8 brand new August releases to add to your summer TBR

I am officially in a reading slump and it’s getting on my nerves.

I’m making TBRs, picking something up, putting it down, reading a few chapters, then forgetting about it, and even losing steam with audiobooks. This slump has been going for around six weeks now making it my longest slump in years and I don’t really know what to do about it.

Should I just ditch any and all reading plans and TBRs I had in mind?

Should I attempt to reread an old favourite?

Should I just stop reading until the urge returns?

No, I just should definitely just make a list of the new releases hitting shelves this week, put them all on my TBR and then be annoyed at myself when I don’t read them. Excellent plan. That’s the one.

A new Jacqueline Wilson, a new RF Kuang AND a new Ava Reid all in one month? August, you are spoiling us.

‘A Theory of Dreaming’ by Ava Reid (5th August)

We read ‘A Study in Drowning’ for our dark academia podcast and so I’m super intrigued to see how Effie and Preston’s story concludes in the second book in the duology. Our full review of ‘A Study in Drowning is here!

All stories come to an end.

Effy learned that when she defeated the Fairy King. Even though she may never know exactly what happened at Hiraeth, she is free of her nightmares and is able to pen a thesis with Preston on the beloved national fairytale Angharad. She has finally earned a spot at the literature college, making her the first woman in history to enroll.

But some dreams are dangerous, especially when they come true.

A Beautiful Evil by Bea Fitzgerald (7th August)

Bea Fitzgerald is one of my very favourite YA authors and her Greek mythology retellings hit the spot for me every single time. This is her third YA offering and introduces us to Pandora. I reviewed both ‘Girl, Goddess, Queen’ and ‘The Crown Ends All’.

Pandora is the first human woman – made by the gods on Olympus for one simple purpose: to love and be loved by her new husband, the titan Epimatheos.

The only problem? He wants nothing to do with her.

Hurt and confused, Pandora struggles to find meaning in her new life. What's the point of being given all these gifts by the gods, if she can't get this infuriating, awful, frankly very rude man (with an admittedly quite nice face) to love her? Maybe she's failing at her life’s purpose. Or maybe she's destined for an entirely different one . . . ?

Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (7th August)

I know that this series gets really mixed reviews, but I absolutely love Evie and the Villain and I’m genuinely considering rereading books one and two before this comes out… They’re so sweet and so fun.

The third book in the bestselling fantasy rom-com series from the TikTok sensation about the sunshine assistant to the grumpy evil villain and their unexpected romance…

REWARD OFFERED: Apprentice to The Villain wanted for treason (light), magical property damage (alleged), and one incident involving a weaponised scone (accurate). Frequently seen with a grumpy frog (crowned, judgmental). Answers to “Evie” or “Stop that.”

Evie Sage didn’t mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom’s most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised “light paperwork and occasional beheadings,” and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss.

Heart Strings by Ivy Fairbanks (12th August)

Exes-to-lovers and second chance romance? Sign. Me. Up. We both really loved Ivy Fairbanks’ ‘Morbidly Yours’ (you can read the review right here) so getting to go back to this world is very exciting.

She doesn’t do second chances. But he's not done writing their song.

Cielo “Lo” Valdez doesn’t believe in second chances. Surviving cancer at seventeen taught her life is too short to spend time on someone who wronged you. But Aidan O’Toole is determined to show her life is too long not to spend it together.

Untamed Heart, Gemma Morr (14th August)

Yeehaw! You know we love a cowboy romance around here and this is a brand new series pitched at fans of Lyla Sage and Elsie Silver (hello! That’s me!) so it instantly went on my wishlist and it’ll go straight on my TBR too.

WELCOME TO THE DIAMOND BACK RANCH: where the cowboys are hot, the drama is real, and city girls like Lottie Wright are in way over their heads.

Lottie has spent her whole life chasing success—or at least what it’s supposed to look like. The perfect corporate job. The perfect banker boyfriend. The perfect life in London. But when she’s suddenly fired and catches her boyfriend cheating, she does what any totally rational person would do… and gets on a plane to her family’s ranch in Wyoming.

Nearly Departed, Lucas Oakeley (14th August)

A paranormal rom-com with ghosts? Sounds like a debut for me! I really love the cover for this one as well and I’m excited to hear more about it.

Joel Foster is a hapless twenty-something. His girlfriend, Beth Lewis, would likely have been a hapless twenty-something, too, had she not been obliterated by a very large cement truck. Some time after Beth's tragic death, Joel is still trying to juggle grief with the world of modern dating. And while he still feels like a widower, he has to find a new love before three years is up.

The catch? Just as Joel thinks he's finally falling for someone, he starts getting haunted by Beth.

Katabasis, RF Kuang (28th August)

I love an iffy relationship with RF Kuang’s books, but if any of them are going to work for me, it’s going to be ‘Katabasis’ and I’m both nervous and excited to see which way it falls for me. We tackled ‘Babel’ for our podcast and you can read the review and listen to the episode now!

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek. The story of a hero's descent to the underworld.

Grad student Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become the brightest mind in the field of analytic magick.

But the only person who can make her dream come true is dead and – inconveniently – in Hell. And Alice, along with her biggest rival Peter Murdoch, is going after him.

Picture Imperfect, Jacqueline Wilson (28th August)

‘The Illustrated Mum’ was one of my very favourite Jacqueline Wilson novels as a child and young teen so the thought of revisiting Marigold and Dolphin makes me incredibly nervous, very nostalgic and excited!

‘Sorry to wake you in the middle of the night, but we have a lady here who’s not very well. She says she’s called Marigold, Queen of the Sky?’

Dolphin Westward spent her childhood as the supporting character in the story of her beautiful, wild, volatile mother Marigold. Now thirty-three, she’s painfully aware that not much has changed. She lives in a tiny bedsit, works in a tattoo shop by day and collects her illustrated mum from police stations by night.

What’s on your TBR for the rest of the summer? Do you have any tips to get out of a reading slump?

Written by Sophie