We are a month away from the start of the fall season. But until colorful leaves and the crisp fall air grace us, let us enjoy the summer weather a little bit longer. We are being given exciting new and scintillating stories that you will want to get to before the summer ends! What are you in the mood for this month? A deadly dinner hosted by close friends? A collection of Caribbean myths? Or a humorous heist caper with wrestlers? The world’s your oyster with these August releases!
Featured Book of the Month
The Secret Dinner by Raphael Montes
Expected Publication Date: August 18
Dante, Piglet, Miguel, and Hugo are your average students trying to make ends meet with part-time jobs, excited about the bright futures at their fingertips. So when their rent skyrockets, they struggle to keep their new lives and big dreams afloat. They need to make money however they can. In order to keep their apartment, the friends adopt an unorthodox plan and are soon sucked into a dark world of secret dinner parties catering to the twisted fantasies of Rio’s elite.
What starts as a joke quickly spirals out of their control. As the four friends fall deeper into this dark underworld and earn more money, the stakes get higher and the consequences deadlier, revealing the devious depths that lurk within each of them and threatening not only their friendship but also their lives.
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
You always told me that writing is life itself.
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. (Credit: Crooked Lane Books)
Stepping Up: A Graphic Memoir by Kirara Valdez and illustrated by Diana Tsai Santos
A timely and vibrant teen graphic novel memoir about community, friendship, and self-discovery told through the eyes of a high school freshman Kiara, one of the few Black students at her predominantly white boarding school—perfect for fans of Almost American Girl and Brownstone!
Kiara is a long way from Washington Heights. She’s at Phillips Academy Andover—the prestigious school of her dreams. But her bulky financial aid laptop in a room full of brand-new Macs, her classmates’ endless chatter about overseas vacations, and everyone’s pristine North Face jackets have her feeling like she’ll never fit in.
Then she discovers the all-star step team, SLAM. Kiara will gladly endure long practices, sore muscles, and chafed palms to finally find her place on campus. That is, until tragedy strikes and those closest to her are hurt, and she realizes exactly what it means to be an Andover student.
Because at a school where her wealthy white classmates can get away with almost anything and students like her are made to feel lucky to even be at the academy to begin with, is belonging really what Kiara wants? And is she brave enough to step up—for herself and her friends? (Credit: HarperAlley)
How the Rivermaid Grew Her Tail and Other West African and Caribbean Myths by Jessica Wilson and Sophie Bass
Discover a world of myths and magic in How the Rivermaid Grew Her Tail, a stunning anthology that celebrates the storytelling traditions of West Africa and the Caribbean.
Stories include:
- How George Grew Wings (USA)
- How Anansi Became King of All Stories (Ghana, Ivory Coast & Togo)
- Mango Heart (Jamaica)
- Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky (Nigeria)
- . . . and many more.
Author Jessica Wilson gathers lyrical, interwoven folktales that have traveled across oceans and through time. From Nigeria and Ghana to Jamaica and the USA, these stories have gathered new color and meaning along their journey.
Each story is introduced with the country, people, and traditions where the tale originates, making the collection both immersive and accessible for young readers, families and classrooms. Paired with Sophie Bass’s vibrant, symbolic illustrations, this anthology immerses readers in the colors, foods, landscapes, and characters of West Africa and the Caribbean.
Told through authentic voices, this book is created by author Jessica Wilson, who has Jamaican heritage, and illustrator Sophie Bass, who has Trinidadian heritage. With its cultural richness and celebration of ancestral heritage, this anthology creates a safe, joyful space for children to see themselves represented. (Credit: Words and Pictures)
Survival Show by Juno Dawson
The world just seems to take and take from Taryn Beck, but there’s one thing it’ll never have: her voice. Only when she’s singing does Taryn feel like she can escape her reality—free from the aftermath of the War, free from the Scottish refugee camps where she and her family now live, and free from the responsibility of making ends meet for the sake of her sick brother.
Taryn’s voice is her one ticket out, and that’s why she enters to be a contestant on the world’s most watched television program: Starmaker, where kids from the New Peace Global Alliance compete for the chance to join an all-singing, all-dancing pop group. Rise to the top, and a life of luxury, stardom, and money awaits.
There’s only one small catch. The lowest ranking face a televised public execution. Starmaker thanks their participants for their noble sacrifice to Project Population.
Taryn’s about to sing for her life. (Credit: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Liars In Paradise by Olesya Lyuzna
New York City, 1925. A night of high-stakes gambling at the Empire Club ends in gunfire and Jack Crawford is found at the center of the carnage—covered in blood, gun in hand. The club’s ruthless owner offers Jack an ultimatum: find the real shooters within five days, or die for their crimes.
