The last month of summer and we’re still knee deep in COVID anxiety/frustration/quarantine/life upheaval! Didn’t you think back in March when this all started that we’d be back to normal by now? I guess we were wrong. For those of you in “smart” countries where you’ve been able to keep the virus under control, I applaud you and wish I lived in your country! Also COVID related to my August reading pile, so many of these books were pushed from the spring, which is why my August list is so big. Consider this a “menu” of books I’ll chose from this month, and not a literal TBR. Let’s get started!
Two of my most anticipated books for the month are Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne and Lone Jack Trail by Owen Laukkanen. One science fiction/space opera and the other a mystery/thriller. Can’t wait for both!
The Hollow Ones by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I just got a review copy of this in the mail, so I’m going to try to squeeze it in. Reviews are sort of mixed? So I’m a little nervous…
A Chorus of Fire by Brian D. Anderson is the sequel to The Bard’s Blade, which I loved earlier in the year.
Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne will be my first Hearne, can you believe it?
I don’t usually do blog tours, but I am doing two this month! First up is Blood World by Chris Mooney, and my review will be up on the 18th.
My second blog tour will be a review on the 25th of Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles. I’ve been looking forward to this for quite a while!
My Tor.com novella of the month is the sequel to Silver in the Wood, Drowned Country by Emily Tesh.
The highly anticipated Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir hits shelves on August 4th. Gideon the Ninth was a mixed bag for many reviewers, and beloved by others, so I’m very curious to see how this goes.
The Last Uncharted Sky by Curtis Craddock is the final book in his entertaining Risen Kingdom series.
The Mother Code by Carole Stivers is one I’m a little hesitant about, simply because I’m seeing a lot of three star reviews on Goodreads.
A book that’s getting excellent reviews, however, is Lobizona by Romina Garber. This is the start to a new fantasy series that delves into Argentinian folklore, and I can’t wait to check it out!
Driftwood by Marie Brennan is getting great reviews too, and it appears to be the start of a new series.
Crystal Lake Publishing is a new small press I’ve just started working with, and the first title I’ll be reading is Belle Vue by C.S. Alleyne. It sounds good!
One of August’s “big” releases is The Living Dead by Daniel Kraus and George A. Romero. Kraus completes Romero’s uncompleted book (after his death) and I’ve been hearing pretty good things about this book.
Seven Devils by Elizabeth May & Laura Lam sounds like a bunch of fun, and from what I understand it’s sort of an homage to Star Wars (I think!).
Twin Daggers by MarcyKate Connolly. This is a YA retelling of Romeo & Juliet, and it sounds pretty good. Probably not high on my priority list to get to this month, however.
Burnt Tongues Anthology edited by Chuck Palahniuk. I’m very curious about the eclectic mix of authors who make up this collection.
Here’s a recap of the books I read and reviewed in July. My three favorites? Stormblood, Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air and The Midnight Lullaby. Click on the titles to check out my reviews:
Stormblood by Jeremy Szal
Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford
The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang
Dark Celebrations by Calvin Demmer
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho
I actually totally called this plague thing. Though I expected more countries to mishandle it. But I’m a pessimist, so, whatever. Ink & Sigil is my first Hearne too, as I DNFed his first Iron Druid one.
Personally, I have complete faith in your ability to read all of these this month! You can do it!
Wow thanks Will! I’ll do my best to not let you down;-)
Ooh nice selection! I’d like to read Seven Devils too, hope you get to it!
I forgot to account for Harrow in my August TBR… hopefully I can read faster this month
I hope I can read faster too!
I have Belle Vue on my TBR. I’m looking forward to hear what you think about it.
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…3 Non Sequiturs
I’m glad to see several other bloggers planning to read Belle Vue:-)
Oh Tammy! I can’t wait to read your review of Where Dreams Descend because it’s one that I’ve been looking forward to has been on my wishlist since I find out about it. Hopefully it’ll be a good one! 😀
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Monthly Wrap-Up — July 2020
I sure hope so! I think the reviews have been pretty good:-)
I’m so excited for Ink & Sigil! I’ve just recently finished up The Iron Druid Chronicles which has been an favorite series so a spin off could be awesome! Happy reading!
I hope jumping into Ink and Sigil will work for me:-)
I’m in the middle of The Hollow Ones right now. I’m enjoying it. del Toro and Hogan teamed up for The Strain and I really enjoyed that too so they’re quite a reliable team. Hope you enjoy the reads you do get to this month!
