Coming Soon – The Romances We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in August 2022
Here we go again, with AAR’s regular look ahead to next month’s new releases. It’s that time of year when we’re all thinking about heading off for a holiday – or staying at home for one – so maybe our Coming Soon for August will help you to find some good reads to keep you company wherever you are this summer! As always, this is a selective list, and we love hearing from YOU about what you’re most looking forward to getting stuck into over the coming weeks, so please drop by and let us know in the comments.
Releasing week of 1st August 2022
Releasing week of 8th August 2022
Releasing week of 15th August 2022
Releasing week of 22nd August 2022
Releasing week of 29th August 2022
For those who enjoyed Jenn Burke’s Not Dead Yet series and the follow up series, she has a new book coming out August 30th. Stone Wings is the first of a new series about gargoyle shifters who’ve been cursed? Not 100% sure, but it looks interesting.
Loved, loved Kit McBride Gets a Wife – western historical with arranged marriage, but the marriage is arranged by the hero’s tomboy (think Unsinkable Molly Brown) teenage sister who is sick of doing all the cooking and cleaning for her older brothers. And the “arranged” bride is actually the maid of the woman who agreed to the deal. Warm and funny and delightful
Also loved Mhairi McFarlane’s Mad About You and Aphrodite and the Duke by J. J. McAvoy.
A couple mlm fantasy romances, one due out very last day of August, A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland and this is a July book but it was one of my best of the year – A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows.
I want to read Kit McBride so badly!
My review of the Meadows is waiting to go. I liked it, but didn’t love it.
Thank you for the recommendation of the Foz Meadows. I read the sample and immediately wanted to read on – I am now beyond a hundred pages on one go, and I really like the book. A new to me author, so a double win – I appreciate that you mentioned it.
I’m looking forward to Pack of Lies! Caz, do I remember you saying the narrator for the audiobook was going to be someone reliable? I’ll definitely try the audiobook if that’s the case.
I’m also looking forward to Husband Material and Home Grown Talent. I’ll probably take a look at the Sandra Brown book, too. I’ve really enjoyed some of her RS, especially when they’re narrated by Victor Slezak. I don’t recognize the narrator for this one, so I’ll check out a sample soon.
Re: Pack of Lies – Yep, it’s Joel Leslie!
I’ve read and reviewed Husband Material – I liked it but not as much as BF. Joe Jameson is narrating the audio though, so I’ll probably give it a listen.
The release dates on a number of books I’ve been waiting for have been postponed several times over the last few months. I understand that things happen on both personal and professional levels that cause due dates to be moved, so these are the dates that Amazon is showing as of right now: Amelia Wilde’s BLACKMAIL is now showing a release date of August 2. As the title indicates, there’s blackmail afoot as the temp heroine is caught embezzling money (this is a romance, so you know it’s for a good reason: she’s supporting her younger siblings) from her wealthy boss. He won’t alert the authorities and break up her family, but he will demand, um, other things. Amelia Wilde writes really hot dark romance, and BLACKMAIL appears to be exactly what it says on the tin. Also showing an August 2 release date is Katie Golding’s RELENTLESS. This is the second in her Bad Reputation series. The hero here is the brother of the hero of Golding’s Motocross romance, FEARLESS. It appears to involve a no-strings-attached affair that develops into something deeper. J. Kenner’s CHARMED BY YOU (August 9) is another in her Stark Security series. This one features one of my favorite tropes: bodyguard & client (in this case, a celebrity who is being threatened about a secret from her past). FORCE OF NATURE by Skye Warrren & Amelia Wilde (August 9) has been postponed several times, and it has undergone a title change since last month. It was originally titled THE CRASH. THE CRASH is now the title of a prequel novella (now available for free in the Kindle store). FORCE OF NATURE is a couple-against-the-elements story about a plane piloted by the hero crashes on the way to taking the photographer heroine to a remote site. The book’s blurb indicates that there is another person on the island where the couple crash and there might be an MMF-menage involved. Sybil Bartel’s ZULU (August 13) has also seen a number of publication dates come and go. It’s the latest in Bartel’s romantic-suspense Alpha Elite series. Bartel writes to a