Ginny Dugan hasn’t known Jack long, but as his partner in their detective agency, she needs to believe she’s trusted the right man this time. Their only lead is Lila, the sole survivor of the massacre. They follow her to a queer dance hall in Glen Cove, a Long Island Gold Coast town whose glittering summer estates now stand empty in the November chill. Among those who knew Lila, one name keeps surfacing: Echelon, a seductive society where fortune is promised to those who surrender everything. Convinced the answers they seek lie within, Ginny and Jack infiltrate its ranks, where they encounter silent masked attendants, serpents sliding over bare skin, and members who seem to know more than they should—especially about Jack.
As the body count climbs and Jack’s past resurfaces in unsettling ways, Ginny begins to doubt everything: her instincts, her partner, even her own reality. Maybe she was never in control. Maybe she was brought here to play someone else’s game. (Credit: The Mysterious Press)
Awake Awake by Fiona Mozley
Mary has started remembering things that she knows aren’t real–but the events feel exactly like her actual memories. Who is she, if she can’t be sure she knows her own past? A writer in her 30s struggling to make rent, Mary has moved back to her childhood town to bartend and save money, when she starts remembering absurd events, clear and visceral as if they’d really happened to her. But she knows they’re too wild to be possible. Flashing back to her school years, she searches the past for what could have caused this split in her reality. The lives of their close group of school friends have since diverged, as life choices and politics, partners and children, have taken them to different places and placed them into other stories. But Mary must reconnect with them to find solid ground again.
Set against the disorienting and rapidly changing political backdrop of the 2000s and 2010s, Fiona Mozley’s disarming coming-of-age tale is addictively readable, and poignantly captures the shakiness of identity – both personal and national – and the anchoring force of friendship. (Algonquin Books)
One of the Family by Mark Edwards
A week in paradise—with the family from hell.
When Patrick is invited by his girlfriend to join her and her family on a luxury holiday in a remote and beautiful part of Scotland, he has no idea that he is about to be plunged into a nightmare of a family, sinister behavior…and a plot to murder the patriarch’s younger fiancée.
Arriving at the house, Patrick meets Holly’s dad, self-made-millionaire Charles, along with her brother Lewis and older sister Miranda. Also on the trip is the widowed Charles’ bride-to-be, Jasmine, who—in her thirties—is around the same age as the three siblings. Lewis and Miranda are horrified by their dad’s impending marriage to this younger woman. Surely, she is just after his money—and is going to steal their inheritance from them. To make things worse, Jasmine is an almost exact doppelganger of their mother before she got sick and died.
Patrick finds himself in the middle of this viper’s nest, trying to keep out of the family crosshairs. He starts to suspect that Lewis has dark plans for Jasmine—putting himself in peril as a potential witness who could mess up his scheme. Perhaps more than one person won’t escape this family of snakes… (Credit: Atria Books)
Everything That Is Beautiful by Louise Nealon
For Niamh Ryan, the Foleys are family. Her childhood flew by on their farm, playing with her best friend Peter and his sister Kate—while being doted on by their mother Helen and coached by their father Liam, a legendary former hurling player.
Now, following a distressing series of events, those ties are strained. Niamh receives drunken phone calls and messages from Peter who can’t understand what derailed their burgeoning relationship three years ago. Helen tries her best to escape her life by checking into guesthouses under the names of old classmates. And Kate, living in Belfast, works to maintain her job and a relationship while carrying the weight of the family’s secrets.
As a family wedding looms, Niamh, Helen, and Kate find themselves face to face once again—and the knotty love that has bound them might just bring them back together again.
Told through the perspectives of three very different women, Everything That Is Beautiful is an unforgettable story of love and family, heartbreak and hope—and who we might become after we pick up the pieces. (Credit: Harper)
Murder Bites by Mimi Montgomery
Margot Cartwright is not exactly blending in with the residents of Glenville, South Carolina. An unwilling transplant from Washington, D.C., Margot feels like a fish out of water among the Lululemon-wearing, tiny-dog-owning, non-New Yorker-reading locals who are clamoring to have their fur babies star on Pawsh, a reality TV show about couture canines. (Sure, Margot loves her dog, but Sid Vicious is far too cool of a mutt for a show like that!) She even feels like an outcast amongst her family, and after she’s caught channeling her inner “Robin Hood” by stealing her neighbors’ pro-Pawsh signs, further cementing her title as the neighborhood pariah, she thinks things can’t possibly get any worse, right?
Wrong. When the local dog walker is killed in a bizarre incident involving an over-the-top Halloween display featuring multiple Home Depot skeletons, all eyes turn to Margot. To clear her name and save her family from falling apart, Margot vows to find the real killer before they strike again—but she can’t do it alone.
