I’m not rushing through summer, although when I say I’m talking about August book releases, some of you may think I am. There are so many possibilities in August, including books by several of my favorite authors. But, if you’re not ready to talk about August books yet, check out the earlier July Treasures list, https://lesasbookcritiques.com/july-treasures-in-my-closet-7/. Let’s get right to it. And, I hope you’ll mention books I might have missed.

I’m always up for a romance set in the book world. Poppy Alexander’s latest novel is How to Find a Romance in a Bookshop. Petra doesn’t like books anymore—not since her career as a literary agent imploded after a social media typo went viral. Now she is stuck for six months, babysitting a little bookshop by the sea—surrounded by books that just remind her of her failure. Ross McCloud’s award-winning debut novel blew the minds of the world’s literati, but that was five years ago. Now Ross and his keenly awaited second work have vanished. Something has gone wrong—horribly wrong—and Ross doesn’t want to talk about it. Marooned in Capelthorne’s Bookshop miles from London, Petra can’t stop thinking about all the ways she has let people down. Then she discovers Ross lurking, incognito, in the second-hand books section. Misery loves company it seems, and a kinship tentatively forms. In the meantime, the magic of the bookshop slowly begins to enchant Petra. Soon, her book recommendations assume legendary status; she is chairing the newly formed Beach Reads Book Club; leading a weekly writing group and hosting a series of popular talks and signings by local authors. She is even starting to read again. Petra is also finding time to help her new best friend Jess—owner of a local telephone box library—to launch the inaugural Portneath Literary Festival. What better opportunity to put the Festival on the map—says Ross—than for Petra to unveil his second novel to the world there, before re-launching her career representing him at the Frankfurt book fair? What a comeback! But can Petra find the courage to help the man she loves? (Release date is Aug. 18.)

I saw Matt Baker’s A Taste for Murder listed on PBS, but the captions weren’t working that night on my TV, so I haven’t yet watched it. I may read the book instead. For murder detective Joe Mottram, a summer visit to his in-laws’ idyllic beachside restaurant on the beautiful Italian island of Capri is meant to offer refuge. After the death of his wife Sofia in a hit-and-run in London, Joe has taken a sabbatical, hoping to heal and reconnect with his teenage daughter, Angelica. But then a British businesswoman is found dead at the foot of a notorious cliff, and his in-laws’ plans to teach Joe how to cook and get him and Angelica talking again have to be abandoned. A reluctant Joe is forced to swap his recipe books for a detective’s notebook once more, as he’s drawn deeper into the case. Joe must form a partnership with a young local police inspector, Lara Sarrancino, who is desperate to prove herself and resents his involvement. As the two detectives butt heads, the investigation flounders, until a second body turns up, and they realize the killer is still at large on the tiny island. Unfortunately for Joe, the evidence trail appears to lead back uncomfortably close to home… (Release date is Aug. 4.)

Stephanie Binx’ Hellbound is recommended for fans of TV’s Lucifer. Hell is empty, and all the devils are here, but nobody knows why—not even the devils themselves. Now sadistic demons roam the earth, offering small fortunes to any mortal sucker dumb or desperate enough to die on their behalf as they retrieve artifacts from a Hell they can’t recall. Washed-up journalist Marian Meyer is one of those mortal suckers dying for a living as she fetches clues for a demonic puzzle that she doesn’t care to solve. Riddled with debt she’ll never be able to pay off and guilt over her mother’s death, Marian made her first lucrative deal with a demon and never looked back. Never mind that being a Hell-diver means that she must voluntarily drown herself or that the human body wasn’t meant to die more than once—and she’s definitely feeling it. Unfortunately, the last time Marian went to Hell, she came back wrong. Memories of that night are missing, and she’ll do anything she can to find them, including teaming up with one of her mysterious (and oddly alluring) demonic patrons, Mr. Vale. But when their tenuous alliance thrusts Marian even deeper into a world of betrayal, humans with strange powers, and demonic politics, she’ll have to decide if allying with Mr. Vale is her ticket to freedom or damnation in disguise. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

