The Best New Books Out in August, According to Indie Booksellers

This was the #1 pick of the Indie Next List! Here’s their recommendation:

“The Wedding People hits the absolute sweet spot of compulsively fun to read while asking serious questions about life, love, and a lavish destination wedding. Alison Espach’s mix of light and dark makes for deeply authentic characters.”

—Nina Barrett, Bookends & Beginnings, Evanston, IL

This one is a personal favorite, and you’ll hear my rave about it on the August 6th episode of All the Books. It’s a very queer bi4bi romance with a friends to lovers/second chance romance that has so much yearning! It’s also sexy and decadent, with mouthwatering descriptions of food and wine. It definitely holds up against McQuiston’s previous romances, Red, White & Royal Blue and One Last Stop. Here’s the bookseller recommendation:

“The Pairing is Casey McQuiston’s masterwork. This was sensual, lush, and decadent in all the best ways. I fell in love with Theo and Kit, and I can’t wait to reread it and experience the magic all over again.”

—Amanda Olmstead, The Book Burrow, Pflugerville, TX

Because I have access to a very specific time machine, I know Emily Martin will be recommending this in an upcoming article about the best horror books out in August. She says, “Hum is a sci-fi/dystopian horror novel set in a city completely transformed by AI, climate change, and intelligent robots called hums. May has just lost her job to AI. Desperate for money and hoping to help resolve her family’s debt, she agrees to undergo an experiment that would change her appearance, making her unrecognizable to surveillance. May then decides to take her family on what should be a relaxing trip to a beautiful Botanical Garden. But her family doesn’t share her desire to unplug from the outside world, and the Botanical Garden doesn’t end up being the calming place May anticipated.”

Likewise, Liberty Hardy will be recommending this as one of the best new SFF out in August: “The prolific T. Kingfisher is a Book Riot fave! This fantastic new novel is her take on the ‘Goose Girl’ fairy tale. Cordelia lives an unusual, unhappy, and sometimes punishing existence as the daughter of an evil sorcerer. She’s never challenged her mother before, only lived her days subservient and silent. But when her mother brings home a kindly man and his sister, Cordelia grows fond of them, and she realizes she must act if she wants to save them from her mother’s nefarious plans.”

And there’s another Liberty recommendation! “This is a rip-roaring story about a guild of assassins who swear to three unbreakable vows: The contract must be just, only the target may be killed, and you must complete a job once you agree to do it. At the start, we meet Eveen the Eviscerator, one of the highly talented assassins, who has agreed to a new contract. But when the job turns out to be way more complicated, she refuses to complete it. Now she herself is in danger from the very people she worked with, running for her life while she searches for answers. P.S.: Don’t worry, there are not any dead cats.”

This one is a recent favorite of Kendra Winchester: “Like a lot of fantasy lovers, I’ve read my fair share of King Arthur-related novels. So many of them take themselves very seriously, portraying these majestic and austere knights as the fierce protectors of the land. But Grossman’s version of Camelot is different. It’s funny, delightfully ridiculous in so many ways. Like his take on magical schools in the magicians, The Bright Sword pokes fun at stories of Arthurian legend as much as it also celebrates it. But we, the readers, are in on the joke, understanding that this story is in conversation with the many previous tales of King Arthur and his knights.

If you’re looking for a humorous yet simultaneously heartfelt, funny story from the world of Camelot, The Bright Sword may be the pick for you.”