Must-Have Monday #253
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other stuff sneaks in occasionally too.
EIGHT books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
The Driftcap Inn (Innkeepers of Itharos Book 1) by Kate Valent Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 8th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Driftcap Inn (Innkeepers of Itharos Book 1)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kate Valent", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Howl’s Moving Castle meets Legends & Lattes in this cozy fantasy set on a magical inn in the sky.
Welcome to The Driftcap Inn, a cozy perch among the clouds. Drift on in and stay awhile!
In all of Itharos no inn is more enchanting—or peculiar—than The Driftcap Inn, a cozy haven in the sky carved from a giant floating mushroom. Its owner, Eino the Wanderer, enjoys a life of breathtaking views and freedom from the petty wars and political intrigue of the kingdoms below. But a home set adrift in the vast, empty skies can also be unbearably lonely.
When a handsome and enigmatic apothecary named Joren comes aboard, an unexpected companionship blossoms between the two men, stirring the possibility of something deeper. But their peaceful journey through the clouds is shattered when a string of unsettling events threatens to send Eino’s home plummeting to the ground.
Something wicked is spreading its roots across The Driftcap Inn, and Eino suspects there’s much more to it than just bad luck. With dark secrets surrounding every guest and danger creeping ever closer, Eino must decide who he can trust with his life — and with his heart.
This sounds whimsical as hells, and I’m here for it!
Pantomime (Micah Grey) by L.R. Lam Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual intersex MC
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Pantomime (Micah Grey)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "L.R. Lam", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From the USA Today-bestselling author of Dragonfall comes a fantasy trilogy about a circus aerialist's quest to escape his past and decipher the magical prophecy that will shape his future
In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .
Micah runs away from a debutante’s life at home and joins the circus, harboring twosecrets–one: he was born between male and female, and two: he may have powers last seen in mysterious beings from an almost-forgotten age. Micah discovers the joy of flight as an aerialist, courting his trapeze partner, Aenea, and confiding in the mysterious white clown, Drystan. He finally feels free. But the circus has a darkside, and Micah’s past isn’t done with him.
Meanwhile, the strange 'ghost' of a woman with damselfly wings whispers to Micah that only he can help magic return to the realm, and he fears she may be right...Micah has much to learn, and he must do it quickly—before his past and future collide, withcatastrophic consequences.
Pantomime is a gorgeous and inventive fantasy with queer elements, inspired by Victorian Scotland. L.R. Lam weaves a coming-of-age tale, stirrings of first love, and prophetic whispers into this unforgettable first installment of the Micah Grey series.
Pantomime was originally released as a YA book over a decade ago, but it’s been extensively rewritten and is being re-released as Adult now! Very interested to see how it’s changed!
An Unbreakable World by Ren Hutchings Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "An Unbreakable World", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ren Hutchings", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
If something seems too good to be real, you’ve got to get out of there.
That’s the rule that Page Found has always followed. She’s a petty thief with no memory of her past, scrounging to survive on a backwater outpost – until she’s kidnapped by one of her marks.
Her kidnappers – the cruel, self-serving Zhak and the tough maverick Maelle – plan to pass Page off as a monk from an ancient, isolated planet to help them capture a treasure-filled ship. If Page is willing to play along, they all stand to become richer than they can imagine.
Everyone is keeping secrets, and Maelle finds her loyalties conflicted as she gets closer to their captive. Page can’t remember the last time she counted on anyone. But to navigate this deception, she and Maelle will have to trust each other to survive.
KB Wagers is quoted on the cover as describing this as ‘Beautiful hopepunk at its best’ which is absolutely all I need to hear: I am SOLD!
You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Trans MC, M/M
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "You Weren't Meant to Be Human", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Andrew Joseph White", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Alien meets Midsommar in this chilling debut adult novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White about identity, survival, and transformation amidst an alien invasion in rural West Virginia.
Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse.
Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child’s birth, no matter the cost—Crane’s desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.
You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is a deeply personal horror; a visceral statement about the lives of marginalized people in a hostile world, echoing the works of Stephen Graham Jones and Eric LaRocca.
Honestly, I will probably skip this one, because it sounds like it’s gonna hit SO MANY of my ABSOLUTELY NOT places – but I’m not going to NOT feature an Andrew Joseph White release!
The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy by Roan Parrish Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Roan Parrish", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Jamie Wendon-Dale may design haunted houses, but they don't actually believe in ghosts—until they meet Edgar Lovejoy, who is tall, clever, beautiful…and 100% haunted.
A COZY, GHOSTLY LGBTQIA+ ROMANCE
Jamie Wendon-Dale creates haunted houses for a living. Haunting is their life—but nobody working New Orleans' spooky circuit actually believes in ghosts.
Edgar Lovejoy is 100% haunted. No, really. Ghosts have tormented him since childhood and he's organized his life around attempts to avoid them.