From Edwidge Danticat, the bestselling author of Everything Inside comes Dey,  a vivid, timely story, moving from Haiti to Brooklyn to Miami, of a woman whose sense of self and family are called into question when she gets caught in a random act of violence one sunny Florida day. “Is home the place where we are born? Or is it the place where we die?” These questions haunt Magnolia, a successful Haitian American real estate agent in Miami. When she hears gunfire while at a shopping mall, she takes shelter in a nearby restaurant, cowering with fellow shoppers and diners. Once she’s safely home, Magnolia keeps this traumatic event from everyone. But given her life back, she begins to see everything clearly: her extraordinary bond with her daughter, Zoë; her nearly broken relationship with Zoë’s father; the challenges of her mentally troubled mother, whose unraveling patterns Magnolia worries she’s spiraling toward herself; and her father’s affair with a woman who has borne him a child. While struggling through the labyrinth of her past, Magnolia must also come to terms with the losses sustained that life-altering day, and nearly every day by her parents and sibling in Haiti. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

Tess Gerritsen brings back The Martini Club in The Shadow Friends. When a renowned disease expert and Russian defector dies mysteriously during a global affairs conference in Purity, Maine, the tight-knit band of former spies in the Martini Club once again sees their quiet coastal retirement interrupted by international intrigue. And when a waitress at the conference hotel is found murdered, Ingrid Slocum sees chilling links to a disastrous mission that nearly killed her three decades ago. Desperate to uncover the truth, Ingrid’s drawn back into the game by a magnetic ex-CIA colleague—and former lover—who was with her on the long-ago doomed mission. He convinces her to join him, and together they head to Amsterdam to track down her would-be killer. Ingrid’s frantic husband Lloyd and Maggie Bird are close behind, but a clandestine network of assassins is intent on stopping them. Forced to question every allegiance, the Martini Club must rely on the skills they tried to leave behind. Because in this game of revenge and deception, the past never dies—it just hides in the shadows. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

Heather Graham’s The Crows series is a spin-off of her Krewe of Hunters books. In These Ancient Bones, the second in the series, The case is sensational. Whistle-blower investigative journalist George Maynard has been killed in his St. Augustine home, his body so badly burned the morgue is needed to verify his identity. Paranormal investigator Shelly Mahoney has been transferred to a special unit to help law enforcement. Off the books, the unit is called the Krewe of Hunters and deals with “strange” cases. At the murder scene with federal agent Grant Markham, Shelly makes an odd discovery: a stone etched with what appears to be a curse that invokes flames. If Shelly can use her ability to summon the dead—providing they have remained behind—she may unearth what happened. Grant, too, has an unique ability. By holding the hand of the recently deceased, he can see what has happened to them. Yet in this case, neither of their gifts is of any help. As they set out to question those who might have had a motive, they also study ancient “curse tablets”—often used in the Greco-Roman world to cause death or warfare. What ensues is a shocking discovery by the medical examiner and a search that takes the team to Italy where a similar murder may reveal the creators of the mystical tablets—made deadly with a little human assistance. But soon, the danger is closer than ever—because the target is Shelly . . . (Release date is Aug. 25.)

Poker Wars by Philip Guitar and Jim Martyka is subtitled “Murder, Mayhem, and the Bloody History that Led to the World Series of Poker”. Poker Wars tells the true story of the hitmen, bandits, card sharks, and mobsters who brought about the internationally successful World Series of Poker. The World Series of Poker, the sport’s most popular and lucrative event, had its inaugural event in 1970 and has since grown well beyond anything its founders ever imagined. Especially considering where it came from. Poker Wars chronicles the history of the dangerous key players and the violent conflicts that brought the game from the dark Dallas underbelly to the bright lights of Las Vegas and turned it into the billion-dollar industry it is today. Offering an in-depth exploration of the nearly inconceivable life stories of the sport’s pioneers—especially those of “The Cowboy,” Benny Binion, an illiterate horse trader turned gambling boss who was as quick tempered as he was business savvy—Poker Wars is a thorough breakdown of the remarkable sequence of events that brought the card game into the national spotlight. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Jennifer Hillier is the bestselling and award-winning thriller writer of books such as Jar of Hearts. Her new thriller is Heart of Glass. Twenty-five years ago in Seaside, Washington, a charming drifter named Sam met three inseparable teenage girls at the local amusement park. Days later, one of them was found dead, her body surfacing in a flooded cranberry bog not far from where she was murdered. Barb and Nicolette were shocked to learn that the man they all met at Wonderland was the Carnival Killer. After he’s arrested for the murders of five young women – one of whom was their best friend, Lorelei – Nicolette moved to the city to pursue her dreams of being famous. Barb stayed behind in Seaside, eventually becoming a reporter for the local paper. Their past safely behind them, they’ve both moved on with their lives. But when the Carnival Killer recants his confession and a new body washes ashore on the eve of Wonderland’s grand reopening, the secrets that Barb and Nicolette have worked so hard to bury begin to resurface, threatening to destroy everything in their carefully constructed lives. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

