Most Anticipated Books of August 2019

Hello friends! It’s time for another one of my Most Anticipated Books (of the month) post.

 This time we’re looking at the books that are coming out in August 2019.

My “Most Anticipated Books of (Month/Year)” posts are a monthly post where I basically drool over, and talk a little about the books I’m excited to read that are going to be published very soon.

The covers and synopsis’ for these books will both be from GoodReads.

This time around, I really only have 6 books that I’m looking forward to.

Enjoy!

August 1st

• Here There Are Monsters by Amelina Bérubé | Young Adult, Horror

The Blair Witch Project meets Imaginary Girls in this story of codependent sisterhood, the struggle to claim one’s own space, and the power of secrets

Sixteen-year-old Skye is done playing the knight in shining armor for her insufferable younger sister, Deirdre. Moving across the country seems like the perfect chance to start over.

In their isolated new neighborhood, Skye manages to fit in, but Deirdre withdraws from everyone, becoming fixated on the swampy woods behind their house and building monstrous sculptures out of sticks and bones.

Then Deirdre disappears.

And when something awful comes scratching at Skye’s window in the middle of the night, claiming she’s the only one who can save Deirdre, Skye knows she will stop at nothing to bring her sister home.

I’ve been looking forward to reading Here There Are Monsters for so long now. I think Here There Are Monsters has been on my mind for at least more than 3 months.

I don’t know what to expect, but I hope I end up liking it.

August 6th

• House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig | Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

I knew that House of Salt and Sorrows reminded me of a Barbie movie that I had seen as a kid. The first line of the synopsis tells me that I was already familiar with the story. ‘In a manor by the sea, twelves sisters are cursed.‘ I know I knew where that came from. And lo-and-behold, the more I researched into it, the more I knew what story House of Salt and Sorrows was based off of.

With that said, I’ve got to say that House of Salt and Sorrows is a loose retelling. I can already tell that HOSAS diverts from the original story–which I am so looking forward to.  I don’t truly know what to expect form House of Salt and Sorrows, which makes the story all the more interesting to me.

• How the Light Gets In by Katy Upperman | Young Adult, Contemporary

Since her sister’s tragic death, seventeen-year-old Callie Ryan has basically given up. Her grades have plummeted, she’s quit her swim team, and she barely recognizes the people her parents have become.

When she returns to her aunt’s run-down coastal Victorian one year after Chloe’s death, Callie resigns herself to a summer of guilt and home renovations. She doesn’t expect to be charmed by the tiny coastal town or by Tucker Morgan, a local boy brimming with sunshine.

But even as her days begin to brighten, Callie’s nights are crowded with chilling dreams, unanswered questions, and eerie phenomenon that have her convinced she’s being haunted. Will Callie be able to figure out what her sister is trying to communicate before it’s too late?

I don’t like to say it, but what immediately drew me into How the Light Gets In was the fact that Callie’s sister died–tragically. Throughout the synopsis we aren’t given much into how Callie’s sister died. But we do know that the death of her sister left a huge impressionable mark on not only Callie herself, but her family as well.

What has me wanting to read How the Light Gets In even more though, is how Callie’s sister is “trying” to communicate with her from the dead–and how Tucker Morgan may have played a critical role in the death of Callie’s sister.

August 27th

• Pumpkin Heads by Rainbow Rowell, Illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks | Young Adult, Contemporary, Graphic Novels

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.

But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . .

What if their last shift was an adventure?

I really like reading Rainbow Rowell’s books at least once. And I did enjoy the pieces of art that accompanied Rowell’s Almost Midnight anthology. The artwork in there was by Simini Blocker.

In Pumpkin Heads though, the artwork is done by Faith Erin Hicks. If Hicks’ work is anything like the artwork on the cover, I’m sure I’ll find it interesting.

Talking about the synopsis though, I’m sure that Deja and Josiah will have quite the story! Autumn is probably my favourite season, so having a story that takes place in said season just makes me all the more excited to read it! I’m keeping my expectations low with this one, since I want to end up liking it.

• Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford | Young Adult, Fantasy

For generations, the princes of Ilara have married the most beautiful maidens from the ocean village of Varenia. But though every girl longs to be chosen as the next princess, the cost of becoming royalty is higher than any of them could ever imagine…

Nor once dreamed of seeing the wondrous wealth and beauty of Ilara, the kingdom that’s ruled her village for as long as anyone can remember. But when a childhood accident left her with a permanent scar, it became clear that her identical twin sister, Zadie, would likely be chosen to marry the Crown Prince—while Nor remained behind, unable to ever set foot on land.

Then Zadie is gravely injured, and Nor is sent to Ilara in her place. To Nor’s dismay, her future husband, Prince Ceren, is as forbidding and cold as his home—a castle carved into a mountain and devoid of sunlight. And as she grows closer to Ceren’s brother, the charming Prince Talin, Nor uncovers startling truths about a failing royal bloodline, a murdered queen… and a plot to destroy the home she was once so eager to leave.

In order to save her people, Nor must learn to negotiate the treacherous protocols of a court where lies reign and obsession rules. But discovering her own formidable strength may be the one move that costs her everything: the crown, Varenia and Zadie.

OK OK OK. the cover is too pretty to not try and read the book, lol.

Hmmm, so it sounds like Crown of Coral and Pearl won’t be as easy of a story as I thought it would be. There are actually quite a few things that I didn’t expect; like how Nor was sent in her sister’s place (Nor’s original place), or how Nor’s imagination is actually 100% completely wrong, and now Nor has a darker future ahead of her. So long as Nor can navigate the dark waters. (Heh, see what I did there?? hehe)

• Rage (Stormheart, #2) by Cora Carmack | Young Adult, Fantasy

Princess or adventurer.

Duty or freedom.

Her Kingdom or the Stormhunter she loves.

If Aurora knows anything, it’s that choices have consequences. To set things right, she joins a growing revolution on the streets of Pavan.

In disguise as the rebel Roar, she puts her knowledge of the palace to use to aid the rebellion. But the Rage season is at its peak and not a day passes without the skies raining down destruction. Yet these storms are different—they churn with darkness, and attack with a will that’s desperate and violent.

This feels like more than rage.

It feels like war.

I have been looking forward to reading Rage ever since I read Roar more than a year ago. The way that Roar had ended had me wanting to read Rage immediately. So I’m glad that the publishing of Roar is just around the bend!

I’m not going to read the synopsis for Rage, because I don’t want any spoilers. I’m too engrossed in the storyline.

I’m sure that there are more books that I’m missing. If you feel like there’s a book that you want to recommend to me, I’m all ears!

Are any of these books on you To Be Read list? If yes, which ones? 

Thank you for stopping by!

See you soon, and Happy Reading! 
Adele