'I'm Mamamia's pop culture editor. Here are the 6 books you should read in September.'

It seems like 2022 has left the best books for the final third of the year.

This month we have new releases from two of Australia's best female authors, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and the latest tale of a famous woman from Taylor Jenkins Reid. (P.S. if you like to see my weekly recommendations, follow me on Instagram).

Here are the six books I think you should read this month: 

The Couple Upstairs by Holly Wainwright

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Holly Wainwright's fourth novel is about ghosts. 

Not the hide in your closet and yell out 'boo' ghosts, but the ghosts of your past. 

The people and places and feelings that remind you of who you used to be and who you used to love. 

The Couple Upstairs follows the story of newly separated mum-of-two Mel. Five months after Mel told her husband to leave, a ghost moved in upstairs. 

The young man reminds Mel of a past lover who changed her life and then vanished. When the man's travelling girlfriend comes to stay with him, the boundaries between the two houses blur, with devastating consequences. 

Through one sizzling, unsettling summer, The Couple Upstairs explores love, regret and whether you can stop history repeating itself. 

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Carrie Soto is Back is the last in Taylor Jenkins Reid's quartet of stories about famous women through the ages. 

Six years after retirement, Carrie Soto is sitting in the stands at the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. 

At 37, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record.

Speaking to Mamamia, Jenkins Reid said the idea for Carrie Soto is Back came to her while she was finishing up her last novel, Malibu Rising. 

"I had this itch to write about tennis and I realised I had the perfect star for it in one of Malibu’s secondary characters, Carrie Soto," she said. "She was blunt and rash and arrogant and I thought, “Oh how fun would it be to check in on Carrie when she’s in her late 30s and retired and out to prove she’s still the best there ever was?"

Jenkins Reid said readers will hopefully see themselves in Carrie and the questions she's asking herself in the book. 

"A lot of the things Carrie is questioning in her life in her late 30s are the things I’m questioning in my late 30s. Namely, when is enough, enough? When do you learn to relax? When is it enough to just be?" she said. 

Touching on failure, second chances and starting over, Carrie Soto is Back is the author's most vulnerable book yet. 

Exiles by Jane Harper

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Aaron Falk is back, I repeat, Aaron Falk is back. 

At a busy festival on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds.

A year on, Kim Gillespie’s disappearance casts a long shadow as her friends and family gather deep in the heart of the South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he takes some much needed time away from work, Falk begins to suspect this tight-knit group might be hiding something. 

Over the festivities, fractures within the group start to appear and long-buried secrets begin to emerge.

Exiles is released on September 20, but you can pre-order your copy now. 

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

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The New York Times has dubbed Alice Feeney 'The Queen of Twists'. She's sold over a million copies of her books, with Daisy Darker said to be her best yet. 

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. 

Once the tide comes in, they're cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. 

At the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. An hour later, another family member is murdered. 

Trapped on an island with someone picking them off one-by-one, the Darkers must wrestle with their past before the tide comes in and all is revealed. 

Packed with plenty of twists, Daisy Darker is the kind of thriller you'll want to read in one sitting. 

All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

Image: Mamamia.  Ky Tran's younger brother Denny was celebrating his high school graduation when he was murdered in a busy restaurant in Cabramatta.

When Ky returns home for the funeral, she learns that police are stumped by her brother's case. While several people were present in the restaurant when he was killed, each of the bystanders claim to have seen nothing. 

Determined to find out what happened to her little brother, Ky tracks down each of the witnesses herself. 

A compulsive, literary thriller, All That's Left Unsaid explores grief, intergenerational trauma and discrimination, while gripping the reader until the very last page. 

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

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A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, Wrong Place, Wrong Time is Groundhog Day meets The Girl on the Train. 

It's late October, after midnight, and Jen is waiting up for her teenage son. 

Watching from the window, she sees him walking down the street towards a man. Before she can stop him, he stabs the stranger. 

Her son is arrested and Jen is left wondering what led her seemingly perfect son to commit murder. 

Then she falls asleep. 

When she wakes up in the morning, it's the day before the murder. 

Jen continues to wake up another day in the past, as she races against the clock to figure out who the stranger is and why her son would want to kill him. 

Wrong Place, Wrong Time is an unputdownable thriller that'll keep you up reading late into the night.

Keryn Donnelly is Mamamia's Pop Culture Editor. For her weekly TV, film and book recommendations and to see photos of her dog, follow her on Instagram and TikTok. 

Feature image: Supplied/Mamamia.