My top 10 releases for the month of August are a fun mix new-to-me authors, favorite authors, and highly anticipated next installments in series.
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson – August 1st
I have not read an Alicia Thompson book before, but I have high hopes. As a true crime lover myself (My Favorite Murder is a constant companion whilst doing chores), a romance starring an equally obsessed woman sounds right up my alley. The fact that she thinks her neighbor, an attractive and seemingly nice man named Sam, may be a serial killer makes it that much more intriguing. Especially since I may or may not be guilty of suspecting some people in my life also having some sketchy side hobbies.
Synopsis:
Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn’t exactly conducive to modern dating—and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she’s used to suspecting the worst.
PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She’s even analyzing the genre in her dissertation—if she can manage to finish writing it. It’s hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn’t had a relationship with for years.
It doesn’t help that she’s low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he’s clearly up to something). It’s not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier—a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.
Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean – August 9th
Having read Emiko Jean’s YA debut, Tokyo Ever After, and thoroughly enjoying it, I was thrilled to see she had an adult book. Like Tokyo Ever After, Mika in Real Life will follow the reunion of an estranged parent and child, though this time through the lens of adoption. I have no doubt this story will be emotional, but every now and again I want someone to play with my feelings. There also appears to be hints about a romance between our protagonist and the widower adoptive father of her daughter, which I am not mad about.
Synopsis:
One phone call changes everything.
At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki’s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She’s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she’s been fired from her latest dead-end job.
Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What starts as a tiny white lie slowly snowballs into a fully-fledged fake life, one where Mika is mature, put-together, successful in love and her career.
The details of Mika’s life might be an illusion, but everything she shares with curious, headstrong Penny is real: her hopes, dreams, flaws, and Japanese heritage. The harder-won heart belongs to Thomas Calvin, Penny’s adoptive widower father. What starts as a rocky, contentious relationship slowly blossoms into a friendship and, over time, something more. But can Mika really have it all—love, her daughter, the life she’s always wanted? Or will Mika’s deceptions ultimately catch up to her? In the end, Mika must face the truth—about herself, her family, and her past—and answer the question, just who is Mika in real life?
You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa – August 9th
I read Amanda Jayatissa’s debut, My Sweet Girl, earlier this year and immediately added this upcoming release to my TBR. She seems to be drawn to complex female friendships, a trope I’m also drawn. A woman being invited to the wedding of her ex-boyfriend and childhood best friend? Already sounds like a recipe for disaster. But the bride-to-be going missing, and the friend being accused of murdering her? That’s a disaster I want to read about. Especially since, after the surprise ending of My Sweet Girl, I don’t expect anything Amanda Jayatissa writes to be straight forward.
Synopsis:
When Amaya is invited to Kaavi’s over-the-top wedding in Sri Lanka, she is surprised and a little hurt to hear from her former best friend after so many years of radio silence. But when Amaya learns that the groom is her very own ex-boyfriend, she is consumed by a single thought: She must stop the wedding from happening, no matter the cost.
But as the weeklong wedding celebrations begin and rumors about Amaya’s past begin to swirl, she can’t help but feel like she also has a target on her back. When Kaavi goes missing and is presumed dead, all evidence points to Amaya.
However, nothing is as it seems as Jayatissa expertly unravels that each wedding guest has their own dark secret and agenda, and Amaya may not be the only one with a plan to keep the bride from getting her happily ever after…
The Last Housewife by Ashley Winestead – August 16th
Ashley Winestead is another author introduced to me this year. I finally picked up In My Dreams I Hold a Knife after the 15th time I had it recommended to me. While it may not have been my all time favorite thriller, I still flew through it and found myself surprised at the end. I am hopeful that The Last Housewife keeps me as compelled. I have a love-hate relationship with cults in novels, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that this book swings to the love end of the spectrum.
Synopsis:
While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay’s built a new life in a tony Texas suburb. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel’s death—delivered, of all ways, by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader—she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever.
Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend’s life, she’s pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar. When Shay’s obsession with uncovering the truth becomes so consuming she can no longer separate her desire for justice from darker desires newly reawakened, she must confront the depths of her own complicity and conditioning. But in a world built for men to rule it—both inside the cult and outside of it—is justice even possible, and if so, how far will Shay go to get it?
Fence Vol. 5 by C.S. Pacat – August 16th
The fact that we have been waiting two years for this installment has been torturous. This series follows a high school fencing team, comprised of some of the best players in the country. For a graphic novel about a bunch of guys playing sports, I did not expect to love it as much as I do. From rooting for the underdog, Nicholas, to shipping more than one relationship on the team, I can’t get enough of this series. I just really hope we don’t have to wait as long for Volume 6. I recommend this for anyone that loved Heartstopper and Haikyu!
Synopsis for Volume 1:
Nicholas, the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion, is a scrappy fencing wunderkind, and dreams of getting the chance and the training to actually compete. After getting accepted to the prodigious Kings Row private school, Nicholas is thrust into a cut-throat world, and finds himself facing not only his golden-boy half-brother, but the unbeatable, mysterious Seiji Katayama…
Through clashes, rivalries, and romance between teammates, Nicholas and the boys of Kings Row will discover there’s much more to fencing than just foils and lunges.
