August recommended lists you won’t want to miss
August signals the summer wind down as back to school season is coming in hot! It is national wellness month, perfect to de-stress with some reading. August is also Women in Translation month where we celebrate women authors from around the globe and their work that has been translated into additional languages. Your patrons will appreciate Wellness reads, Women in Translation titles to discover, back to school books to browse, plus all the new releases they have been waiting for. Below are lists available to shop in OverDrive Marketplace to make sure your patrons are ready for the month ahead!
Women in Translation
Women in Translation are celebrated every August. This is an opportunity to highlight the voices of women from around the world and their stories.
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Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki
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From the publisher: An unlikely duo embarks on a road trip to find a serial killer before the apocalypse in this prize-winning Japanese murder mystery.
Perfectly blends the dystopian humor of Zombieland and the thrills of My Sister the Serial Killer!
From Japan’s most exciting new crime writer Akane Araki, this thrillingly funny, high-concept murder mystery follows a young woman and her driving instructor as they face a compelling moral dilemma: should they work to stop a serial killer before the end of the world?
A meteor is on a collision course with Earth. The entire human race has 3 months to live. Uncontrollable panic has set in across the globe, but 23-year-old Haru is still determined to finally get her driver’s license.
When Haru and her ex-cop driving instructor Isagawa open their car trunk one day to find the corpse of a murder victim inside, they feel duty-bound to investigate. Together, they set off on a road trip through the crumbling landscape around them to hunt for the killer. As more bodies start appearing, more questions surge. Why would a serial killer begin work 3 months before the end of the world? And does justice lose its meaning with humanity on the brink of extinction?
Quirky, fast-paced, and packed full of surprising heart, Murder at the End of the World will delight fans of Stuart Turton’s audacious plots and the humorous, life-affirming bent of dystopian favorites like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead.
Top Titles of August
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Etna by Paul Yoon
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From the publisher: Beloved author and winner of The Story Prize, Paul Yoon, is back with the unforgettable story of a working dog, Etna, who, after a devastating war, embarks on an odyssey in the hopes of returning home.
Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna. After surviving years of a devastating war, Etna decides one night to leave the men he has fought alongside for years and return home—to the place where he was taken from when he was young, in the thin but persistent hope that if a home exists for him, it might be there.
Thus begins an exhilarating odyssey told through the eyes of a dog as he traverses across ruined landscapes and fights to survive in a world that, even in peacetime, proves to be just as precarious. Along the way, he encounters other animals and humans who are attempting to figure out how to start again. What makes a life when there is no home to go back to? How do we begin to trust each other again after such profound loss?
This is a novel about the power of an idea, about never giving up, and ultimately a novel about finding hope in the most dire of times.
Top Historical Fiction of August
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Sunrise by Téa Obreht
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From the publisher: Three lives, one hundred years, one ghost town: an explosive novel about a mysterious place called Sunrise, where the secrets of the past refuse to stay buried, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife
“I’ve loved every book Téa Obreht has written but I might love this one the most. Please put this book into the hands of everyone you know.”—Liz Moore, author of The God of the Woods
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: Esquire, Literary Hub, Today, Good Housekeeping, The Boston Globe
In 2024, Nina’s small-engine plane crashes into a lake in the Wyoming mountains. Her boyfriend Ben, who was flying it, is nowhere to be found. Lost and freezing on the shore, Nina is armed with only a few old protein bars, a phone with no service, and a vague hope of rescue. It is up to her to survive in the vast wilderness. But then she stumbles upon Sunrise—a town of the Old West that is strangely well maintained, but seemingly abandoned. A place that holds the missing link to a ghost story one hundred years in the making.
In 2003, Sand Daw’s golden boy Coll is putting the finishing touches on the town’s annual historical reenactment. But when an upstart would-be author comes to him with questions about one of Sunrise’s most beloved figures, it threatens to upend everything he thought he knew about the city—and himself.
In 1902, town founder, gunslinger, and legendary pulp hero Anton Vargas returns to Sunrise and quickly takes charge of a group searching for a missing boy. But who really is Vargas? What does he know about the boy’s disappearance? And why has he returned after such a long absence?
These three strangers are separated by time and circumstance. But Sunrise’s many secrets are like gunpowder: quiet, contained, until they encounter a spark. Magisterial and suspenseful, Téa Obreht’s novel challenges the myths we think we know: of heroes and villains, of the people and places to which we lay claim, and, most of all, of our own lives.
August Blockbusters
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Dreamland by Olivie Blake
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From the publisher: From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes a tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach.
The headlines are calling it the “summer of exsanguination” in LA—girls are being murdered, the Santa Ana winds are blowing a strange energy into the city, and all signs point to fire season.