Clean Slate is the first Olive Hunt book by Brianna Labuskes. Death pays well for Olive Hunt, a crime scene cleaner who channels her childhood traumas into erasing the suffering of others. After nearly ten years, she’s seen it all. Nothing rattles her anymore. Until now. Two back-to-back suicides. A seedy motel. An upscale Atlanta hotel. No connection—except that Olive discovers the same strange item at each scene. Then a third body drops. Olive knows what the police refuse to see: These aren’t suicides. They’re murders staged to perfection. Then the roses arrive. A vase of bloodred blooms on her doorstep. An anonymous note: Thank you. She’s found him. A serial killer who’s been leaving breadcrumbs only she can see. A killer who’s been cleaning up his work—knowing she’ll clean up after him. A killer who wants her to follow. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

It’s been four years since Kirsty Manning’s first book featuring Australian journalist Charlotte “Charlies” James, The Paris Mystery. Now, she brings us Maisy Bell is Missing. At a glitzy gala in the ballroom of the Ritz Hotel in pre-War Paris, young American tourist Maisy Bell meets an intriguing man and accepts his charming offer to take her on a day-trip. But when Maisy doesn’t return to the Ritz the following day, alarm bells ring and Maisy’s aunt Clementine files a missing persons report. The Paris police laugh the request away. Plenty of tourists ‘disappear,’ having lost themselves in foolish flings. After all, summer in Paris is the perfect time for pour un beau couple d’amoreux. Weeks pass with no sign of Maisy. Then Clemetine Bell starts to receive telegrams and ransom notes …Enter investigative reporter Charlotte ‘Charlie’ James. As a young Australian journalist who moved to Paris to reinvent her life, Charlie James feels a kinship with this missing American graduate on the cusp of a dazzling career and adventure. As she follows Maisy Bell’s designer footsteps around Paris, Charlie is plunged headlong into the heady world of diamonds, haute couture, opera, bohemian wine bars and soirees in grand country chateaux, before being pulled headlong into the sordid underworld. (Release date is Aug. 18.)

Suffer a Witch is Joy McCullough’s memoir in verse about sexual abuse, survival, and sisterhood. Joy McCullough’s earliest memories are of time spent in church, moments when she climbed the steps to recite from the pulpit, just like her preacher father. But when she was a teenager in San Diego in the 1990s, her connection to her family and church were forever altered when a youth pastor groomed and sexually assaulted Joy. In her debut memoir, McCullough pairs achingly raw poems recalling her abuse and its aftermath with hopeful, challenging verses about her life today as she seeks healing and justice in a country that rewards men for sexual abuse and still insists “girls these days will say anything.” Among the poems, McCullough also weaves prose letters to historical girls and women—from Joan of Arc to Abigail Williams—whose lives and stories were ignored when they were caught in the maelstrom of witchcraft accusations. (Release date is Aug. 18.)

Jennifer McMahon’s Stay Buried is described as “a queer folk horror”. Some towns stay isolated for a reason.
1919: Frankie O’Massey has always been the black sheep of isolated Boone’s Ferry, Vermont. Her uncle, Dr. Thomas Endicott, has been training her in the science of medicine, something the townspeople are wary of. When a mysterious illness strikes the town, and the community suspects supernatural forces, the two desperately search for a logical explanation. Patient zero seems to be the town’s knackerman—a recluse who collects dead and dying farm animals to make use of their parts.

