auto-buy.
The one new-to-me author is Sophia Holloway and I think I will have that one on my Kindle as well. I read the reviews on Amazon which were a bit mixed. Some loved her writing as very much in the Heyer tradition and others thought it was too slow and difficult/awkward to read. This makes me wonder if the author has truly pulled it off or there are readers who come from a history of wallpaper fluff and don’t recognise what the author is purportedly doing and therefore may not appreciate it. I am curious about this one.
Hah – my mind went to exactly the same place as yours after I read that comment, to those who complain about needing to read Heyer with a dictionary by their side (I mean, seriously?) I read and reviewed one of Holloway’s books a few years ago – The Devil You Know – and I gave it a B. I described it as light and breezy and even “Heyeresque” and I don’t recall any awkwardness in the writing.
If you like it, feel free to write us a review!
It should arrive before the Gabaldon so will try to read it and send comments before I hide away with Claire and Jamie ;-)
I am glad Gabaldon hasn’t succumbed to the “George RR Martin” curse and is still on track with her new books in the Outlander series. I think everyone has their eyes on that one since the TV show is still a big hit and drew in tons of new followers.
Regarding the Holloway and Heyer I have to laugh at people’s attention spans nowadays. Every year Jezebel puts up their scary story contest where people submit supposedly true scary real life stories. They are usually a few paragraphs at most and this year there were people whining one story had too much “information and backstory in it”. I actually liked it. I am afraid people’s attention spans are just getting shorter by the day.
Re short attention spans, that’s interesting to mull over. Is it because folk like me, an old lady by some standards, grew up with real books and pretty basic TV programmes unlike, say, something like Succession, The Bridge or Mad Men and NO internet and all of its various permutations. We had to concentrate, embroider our thoughts with imagination and think well outside the “normal” box. Is social media destroying creative thinking? Julie Birchell and Lionel Shriver have had some interesting thoughts about writing fiction in today’s woke world. They think that no one will be allowed to be truly creative and write about anything not 100% in their own precise life experience because they will be called out, publishers won’t take them and we will all be the poorer for it. Could this mean no historical, dystopian, science, crime or thriller fiction, etc. in due course? Therefore the crap shoveled at the author of American Dirt could become the norm. It’s a huge cause for concern.
I think it’s very likely we will be seeing more and more “anonymous” authors and pseudonyms popping up. I know Ruby Dixon of “Ice Planet Barbarians” fame is a pseudonym as she likes to keep that persona separate from her NYT bestselling contemporary romance persona. Not necessarily for the reasons you state- but it shows it’s still possible nowadays. I think authors will be turning to that anonymity for freedom in the coming years to separate themselves from their stories.
I do think attention spans are getting much shorter which is evident in how the news is presented, let alone TV and movies.
You mentioned Mad Men which really was a throw back to “the olden days” of TV as things developed very slowly and there were no big crazy events for the most part. The way the creator guarded against any leaks or spoilers also made it seem like the old days.
It’s probably the only major show I watched where there were zero leaks. Every episode was a surprise. Quite a difference from any major show I watched from Buffy to Game Of Thrones where scripts were leaked long before the episodes aired. There were even streams of the last episodes of Game of Thrones online days or hours before they were broadcast.
I read Holloway’s Kingscastle a bit ago and it’s definitely very slow building, especially with what was meant to be the central relationship. I say central as there is one other sort of main relationship that develops. I did think of Heyer as I read it, but even her most gradual building books feel faster paced than this one. I think what works against it more than the pacing is how little time the hero/heroine actually spend together. In fact, it read more as historical fiction with strong romantic elements, reminiscent of North and South by Gaskell.
All that said I did end up enjoying it, but not as much as I’d hoped to based on the cover and description.
Of the others listed that I’ve read – the Julie Anne Long was phenomenal. Loved it. Mary Balogh tends to swing between solid and stellar for me and this one was in the solid category. And KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD was another disappointing one that didn’t live up to the cover or description – heroine all over the place as was the story.
One not listed here that I adored, a fantasy novel, YEAR OF THE REAPER by Makiia Lucier = tonally for me similar to THE GOBLIN EMPEROR by Addison, and like that one has a slow-build, gentle romance as an underlining plot. Was a joy to read.
Off-topic, but those are my feelings on the Gaskell, too. I fell in love with Richard Armitage, Daniela Denby-Ashe, and their love story in the BBC production. But when I later read Gaskell’s actual book, I felt a bit let down by the lack of a stronger romantic element.
I find most 19th century books are given a little more oomph when they are adapted for TV or the movies.
There are no kisses in any Jane Austen books for example but as 21 century viewers we want that included. Same with North And South- no respectable 19th century people would be kissing in plain view on the middle of a train or train station. I know that but was personally just eating it up when it happened on screen.
In Jane Eyre it’s implied in the book that Jane is very, very tempted to give in to her carnal side with Mr. Rochester but there are no make out sessions like in the Toby Stephens version.
In the wonderful TV adaptation of Wives and Daughters (also by Gaskell) they left out a kiss at the end for the main couple and it really feels incomplete without it, especially as they are married at the end.
For Wives and Daughters the whole ending isn’t in the book, as it was unfinished when Elizabeth Gaskell died suddenly. The book ends with Edward getting a blessing from Mr. Gibson, but never being able to talk to Molly about his feelings beforhe leaves for Africa. I was happy with the ending in the miniseries,although a kiss is always nice. :-)
I enjoyed the book, North and South, but the miniseries is definitely stronger. Gaskell’s works are a little heavy on the melodramatic instead of the romantic, but the TV adaptations have kept to the stories really well while improving on the romance.
When I said “left out” I meant the production didn’t put one in the series of Wives and Daughters as every TV and movie production of every 19th century novel from Austen to Gaskell usually does. People still complain about the kiss on the street in the 90’s version of Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds and I agree it would never have happened. But I also liked having a kiss even if it would have made more sense if he pulled her into a corner or side street to do it.
I thought a kiss at the end of Wives and Daughters when Molly and Roger were alone out in what looked like the desert would have been very appropriate (especially as they felt it was OK to put her in pants in circa 1840) and I confess I would have preferred that. I did enjoy how they ended it though with Molly adventuring with Roger and I thought the proposal scene in the rain was very cute and well done.
I thought the mini series of North and South stayed very close to the book and there were some cute parts in the book they didn’t add like Margaret’s father using her fingers as a sugar tong- which made them seem less stuffy than they were in the TV series. I adored the mini-series though and it really brought the characters to life. The ending kisses were very romantic and sweetl