template (beyond-gonzo alpha heroes; resilient heroines in trouble through no fault of their own; lots of fire power & high body counts; and plenty of sexy-times with a D/s dynamic). If you don’t like the template, her books will not be for you. But if, like me, you do like Bartel’s style, ZULU will be a good read. Skye Warren’s TWO FOR THE SHOW (August 16) is the sequel to her ONE FOR THE MONEY and is part of the multi-author Midnight Dynasty series. ONE FOR THE MONEY ended on a cliffhanger and I’m assuming TWO FOR THE SHOW picks up right where the first book left off. It’s no spoiler (it’s revealed in the blurb) to say that the heroine is pregnant, and the hero has a family history that makes him less than enthusiastic about becoming a father. (As an aside, who decided that a cover showing a female hand holding what appears to be an alcoholic drink was a good idea for a book with a pregnant heroine?) August 23 is a banner day! Romances written by my four “Queens of Angsty Harlequin Presents Heartache” arrive: Jackie Ashenden’s STOLEN FOR MY SPANISH SCANDAL (step-siblings, unplanned pregnancy); Clare Connelly’s EMERGENCY MARRIAGE TO THE GREEK (marriage of convenience); Caitlin Crews’s WILLED TO WED HIM (forced marriage due to the terms of a relative’s will); and Maisey Yates’s THE SECRET THAT SHOCKED CINDERELLA (amnesia). When it comes to Harlequin Presents, you know if you like the operatic over-the-top that is HP’s stock in trade. I love it and can’t wait to read all four books. C.M. Nascosta’s MOON BLOODED BREEDING CLINIC (August 27) is another oft-postponed book. I have my fingers crossed that this story of a human female who visits a werewolf-run fertility clinic and falls for her sperm donor will arrive as scheduled. A.E. Via’s RAYNE (now scheduled for August 28) is the third & final book in her True Lover’s Stories series of m/m romances. Via could never be described as a great prose stylist, but her books have a lot of heart, sincerity, and passion. Another thing I like about Via is that her stories are set solidly in the working class (no secret billionaires here). In RAYNE, one hero is pushing 50 and owns a landscaping business; the other hero is a recovering sex addict (there’s a vague indication in the blurb that… Read more »
Have you read Run Run Rabbit by C.M. Nascosta yet? It was just released a few days ago and is about the older brother of the hero in Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic. It’s one of the darker Cambric Creek After Dark books and the two protagonists will appear and have their story continue in Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic.
I highly recommend it to you as I know you enjoy grittier stories (as it has a number of content warnings). I think the writing is fantastic and the couple really compelling.
No, I haven’t read it—so thank you for the heads up. I should have time to read it before MBBC appears. I’m also looking forward to Nascosta releasing the third book in her Girls Weekend series because the second one ended on a real cliffhanger—as in, literally, the ground was gone from under the geroine’s feet.!
That series is so good. I absolutely cannot wait!
@chrisreader: thank you for recommending RUN, RUN RABBIT. I read it yesterday and really enjoyed it—despite it not being as “sweet” as the other Cambric Creek books I’ve read. What I thought was very interesting was the way Nascosta presented the dynamic between the h&h: very hot physically and more than a little toxic emotionally—and neither character really changes much by the end of the story (which read as more of a qualified HFN than an HEA). I expect to see more of the two of them (although not as main characters) in MOON BLOODED BREEDING CLINIC.
You definitely will see them in MBBC! Their story is not over, they clearly have a lot of growing to do.
She put them in her Cambric Creek After Dark genre specifically because she didn’t want people expecting MGMF or Sweet Berries to think they were getting that Hallmark meets monster romance style in this.
They are definitely both kind of toxic, but perfect for each other. The Hemmings play a huge part in CC, (you may have seen various ones make cameos across all the other stories with Jack, the father showing up in Mabon feast, her short story “Shadows and Light” (HIGHLY recommend this one) and he’s the guy Tate and Sylvia see at the Black Sheep Beanery in his mirrored aviators in Parties.
Trapp is the nice guy Firefighter Violet sees at the coffee shop in MGMF and mistakes for human at first. Grayson, FYI is the ruthless lawyer Ris mentions to Lurielle in Parties that “blew her back out” and they can get as a shark lawyer if she ever needs one.
Its such a rich and interesting world. I’m glad you were up for the change of pace stylistically!