More pressing for Anya Morris, though, is the drudgery of living at home, working part time at the family store, and contending with her mother’s disdain for the acting career Anya knows she’s destined for but that feels more impossible by the day.
It’s in this suffocating late summer heat that Anya receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an invitation to work for the de Witt family, one of LA’s most influential film dynasties. Soon, she’s spending her days and nights at their strange villa high in the Hollywood hills, where she meets Jude, a recluse who is both the family’s heir apparent and its most closely guarded secret.
There’s a magnetism to Jude that Anya cannot resist, despite warning signs that scream like sirens in the night. Because the villa holds generations of bloodstained history, and an occult family curse may even live within its walls—or within Jude himself.
In this city, everyone cuts a deal with the devil. When Anya comes face to face with a devil of her own, she’ll learn just how far she’s willing to go to get everything she’s ever wanted.
Top Romance of August
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See You at the Sunset by Susan Lee
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From the publisher: Two enemies-to-lovers, one unforgettable summer escape…
Jia Chung is living the dream…until she gets fired from her job, yet again. With her mom breathing down her neck to move home, she needs an escape, fast. When Mimi, her beloved grandmother, invites her to spend the summer in Palm Springs, Jia jumps at the chance. Staying at Sunset Hills Senior Living Community is exactly where a free spirit like Jia can thrive—among people living their best, sun-soaked, fun-filled lives. So what if they’re all octogenarians?
Henry Shin lives by the rules. It’s what overworked corporate lawyers do. They don’t fly off to Palm Springs to help their grandfathers move into a new home. But Dennis is Henry’s only family. How else can Henry make sure he’s settled and safe? The boisterous Zumba classes, daily happy hours, and spicy book clubs were a surprise though. And at the center, leading the charge, is a bright, vivacious stunner named Jia Chung. The same face he’d had a one-night stand with a few months back. And the same woman Henry was forced to terminate at his company the morning after.
As carefree days turn into hot, steamy nights, the chemistry between Henry and Jia ignites. But when the real world beckons, should what happens at the Sunset stay at the Sunset?
Top Mystery/Thriller of August
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You’ll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner
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From the publisher: A newlywed couple each with their own secrets. An abandoned lodge with a horrific decades-old mystery. And a small mountain town where everyone believes they know their neighbors, in this thriller from a master storyteller.
“Chilling, gripping.” —Lisa Jewell, New York Times bestselling author of None of This Is True
For Raquel and Theo Collins, it appeared to be love at first sight. Raquel, a renowned interior designer, and Theo, a brash financial wizard met and married in a matter of months, only to confront a terrible tragedy. Now, unbearably aware of the distance between them, they’ve come to a remote town in New Hampshire to begin anew.
Perched on a ledge with stunning views, the Dixon’s family lodge was once a crown jewel of the mountains. Until late one August night, when both parents and their four children vanished, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, and a mystery that has endured for thirty years. Now, its latest occupants, the Collinses, are arriving, and the former grand lodge is once more stirring to life.
For Amanda Grady, following in her father’s footsteps as the recently appointed Shereford police chief, it’s good to see a fresh start for the derelict Dixon place. However, not everyone is happy about a new family in the old home and its hidden past may have returned with a vengeance.
When a stray dog leads to the discovery of a skeleton on the property, Raquel and Theo face a daunting choice of what to believe, who to trust, and how to survive. Because in the tiny village of Shereford the time has come. The local residents, the new neighbors, and the fledgling police chief must work together to unravel the terrifying events that happened one night thirty years ago, or …
You’ll be sorry.
Top Fantasy of August
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The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope
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From the publisher: For four years, Zahara Douglass has been haunted by the mystery of her sister’s disappearance—not where she went, but whether she ever existed at all.
In April 1995, Zahara watched her twin sister, Annica, get hustled into a stranger’s car and disappear—only to return to a world where no one has heard of Annica. Not her mother. Not the police. No one.
Four years later, as the world braces for the looming Y2K crisis, Zahara finds evidence proving her sister was real and hires a private investigator to dig into her family’s shadowed past. When the investigation leads to two charismatic men who once served with her father in Vietnam, Zahara realizes she and her sister may be pawns in a dangerous power struggle with unthinkable consequences.
To find Annica, Zahara must face the truth about her family, her memories, and the power lurking within her. But the sisters’ reunion comes at a price—one that could bring about the end of the world.
More Recommended Lists You Don’t Want to Miss
Be Well: August is National Wellness Month
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About the author: Tori has worked in academic libraries, archives, and public libraries in various roles. Now at OverDrive, she helps public libraries build and highlight their digital collections. Outside of work and reading, she enjoys hiking, gardening, wildlife photography, and planning trips to national parks. Tori is always happy to discuss all the books with strong nature settings!