August 2026 New & Anticipated Book Releases

August is not a quiet month. Liane Moriarty comes home, Carissa Broadbent opens a new duet, and the thriller shelf is the strongest it has been all year. We read the lists so you don't have to. These are the releases worth clearing space for, every one confirmed for Australian release this month.

Save your spot on the pre-order pages. The stack builds fast from here.

Romantasy & fantasy

The Lion & the Deathless Dark, Carissa Broadbent (4 August). The Crowns of Nyaxia universe opens a new duet: vampire courts, a vengeance quest, enemies to lovers with teeth. The biggest romantasy release of the month, no contest.

Immortal Rose, Alexandra Bracken (18 August). Court intrigue built on magical perfume, a slow burn with thorns. The prettiest cover of the month and the book most likely to live face-out on the shelf.

Adversary to the Villain, Hannah Nicole Maehrer (4 August). Assistant to the Villain book four. Cosy fantasy office chaos, still the funniest series in the genre.

Rounding out the court:

• Eyes of Kings, Chloe Gong (4 August): the Flesh and False Gods finale, Antony and Cleopatra reimagined.
• Reliquary, Hannah F. Whitten (11 August): dark court fantasy from the For the Wolf author.
• Bedeviled, Laura Thalassa (18 August): the Bewitched series finale, witchy and fated.

And because one shelf was never going to be enough

August is so deep in this genre it earns a second round.

Devour Me, Emily Rath (4 August). The Jacksonville Rays author's first paranormal romance: a witch, a wraith, a human, one tangle. Her readers have been counting down for months.

Daggerbound, T. Kingfisher (25 August). Seven years after Swordheart, the follow-up finally lands, cosy fantasy with pink sprayed edges and the best early ratings of the month.

To Dance with Death, Brittney Arena (13 August). The Edge of Glass duology closes with a journey into the realms of the dead. The stained-glass cover alone deserves a frame.

Also on the second shelf:

• Pink Ink, Avina St. Graves (4 August): gothic dark romance, a horror-film student and the professor she should not be studying.
• Dreamland, Olivie Blake (18 August): the Atlas Six author goes Old Hollywood gothic.
• The Iron Hex, Victoria S. Walsh (4 August): a witch in hiding, a rabbit familiar, forbidden magic.

Contemporary romance & rom-com

The Fall Affair, Vi Keeland (18 August). Keeland heads to Tuscany for this one: a winemaker, an affair, and the kind of golden-hour setting that does half the work of a holiday. One of the biggest names in romance at full stride.

Lost and Found, Tarah DeWitt (4 August). The Spunes series comes home with a firefighter friends-to-lovers finale. DeWitt writes small towns you want to move to. This is the goodbye her readers have been bracing for.

The rest of the month:

• While You Were Trending, Pippa Grant (11 August): a rom-com about going viral, built to be shared.
• I've Got a Crush on You, Lauren Blakely (4 August): Darling Springs returns, dog trainer and landlord edition.
• Long Story Short, Kat Singleton (25 August): Pembroke Hills book four, a writer and the neighbour next door.
• How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle, Alissa DeRogatis (4 August): a romance writer goes looking for material and finds the real thing.

Cowboy, small-town & sport romance

Colt, Jessica Peterson (18 August). A widowed rancher, a new beginning, and the launch of the Double U Ranch series. Cowboy romance's reliable ache, done properly.

Embrace, Bal Khabra (4 August). Off the Ice book four. Hockey romance has carried BookTok all year and Khabra is one of the reasons why.

Also landing:

• Puck, Marry, Kill, Lauren Landish (11 August): off-limits hockey with a title that tells you exactly what you're in for.
• The Challenge, Penelope Ward (30 August): a single dad in small-town Wyoming.
• Wilde Hearts, Kelly Elliott (18 August): the most-anticipated cowboy release of the month by reader vote.
• Locke, Sawyer Bennett (11 August): Portland Wildfire book two.

Historical fiction

The House of Boleyn, Tracy Borman (4 August). The rise and fall of the whole Boleyn family, from a historian who knows the Tudor court like a home address. Lush, doomed, exactly right for winter reading.

Etna, Paul Yoon (27 August). A spare, quietly devastating novel from one of the finest literary-historical writers going. The one for readers who like their fiction hushed and precise.

(And a note for the witchy readers: Alice Hoffman's The Witches of Cambridge looked like an August book on the US lists, but the Australian release is 8 September. It headlines next month instead.)

Also this month:

• Sunlight Finds You, Laura Moriarty (4 August): a 1950s Florida romance that follows its choices across decades.
• The Castle in the Glen, Rhys Bowen (4 August): a ghostwriter, a dark Scottish family, a castle with opinions.
• Freyja, Margrét Ann Thors (4 August): a Norse goddess reimagined, atmospheric and strange in the best way.

Thriller & mystery

The Unknown, Riley Sager (4 August). In 1926, five women vanished from an island. Now it is happening again. Sager's annual event book, and the early word is that this one earns the hype.

The Secrets We Hide, Karin Slaughter (11 August). North Falls book two. A small-town shooting, and everything the town buried underneath it. Slaughter does not miss.

The Women in White, Sarah Pekkanen (4 August). A 1960s parapsychology experiment and a present-day mystery, tangled together. The eeriest premise of the month.

Keep the lamp on for:

• Heart of Glass, Jennifer Hillier (25 August): a carnival killer recants his confession.
• You'll Be Sorry, Lisa Gardner (4 August): newlyweds, a remote lodge, a family that vanished there.
• The Silent Appeal, Janice Hallett (25 August): an amateur theatre production of a Christie play, with a body. Cosy mystery at its most fun.

Book club & literary

Big Little Truths, Liane Moriarty (25 August). Ten years after Big Little Lies, Moriarty returns to the story that made her a household name. Australian author, Australian release, Australian tour. This is the book of the month, full stop.

Round out the club:

• Under the Falls, Richard Russo (11 August): small-town crime from a Pulitzer winner.
• Meet Me in the Garden, Nina LaCour (4 August): hidden loves across decades, lush and quietly devastating.
• The Seekers of Deer Creek, Thao Thai (4 August): estranged sisters and a lost Vietnamese painting.
• Take What You Can, Naima Coster (4 August): friendship and motherhood, book-club catnip.
• The Phone Swap, Lia Louis (25 August): a scientist and a movie star swap phones, enemies to lovers ensues.

One for the eager: Jaclyn Moriarty's Time Travel for Beginners actually lands a few days early, 28 July, so it can be on the reader before this list even starts.

The ones just over the horizon

Three big names miss August by a whisker: Rebecca Yarros's next Empyrean novella (late September), Ana Huang's The Keeper (late October), and the next instalment in a certain fae court series (also late October). Consider your spring pre-orders sorted.

A month like this deserves a plan. If your e-reader is coming to the couch, the bath and the 1am chapters with you, dress it for the occasion: something beautiful to pick up is how the reading habit keeps itself.

Happy pre-ordering. The TBR never stood a chance.