Oh good, I’m glad because I saw some mixed reviews and I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Annddd… you’ve done it again! Played havoc with my TBR pile, darn it… I will shortly be scampering across to order Architects of Memory, because it sounds awesome and really good space opera adventures cannot be denied:)). I’m AM resisting Driftwood with some difficulty, but mostly because I’m not really all that keen on post-apocalyptic anything right now.
As for your list – I’ve read Seven Devils and LOVED it and The Mother Code, which is an intriguing story that has some really interesting elements, although is rather uneven. And I have Ink and Sigil on pre-order so am very much looking forward to that one!
I’m so glad you loved Seven Devils! I will make time for it for sure:-)
I still need to read The Bard’s Blade, but Belle Vue and Seven Devils are on my review pile as well.
Bob @ Beauty in Ruins recently posted…Stacking the Shelves
August has a lot of potential, I think:-)
Your reading list this month looks a little light, Tammy? What’s going on? There’s got to be more you can add to the list. 🙂
Ha ha yeah I need to stop slacking off!
I recently got a copy of the Hollow Ones in the mail too and am looking forward to reading it. I read two of the Strain trilogy books that the del Toro and Hogan wrote together and quite liked them (liked the first one but not so much the second one).
I ended up liking Drowned Country more than I did Silver in the Wood 🙂 I’d love a story from Mrs. Silver’s POV.
I’m very curious about The Hollow Ones, I haven’t read either author yet:-)
I’m looking forward to Random S*** but I need to read the first book in the series.
I live in Scotland, we are doing ok but our next lifting of restrictions has been held back two weeks as we have cases popping up again.
Have a good August.
Heather @ RandomRedheadedRamblings recently posted…The Sunday Post – 2nd August 2020
It seems like Scotland is still better off than the U.S., stay safe Heather!
In March, I told myself we’d go through a few weeks of weirdness, but we’d lock everything down and be back up and running by summer. Everybody worried about SDCC in July needed to calm down, we’d have our act together by then. *Turns and look at the August hellscape.*
Anyway, yay books! I”m hoping to read Harrow soon, we’ll see how that shakes out. My TBR is a mess because of Oathbringer. Just 350 pages to go!
Caitlin G. recently posted…Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2020
Lol that’s like a whole book!
My TBR is going to be happy with all the new books I’ll be feeding it! LOL I just finished Stoker’s Wilde West and will be starting Belle Vue tonight. Our hospitals are filling up again with so many new cases, I think Covid isn’t going away any time soon.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Excerpt and Giveaway ~ Tortured With Love by JT Hunter
Yeah, it’s so sad. I feel like every day gets worse instead of better:-( I hope we both enjoy Belle Vue!
Smart countries? What’s that?! *laughs in American* Hope you’re staying safe, at least.
I’ll be reading Harrow the Ninth soon and Ink & Sigil this month, too! I’ve actually already finished Drowned Country (if I ever get around to writing a review), and if you liked Silver in the Wood, I thought this one was even BETTER. Silver is a treasure.
Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den recently posted…July Recap || Is This All A Fever Dream?!
Oh good, now I’m excited to read Drowned Country!
Nice stack of book you have to read from! Hope you get to a bunch of them! 🙂
Me too, Stormi:-)
A lot of the same books on my plate too, I thought with the summer of covid I could catch up but of course now all the books that have been pushed back are coming in an avalanche!
I know! August is crazy. And I have no idea if pushing all those books to August actually did any good for the publishers, lol.
That’s quite a large menu ! 😉 But the great news is it looks like you have some potentially great reads in there. Hope you enjoy and have a great month, Tammy!
I’m bound to have a good month, simply because there is so much to choose from:-)
I hear you. I never imagined we would still be going through this so many months later. I wish people in this country would just do what they’ve been asked to do so that things start to get better. Looks like you have a lot of interesting reads coming up in August. I hope they’re all great ones for you. 🙂
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Review: THE BLACK KIDS by Christina Hammonds Reed
I’m bound to have some good reads this month, since I have so many to choose from:-)
I’m so curious about The Year of the Witching!
Annemieke recently posted…10 Books with Colors in the Title I Read In the Last Few Years | #TopTenTuesday 250
I LOVED Driftwood!! I hope you will like it as well! 😀
Maryam recently posted…2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist: Thoughts, Predictions & Reading Project
I’m dying to read some Architects of Memory reviews. I hope it turns out great.
I’m currently reading Driftwood. It’s very unusual but it’s definitely pulling me in.
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…Final Cut by S.J. Watson