Happy first day of September! What better way to celebrate a brand-new month than with a brand-new stack of books?

We've gathered up a few books that are hitting shelves today that some of our members are very excited about, and honestly, we think you will be too!

First up we have -

If this title sounds interesting to you, listen here to Jordy, Lana, and Jilly's discussing family, self-trust, and the power we discover within ourselves. They dive into what it means to claim your power, trust your instincts, embrace who you are, and push back against the voices, both internal and external, that make you doubt yourself. 

Next on the list -

For the horror fans -

And for the grand finale -

Let us know in the poll which book you'll be picking up first!

Happy September everyone!!! It’s officially fall spooky season 🧡🍂🍁🎃 the winners for September book club areeee….

A Forbidden Alchemy for the fantasy category and Seed for the horror category!! I am soooo excited for both of these books I cannot wait to get into them! Make sure to click the link to the discord where we will discuss everything

Bindery Followers, Inner Circle, and Producers, this one is just for you! 

I'm excited to announce the very first round of Bindery Bingo here on Rachael's Reads!

The Basics: 

• Save the Bingo board to a safe place 

• Drop a snapshot of the completed activity into each square as you complete them*

• Game will run September 1-November 30, 2026

Scoring: 

• One (1) point will be awarded for each square completed (24 total - no points for Free Space)

• Two (2) bonus points for each BINGO. For the purposes of this game, Bingos will include: horizontal rows, vertical rows, & corner-to-corner diagonal rows

• Five (5) bonus points for a blackout board

• Total available points: 53

• Upgrade your subscription to Inner Circle and receive 10 bonus points

• Upgrade to Producer and receive 20 bonus points

What do I win?  I'm so glad you asked!

The winner of this fall's Bindery Bingo will receive an Aardvark Book Club Box with their choice of three titles from Aardvark's December selections. Thank you to Aardvark Book Club for partnering with me to spoil our first winner! (Photo is an example only and used with gracious permission of the owner)

The Fine Print:

• Open to all membership tiers of Rachael's Reads with US or Canadian mailing addresses.

• Winner must be willing to supply a mailing address to the host (Rachael) to be shared with the prize sponsor (Aardvark Book Box). 

• Prize will be awarded to the player with the most points, earned as detailed above. In the event of a tie, a winner will be drawn at random from the players with the tied scores. 

• Final game boards must be submitted by December 4, 2026. Submission instructions to come.

• Game is not sponsored by Bindery Books or any of their imprints.

Have fun!!!

*If you are unable to edit photos onto the Bingo board, please drop a note in the #bindery-bingo channel on Discord and I'll send you alternate instructions.

Hello my fellow Collaborators, and a very happy Tuesday to you all!

I come to you this September 1st with a quiet house - as school has officially begun! Insert horns here I was also met with a first - my youngest (almost 10) shut me down for a hug today as I dropped her off in her school line - my affectionate, sweet, little cuddle bug, denied me a goodbye hug for the first time, and while consent is always top priority for us, it did break my heart. She's growing up so quickly, and I never thought this day would come! 4th graders, y'all!

I've spilled my tears, now let's discuss some books!

The

I mentioned previously that I was starting a personal curriculum - for the remainder of Q3 (the rest of this month) I will finish up all my current reads, which are, now:

1. Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H (Also our Q3 book club selection)

2. Among The Wildflowers by Anita Kelly (we will be in discussion with them NEXT WEEK, Sep. 11)

3. Welcome To The Grief Club by Janine Kwoh

I am actually ahead of my September reading by a week.. And who knows if I will stay ahead, but these books are also ones I want to read this month:

1. The Latinx Guide To Liberation by Vanessa Pezo (Reading this for @Carmen Nonfiction September/October side quest) I'll be reading this via audio

2. And If I Die Before I Wake: A Memoir by George M. Johnson (It's READ NOW on NetGalley through 9/2 - tomorrow, go!) It releases in November of 2026

3. Cemetery Boys & Cemetery Boys: Espiritu by Aiden Thomas (I pre-ordered a signed copy of Espiritu, so I need to reread Cemetery boys to immerse myself back in the story.)