Enter Anne, a glamorous septuagenarian widow determined to maintain her reign over the HOA, and Sally-Claire, a “Mom Life” sweatshirt-clad member of the “Mommy Mafia” who might not be as perfect as she seems. Together, the unlikely trio (along with their canine companions) dives into the mystery, navigating the quirky and secretive world of Glenville’s residents. Can they solve the case before it’s too late, or will Margot’s reputation be permanently dog-eared? (Credit: Bantam)
Ghost In The Night by Tiffany D. Jackson
Savannah, Georgia, with its mossy trees and ornate old homes, is a place rich in history…and ghosts. Ghosts are what pique Harmony Roundtree’s interest. Still reeling from her losses back home, Harmony wants to believe in ghost stories…but isn’t sure what’s real. When she goes on one of the many ghost tours around town, she takes a photo of what might be a ghost. Or is it a hoax?
With two new friends, Harmony sets out to investigate… and stumbles upon clues leading to an unsolved murder. The deeper she digs, the more Harmony realizes that what she saw on the ghost tour might be connected to a shocking crime. But making connections can be dangerous–even more dangerous than ghosts.
New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another action-packed mystery full of surprises and secrets that will give readers goosebumps. (Credit: Scholastic Press)
Wrestle Heist by Kyle Starks
A no-holds-barred heist caper packed with body slams and backstabs for fans of over-the-top action!
After being crippled by a shady wrestling promoter, a former pro wrestler gathers a team of others wronged in the ring to rob the promoter blind during the biggest wrestling event of the year! From the outrageous, action-packed mind of multi-time Eisner nominee KYLE STARKS (Peacemaker Tries Hard, Sexcastle, I Hate This Place), with eye-popping colors by VLADIMIR POPOV (Where Monsters Lie, Fearscape).
Collects WRESTLE HEIST #1-5 + a brand new, never-before-seen six page comic story! (Credit: Image Comics)
Be Still My Unbeating Heart by Josh Winning
Bastian may be a vampire, but he doesn’t bite.
. . . Not anymore, at least.
These days, Bastian just wants to live his best undead life: visit charming Italian villages, maybe dance in the square with a cute boy, all with Whitby, his best friend (and magical talking cat) by his side. What he doesn’t want? To stumble across a dead body on the beach, a girl who appears to have been killed by a vampire.
It wasn’t Bastian. He swears—on his own grave.
But the local police chief doesn’t trust Bastian, or any vampire, for that matter, so he assigns detective Nico De Luca to keep an eye on him until his trial. And while Bastian normally wouldn’t complain about having a gorgeous, mysterious man by his side, he has more important things to worry about, because the police chief has called the Vampire Council, and if the real killer is still at large when they arrive, the whole town could be in danger. As more bodies begin to pile up, Bastian, Whitby, and De Luca must get to the bottom of who in Vernazza is framing vampires, before it’s too late.
Charming, twisty, and laugh-out-loud funny, Be Still My Unbeating Heart by Josh Winning is a delightful romp through a swoon-worthy magical murder mystery. (Credit: G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki
From Japan’s most exciting new crime writer Akane Araki, this thrillingly funny, high-concept murder mystery follows a young woman and her driving instructor as they face a compelling moral dilemma: should they work to stop a serial killer before the end of the world?
A meteor is on a collision course with Earth. The entire human race has 3 months to live. Uncontrollable panic has set in across the globe, but 23-year-old Haru is still determined to finally get her driver’s license.
When Haru and her ex-cop driving instructor Isagawa open their car trunk one day to find the corpse of a murder victim inside, they feel duty-bound to investigate. Together, they set off on a road trip through the crumbling landcape around them to hunt for the killer. As more bodies start appearing, more questions surge. Why would a serial killer begin work 3 months before the end of the world? And does justice lose its meaning with humanity on the brink of extinction?
Quirky, fast-paced, and packed full of surprising heart, Murder at the End of the World will delight fans of Stuart Turton’s audacious plots and the humorous, life-affirming bent of dystopian favorites like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead. (Credit: Pushkin Vertigo)
The Residency by C.D. Major
Life in London is hard for Ginny as a single mother barely scraping by. Once she was a promising artist with a glittering future ahead. On a whim, she applies for an artist’s residency – all expenses paid – and is astonished to be accepted.
Soon, Ginny is on a boat to a remote Scottish island, her daughter by her side. But was she too hasty, attracted by the promise of security and a chance to make art again? Locals she meets are tightlipped about the man who is Ginny’s benefactor, but she senses underlying fear. Her contract contains odd rules about avoiding the gallery at the vast property where she is living, and there is an undeniable eeriness to the place. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she could hear whispers, and that the people in the paintings were changing overnight…
By the time Ginny realises what a grave mistake she has made, she is stranded. Accepting the invitation has sealed her fate and the only way to survive is through escape – or sacrifice. (Credit: Canelo)
The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything by Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Over the past two decades, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have revolutionized how we document and share our lives. We once archived our experiences in photo albums, and now we capture our most significant moments in reels and photo dumps. Whether we prefer to admit it or not, social media is where our history lives now.