2016: Siblings Ashley and Malcolm lost their mother two years ago. When their grandmother dies, they inherit a property in Boone’s Ferry—a place they’ve heard of but their grandmother has always refused to talk about—and embark on a trip to their ancestral home. The idyllic town is full of autumnal décor, picturesque farmland, and small-town charm. But some of the townspeople aren’t very welcoming—and they have some unsettling traditions, like leaving offerings to a vengeful spirit four times a year. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Although it’s the third in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series, the blurb for Mai Mochizuki’s Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop says it’s a standalone novel. In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a bright moon. Under one such moon in August, Neptune pays the Full Moon Coffee Shop a visit, taking the form of a beautiful human called Sala. Sala’s special talent is giving people dreams and helping them to open their hearts. As the cats work with Sala, they find new ways to guide people as their customers face personal conflict. The novel weaves together the story of three people in a story about love in all forms. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

Alexandra Paige’s A Witch in Notthing Hill was released in October as an ebook, but it won’t be out in print form until August. When rising Hollywood actress and secret witch Willow James accidentally turns her manager into a cat while trying to escape her contract, she’s sure she’s hit her magical low point. Determined to fix her mistake, she journeys to London in search of a rare spell hidden within the famed occult bookstore, Coven & Codex. The last thing she expects? The shop’s brooding, handsome owner, Oliver Hadley, who’d rather avoid magic altogether. Together—with a ragtag group of friends (both human and feline)—Willow and Oliver must scour every corner of the city, from museums to festivals to bustling street markets, to find the missing pieces of the spell. Along the way, Willow’s unpredictable magic and Oliver’s skeptical heart will face the one thing they can’t escape… love. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Big & Lily by Lisa Roe is a story of sisters. For her entire life, Bridget “Big” Ackerman Petty has struggled to hold everything together—her kids, her husband, her demanding mother, all in dizzying orbit around her. While the kids are grown and her husband is retired, every day still feels like a to-do list she can never quite finish. Why is everything so effortless and easy for her sister Lily—a woman blessed with a magnetic personality, a thriving business, and a husband who adores her. But when Lily discovers her husband’s been cheating, her “perfect” life implodes. Devastated and overwhelmed, she decides to run as far away as possible: to Alaska to lose herself on a hardcore survival trek—and she’s dragged her reluctant sister Big along. No cell service, no easy exits—just grizzlies, outdoor plumbing, and a group of strangers who know how to read a compass. As the sisters navigate freezing rivers, unmarked trails, and more than one near-death experience, the defenses they’ve used to protect themselves begin to crumble, and they’re forced to face everything they’ve spent decades avoiding: resentment, regret, envy, and the terrifying possibility that the other one’s life might not be as easy as it looks. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo takes readers to Stone Mountain in Under the Falls. When Tyler Sinclair left Stone Mountain at eighteen, he had no plans of returning. With only a duffel bag full of clothes, a few bucks stolen from his father’s dresser, and a guitar, his most prized possession, Tyler disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Eighteen years later, Tyler, now the frontman of a famous band aptly named Stone Mountain, finds himself returning to his hometown for a one-night-only benefit concert to support his old friend, Doc, who lost feeling in his legs following a childhood accident. As Tyler ascends the mountain, memories of his childhood come rushing back—memories of his abusive father and despondent mother, of the friends he left behind—and he quickly learns that, for many people on Stone Mountain, the past does not feel like so long ago, and not everyone has been eagerly awaiting Tyler’s return. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Here’s one with possibilities for lovers of traditional mysteries, Killer Art by Jon St. Denis. When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art. Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job. Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road. As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

In Josh Silver’s Fruit Fly, a washed-up author will stop at nothing to claw her way back to relevancy—even if it means appropriating a young gay man’s tragic story. Mallory Maddox is buried under seven years of writer’s block. With her status as a literary sensation fizzling, she’ll do anything she can to resurrect her career. Inspiration needs to strike—and fast. Enter Leo. He’s a struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for.

Mallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. The world needs Leo’s story right now, and Mallory believes she deserves to tell it. Really, it’s her story—she’s the one who wrote it, after all.

