Can you believe it’s almost August? I feel like the summer just began, and I’m certainly not prepared for the lead-up to winter yet.
Once a month, I send out a roundup of what’s coming out that month that I’ve added to my TBR stack and am very excited about reading. There will be buy and preorder links (preorders help authors so much more than you can imagine), but all books featured will be published in the month I’m sending it out.
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Without further ado, here are August releases I’m most excited to check out!
Small Angels by Lauren Owen: This seems like the perfect lead-in to my fall time spooky reading season, following Kate, who grew up hearing stories of a menacing ghost who lived in the dense woods next to a small church called Small Angels. When Kate returns home for the wedding of her brother and his bride-to-be, it seems the forest is coming back to life and something won’t leave them alone.
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson: The main character of this novel reads a lot of true crime, which makes it pretty hard for her to date and trust anyone, constantly looking over her shoulder. (No, I don’t relate to that at all, why do you ask? *eyes emoji*) So when her new neighbor seems like a perfectly nice and normal guy, she’s instantly suspicious. He can’t just be into her, right?
The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings: Giddings’s Lakewood from 2020 was a book I recommended a lot (and still do!), so I am eagerly anticipating her next one. And it’s going to be a doozy, set in a world where the government mandates women be married by the age of 30 (not me, at 30, making the *eyes emoji* again).
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews: This was casually on my list, but it shot way to the top when I read Laura’s review on it, where she said, “As far as I’m concerned, this is a perfect novel, unreviewable, though I could talk about it forever.” I was sold, and I don’t even need to know what it’s about (millennials entering the corporate space, but so much more than that).
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna: Give me witchy books year-round, please! This one sounds incredibly fun, following Mika, a witch trying to just live her quiet life and keep her head down, but she gets a mysterious invitation to the Nowhere House to train a few young witches. It sounds a little bit like House in the Cerulean Sea and a little bit like Well Met (one of my favorite romances), so it seems totally perfect already.
Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery by Casey Parks: I’ve been really devouring memoirs this year, and this combo memoir/true mystery sounds incredible, with Casey Parks, who had just come out to her ultra-conservative family, looking into a mystery told to her by her grandmother—she had grown up across the street from a transgender man named Roy Hudgins, and Casey’s grandmother wanted to know what happened to him.
The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel: This is one I haven’t seen anyone talking about, but it sounds like the moody dramatic moor story I need leading into fall. It’s set on a Scottish island, where islanders have rules for how to get by, which includes keeping your guard up every October, lest you be taken. It’s historical and sounds sad and scary, which makes for an incredibly interesting combination.
Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana: To continue my short story reading, I’m picking this one up next, but what seems interesting about it is that each story isn’t totally independent, and they’re all interconnected, following different tenants in a Harlem apartment building.
Runners up: How to Fall Out of Love Madly by Jana Casale, Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste, and The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean.
What books are you looking forward to reading? Anything here catch your eye, or do you have other books on your TBR (to-be-read) pile for August? Let’s chat in the comments!
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More Books
Can’t get enough, or looking for more recommendations? Browse the archives, or check out some popular past recommendations:
Read about a lawyer fighting against an unfair justice system
Read a novel where teenagers spontaneously combust in math class
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All This Could Be Different sounds exactly like the pick for me! The beginning of Laura's review...
"You know that feeling, when you suddenly realize something about your life that’s been hiding in plain sight, and it’s scary but also wonderful? That feeling is in this book."
... wow! Say no more! I can't wait to read it. Thanks for highlighting it!
I'm very behind on all of my newsletters, but sign me up for SO many of these. Small Angels, The Women Could Fly, The Irregular Society of Witches, The Wild Hunt... gimme allll of it!