In The Story of Your Life, journalist and New York magazine columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton examines how these algorithm-driven platforms not only change the way we share information but also shape the content itself. What stories do we choose to tell, and how do these choices reflect and shape our evolving identities?
Through rigorous research and intimate interviews with everyday people, Jezer-Morton explores how the platforms on which we have told our life stories for the past twenty years have determined what those stories have come to look and sound like. Today our attention spans are short, and our stories reflect that, with spectacle and exaggeration playing ever-larger roles in our accounts of everyday life. By examining how we share, talk, and post about our milestones, vacations, homes, relationships, hardships, politics, and more, Jezer-Morton shows just how pervasive and influential our social media platforms have become in how we view ourselves and what we consider to be a life well lived.
Smart, funny, and sharply observant, The Story of Your Life delivers an original and revealing look at our lives online and off and offers us a fresh perspective on the ways social media shapes the very arcs of our lives. (Credit: Viking)
The Vampire’s Cult: The Untold Story of Obsession, Control, and a Shocking Small-Town Murder by Chet Hardin
A self-proclaimed vampire.
His harem of “witches.”
And the small-town murder that shocked America.
When twenty-four-year-old Sydney Loofe disappeared after a Tinder date, the quiet town of Wilber, Nebraska was stunned. Days later, her dismembered body was found scattered across nearby fields–and the horrifying truth began to emerge. Sydney hadn’t just met the wrong man. She had crossed paths with a deeply disturbed psychopath and his dangerous accomplice.
In The Vampire’s Cult, investigative journalist Chet Hardin exposes the twisted world of Aubrey Trail, an aging con man who presented himself as an all-powerful being, and Bailey Boswell, the woman who called herself his “queen.” Together, they lured vulnerable young women into a spiral of sex, theft, and psychological manipulation–with deadly consequences.
Through exclusive interviews, firsthand reporting, and chilling detail, Hardin unravels the making of a modern cult–and the social desperation that feeds it. In an era defined by false realities and toxic charisma, The Vampire’s Cult reveals just how easily darkness can disguise itself as devotion. (Credit: Sourcebooks)
Heartbreak and Other Organ Failures by Taylor Hobbs
There is no one in the world that Kaley loves more than her older sister Zoey, who has developmental disabilities and medical complications. When the sisters learn that Zoey needs a new kidney but is at the bottom of the transplant list, they set off on a madcap family road trip to find their estranged father, who might agree to donate. Nothing will stand in Kaley’s way–with Zoey’s health stable, Kaley can follow her boyfriend to an out-of-state college next fall.
Then Kaley learns that her mom has her own plans for the sisters’ futures. Kaley must reconcile the caretaker role she was born into with the desire to discover her own identity, and decide what she’s willing to do for the person she loves most.
Heartbreak and Other Organ Failures is a coming-of-age adventure set in the fast lane and a heartfelt, hilarious celebration of sisterhood. (Credit: Norton Young Readers)
Kitten by Stacey Yu
Katie is far from home, fresh out of college, and desperate to skirt the demands of adult life. It doesn’t help that she’s no longer speaking to her mother. Or that she owes her roommate and closest friend months of rent money. Luckily, her self-assured, generous boyfriend James seems happy to make decisions for them both. When James takes Katie on vacation to his family’s seaside house, he brings Silver, his childhood cat, and Katie discovers a sudden, strange, and giddy connection.
Silver doesn’t mind that Katie can’t seem to get a job, hold her own at dinner parties, or make amends with her mother. Silver, who gets to lie around all day, misbehave spectacularly, act cute, be gross, and still get fed, seems to have the life Katie increasingly longs for. Soon enough, they’re inseparable, and something inside Katie begins to crack open . . . or maybe just crack.
Because if Katie has learned anything from her mother, it’s that devotion comes at a price. As Katie’s affection for Silver deepens, her other relationships begin to falter, until she’s forced to confront what she really desires from life—and what she might have to risk to get it.
Darkly playful, wryly observant, and unexpectedly heartfelt, this debut from an irresistible new voice in fiction is a timeless reckoning with the uncertainty of becoming a person in an age that is as disorienting and lonely as it is full of hope and promise. (Credit: Random House)
Don’t Cross Mo Ellery by Birdie Horne
Expected Publication Date: August 11
Mo Ellery’s 29th birthday is a disaster. After one small accident—the exposure of her boyfriend’s genitals (well, maybe not that small) on a work video call—she manages to get fired, dumped, and kicked out of their overpriced Chicago apartment. Luckily, a sign appears to guide Mo to her new life: “Looking for flexible part-time work? Become a school crossing guard!” It’s everything Mo has been looking for: health insurance. How hard can it be?
