Tantalizing Tales — September 2026 — Part One

Happy September, everybody! I genuinely don’t understand how this year has simultaneously felt so protracted yet also seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye. I’d put it down to my mystery illness but apparently, I’m not the only person I know who feels like this, so.

If you’d like a less baffling way to marvel at the passage of time, check out the most exciting debut of the coming week, Gigi Waldorf’s Murder On The Upper East Side. Yes, that’s a pseudonym (of bestselling author Kit Frick) that, with the cover text, absolutely evokes the beloved original Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar. I am, ofc, Team Blair forever!

In this homage, Hannah Miller is a journalist who finds herself at a glittering charity gala attended by many of the people she went to school with at the ultra-prestigious Prescott Academy of New York a decade ago. As a scholarship student, she’d felt like an outsider, and hoped that she could finish her senior year by flying under the radar and avoiding the sting of Queen Bees Madison DuPont and Elle Harrington. Alas, things did not go quite as she’d planned.

Ten years later, Madison DuPont is still Queen Bee. Her big welcoming speech at the gala is, however, punctuated by her extremely unexpected death soon after. Fingers quickly point to Hannah, who was seen talking to Madison mere moments before she died. In order to clear her name, Hannah will have to get close to her former classmates once more, unearthing all their secrets to find the one person who hated Madison enough to want her dead. Trouble is, there are more than a few people at the gala with secrets that they’d kill to keep concealed…

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If your fancies tend less toward gossip and more towards speculation of another sort, may I recommend Ken Liu’s latest science fiction and fantasy short story collection, The Passing Of The Dragon?

The thirteen works of short fiction collected here showcase Mr Liu’s mastery of form and genre. The title story is a novella originally published at ReactorMag.com. Its heroine Kay is a painter who fears that she’s failing at her art. She decides to seek inspiration from one of her favorite poets, and unexpectedly finds a whole lot more than she bargained for.

If you’ve never encountered Mr Liu’s work before, you can read the whole novella at the link, to help you get a taste of the entire volume. But if you, like I, already know and enjoy Mr Liu’s work, then this is an unmissable addition to his oeuvre. He’s an award-winning author for a very good reason, and this collection is yet another publication of his to celebrate.

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Speaking of celebrations, our next book provides an insider’s look at one of the happiest, most celebration-friendly places on earth! With the help of Ian Wilson, Danielle Kelly — the Disney influencer known as The Dapper Danielle — has written an absorbing guide to the hidden lore of her former workplace in The Lost History Of Walt Disney World.

Subtitled A Tour Of The Forgotten, Little-Known, And Obscure History Of The Most Magical Place On Earth, this handbook is a must-read both for Disney enthusiasts and trivia buffs. Ms Kelly puts her experience to good use as she pulls the curtain back on aspects of the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and more that the general public most likely don’t know, much less ever imagined.

Readers will learn, for example, the real reason why there’s only half a plane on the banks of the Rivers of Adventure, as well as what happened to the rest of it. You’ll also discover which classic Disney tale inspired a Fantasyland ride that scared some people even more than the Haunted Mansion attraction still does, and where you can still find repurposed items from that now-defunct ride. Florida’s notorious sinkholes also come into discussion, as they actually led to the creation of one of the most iconic features of EPCOT.

I’m nowhere close to being a Disney adult, but that’s mostly because I can’t afford it, lol. I’m so eager to read this book tho, as both a lover of whimsy and of trivia. Definitely get this for either yourself and/or the Disney fan in your life!

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Finally, I want to talk about a book that recently came out but that I’m still working on a review on, partly because I’m doing more than just reading it! Two-time Food Network champion Karen Thi has published her debut cookbook Spookie Cookies, a gorgeous and endlessly inventive collection of cookie recipes perfect for your next Halloween or spooky-themed party.

Inside you can find recipes for pull-apart cookie zombies that ooze marshmallow; edible games based on Operation and Tic-Tac-Toe, but with a spooky twist, and a three-dimensional spherical cookie shaped like a cauldron that you can actually put things in!

I’ll be totally honest with you: I am a competent baker but this all sounds so intimidating to me that I’m actually kinda scared to start reading. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pull myself together — unlike that zombie cookie, lol — and see whether Ms Thi’s guidance is as painless as promised. It definitely helps that I was sent a box of amazing accessories with this title, to help with the cookie baking process. Wish me luck and stay tuned to see how well I ultimately do!

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All of these books are either available or available for pre-order now, so let me know if you’re able to get to them before I do, dear readers! I’d love to hear your opinions, and see if that will spur me to push any of them higher up the mountain range that is my To Be Read pile.

And, as always, you can check out the list of my favorite books in my Bookshop storefront linked below!