📚On Reading in August 2025

Welcome to what my recent reading month looked like. I’m actually going to do something a bit different this time: I’m going to list all my reading and just dump my feelings/thoughts for each. I’ll start by grouping my graphic novel and picture book reads together (I liked them all) and after that my reading is in order of enjoyment, with groupings based on being in a similar enjoyment/rating category. (I accidentally left the “favorite” in the main post image from my usual monthly round-ups whoopsie!)

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, Nicole Goux (illustrator)

I have a few of Tamaki’s graphic novels on my shelves and she’s absolutely an automatic buy for me so I preordered this a while ago. It’s a mystery set in an all girls school—the lead actress for their theatre group has died—that really dives into the panics of the ‘80s/’90s. It’s one of my favorite mystery reads of the year and I love the coloring (Tamaki always has minimal colors that really set a mood), the details of the era, and the way the emotional storyline slowly unfolds.

Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu

Last month I talked about rereading the first book in this absolute delight of a series and promised that this second, and final, book would be in this month’s roundup so here it is! Many laughs were once again had and I am always left wanting to hug these books (and each character) so tightly.

Mall Goth by Kate Leth, Diana Sousa (Colorist), Robin Crank (Letterer)

I grew up when malls were a space for teens to hang out in so a lot of this was nostalgic for me. It’s a contemporary graphic novel about a teen whose parents are clearly going through something and she is now navigating a new school, crush, and predatory behavior. I will definitely pick up any future work by Leth.

Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure by Lewis Hancox

I love graphic memoirs and I especially enjoyed the humor and 4th wall breaking as Hancox takes readers through his childhood (focused on teenage years) before he transitioned. There’s a sequel which I will also be picking up.

All Around a Year by Mariana Ruiz Johnson, Avi Silberstein (Translator)

Mice celebrating throughout the year all the seasons? Yes, please, more, thank you! A pure delight.

Brown Girl in the Snow by Yolanda Marshall, Marianne Ferrer (Illustrator)

As a tropical blooded human (I am like the iguanas that fall out of trees frozen when it’s not warm) I related so hard with this little girl who was moved from her homeland (and warmth) to winter climate and had to find a way to adjust. (She does, I could not!)

Judgy Bunny and the Terrible Beach by Scott Rothman, Linzie Hunter (Illustrator)

This might be a moral story for kids but many adults could benefit: maybe everything new and unknown isn’t going to be terrible. Give me all the beach set books! (pub date: March 2026)

Bear Worries by Natalia Shaloshvili

I read Bear earlier in the year, which was a very funny (to me at least) picture book about a bear getting very frustrated with sharing and hopefully learning that you don’t have to always share and give everything away. This time around Bear is back with a lot of worries in the form of “What if…” I genuinely thought this was going in the direction of helping kids with “what if” anxiety brain questions but instead it ends with Bear surprisingly going full “it’s all mine”—which I think is just meant to be a more adult humor “it’ll be fine”. I remember when I was a kid really enjoying picture books that were either just weird or adult humored and I’m here for it. (pub date: March 2026)

Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—And a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco & Robert Siebert

I loved every single moment of this memoir (Dan Bittner does a great audiobook narration). I had shared how great the Deaf President Now! documentary on Apple TV+ is when I watched it and seeing that DiMarco was a co-creator (and is up for 2 Emmys) I bumped this up on my list. DiMarco is a great storyteller, he’s passionate about the Deaf community, knows and understands history, is charming, and just the right amount of troublemaker to have a lot of interesting stories. I highly recommend picking this title up!

Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games novel) by Suzanne Collins

Was reading this dystopian novel a good idea in the current hellscape we are under? No. Is Collins a great writer of intense plot and books you can’t look away from? Yes. This kicked my soul, hard, but also in a year where a lot of books are falling short (feeling flat) this did not.

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

A trip through hell? I’m in! This is one of the blockbuster books of the year (i.e. this is what publishing has thrown all its advertising money behind). I actually have a million overlapping thoughts on this: absolutely loved the satire parts (from the skewering of academia to the “I don’t need to be a feminist” woman); the first 30% of the book needed to be edited down so the necessary pacing starts sooner; if the “love story” (this is NOT romantasy) had either been satire or making a commentary on genre (don’t worry I love romance) then I would have been on board, but as it stands in the book it could have been chucked out; there are moments in hell I would have loved more time with, let Kuang skewer everything; this didn’t go literary enough nor commercial enough I think to satisfy the hardcore readers at the opposite extremes but it is a great bridge for those who only read “to escape” into more “you can use your brain, that’s a good thing” reading. (I might reread this in a year–definintely would if it were shorter)