A few weeks later, Mo is adjusting to her new low-paying job, her bisexual reawakening, and her new neighborhood’s wacky characters. There’s Claudia, an old woman who refuses to let Mo help her cross the street, and Marlowe, a tween cell phone prodigy whose antics terrify her. But Mo’s greatest nemesis is Poodle Dude, a guy with an SUV full of poodles who speeds through her intersection each morning. . . until the day he speeds into a sinkhole. Mo tries and fails to shield innocent eyes from his bloody corpse, but succeeds in accidentally becoming the guardian to his three poodles.
And that’s not the worst of it: some of the locals are convinced that Poodle Dude was murdered. Their allegations are obviously ridiculous, but Mo, desperate for distractions—and for several hot neighbor-suspects—reluctantly agrees to help. But Mo the detective is just as chaotic as Mo the underemployed adult, and the three entitled poodles are not helping. When a second local dies under mysterious circumstances, it’s going to take all of Mo’s broadly applicable and transferrable skills to find the killer.
Murderers beware. . . DON’T CROSS MO ELLERY! (Credit: William Morrow Paperbacks)
Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher
Expected Publication Date: August 11
They fell in love. They fought a great battle. And they won. Now, Camelot’s famous couples have fallen apart.
Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can’t tell Arthur just how not okay he is—so he’s set him free, to find love with someone who can get through the day without breaking down.
Bridget has lost her spark for sparring, forfeiting again and again in the lists. When she’s invited to join Gabriel’s round table, she hopes it’ll be the change she needs. But trying to navigate the post-happily-ever-after reality of a relationship with Gwen, when Bridget no longer feels like the dashing knight Gwen fell in love with, feels impossible.
With the kingdom still reeling from an attempted uprising, and rumored sightings of the holy grail, the questing beast, and the green knight happening across the country, the gang depart on a PR tour destined for disaster. Can Gabriel be the king his country deserves? Can Bridget get her jousting groove back? And will they find their way back to the courtly love that once seemed fated?
In the much anticipated follow-up to Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, Gabriel and Bridget set out on a daring quest to put love back on the table. (Credit: Wednesday Books)
An Illustrated Guide to Tacos and Burritos: A Comic Book with Stories, Recipes, and More by Mauricio Velázquez de León and Liz Saunders and illustrated by Francesco Gallo
Expected Publication Date: August 11
Cook like a pro, read it like a comic–the ultimate kitchen experience starts here.
It’s time to have fun in the kitchen with this innovative comic book format that makes cooking immersive, intuitive, and fun. Step-by-step illustrations walk you through every recipe–from classic Tacos Al Pastor to Mission-Style Burritos and tons of delicious salsas and condiments, plus dedicated sections with engaging culinary storytelling.
With hundreds of authentic recipes, a comprehensive pantry section, and clever and simple tips, this book empowers cooks at any level to master the magic of Mexican food, one taco or burrito at the time. (Credit: Duopress)
Mary Sue by Meghan Fitzmartin and Lisa Sterle
Expected Publication Date: August 11
Cassie has a thriving online life writing vampire fanfic of her favorite show, but when her secret identity is exposed at school, things go from awkward to atypical—especially when Jessica, her hot vampire original character, steps out of the story and into the real world.
From acclaimed screenwriter and comics writer Meghan Fitzmartin (Tim Drake: Robin, Supernatural), and popular artist, Lisa Sterle (Squad), Mary Sue is a hilarious and heartfelt collision of fandom and fantasy all in one genre-bending series. (Credit: BOOM!Box)
The Magic We Made by Meg Cabot
Expected Publication Date: August 11
Frankie
A trained therapist, Francesca Giovanni knows there’s a scientific explanation for everything. Unfortunately, she lives in West Harbor, CT, a town that’s recently exploded in popularity thanks to “witch tourism.” Suddenly, witches are everywhere, offering locals their psychic services. Frankie’s fine with this…until aspiring teenage witches begin to disappear, and strange things start happening in the lake house next door. Frankie suspects not all newcomers to West Harbor have the good of the community in mind—especially not her new neighbor, Ash Merit.
Ash
Ash Merit finds lost things—and people—for a living. All he wants is to help his clients, and maybe get to know the stunningly beautiful (and newly single) Dr. Frankie Giovanni a little better. But thanks to some troublesome young witches—not to mention his often faulty psychic “superpower”—everything goes wrong. If only Frankie wasn’t so distractingly attractive…and so unwilling to admit there might not be a logical reason for everything, including the flames that ignite whenever the two of them kiss. Ash hopes to change that, but first he and Frankie have to find the missing girls, as well as the truth about what’s happening in West Harbor…a truth that could change everything they thought they knew about themselves—and the magic of love. (Credit: Avon)
My Giant Nerd Boyfriend Volume 1 by Fishball
Expected Publication Date: August 18
A hilarious slice-of-life comic about love, height gaps, and nerdy chaos, based on Fishball’s hit Webtoon about everyday life with her towering 6’5″ boyfriend.
