Happy Tuesday, mis internet amigxs!!

Now that Latinx Heritage Month is over, we're STILL going to be reading Latinx Books all year and discussing the disparities in traditional publishing.

For example, when you're going through today's release list, compare first 2 weeks (27 books or 13.5 books average) to how many books are releasing today. Why do all our releases need to be shoved into our heritage month that publishing barely even acknowledged anyway? THAT is the disconnect in publishing and the promotion of Latinx books.

This is why supporting Bien Leidos Bindery at a paid level is so important--I'm helping to push back against not only our lack of representation in publishing, but promoting books that are otherwise relegated to the margins. Your financial support also helps me put together events and keep book club and Discord going. Libritos and Lectores members will also be receiving holiday cards from me this year.

Let's go through some of our upcoming events:

CLEYVIS NATERA AUTHOR CHAT

On October 22nd at 8PM EST, we'll be chatting with The Grand Paloma Resort Hotel author, Cleyvis Natera on Zoom. Sign up here AND there's a link in that post for your to submit your questions in advance! Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday.

BIEN LEIDOS BOOK CLUB

OCTOBER FICTION: We're still reading You Should Have Been Nicer To My Mom by Vincent Tirado this month.

OCTOBER NONFICTION: Our nonfiction sidequest book is The Latinx Guide To Liberation by Vanessa Pezo.

NONFICTION SIDEQUEST: Our November-December nonfiction sidequest book is UP TO YOU!! Pick a topic written by a Latinx author and tell book club about it.

NOVEMBER FICTION: Our November Fiction book club pick is Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselle.

DECEMBER FICTION: For December, instead of assigning a book, I'm asking everyone to either pick a genre or pick a bingo card square that they still need to fill in and find a book that satisfies that. I'll be posting a poll on Discord and here soon to pick what direction we're headed.

NOVEMBER JOURNAL PLANNING ON DISCORD

If you're looking for some year-end journal planning inspo, we're planning a mid-November Discord gathering for those who are beginning to get their 2027 journals in order. We have a poll up right now, going through tomorrow, to pick a date. Don't miss out on Discord.

LibroFM BOGO Sale Begins TODAY

There are so many incredible BOGO BOOKS in Libro FM's sale going on through October 29th. Not only some amazing and informative reads for Nonfiction November, but some Latinx modern classics everyone should have on their shelves. I hope you'll take advantage of this incredible sale that also supports and independent bookstore of your choice! Do you want me to highlight some of my favorites from the sale? I'll put a poll at the bottom of this post.

Before I get started with today's releases, I wanted to mention a book I missed last week: This Is Love by Zoraida Cordova

OCTOBER 20th LATINE BOOK RELEASES

Beautiful to See You (Again) by Lygia Day Peñaflor (Audiobook)

Legally Yours, Violet Lopez by Elba Luz (Audiobook)

Twisted Vows by I.V. Marie (Audiobook)

Visceral: Essays by Maria Fernanda Ampuero; translated by Frances Riddle (Audiobook)

What The Forest Devours by Elaine Vilar Madruga (Audiobook)

False Face by  Josh Galarza

The End Of The Vodka by Oscar De Muriel

A Shadow of Jaguars by D C Frost

OCTOBER 22nd - SMG UK hardcover release!

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Audiobook)

xo,

Carmen

Here’s your weekly round-up of brand new, progressive-leaning romances that you may not have seen on your Instagram feed. If I’ve omitted a title you feel passionate about and think this community will enjoy, please do share it in the comments. Reminder that I haven't read any of these titles yet, so this isn't an official endorsement unless noted. Click through to read the post on Bindery for my full commentary.

The Two Wills by Blair Fell (Alcove) — A queer historical, romantic novel by the author of Disco Witches of Fire Island about a young actor named Willy who becomes smitten with William Shakespeare. [I’m not sure if there is an HEA, but Blair is extremely cool and was a featured author at our recent fundraiser for Authors Against Book Bans.]

Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas (Avon) — KLEYPAS IS BACK, BABY. Her new novel is marketed as historical fiction, but rest assured this is a romance by one of the titans of hist-rom. There’s an interesting debate among early readers about how progressive this story about a heroine starting a women’s bank in Victorian England actually is, for reasons I won’t spoil. I understand the criticisms but really enjoyed reading it, and the appearances by previous Kleypas characters. If you love Kleypas and found family novels, pick it up. 