Moderation by Elaine Castillo

Another satire—something I am apparently really craving in our current landscape—this time the theme is the tech industry. I was wildly entertained by Castillo’s voice and immediately picked up her last book, How to Read Now: Essays.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I’m super late to this and the path I took to get here is kinda funny. 11 years ago when I read Fangirl I skimmed over the Simon Snow parts in the book (fictional fandom story within the book) because I was only really invested in the main story. I was clearly in the minority because the fandom for the book within the book is why there are spinoff books. Anyways, clearly I had no interest in the spinoff books at the time. Cut to recently when I read the adapted graphic novel series Fangirl, Vol 1 and now here I am having read the first book in the spinoff series.

I was very much in the mood for vampires, magic, and the enemies to lovers trope so here I am having gone from having zero interest in this book to very much enjoying it. (I think there are 2 more in the series which I will get to when I need pallet cleansers from work reading.)

Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin

Did I already read an upcoming 2026 title? Yup! I’m always a fan of Austin’s writing as she dives into real emotional, being-human topics but always has levity with humor and her character’s point of view. This one is set in a library, with a library worker MC, and everyone who has fantasized about becoming a librarian is going to get a cold dose of reality as Darcy navigates her job after recently having a mental breakdown—which happened after she discovered that the fiancé she dumped years ago has recently died. (pub date: January 2026)

Human Rites (Her Majesty's Royal Coven #3) by Juno Dawson

I adore this series, and deeply love the first two books in the series along with the prequel. This one didn’t hit the same high, though it didn’t spoil the series for me and I still absolutely recommend the series. The dark chaotic humor is absolutely here again, the adventure, magic, witches– are all awesome. I am super bummed that Nicola Coughlan had narrated the last two audiobooks in the US but this time she does not narrate the US edition but does narrate the UK edition—Publishing Makes Choices could be a whole daily newsletter.

What kicked my enjoyment in the throat: I really felt like it needed to be read by others who could point some stuff out including a “forced pregnancy” storyline that is not actually intended to be that (it’s fantasy you’ll understand when you see it) which made me want to crawl out of my skin screaming (not in a good way) especially in the US’s current climate since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls #1) by Karin Slaughter

This is a procedural that starts as a missing teenagers case, and has plenty of family drama, that felt like two books that would have had a cliffhanger between them joined into one book instead.

The Good Liar by Denise Mina

Even when Denise Mina delivers less than I wanted it’s still a good mystery. I like that it was layered, had family drama, a scientist lead not at all like the tropes, and kind of hinged on an ethical premise in forensics. If you’ve yet to discover Denise Mina, and definitely if you’re a fan of Tana French, you should be picking up her crime novels.

See You At The Finish Line by Zac Hammett

I grabbed this because I liked the cover. I started reading it when I saw people complaining that the characters slept with other people because I don’t think that romance characters who aren’t even close to dating yet (or liking each other) have to only have eyes for each other. Anyhoo, I liked being taken into the world of rowing and Cambridge University and watching one lead learn that your “dream” man can very much be that on paper and not in real life and the other lead come into their sexuality and overcome unrelated feelings of inadequacy related to academics. I was excited that the audiobook had two narrators but less so when my brain kept itching over the narrator for the American character doing a not great American accent. I notice things, maybe most people won’t?

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I am late to this blockbuster of a book because I was hoping to distance myself from all the hype. It’s the kind of book that saying anything about it is a spoiler and since I managed to go 5 years without having it spoiled for me I’ll pass on the courtesy. My brief thoughts: I did not outrun the hype and I think it affected my reading; I found this more a crime novel than a fantasy novel (the latter is not a judgement on the book).

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

I really enjoyed the character voice and am always down for a foodie book. I get why plot wise it was done but I could have done without the ex-husband being a cop.

Dead Money by Jacob Kerr

This is the kind of novel that hooked me immediately (I love a “fixer”) and it became a page turner for me but I figured everything out super early (this always happens to me, I have spent a lifetime inhaling everything mystery) and then the ending felt like too much piled onto too much. Fun? Twisty? Yes and yes.

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

I am the outlier on this: I very much disliked this book and the narrator on the audiobook (two things I do not say often). I love the premise/hook of this and that worked. My issue was the longer I read it the more annoyed I was becoming and halfway through I realized why: this is a YA book. The characters are ages 28+ and it’s labeled an adult book and yet the entire book is YA including all the relationships, the dialogue, the behavior—everything. If the characters were teens and it had been properly labeled YA I would have enjoyed it.

That’s it for August reading! Thanks for reading and as always feel free to shout what you’re loving lately.