Based on the hit Webtoon with over 800 million views, My Giant Nerd Boyfriend follows the everyday adventures of Fishball and her charmingly awkward 6’5″ boyfriend–now husband–as they navigate modern love, nerdy hobbies, and Malaysian life with humor and heart.
From Pomeranian cuddles to anime obsessions and snack-fueled late nights, Fishball’s simple, expressive art captures the whimsy, love, and laughter found in every moment.
- The first collection in a three-book series
- Based on Webtoon’s most-liked ongoing US series
- Packed with fan-favorite episodes plus collectible appeal
- Warm, relatable humor for fans of Sarah Andersen
Fall in love with Fishball and her giant nerd boyfriend–one adorable moment at a time! (Credit: Andrews McMeel Publishing)
How To Find A Romance In A Bookshop by Poppy Alexander
Expected Publication Date: August 18
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?
Their love of books may be re-ignited, but is that enough to save them both from their own worst enemy—themselves? (Credit: Avon)
That Night by Gillian McAllister
Expected Publication Date: August 18
On vacation in Europe, Frannie makes two urgent phone calls. One to her sister, and one to her brother. The siblings come running, and they find their sister covered in blood, kneeling over an unmoving body.
There’s been an accident: Frannie has hit a man with her car, and she needs their help. They bury the body, and they make a promise. They’ll never tell anyone.
But when the police come calling, the siblings’ lies start to spiral. They begin to doubt their trust in each other. Because what really happened that night?
And who will be the first to crack?
With the incredible twists and turns and a unique look at family relationships that McAllister has become known for, That Night is the ultimate summer thriller that asks: what would you do to protect your family? (Credit: William Morrow)
The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty
Expected Publication Date: August 18
The new house is a fresh start for Claire and her family. It’s a move away from the cityscape of a declining San Francisco and towards the quiet suburban life she has craved since her turbulent childhood; a step up the corporate ladder for her husband, Tom; and a safe haven for their two children.
Yet as they unpack their boxes, she senses something is wrong. Fresh flowers dry up, store-bought eggs are inexplicably hollow, and her daughter’s favorite toy disappears. Claire soon confronts a series of impossible truths: The house is hungry. It’s devouring anything that was once alive. And only Claire and Tom, the owners of the house, will remember that this “food” ever existed.
When Claire exploits the house’s power in a moment of weakness, she and the house forge a fragile bond. But as its hunger intensifies and Claire loses control, she fears who else might be drawn to her home—and what sinister appetites they’ll bring. (Credit: Bantam)
Better Than Revenge by Bea Fitzgerald
Expected Publication Date: August 18
Their feud made them iconic. One decision made them infamous.
After all, where’s the fun in rivalry if there’s no bloodshed?
Nadine Heywood and Harper Moore have been rivals since their first days at drama school, a feud that has consumed them. A feud more passionate, more clawing than the gossip magazines ever note. Hollywood’s It-Girl versus the acclaimed starlet, caught in an obsession that can only lead to one thing: someone’s downfall.
After beating out Harper in every category for best actress, Nadine believes she has finally done it. She’s won – completely and irrefutably. So why are thoughts of Harper still tormenting her? Why doesn’t victory taste at all sweet?
When a knock at her door reveals Harper covered in blood, Nadine realizes this could be the ultimate opportunity to bring her opponent down. Or change them both forever.
With flashbacks to Harper and Nadine’s infamous in-fighting building toward a murder that makes them iconic, and excerpts of an interview with Nadine for Harper’s upcoming true crime documentary, this is a salacious tale of scandal, ego, and infamy about two frenemies who may be more to each other than they would ever like to admit. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
My Sister Is Going To Kill Me by Nina Simon
Expected Publication Date: August 18
What’s a family vacation without a little murder?
Liv and Mandy Chisholm’s yearly sister trip is a sacred tradition, an attempt to bond as their lives increasingly diverge. Liv, the ever-practical older sister, packs the color-coded itineraries. Mandy, a bedazzled human tumbleweed, brings the spontaneity.
This year, the sisters take off for a rafting adventure through the breathtaking depths of the Grand Canyon with a group of strangers. But beyond the terrors of whitewater rapids, sibling squabbles, and rogue reptiles, the ferocious beauty of the river carries a darker undercurrent, and an unexpected guest: a murderer in their midst.