But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must decide how far she will go to pen the perfect story. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

I really need to go back and read Archer Sullivan’s The Witch’s Orchard, the book that introduce private investigator Annie Gore. The author is a ninth-generation Appalachian who now takes Gore to Brimstone Hollow. There isn’t much that happens in the Appalachian Mountains that Private Investigator Annie Gore hasn’t seen. Before she was an Air Force Special Investigator, she was born and raised in those rolling hills, and lately Annie’s cases have called her away from her Louisville office and closer to the small towns of her youth than she ever anticipated. But when her newest client asks if she’s ever been to a snake-handling church, Annie knows she’s about to enter unknown territory. Katie May has been estranged from her father―one of Appalachia’s last infamous snake handling preachers―for twenty years. But when Katie finds out he’s been fatally bitten, and a funeral was held within twenty-four hours, she questions whether someone deliberately rushed the process. Despite Annie’s doubts, she takes the case. After all, when she looks at Katie, she sees a version of herself: a girl who needs to understand her father in order to understand herself. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Ah, a favorite. The Tailor is Tim Sullivan’s eighth DS George Cross mystery. (The publisher is finally calling them mysteries rather than thrillers.) Detective Sergeant George Cross is nothing if not precise. When a man is found dead in the first-class toilet of a train—his throat cut, a plastic bag over his head—the grisly scene shocks his fellow officers. Cross registers every detail, but it’s not the blood that interests him. It’s the victim’s exquisite suit. The dead man is a tailor by the name of Billy Titcomb, trusted by clients around the world for his meticulousness and discretion. Who would want a tailor dead? With his new partner, DC Alice Mackenzie, Cross starts pulling at the threads. There’s a widow grieving in peculiar ways. A dead scientist whose suicide doesn’t add up. And two South Korean tourists with embassy connections who keep showing up in places they shouldn’t. The deeper Cross digs, the less this looks like a simple murder, and the more it looks like a professional operation. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

The seventeenth Barker & Llewelyn novel by Will Thomas is For Services Rendered. In 1896, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, would be reformer and revolutionary, turns up in London, running away from China’s Imperial Qing Secret Service, who has placed a substantial bounty on his head for his political activities. Captured by those agents, he’s imprisoned in the Chinese Embassy until he can be smuggled back to China to face execution. In the meantime, private enquiry agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn receive the unbelievable news that Sebastian Nightwine is both alive and in London. Not just that, it seems he’s taking action against Barker and his close associates. At the same time, they’ve been hired to find this missing Sun Yat-Sen. With elements of the Chinese secret service, elements of the British government, and Nightwine himself all working against them, Barker & Llewelyn are at risk of being cornered by the deadliest set enemies they’ve yet faced. (Release date is Aug. 18.)

In Majestic Hills, a Black couple leaves their downtown Chicago condo for a new suburban subdivision, only to find themselves at the center of a maelstrom in this gripping page-turner from Dawn Turner. Tired of the daily drama in his emergency room, Dr. Langdon Blaque is in search of a place where he can leave the world behind. He loves his job and has no delusions about the suburbs being perfect, but he wants peace and quiet. His wife Josephine, a lawyer, grew up listening to her father’s stories about the Jim Crow South, and sundown towns. She prefers the city. Still, she agrees to move with the caveat that they stay for a year and reassess. The tight-knit, predominantly white group of neighbors in Majestic Hills initially welcomes them with open arms. But beneath the veneer of privileged harmony, tensions simmer. When a horrifying crime rocks the community, the illusion of safety is shattered, and Josephine and Langdon find themselves at the heart of a brewing storm that pits neighbor against neighbor, exposes deeply ingrained prejudices, and threatens to implode into violence. As their experiment in suburban living ticks toward the one-year mark, the Blaques are pushed to a breaking point. Can they find a way to make a home in Majestic Hills? Or has the move put their future, their marriage, and even their safety in jeopardy? (Release date is Aug. 4.)

