The school year hasn’t started yet, but despite this, it’s common knowledge that at least one of your classes — albeit regular school and college — there’s that one class that consists of sitting in silence with nothing being done except copying notes from the board, or even adults that pass the day mindlessly working or are bored from their routine. Having already done a recommendation list for what nonfiction books to read for August, it’s now a good time to check in on the fictional side of many genres. From thrillers to mystery books, the options for this month’s book releases are endless entertainment against boredom.
The Summer Club by Hannah McKinnon
Though summer is far from over, with August being the hottest month, it doesn’t change the fact that summer vacation’s almost ending, and the sense of productivity hovers over us all. To help you grasp that last bit of summer is author Hannah McKinnon and her new book, The Summer Club.
Set in a super exclusive beach club in New England, Mayhaven is the symbol of the elite, and anyone out of the ordinary is unwelcome with bitter smiles. Darcy Birch, daughter of the owner of Mayhaven, only has the problem of wanting to experience the perfect summer. Flick Creevy couldn’t care less about summer or the stereotypical summer romance in meeting Darcy. Flick just doesn’t want to be used by his family to claw their way into Mayhaven’s high society. The divide between the elite and lower class will be explored with silent judgment on both sides: the Creevy’s wanting to fit in while Mayhaven does its best to rid of anything getting in the way of looking like the perfect place for everyone with appropriate values.
Release date: July 23, 2024
The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas
The fake relationship trope has been overdone in movies and books, especially when the two in the fake relationship truly do fall in love and end up together. The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas is no different, but readers will find they can’t help but be drawn into the will-they-won’t-they scenario in this particular case.
Josie Moore is part of an influential family so famous that Josie’s failed love life is “bad” PR. There’s nothing that she can do about it; her relationships just didn’t work out, much like her relationship with a father who’s never been in her life. This leads to her impulsively getting engaged to Matthew Flanagan, her brother’s friend, who was simply trying to fix his broken-down car and life. Swept into a fake engagement, both Josie and Matthew navigate the press of a small town ’til Josie decides to end the charade. At this point, we know the deal, we know how this’ll end. What makes this trope exciting is how they get to the hopefully true “I do’s.”
Release date: July 30, 2024
My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes
Themes of broken relationships transcend time, but what happens when a ghost messes with the living to try to “fix” their family’s present issues? For Felicitas (meaning: happy) Olivares, the generational trauma that spans three generations comes in the form of her grandmother Olvido (meaning: to forget), who is not what she thought a grandmother would be. For one thing she’s dead, and two, she’s a cold-hearted mother who drove off her daughter, Angustias (meaning: anguish), from their home many years ago. Now Felicitas, with the power to see the dead, has to “help” Angustias get her life together in Olvido’s image of a perfect life, all while trying to hide her power from her mother. Meanwhile, Angustias is left with the sudden welcomeness of her small town. Why is she suddenly getting attention from random places she wasn’t looking?
Release date: July 30, 2024
The Chamber by Will Dean
What happens when you take the Among Us game and place it under the ocean? You get author Will Dean’s The Chamber. Everything is going well for a group of professional saturation divers who are locked together in a hyperbaric chamber, until the divers find a dead body. In a murder mystery with only five possible suspects, hysteria and paranoia fuel these characters as they wait for the days of their locked confinement in the dark depths of the sea to come to an end. With no escape, what could happen but more murder? Who will survive?
Release date: August 6, 2024
I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell
Another thriller to sink your brain into, I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell revolves around Alex Marks, an ordinary copywriter living a bland existence. Once she receives the offer for a new job, she’ll hope for her old life back.
As a writer for a famous advice column, Alex takes the place of her hero, Francis Keen, who was murdered in her summer home. The killer was never caught. It’s as if whoever becomes the new writer of Dear Constance is subjected to the threats Francis suddenly faced in her new job. This makes Alex afraid, and she begins to suspect everyone around her. Who could have killed Francis, and why target Alex? Is there something more to Dear Constance than just an advice column? Readers, along with Alex, will scramble to figure out the mystery of Francis as her boss, Howard Dimitri, might be a prime suspect in her murder.
Release date: August 27, 2024
Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder
Power comes with great responsibility, according to Uncle Ben in all Spider-Man origin stories. But when that power involves knowing everything about someone with just one look, what responsibility does seventeen-year-old Maya have with everyone’s business heaped upon her? Knowing too much only leads to her being put into a psychiatric facility. It’s not all doom and gloom for Maya, however. In a new school, she finds Tyler, who she deeply wants to know everything about. Falling in love with a cute guy pushes Maya to learn how to handle her power because at least there is one person she’ll be glad to learn about, and hopefully get the guy in doing so.
Release date: August 27, 2024
These will definitely keep you entertained during those slow, boring days now that vacation time is coming close to an end. These book options will make the time fly by with intriguing suspense from being trapped under the ocean to dealing with generational family trauma. Which ones would you read? Let us know on Instagram, X, and Facebook!
Check out our list of nonfiction books releasing this August here!
Click here to head over to Bookshop.org for literary fiction you need to read this year!