Falling Back to You by Kasha Thompson (Honey Blossom Press) — A Black second chance romance with fall vibes about exes who are coparenting their daughter. I love this section from the marketing copy: “Dial and Ozzie have been a part of each other’s story for so long that neither one knows how to write a version of themselves without the other in it. But wanting someone back and being ready for them are two different things.”

First to Finish by Rebecca J. Caffery (One More Chapter) — Gay Formula 1 romance about a race car driver and his team’s race engineer. Vroom vroom.

Scorpio Season by Maisie Bell (LYX) — Lesbian rock band romance with ADHD rep! I love the cover art and sprayed edges on this paperback.

Now That We Don't Talk by Rachel Pologe (Berkley) — A childhood friends to enemies to lovers Hanukkah romance. [No shade to Pologe, but is anyone else curious if we'll see the Taylor Swift lyric titles go out of fashion?]

Succubus: A Love Story by Kate Fox (St. Martin's Griffin) — Finally a paranormal romance about a succubus! Immediately added it to my TBR. The heroine also happens to be a doula, which rocks. This debut received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly.

I just finished my second Patricia McKillip and I am fully prepared to read her entire body of work. I started with Alphabet of Thorn last winter and adored it, and this week I finally read Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

Forgotten Beasts is the one book I see my favorite contemporary fantasy authors reference over and over again as a book they read as a child that influences their writing today. When you're reading it you really can see how it is the blueprint for so many stories coming out now and I can't thank McKillip enough for creating these worlds!

Which Patricia A McKillip should I read next?

The ENDING is 🤯🔥🤌❤️‍🔥

If you are someone who likes to read about dragons, then you MUST READ Riders if Dragons.

All Ginny wants is to be a dragon rider like her brother, but she has to rebel and walk on this path alone.

✨ I am a Fourth Wing fan, and that's why while reading I was subconsciously noting the differences between the two. And There are some aspects where I liked Riders of Dragon more than Fourth Wing.

First of all the bond between dragon and rider is wayy deep. A rider hatches a dragon and takes care of them right from birth. The world has all sorts of dark plots like dragon robbery, killing and selling - just like real world. ✨

Secondly, this book captures misogyny which women face so well. I was so pissed at her parents. Ginny has to prove herself at every point. She is not taken seriously in cases because of her gender. I love that she sticks to her guns and rebels. 🔥

👏 There are parts of book which are dedicated just to her training with her dragon, Fang. Personally those were very important because that solidified her character arc.

But one thing, it is not as dark or intense as Fourth Wing. It is a cozy romantasy with a plot twist ending.

Coming to the men, yes plural, because it is a love triangle. I am not a huge fan of love triangles as they are tricky and could immediately make the characters look super messy. And honestly, I wasn't a fan, until some things happened. No spoilers of course 😉

The book ends on a cliffhanger, but it was such a great cliffhanger! I can't wait to read The Dragon theif. I have so many questions - who is she gonna end up with, where is book taking place, what about her parents?

Honestly, go for it. It's a great book. 9/10.

Thank you so much BookSparks and A.T Qureshi for this copy.

#frc2026 #riderofdragons #romantasybooks

It’s election time!

As this blog post comes out, many states are now starting early voting. Here at FBC, we want to make sure y’all are prepared for the midterms, starting with making sure you’re registered to vote.

Vote.gov is a government website that makes checking your registration and knowing your voting rights incredibly easy. Make sure the website is vote.gov, not votesafe.org, which is a website created by Elon Musk that has been rumored to be collecting your voting information and selling it.

Once you’re on vote.gov, you’ll see a red button that says “Select your state or territory to begin”. Go ahead and click on your state or territory, and that will take you to a page dedicated to voting information about your state, including a link to where you can check if you’re registered to vote.

Make sure to go through the entire page! Even if it’s too late to register by mail or online, you may still be able to register in person. I live in Missouri, where the deadline to register online, in-person, or by mail is 27 days before Election Day, which means it would be too late for me to register now if I wasn’t already. My home state of California, however, allows for online and mail registration up to 15 days before Election Day, and in-person registration is available on Election Day itself. Each state has different rules and regulations for how to register and when you can, so it’s important to read this thoroughly.

If you want to vote by mail and are unsure if you’re eligible or how to go about it, visit eac.gov, the US Election Assistance Commission website. You’ll choose your state and be given a list of links for your voting concerns, including mail-in or absentee voting.
If you have any questions about voting, please let us know either in the comments below or in Discord. We’re more than happy to answer them.

Don’t forget, you can look up your sample ballot on ballotpedia.org, giving you time to look through each representative and any ballot measures so that you can be prepared on Election Day.