15 Book Releases We're Excited About This Month

And What You Can Read in the Meantime

Reading Ahead

Even though our TBR shelves are full, we still can’t resist browsing (and buying!) exciting new reads. Here are 15 volumes that we’ve got on our preorder lists, plus a previously published book with a similar vibe you can get right away.

August 3

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

After being injured in a drunk driving accident she caused, Sunday Brennan returns home to her large Irish family in New York. But it isn’t easy. Five years ago, she abandoned them (and her high school sweetheart) with no explanation.

What to read first: The Gathering by Anne Enright

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Naturalist Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with the purpose of reintroducing wolves into the highlands despite fierce opposition from the locals. When a farmer is mauled to death, Inti buries the evidence, worried her wolves will be blamed.

What to read first: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a mysterious list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.

What to read first: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Shallow Waters by Anita Kopacz

This stirring and lyrical fantasy imagines the story of Yemaya—a Yoruban deity—cast into antebellum America as a young woman, not yet aware of the spectacular power she possesses.

What to read first: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor by Anna Qu

A young girl forced to work in a Queens sweatshop calls child services on her mother in this powerful debut about labor and self-worth that traces a Chinese immigrant's journey to an American future.

What to read first: Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

August 10

Paper and Blood by Kevin Hearne

We're very excited to check out the second installment in the witty murder mystery series, about a charming and unconventional Scottish detective who uses rare magic to solve uncanny mysteries.

What to read first: Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne

The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore

England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices.

What to read first: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

August 17

Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins

In this collection of essays, the author uses her own life and loves as a unique vantage point, humorously and powerfully illuminating how to take the best pop culture has to offer and discard the harmful bits.

What to read first: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Gordo by Jaime Cortez

These stories plumb the experiences of living in a 1970s California migrant camp through the eyes of "a fat, precocious nine-year-old sissy boy." As he comes of age, Gordo gleans truths about sex, violence, prejudice, and decency.

What to read first: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You: Stories by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

This collection of raucous, character-driven stories offers a panoramic view of New Orleans from an author who has an uncanny ability to reveal the hidden corners of a place we thought we knew.

What to read first: We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

August 24

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

In this retelling of the classical myth, Troy has fallen and the victorious Greeks are eager to return home with the spoils of an endless war—including the captured women of the fallen city. But the Trojan women have their own plans.

What to read first: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir by Kat Chow

For readers of Helen Macdonald and Elizabeth Alexander, an intimate and haunting portrait of grief and the search for meaning from a singular new talent as told through the prism of three generations of her Chinese American family.

What to read first: The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander

The Guide by Peter Heller

The bestselling author returns with a thriller about a young man who, escaping his own grief, is hired by an elite fishing lodge in Colorado. Amid the natural beauty of sun-drenched streams and forests he uncovers a plot of shocking menace.

What to read first: The River by Peter Heller

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

The third installment in the Kiss Quotient series features Anna Sun, a violinist struggling with anxiety and OCD and Quan Diep, a misunderstood CEO. Will they be able to see through each other's protective layers to find love?

What to read first: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

August 31

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

The Jordan Peele of horror literature produces another suspenseful read packed with sharp humor and prophetic violence. Jade feels like she's trapped in a slasher film as tourists go missing and tension rises in her gentrifying rural lake town.

What to read first: When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Now you can preorder books that are coming out soon so there's no need to wait if something here piques your interest!

Let us know which new books you're most excited about this month so we know what to feature in future lists. And be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily book recommendations, literary tidbits, and more.

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon