I am looking ahead to August and some of the lovely new books due to be released. I've limited myself to just ten which have caught my eye. Do any of these look like something that you would like to read?
John Grebble is Gone by Peter James
John Grebble wakes up to discover he’s been declared dead. His bank account is frozen, his car repossessed, and his entire existence erased. Someone wants him gone—permanently.
Within hours, his world unravels. His debit card is declined. His car is towed away. His office locks him out. The police treat him like a criminal. According to every system, every database, every official record—John Grebble is no more.
But John is very much alive. And as he tries to uncover who could have pulled off such an elaborate erasure of his identity, he realises this isn’t just a mistake—it’s personal. Someone with intimate knowledge of his life has gone to extraordinary lengths to scrub him out completely. And this is just the start…
In this gripping short thriller laced with dark humour, Number One Sunday Times bestselling author Peter James asks: can John Grebble uncover who would go this far to destroy him before it’s too late?
Amazon UK
Invitation From a Dictator by Rory Clements
ON THE EVE OF WAR, A ROYAL GUEST IS LURED INTO HITLER'S DEADLY WEB . . .
Munich, 1937. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor have arrived in Germany for a historic meeting at Hitler's mountain retreat.
But recent attacks by ruthless Communist band, Red Freedom, has brought fear and bloodshed to the area. As brutal as the Nazis, their next targets are Edward, Wallis and the Fuhrer himself.
Detective Sebastian Wolff is charged with their protection, but the conflict between his job and his politics becomes even more complicated when Wolff realises who is behind Red Freedom: Ulrike, his first love and the mother of his son.
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
Radiant as the Stars by Elaine Elinson
In April 1911, Jews escaping pogroms are fleeing to America, but 20-year-old Anna Reader, full of fierce conviction, is headed in the opposite direction—back to the Ukrainian shtetl from which her family fled six years earlier. She has decided to join her radical cousin Chava in the Jewish Labor Bund on the eve of the Russian Revolution, leaving behind her work in a Chicago sweatshop and the lover who jilted her.
Her warm reunion with her cousin is tainted by political intrigue. Anna is not fully trusted by the Jewish radicals she grew up with in Ukraine. She is given minor tasks, while Chava’s assignments become more dangerous. The threat of betrayal is constantly lurking. When Chava is arrested and imprisoned, Anna’s efforts to rescue her cousin further alienate her from her Bund comrades. When she is threatened with arrest by the Tsarists, Anna is undone, fighting for survival in a strife-torn land.
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
A Thousand Painted Hours by Barbara O'Neal
In the shadow of the London Blitz, artist Elsie Turner clings fiercely to her canvases, refusing to let war dim the colors that define her. The bombs test her nerve, but the struggle also stirs memories of her golden youth in India and of the long-lost love of her life.
The daughter of a British civil servant in the Himalayan station of Nainital, Elsie crosses cultural divides to forge an unlikely bond with Tanveer Singh, a Sikh prince with hopes, dreams, and far-reaching ideas. What begins as shared sketchbooks and stargazing becomes first love and a secret correspondence. When Elsie’s father is summoned to England, Elsie is severed from the world she knows―and is determined to preserve it through both her art and a connection with Tanveer that endures through the most tumultuous years of their lives.
Across four decades and two continents, Elsie navigates a journey from lush colonial India to war-torn London, amid landscapes of beauty, protest, and peril. As past and present collide, the most impossible choices and sacrifices are yet to be made in the name of love, war, and survival.
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
Perfect Moments at Duck Pond Cottage by Della Galton
When two best friends decide to share their wedding day, what could possibly go wrong?
Jade is over the moon to be tying the knot alongside her best friend, Sarah, at the stunning Bluebell Cliff Hotel in Dorset—a venue where no detail is too small and no expense is spared in the pursuit of perfection.
But as the big day draws closer, so do the complications.
A long-lost relative, a troublesome brother, and some wildly unexpected animal antics all threaten to derail the brides’ dream celebrations.
With emotions running high and chaos around every corner, their perfect day begins to unravel.
Can love and friendship hold everything together when it matters most?
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
The Stray Dogs by Ruth Hogan
They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but Desmond and Leona are about to find out that it's never too late to start living your dreams . . .
Since his marriage ended, Desmond Leaks has been stuck in rut. But living alone does have some upsides - for one, there's no one to tell him that he's 'not allowed' chocolate spread on his toast.
And for Leona Lennox, a fresh start might just mean she can finally open that rescue centre for abandoned dogs she's always dreamed of. That's if she can learn to let people in occasionally - and accept help.
Take this Desmond guy, he's so nice that he's offering to get his old band back together to play some fundraising gigs for the rescue centre. If only Leona could say yes, just this once . . . The Stray Dogs might actually be decent, right?
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
The Paris Seamstress by Catherine Law
Torn between love and duty, and a fierce need to protect…
Paris, 1940
For young, lively Murielle, working in the heart of Paris as a seamstress is a dream come true. She loves the bustle of the city, but as the War progresses and new restrictions for Jewish people appear, she begins to realise how quickly her world is changing – and how, soon, she may lose those cherished freedoms.
Her best friend Zoé has always lived a smaller life. Still reeling from an incident from many years ago, she’s already used to being on her guard. But as the Occupation tightens controls on everyone, Zoé knows she must find the courage to stand up and protect the people she loves.
When the two women come across a fallen English pilot, they don’t hesitate. As they put their lives on the line to help the airman escape, their friendship bonds are truly tested. For a chance of happiness, Murielle and Zoé will have to make an impossible decision — one that will demand the greatest sacrifice of all…
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
The Midwife by the Sea by Jo Bartlett
When midwife Hope Masterson arrives in Cornwall to start her dream job by the sea, she’s ready for a fresh start and a chance to make a real difference to the lives of the women and babies she cares for.
Working between St Piran’s hospital and the community midwifery unit of Port Agnes, Hope quickly finds herself drawn into the lives of her patients and colleagues. From dramatic deliveries and joyous newborns to heartbreaking struggles with infertility, she is on hand to share in all the hopes, worries and incredible love that motherhood can bring.
But Hope is carrying a secret that could change everything – and she faces an impossible dilemma.
Should she reveal the truth and shatter the lives of those around her, or protect the fragile happiness of the family she’s only just found?
As friendships deepen, romance blooms and emotions run high, Hope must decide whether some secrets are better left untold… and what it truly means to belong.
A gorgeously heartfelt, uplifting and unputdownable story of love, family and the many different paths to motherhood, by Top Ten bestselling author Jo Bartlett.
Amazon UK Bookshop.org
The Curse of the Saltmarsh Girl by Clare Marchant
The dark marsh stretches around Margery. She can hear the sound of her mother’s voice, crying. Or is it the wind…? Will she get out of here alive?
1665: When Margery arrives in Saltmarsh looking for her mother, she finds silence, secrets, and backs turned.
But she is not the only thing that has arrived. As the Plague falls on the village, leaving almost no man, woman or child alive, rumours circulate – about a demon dog, about lights floating above the waters, about voices in the dark… And about a girl, one who has brought a curse.
With Margery’s mother missing, it becomes clear that these remote, desolate marshes are about to become the most dangerous ground she’s ever stepped on…
Now: A beautiful young opera singer named Angel Bailey has arrived in Saltmarsh. She’s there to visit her adoptive brother, but she’s also running away. Because, after years of longing to know where she came from, she’s received word from a woman claiming to be her sister, saying their birth mother’s dying wish is to meet the child she abandoned.
But when Angel becomes fascinated with the story of another mother and daughter, and a centuries old curse on the marsh, the land beneath her feet is about to shift forever…
A Fatal Love by Louise Tregar
Following Ruth Ellis' long-awaited posthumous conditional pardon in July 2026, never has there been a more compelling moment to revisit the woman behind one of Britain's most enduring legal cases.
It is Easter Sunday in 1955 and a young man lies face-down on the ground covered in blood. A woman, blonde and petite, stands over him with a gun in her hand. This is the story of Ruth Ellis as never told before...
As Ruth awaits her trial in Holloway Prison, she recollects growing up in England during the Second World War and the events that led to the death of her lover, David Blakely.
Meanwhile, Kitty Carrington - the assistant to Ruth's trial lawyer - tries to forge her own path through the male-dominated legal world of the 1950s and ensure that Ruth receives a fair trial.
Navigating secrets, betrayal and a broken justice system, Ruth and Kitty try to take control of their own lives and narratives. But do we ever really know the full story?
(header photo courtesy of Florencia Viadana/Unsplash)
(Bookshop.org affiliated)
(all opinions are my own)
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