This one sounds a little different, Any More Questions for the Corpse? by J.J. Unthank. Twenty-one-year-old Malowin Gladstone was raised by the dead—two skeletons to be precise. While his parents keep a close eye-socket on him, he just wants to get through the rest of university without using any more of his much-loathed necromancy. A hope that gets all the more difficult when he’s recruited by a secret Order to hunt a serial killer. Dunwich, the hidden magical capital of England, has its fair share of oddities, its most recent being a series of murders that have the police at a dead end. But Detective Walters has an unorthodox suggestion. Who better to find a killer than someone who can talk to the dead? He proposes that Mal use his necromancy for good and solve the case before it goes stone-cold. As more bodies begin to drop, Mal befriends several misfits who help him unearth the culprit. Among them, Des, a fledgling vampire; Hala, a magical empath; and Yu, a shapeshifting genius. The team put their unique set of skills to the task, but as they get closer to digging up the truth, the group’s ghosts come back to haunt them, and the killer won’t rest until they’re all dead and buried. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

I really like some of the unusual premises behind recent novels such as Grace Viall’s debut, (Mostly) Human Resources. Working in human resources was not what Alexys had in mind when she joined Entity, the private company that categorizes and manages the world’s cryptids. But after her dad was killed on the job as a Warden in the Appalachian Mountains, she was filled with noble ideas of carrying on his legacy . . . from the safety of a desk. Alexys dreams of climbing the corporate ladder while managing the Appalachian Wardens and sparring with Nic, the frustrating (and annoyingly attractive) Director of Research and Cataloging. When one of Alexys’s new Wardens goes missing after inquiring about a mysterious and highly dangerous monster, her chances of promotion disappear along with him. Determined to save her career—and to shield the Warden’s family from the trauma she experienced after losing her father on the job—she marches off into the monster-infested wilderness to find him herself. Meanwhile, Nic, with ambitions of becoming the youngest Entity employee to discover a new monster, follows Alexys on her hunt. But the work nemeses are about to discover why the Appalachian Mountains are the last place you want to find yourself after dark. Among mountains older than bones, the jackalopes and ghouls are the least of their worries . . .(Release date is Aug. 4.)

Victoria S. Walsh’s The Iron Hex is said to be “A captivating fantasy romance of outlawed magic and forbidden love.” Eira Eckhart has spent years building a quiet life in a small town at the edge of a recently overthrown kingdom. Her memory is fractured, her past a blur—but with her shop, her loyal rabbit familiar, and practicing only the potions magic still legal under the watchful eye of the Iron Empire, she’s managed to remain unnoticed by the empire’s witch hunters. Until Hugo Venton walks through her door. Brash, clever, and infuriatingly handsome, Hugo is searching for something…and seems to know more about Eira than she knows about herself. But when a terrifying encounter with an unnatural, deadly new breed of soldier puts a price on her head, she has no choice but to join Hugo on his quest. (Release date is Aug. 4.) As the review sites say, “Romantasy is having a moment.)

The Castle & The Cloister by Laura E. Weymouth is the launch of a political fantasy duology, Daughters of Light. Two centuries ago, the Inver clan conquered the nation of Honoria, ushering in an era of blood. Now, after a period of fragile peace, a king’s whims may reignite the engines of war. At the last stronghold of Honoria’s sun goddess, Fia, a young postulant, seeks safety for her child, but the price of the cloister’s protection will tear her from what she loves most and thrust her into a deadly game of deception. Within the Inver’s mountain fortress, Ariana is known as the apostate queen after abandoning her faith for a king. But old loyalties aren’t easily severed. Ariana treads a dangerous path, striving for peace in a court made for conquest. And deep in the heart of the mountain, the Inver Priest bides his time with small acts of rebellion. Blinded in the fight for the throne, he harbors a bitter grudge—one that could lead to Honoria’s ruin or renewal. Amid a landscape of enemies, allies, and intrigue, three lives intertwine. Each will have to risk the wrath of gods and kings to alter the course of nations. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

I’m willing to give Paul Yoon’s Etna a chance unless it becomes too Cold Mountain for me, a book I never finished. Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna. After surviving years of a devastating war, Etna decides one night to leave the men he has fought alongside for years and return home—to the place where he was taken from when he was young, in the thin but persistent hope that if a home exists for him, it might be there. Thus begins an exhilarating odyssey told through the eyes of a dog as he traverses across ruined landscapes and fights to survive in a world that, even in peacetime, proves to be just as precarious. Along the way, he encounters other animals and humans who are attempting to figure out how to start again. What makes a life when there is no home to go back to? How do we begin to trust each other again after such profound loss? This is a novel about the power of an idea, about never giving up, and ultimately a novel about finding hope in the most dire of times. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

So, anything here that piques your interest? Or, do have an August release you want to mention? I’ll never get through these books, but I’m always interested in other titles.