Master of Souls by Rena Barron – August 16th
It’s finally time for the third and final book in the Kingdom of Souls trilogy, and I know I’m not ready for it. I decided to hold off reading the second book, Reaper of Souls, until this release so I could binge the series all at once. Arrah is such a complex heroine, and you can’t help but root for her, despite the decisions she makes in order to gain power. The magic system Rena Barron created in this series was inspired by West African mythology. I don’t know about everyone else, but I am really tired of the Greek and Roman retellings. Give me all the witchdoctor magic, and break my heart while you’re at it, Rena – please and thank you.
Synopsis for Book One, Kingdom of Souls:
Heir to two lines of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. Yet she fails at bone magic, fails to call upon her ancestors, and fails to live up to her family’s legacy. Under the disapproving eye of her mother, the Kingdom’s most powerful priestess and seer, she fears she may never be good enough.
But when the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, Arrah is desperate enough to turn to a forbidden, dangerous ritual. If she has no magic of her own, she’ll have to buy it—by trading away years of her own life.
Arrah’s borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal, and on its heels, a rising tide of darkness that threatens to consume her and all those she loves. She must race to unravel a twisted and deadly scheme… before the fight costs more than she can afford.
Babel by R.F. Kuang – August 23rd
R.F. Kuang took the world by storm with her Poppy War trilogy. She destroyed me emotionally with that trilogy, and now I will read anything she writes. Having successfully mastered grimdark fantasy, her next foray is steeped heavily in dark academia. Traditionally a genre dominated by cis white authors, I already know Kuang is going to turn the genre on its head. As a graduate of Oxford herself, I think her personal experiences will make this book even more hard hitting. And as we learned in the Poppy War, Kuang is not afraid to hit you multiple times, right where it hurts, and then gleefully pour salt in the wound.
Synopsis:
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel.
Babel is the world’s center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research in foreign languages serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?
Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky – August 30th
I have not read anything by Goldy Moldavsky, but this synposis has me all kinds of intrigued. Lord of the Flies meets Fyre Fest in a YA thriller with a true crime podcaster for the lead? Oh yes, sign me right up. Some early reviews said that this book was too much, but with this premise, I think the campier, the better.
Synopsis:
Rafi Francisco needs something really special to put her true crime podcast on the map. She sets her sights on River Stone, the hearthrob musician who rose to stardom after the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. Rafi lands herself a ticket to the exclusive Fly Fest, where River will be the headliner.
But when Rafi arrives on the Caribbean island location of Fly Fest with hundreds of other influencers and (very minor) celebrities, they quickly discover that the dream trip is more of a nightmare. And it’s not just confronting beauty gurus-gone-wild and spotty WiFi. Soon, Rafi goes from fighting for an interview to fighting for her life. And, as she gets closer to River, she discovers that he might be hiding even darker secrets than she suspected . . .
Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston – August 30th
I rarely pick up middle grade fiction, but when I do I always tell myself I really need to read it more. I heard nothing but praise for Amari and the Night Brothers, and that first installment in a new magical series lived up to all the hype. Like many, I have a special space in my heart for secret magical schools. B.B. Alston’s take on the magical school trope is all her own, making this a fun and compelling start to a series. She left us with a big surprise at the end of book one, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on this sequel to find out what happens next. Even if middle grade isn’t your thing, I still recommend giving this series a shot.
Synopsis for Book One, Amari and the Night Brothers:
Quinton Peters was the golden boy of the Rosewood low-income housing projects, receiving full scholarship offers to two different Ivy League schools. When he mysteriously goes missing, his little sister, 13-year-old Amari Peters, can’t understand why it’s not a bigger deal. Why isn’t his story all over the news? And why do the police automatically assume he was into something illegal?
Then Amari discovers a ticking briefcase in her brother’s old closet. A briefcase meant for her eyes only. There was far more to Quinton, it seems, than she ever knew. He’s left her a nomination for a summer tryout at the secretive Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari is certain the answer to finding out what happened to him lies somewhere inside, if only she can get her head around the idea of mermaids, dwarves, yetis and magicians all being real things, something she has to instantly confront when she is given a weredragon as a roommate.
Amari must compete against some of the nation’s wealthiest kids—who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives and are able to easily answer questions like which two Great Beasts reside in the Atlantic Ocean and how old is Merlin? Just getting around the Bureau is a lesson alone for Amari with signs like ‘Department of Hidden Places this way, or is it?’ If that all wasn’t enough, every Bureau trainee has a talent enhanced to supernatural levels to help them do their jobs – but Amari is given an illegal ability. As if she needed something else to make her stand out.
With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.
The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim – August 30th
Am I eagerly anticipating the sequel to a book I haven’t even read yet? Yep. Do I feel any kind of shame about that? Honestly yes, but only a really tiny bit. I read Elizabeth Lim’s Blood of Stars duology, and those books captivated me from the first page. Drawing inspiration from East Asian mythology, I have heard that this series reads much like a fairytale, and is reminiscent of a Ghibli film. Once again, give me mythology that’s not Greek or Roman and you’ll immediately have my interest. Especially when you couple that with Lim’s gorgeous writing.
Synopsis for Book One, Six Crimson Cranes:
Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.
Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.
Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne—a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama’s betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she’s been taught all her life to contain—no matter what it costs her.