6 Books I Can’t Wait to Read in August

When 16-year-old Angie starts hearing a mysterious voice in her house, she’s excited to think it might be a ghost—at least it would mean something interesting is happening in her boring Pennsylvania hometown. Meanwhile, Madelyn is a first-year teacher in the same town—the town where her cousin went missing several years ago. Angie and Madelyn join forces to search for clues, but by the time they realize that the truth could be deadly, it’s too late to turn back.

It’s a trope we’ve seen again and again, but eat up every time: enemies to lovers. Flo has been on a break from life after an embarrassing meltdown, and she’s thankful to get out of town for a bit as her family sets off to Greece for their summer vacation. The only snag? Jamie’s there: Flo’s brother’s best friend—tanned, fit and the last person Flo wants to see. Flo and Jamie hate each other…except, Flo actually has a mortifying crush on him that only got stronger after the aforementioned embarrassing meltdown. With two weeks of Grecian fun on the horizon, what could possibly go wrong?

When 30-something Natasha makes a mistake that costs her her job as a reporter in London, she moves back to New York and finds work as a junior reporter writing clickbait-y tabloid stories. To make matters worse, she’s also recently divorced from a kind man she loved. Things start to pick up when her ex-boyfriend Zach returns to the city and moves into Natasha’s spare bedroom. But as Natasha's obsession with Zach grows and her gossip writing job becomes more and more dystopian, her worlds threaten to collide in a very intense, very public way.

For fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Fleishman Is in Trouble, this debut novel centers on a mother trapped in the rat race of NYC parenting as her life unravels. New York Times journalist-turned-parenting-advice-columnist Annie is at the end of her rope. She has three young children, her husband always seems to be working and the vicious competition for spots in New York City’s kindergartens is heating up—as is her rivalry with another mom. When a social faux pas makes Annie go viral, she’s forced to confront whether she’s really any better than the other parents she always judged.

In this twisty mystery from the author of The Golden Spoon, an advice columnist searches for answers about her predecessor’s murder. Alex lives in New York City, where she mostly she keeps to herself, works a copywriting job and keeps to herself. But her world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen—the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance—is brutally murdered. When Alex sees a job posting for Francis’s replacement, she gets the job…and is really good at it. But soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. As Alex becomes consumed by the details surrounding Francis’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface.

You might recognize Casey McQuiston as the author of Red, White & Royal Blue, the best-selling queer rom-com that was turned into an similarly popular Prime Video movie. In their latest novel, two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour. After a brutal breakup, Theo and Kit have taken some much needed time away from each other, until they’re unexpectedly reunited for three weeks of stunning views and flavors in France, Spain and Italy. But it's fine, they’re over each other. So much so that they make a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first. But as the hookup competition heats up, it becomes clear the feelings between the two haven’t totally dissipated.