When a fellow traveler is found dead and another corpse hits the water, the rafting trip flips from idyllic sister vacation to high-stakes murder investigation. Every suspect has a secret, every clue is drenched in mystery, and Liv and Mandy can hardly trust each other, let alone their own instincts. With the river raging and danger around every bend, the Chisholm sisters must work together to catch a killer—and keep their relationship from capsizing—before it’s too late. (Credit: William Morrow)
The Opposite of Murder by Sophie Hannah
Expected Publication Date: August 25
The perfect alibi. The perfect motive. The perfect lie?
Jemma Stelling walks into a police station and confesses–not to a murder she’s committed, but to the one she’s terrified she might. Jemma can’t stop herself from thinking about murdering her stepmother, Marianne Upton. The only way to stop herself might be to confess before she snaps and does the unthinkable.
But while Jemma is still giving her statement, a call comes in: Marianne has just been found stabbed to death, killed in exactly the way Jemma described. Suddenly, the woman desperate to prevent a murder has an unshakeable alibi… and a disturbingly accurate description of the crime she couldn’t have committed. Is Jemma an innocent bystander? Or a brilliant, cold-blooded killer who planned everything down to the minute?
In The Opposite of Murder, New York Times bestselling author Sophie Hannah unveils another mind-bending mystery–an impossible puzzle guaranteed to hold readers spellbound to the very end. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
The Brunch Shift by Adrienne Thurman and illustrated by Mags DerRoma
Expected Publication Date: August 25
The lazy sun peeks out from the clouds as Mama and her daughter wait for their cross-town bus. Saturdays aren’t for sleeping in. Saturdays are for the egg crackin’, pancake flippin’, orange juicin’ brunch shift. A shift Mama can’t afford to miss. To pass the time, Mama and her daughter tell stories– first, they’re brave knights escaping a dragon as they hop on the bus. Later, as they do the dishes, they’re digging for gold during the gold rush!
Sometimes, though, the girl imagines herself with the families in Mama’s section– cheersing with hot cocoa before they head to the park. Sometimes she wishes she had someone else’s Saturday.
Here is an ode to working parents everywhere, and an ode to the magic of childhood and the power of a parent’s love. (Credit: Random House Studio)
Mission Manta Ray by Philip Kavvadias
Expected Publication Date: August 25
Finn and Milo get assigned a R.A.P.T.O.R. mission in the Pacific Ocean, along with a new girl, Tasi, and Arty the Microraptor. They’ve been sent to investigate a giant, deep-sea octopus that’s coming unusually close to the surface. But when their ship is torpedoed by a submarine that’s shaped like a manta ray, it’s clear something nefarious is happening in the ocean that someone doesn’t want R.A.P.T.O.R. to discover.
Plunged into danger, the junior agents will have to survive on their own as they once again come face to face with an enemy with fathomless ambition. (Credit: Aladdin)
If We Survive The Night by Jo Salazar
Expected Publication Date: August 25
Sixteen-year-old Quinn is used to being told that what she feels inside isn’t quite right. After getting kicked out of multiple foster homes and narrowly escaping juvenile detention, she’s undergoing therapy at a residential treatment center for “troubled” girls. Looking for a night of freedom, Quinn sneaks onto the roof with her best friend Keisha, and what she sees changes everything…
She witnesses the start of the zombie apocalypse.
As zombies, or “carriers” as the news calls them, infiltrate the treatment center, escape becomes crucial. Quinn and Keisha make a pact to leave together, but several unexpected complications screw up their plans.
As the girls battle the carriers and wrestle with their doubts about each other, Quinn realizes she has never felt more alive. Maybe this is exactly the kind of world she was built for. And part of thriving in this cutthroat environment means cutting off the dead weight – even if that means putting other lives at risk…But even if she’s willing to sacrifice everything, can anyone really outlive the apocalypse? (Credit: Sourcebooks Fire)
Books, Iced Coffee & a Side of Dragons: A Graphic Novel by Amanda Lovelace and illustrated by Raquel Trave
Expected Publication Date: August 25
Welcome to Sea Witch Cove! Lucinda–call her Luci!–owns Little Lighthouse Books, an adorable bookstore tucked inside a defunct lighthouse in her small Jersey Shore town.
Life would be perfect if only Aster, the trans woman who runs the coffee shop next door, would notice her. But with a little luck–and the help of Dandelion, a tiny, curious wind dragon the two of them rescue–this just might be the summer Luci and Aster finally find love.
- Cozy summer romance meets gentle fantasy
- Diverse LGBTQ+ representation
- Stunning illustrations by artist Raquel Travé
- Perfect for fans of Heartstopper, The Tea Dragon Society, and Legends & Lattes
Grab an iced coffee and prepare to fall in love in Sea Witch Cove this summer! (Credit: Andrews McMeel Publishing)
They Say A Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough
Expected Publication Date: August 25
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family, but after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place—working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia, whose paranoid episodes have started to unnerve her. The only interesting thing about her new town, it seems, is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman—and the clue she discovers that reveals the case is yet unsolved.
Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity—but even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears. Tension is building in Harper’s Creek, and everyone can feel it. The house is becoming more claustrophobic by the day, and her grandmother is growing stranger. Anna begins to wonder if her delusional moments are somehow the key to discovering the truth about the murders, and if the old house, and her new start, is haunted by its own bloody baggage.
With a devastating, genre-bending mystery at its core, They Say a Girl Died Here is a novel of thrilling and terrifying secrets, with a twist that could only come from the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, Sarah Pinborough. (Credit: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar)
Then Shall I Kill in Your Stead?, Vol. 1 by Yukiaki Kurando
Expected Publication Date: August 25
High school student Yuuma Fujikura’s life is a living hell, thanks to the sadistic bullies who treat tormenting him as a game. That is, until he meets Ryou Amezato, a mysterious classmate who will risk everything to protect Yuuma. Ryou is bold, cunning, and loyal, and his methods are nothing short of vicious. Though Yuuma is unsure of Ryou’s intentions, he’s more than thankful for the support of a new friend. But is Ryou a guardian angel? Or a demon who will drag Yuuma into an even darker, bloodier nightmare…? (Credit: Yen Press)
The Five of Us by Sian Gilbert
Expected Publication Date: August 25
Meet Crow, Goldfinch, Starling, Wren, and Cuckoo–five girls who will never tell you their real names. They’re the brightest students at an underfunded, inner-city Bristol school, pushing toward opportunity despite the odds stacked against them. They believe they’re on the cusp of something better … until the world abruptly shuts down. Exams are cancelled, their plans collapse, and the future dissolves into a fog of uncertainty.
With long nights, a city under curfew, and nothing left to lose, the girls slip into a world of dark possibility. Each illicit outing becomes its own kind of dangerous magic. Their choices spiral–from reckless to ruthless–and by the end of a strange, suspended summer, more than one person will be dead.
Seven years later, the survivors have not spoken since. But someone knows what happened. Someone who has been watching. Hunting. Taunting. As they stumble through an adulthood they were never prepared for–and reckon with all the wounds of a generation left behind–the rage that bound them together in the past resurfaces with lethal force.
They broke the rules. And now the rules may end up breaking them. (Credit: Blackstone Publishing)
The Quilt Whisperer Investigates by Peggy Ehrhart
Expected Publication Date: August 25
As Associate Director and Curator of Special Collections at the Yates Museum, Caroline is excited to pick up a prized antique quilt from Nancy Critchley, one of Banburyport’s wealthiest residents, for an upcoming exhibit. . . . Until she discovers Nancy dead on the floor of her beautiful Federalist home. The muslin bag that held the quilt is empty. On the table is a napkin smeared with what appears to be tomato juice—in a design that may have been Nancy’s final message.
Garret Seldon, the town’s new police detective, pinpoints museum intern Amber Foster as the top suspect. Amber’s blog is sharply critical of the Critchley family, among other prominent citizens from Banburyport’s past, for exploiting less fortunate residents in order to gain their riches. But could long-ago sins really have spurred someone to stab Nancy with a pair of sewing scissors?
All of Banburyport is abuzz with theories, including the regulars at Farrow Square Coffee. A humiliated caterer, a developer angered by Nancy’s work with the Historical Preservation Committee, disgruntled family members—there are plenty of possible motives and suspects. And then there’s the missing quilt, a priceless creation that’s almost 200 years old.
Caroline and her good friend and landlady, Libby, are convinced of Amber’s innocence. And somewhere among these tangled threads, Caroline knows there’s a pattern to be uncovered, one that ties together the colorful secrets of Banburyport’s past and present . . . (Credit: Kensington Cozies)
The Cozy Nook Bookshop by Jeannie Chin
Expected Publication Date: August 25
Emma Rogers-Li is having her worst chapter yet. She’s lost her friends, her apartment in Manhattan, and a jerk of an ex. When a job opens to run a bookshop in the quirky small town of Heart’s Hope Crossing, Vermont, Emma jumps at the chance to start over. For the first time in years, she feels like she’s finally calling the shots in her own life … until she runs smack into Hunter Hall.
According to town legend, it’s fate–couples who meet (or collide) at that corner are meant to be. And while Emma doesn’t believe the town gossips now convinced she and Hunter are meant for each other, something about the tall, gruff forest ranger sends her completely off-balance. Falling in love with Heart’s Hope Crossing might be the best thing to happen to Emma.
But Hunter has a complicated past of his own when it comes to love. Can they both take one last chance on a perfect happily-ever-after? (Credit: Forever)
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