Exciting New August 2025 Book Releases

Wondering what to read now? Here are all the hot new August 2025 book releases for you. I’ll let you know what I’ve read, what I can’t wait to read, and what’s getting all the attention this month.

In case you’re new to Booklist Queen, every month I cover all the hottest new book releases. I try to read as many new book releases as I can to give you an honest perspective on what to read and what to skip. 

However, I realize that my to-read list might not exactly match yours. That’s why I’ve also included some of the most popular August 2025 book releases from your favorite authors. 

Enough from me, let’s get on to the August 2025 book releases so you can fill up your to-read list.

Karin Slaughter debuts a new series set in North Falls, a small town where everyone knows each other. On a night of fireworks, two teenage girls disappear. Officer Emmy Clifton feels guilty that when her best friend’s daughter asked for help, she turned her away and now she’s missing. As Emmy dives into the teenagers’ lives, she realizes there are more secrets in the town than she could ever have guessed.

Publication Date: 12 August 2025
Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph
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In a literary work slightly based on his own life, Jason Mott spins a tale of two Black authors. One is on a global book tour after winning a major prize while the other prepares to speak at a school recently torn apart by gun violence. As the two stories merge, Mott uses dreamlike experiences to showcase love, memory, and the way life can change forever.

Publication Date: 5 August 2025
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After a ten-year relationship implodes, Margot Wayward’s life has devolved into utter chaos. One day, Margot has a vision of herself with a man she has never met and then she meets single-dad Henry exactly as she envisioned. Suddenly Margot is receiving glimpses of her future that she can’t seem to change. All she can do is to live in the present moment as fiercely as she can.

Publication Date: 12 August 2025
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Alice Law has sacrificed everything to become one of the best in the fields of Magick and to study under Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge. When the professor dies in a magical accident, Alice decides even Hell won’t stop her from her goal. Even though she doesn’t like the man, she needs his academic recommendation. So she sets off to recover him from Hell only Peter Murdoch, her academic rival, as come to the same conclusion and sets off with her.

Publication Date: 26 August 2025
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Decades ago, Claire’s older sister Natalie disappeared and a man was quickly arrested and convicted. Now a investigative journalist, Claire returns home and takes a job at the South Carolina vineyard where her sister used to work. When Claire stumbles on an old journal of one of the owner’s, she is engrossed but a tale of youthful rebellion and love. As the journal starts to reveal details of unsolved crimes, Claire finds herself obsessed and can’t stop thinking it all connects back to her missing sister.

Publication Date: 26 August 2025
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Struggling author Lane Warren has finally secured a book deal based on the life of her friend/rival Gala Margolis who is now missing. Ten years ago, Gala and Lane met amid the 1960s L.A. party scene. The writers were drawn to each other. But as Gala’s writing started garnering acclaim, Lane’s jealousy led her to an act that would change both of their lives.

Publication Date: 5 August 2025
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In the third book of the Assistant to the Villain series, Evie has found herself ensconced as the right hand man of the kingdom’s most powerful villain. With a magical prophecy unraveling and assassins showing up in the break room, Evie finds her five year career plan has gone horribly askew. Especially since she was not meant to fall in love with The Villain.

Publication Date: 5 August 2025
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An antiracist educator and writer, Austin Channing Brown has weathered America’s cycles of racial tension but the years of protesting and “saving democracy” have left her tired. Eventually, she began asking herself what she owed herself, not as a citizen, but as a human being. Brown examines the social commentary that has limited Black women as she has worked to combat burnout by finding the joy and self-possession that has been missing from her life.

Publication Date: 26 August 2025
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In a sequel to The Last One, Kaivara was once the Grand Defender of Vallendor but betrayal and exile has left her with only fractured memories. With monsters threatening the kingdom, Kai realizes that Prince Jadon Wake will either be her salvation or her downfall. Now she must decide: will she reclaim her power and face the truth about Jadon or let the kingdom fall?

Publication Date: 19 August 2025
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Brigid Kemmerer makes her adult fantasy debut with a tale of three characters caught in a love triangle. King Maddox Kyronan is known for his powerful fire magic but now is kingdom is burning and his only hope is a marriage alliance with neighboring Astranza, known for their ability to manipulate weather. Princess Jory’s kingdom is besieged by enemies and she’s tempted to run away with her childhood friend Asher. However, she is the last chance to save the kingdom if she can hide the fact that their weather magic is fading. As part of the Hunter’s Guild, Asher accepts a high-paying assassination assignment, never imagining his target would by Ky and Jory. 

Publication Date: 12 August 2025
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In 1960s Lagos, Margaret falls in love with British-born Benjamin despite their racial and cultural differences. Talking about their childhood stories, they discover a past more entangled than they imagined that, combined Margaret’s mental health struggles, destroys their relationship. In 2005, Margaret and Benjamin live apart in their separate retirement villages until their grandson starts to show the same mental health symptoms as Margaret. Now the former lovers must reunite to explain a secret that has rippled through generations of their family.

Publication Date: 5 August 2025
Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph
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For her entire career, rumors have swirled around Maria Capello, a chef, restauranter and television personality. They say she murdered her husband to build her culinary empire. Now Maria is ready to publish her memoir and she chooses Thea Woods to help her write it. As Maria’s grandmotherly veneer slowly peels away, Thea finds herself desperately afraid. For Maria’s husband was never found and no one knows the secret ingredient in Maria’s recipes.

Publication Date: 5 August 2025
Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph
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What August 2025 Book Releases are You Most Excited to Read?

What books can you not wait to get your hands on this month? Did I miss any August 2025 book releases that you are anticipating? As always, let me know in the comments!

More New Book Releases:

• July 2025 Book Releases
• The Best Books of 2024
• Most-Anticipated Upcoming Releases
• Booklist Queen’s 2025 Reading Challenge

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