Anticipated August 2025 Releases

 

August is here and so are many fantastic new books! I am woefully behind on just about every single blog post that I need to be writing, but fortunately August is only beginning so there's still time to get excited about all of these. Be sure to let me know which August releases you're most looking forward--and definitely let me know if any of your most anticipated August releases are missing from this list! Happy reading, everyone!

The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran, transl. Jeremy Tiang || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Sunbirth by An Yu || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon || August 26th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

This Vicious Hunger by Francesca May || August 26th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang || August 26th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Unseen by Ania Ahlborn || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History by Moudhy Al-Rashid || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

13 Months Haunted by Jimmy Juliano || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Faceless Thing We Adore by Hailey Piper || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America by David Baron || August 26th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moulton || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization by Tim Queeney || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

A Mother's Guide to the Apocalypse by Hollie Overton || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State by Caleb Gayle || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

House of the Beast by Michelle Wong || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

This is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean || August 19th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

LA Women by Ella Berman || August 5th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Clodia of Rome: Champion of the Republic by Douglas Boin || August 12th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

What are your anticipated August releases?

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Sunbirth by An Yu, A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper, 13 Months Haunted by Jimmy Juliano, & Rope by Tim Queeney

     

 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released

Sunbirth by An Yu
Publication: August 5th, 2025
Grove Press
Hardcover. 256 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"From the celebrated author of Ghost Music and Braised Pork, a bewitching and atmospheric novel following two sisters in an isolated village as the sun begins to diminish above them

In Five Poems Lake, a small village surrounded by impenetrable deserts, the sun is slowly disappearing overhead. A young woman keeps one apprehensive eye on the sky above as she tends the pharmacy of traditional medicine that belonged to her great grandfather. She has few customers, and even fewer her older sister Dong Ji, her last living relative, works at a wellness parlor across town for those who can afford it—which, during these strange and difficult days, is not many.

Five Poems Lake had fallen on hard times long before the sun began shrinking, but now, every few days, a new sliver disappears. As the temperature drops and the lake freezes over, the population of the town realizes that they will soon die—if not of the cold and starvation, then of despair. When the Beacons begin to appear—ordinary people with heads replaced by searing, blinding light, like miniature suns—the town’s residents wonder if they may hold the answer to their salvation, or if they are just another sign of impending ruin. Soon, a photograph found in the possessions of their father, who disappeared mysteriously twelve years ago, will offer another clue in the mystery of the Beacons, and Dong Ji and her sister wonder if they may finally learn what happened to their father.

With a richly surreal sensibility that has earned comparisons to the work of Haruki Murakami, and anchored by searching curiosity and wisdom, in Sunbirth An Yu honors the unique relationship held between sisters and asks how much we can ever know about the deepest mysteries of the world."

Everything about this sounds amazing, and the mention of comparisons to Murakami's work completely seals the deal--I can't wait to check this one out!

A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper

Publication: August 12th, 2025

Saga Press

Paperback. 288 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"Euphoria meets Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke in this latest novel by the Bram Stoker Award–winning author Hailey Piper, following a couple whose search to spice up their sex life leads them down a path of madness.

A kink-fixated couple, Carmen and Blanca, have been in a rut. That is until Blanca discovers the enigmatic Smoke in an under-street drug den, who holds pages to a strange play, The King in Yellow. Read too much, and you’ll fall into madness. But read just a little and pull back, and it gives you the adrenaline rush of survivor’s euphoria, leading Carmen to fall into a game of lust at a nightmare’s edge.

As the line blurs between the world Carmen knows and the one that she visits after reading from the play, she begins to desire more time in this other world no matter what horrors she brings back with her. Bram Stoker Award–winning author Hailey Piper masterfully blends horror, erotica, and psychological thriller in this captivating and chilling story."

I lovethat this centers The King in Yellow, as I finally read that story a couple years ago and I'm kinda obsessed with its madness association/history. I'm so excited for this one!

13 Months Haunted by Jimmy Juliano
Publication: August 12th, 2025
Dutton
Hardcover. 384 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"Piper Lowery, a public library clerk in charge of liaising with the local middle school, can tell right away there’s something strange about the new girl in eighth grade. Avery Wallace won’t touch any kind of technology, not even the computers at the library, and her mother comes to school with her every day, refusing to leave her side—not even when Avery uses the restroom.

And then there are the rumors, the whispers Piper hears from kids in the hallway and parents around Avery’s mother is a witch. Her sister and father were killed by something supernatural. A strange virus killed them.

Seeing how isolated and lonely Avery is, Piper befriends her but quickly realizes it might just be the worst decision she’s ever made. Because there’s something dark inside Avery Wallace, and it’s spreading . . ."

I will happily read a horror story that follows a public library clerk--and the premise sounds intriguing, as well!

Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization by Tim Queeney

Publication: August 12th, 2025

St. Martin's Press

Hardcover. 336 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilization, in the vein of single subject bestsellers like Salt and Cod

Tim Queeney is a sailor who knows more about rope and its importance to humankind than most. In Rope, Queeney takes readers on a ride through the history of rope and the way it weaves itself through the story of civilization. From Magellan’s world-circling ships, to the 15th-century fleet of Admiral Zheng He, to Polynesian multihulls with crab claw sails, he shows how without rope, none of their adventurous voyages and discoveries would have been possible. Time traveling, he describes the building of the pyramids, the Roman Coliseum, Hagia Sofia, Notre Dame, the Sultan Hasan Mosque, the Brooklyn Bridge, and countless other constructions that would not have been possible without rope.

Not content to just look at rope’s past, Queeney looks at its present and possible future and how the re-invention of rope with synthetic fibers will likely provide the strength for cables to support elevators into space. Making the story of rope real for readers, Queeney tells remarkable nautical stories of his own reliance on rope at sea. Rope is history, adventure, and the story of one of the world’s most common tools that has made it possible for humans to advance throughout the centuries.

Rope is history, adventure and the story of one of the world’s most common tools that has made it possible for humans to advance throughout the century."

Okay, so an entire book about rope doesn't sound the most exciting at first glance, but I think histories around various items can be fascinating and can give such an interesting glimpse into the world and how it's evolved, so I'm totally in to check this one out.