Opposites? Get ready to attract. But while Jamie's biggest concern is that Edgar sometimes seems a bit distracted, Edgar's fears are much greater. Not only is he scared of encountering the dearly departed whenever he leaves the house, but he's terrified of making himself vulnerable to Jamie. After all, how do you tell someone who believes ghosts only exist as smoke and mirrors that you see them everywhere you go? And how can you trust in a happy future when you can't even believe in yourself?
A little spooky, a little magical, and a whole lot The (Most Unusual) Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy will leave you feeling like you've found a brand new bookish family of your own.
Sounds potentially adorable; I plan on tucking this on the to-be-read-when-in-need-of-fluff pile!
Bind Me Tighter Still: A Novel by Lara Ehrlich Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Bind Me Tighter Still: A Novel", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lara Ehrlich", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
AUTHOR OF AWARD-WINNING, ANIMAL WIFE
WINNER OF CAI EMMONS FICTION AWARD and ERIC HOFFER AWARD
FOREWORD INDIE AWARD FINALIST
"The poetic prose mixed with the intense subject matter creates an undertow that will pull readers in."—Booklist
“A modern-day fairy tale that is both ghastly and beautiful.”—Kirkus
Mother and daughter mermaids navigate starting over and finding their place in the world in Lara Ehrlich’s debut novel.
The youngest siren sister, Ceto is weary of an existence driven by hunger, no better than a fish. She trades her tail for legs, marries the first man she meets, and bears a daughter—only to find domesticity as suffocating as the sea. Craving more, Ceto flees with her daughter Naia back to the ocean, where she reinvents herself as the star of a mermaid burlesque, performing in a lavish tank carved into the limestone cliffs above the waves.
At Sirenland, Ceto’s sensual performances and the erotic allure of her trained sirens transform the seaside attraction into a national sensation—a glittering empire where spectacle, desire, and female power reign. But as Naia comes of age and begins to question her mother’s vision, the boundary between empowerment and exploitation grows dangerously thin. When a shocking death rocks Sirenland, Ceto’s rule is threatened, and mother and daughter must reckon with the cost of performance on their already tenuous bond.
Bind Me Tighter Still is a lush, provocative exploration of power, sex, sacrifice, and motherhood—a celebration of female strength in a world determined to tame it.
I am SO HYPED FOR THIS, I cannot even. MERMAID BURLESQUE WITH REAL MERMAIDS?! GIMME!
An Embroidery of Souls by Ruby Martinez Genres: Fantasy, YA
Representation: Mexican MC
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "An Embroidery of Souls", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ruby Martinez", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Jade can manipulate souls with the tug of a thread--it's up to her, and a boy with a soul as bright as the universe to stop a creature on the loose before it claims its next victim in this lush, Mexican & German inspired romantasy.
Jade Aguilar can kill a man with nothing more than a needle and thread. Like her mother, a thread speaker in the queendom of Mérecal, she has the unique ability to stitch love, beauty, intelligence and to unravel even death. When her mother goes missing, the queen orders Jade to find her or be conscripted into a life of servitude.
Lukas Keller is desperate to feed his family and makes a deal with a vicious gang leader. Though he swore never to seek the help of a thread speaker, he's in over his head and it might be his only option.Jade and Lukas form a mistrustful alliance. But as Mérecal erupts into chaos and the killer closes in, they must cling to one another for survival--and perhaps . . . something more?
From debut author Ruby Martinez comes a wildly romantic, heart pounding mystery set in a lush fantastical world inspired by Mexican and German lore.
I only heard about this one at the last minute, which is outrageous: can’t believe my usual sources failed me like so badly! Very glad I did hear about it, though, because it sounds fascinating. Mexican and German is not a myth/folklore mash-up I’ve seen before!
Elegy of the Stars: A Medieval Dark Fantasy by J. J. DE GROOT Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-09-08T08:21:00+00:00", "description": "Magical aerialists, siren burlesque with real mermaids, and a flying mushroom inn!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/must-have-monday-253\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Elegy of the Stars: A Medieval Dark Fantasy", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "J. J. DE GROOT", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Dive into an apocalyptic medieval world from multiple perspectives in this standalone debut novel from award-nominated author J. J. DE GROOT that combines the epic horror of Attack on Titan with the religious mysteries of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.
The Horsemen are here, and they aren't leaving until the last remaining kingdom is burned to the ground.
Fifteen-year-old Balmung works as a necromancer, negotiating with malevolent ghosts and helping lost souls pass on. His goal? Join the Necromancy Guild – trusted by Brevaria’s High Astrologers to protect their kingdom from the Horsemen – and repay Guild leader Magdalene for saving his life.
To earn her favor and a place at her side, Balmung must journey into the heart of Horsemen territory and retrieve a holy relic that could save Brevaria. The quest sets him on a collision course with others seeking its Roma, an astrologer determined to bargain her way out of a political marriage, and Dieter, an undercover prince who must dethrone Brevaria’s king if he wants to save his people.
New horrors lurk in the ruins of fallen nations, and longstanding truths begin to crack. What is the true nature of the relic they're after, and are the Horsemen really mankind's greatest threat?
I’ve heard very little about this one, but that’s one heck of a synopsis!
Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #253 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