4. To Our Untamed Core by Sonido Reyes (I received a PR box from BookSparks for this one, and it was beautiful! Also, this is our Q4 book club pick and we will be in conversation with Sonido in November.) This releases September 22, 2026

So, a lot of books I want to finish this month! Who knows (probably not) if I will get to them all, but they're amazing and I cannot wait to read them as the majority of the authors are my favorites and auto-buys!

I also wanted to stop and reflect on reading habits - I was on track this year to read 100 books - it would've been my first year hitting that milestone. And while I set my goal at 1 this year across the board (books, page count, hours) I knew I was on pace to hit a major milestone due to my reading habits. And then my Memaw passed in June, and my reading completely halted. I was unable to pick up a book for 2 months. I am still struggling to find enjoyment in my hobbies - but this month, not only did I pick up a book again, I read a total of 9 through various formats - mostly audio and physical. Here's the StoryGraph breakdown for those of you who are curious:

If you're unaware of The StoryGraph, is a Black woman owned app that allows you to track your books, TBRs, current reads, and so much more, and they are constantly behind the scenes adding and creating new features! I love this app. The nerd in me appreciates the graphs and breakdowns every month.

I think my favorite of the month is a tie - Anger is Only A Shadow and Conversion Therapy Dropout. Both were PHENOMENAL books and even more amazing on audio. I also pre-order Anger is On A Shadow. (Which releases September 15). I still need a physical copy of Conversion Therapy Dropout.

I'm so excited for what September has in store, and I know I'll have a lot of top contenders for favorites!

Looking ahead! For Quarter 4, I will be back to my reading challenge that I made into a queer edition from my friend Kelli over on Bookstagram, which is the Unhinged Reading Challenge: Queer Edition where I wrapped, yes wrapped, ALL of my queer books, numbered them, and them put numbers in a jar to pick at random what I read next. So far? They've either all be complete duds and I've DNF'd them or I just lack all interest? I did separate my thriller/"spooky" books and wrapped them in the Nightmare Before Christmas wrapping paper, and then my Christmas books in Christmas wrapping paper. Sooo, for October, I will be selecting books from the thriller or "spooky" theme, and November will be my regular queer reads, and then for December, I will select books from the Christmas wrapping paper stack. I'm excited to get through them. I think I wrapped like 400 books total, no joke. lol. Yay me.

I will be starting Hijab Butch Blues after this newsletter is completed, so I hope you all will join me over on Discord to share your thoughts as we wrap up this month and the discussion of this book. This one is also a reread for me. It was my top book the year it was released, and it's hitting just the same now as my first time reading it!

I hope you all find pockets of joy today and immerse yourselves in things that bring you peace and happiness. I will see you on Thursday for Trans Joy Thursday, AND ALSO Thursday night at 6-7pm CST for our Beyond The Rainbow Chat with Dr. Kiki Fehling! I shared the zoom information in the previous newsletter from Sunday, August 30th, and there's also an event created in Discord for you to join to set you a reminder, as well!

See you all Thursday!

With all my trans joy,

Sawyer Cole

My TBR for September is so intense and ambitious! (I didn’t even include the bookclub books. I will update channels in the Discord tomorrow)

Check out my new TBR YouTube Video here. I’m chasing that elusive 4,000 watch hours and I’m sure I will get there soon with 10 minute videos LOL)https://youtu.be/WOdmmEGHlhc?is=JW7SIOEAVBY9_UQm

I’m headed off to NYC in 2 weeks and my Pango shop will be going on hold! If you see anything you like, buy now and I will ship out tomorrow

https://pangobooks.com/bookstore/jackofallnays

What is everyone reading this week? And who got the arc for CRACKS?