12 Books Our Editors Devoured This August

*Releases Sept. 1

If you read The Return of Ellie Black and have been waiting for Emiko Jean's next Detective Chelsey Calhoun thriller, mark your calendar right now because this one sounds absolutely unputdownable. A mother is dead, her 16-year-old daughter has vanished, and the deeper Chelsey digs into the victim's past, the more she discovers that the woman who called herself Anne Walker was actually born Rika Takahashi, and her journey from a remote Japanese farm to suburban Seattle conceals decades of reinvention and secrets worth killing for. Early readers are calling it relentlessly suspenseful with jaw-dropping twists and a final page that will leave you staring into space... the fall thriller preorder worth making right now! — Katie Garrity, News & Social Editor

I read Fangirl years ago and wanted to revisit Rowell's work. I'm so glad I did! It was so freaking refreshing to read a romance about people who are not young and offensively hot, but people who felt very, very real. If you like yearning, this story has literal years of the stuff. — Katie McPherson, Associate Editor, Lifestyle & Entertainment

*Releases Oct. 13

If you have a Disney adult in your life, a foodie, or both, I genuinely cannot think of a better gift for them than this dreamy cookbook. And yes, it’s something you’ll actually read! Theme park journalists Carly Caramanna and Julie Tremaine sprinkle so many tasty little stories and anecdotes and fun facts throughout, which pair perfectly with the 60+ “extinct” recipes from Disney Parks restaurants. Think Casa de Fritos taco salad, the Writer’s Stop carrot cookie cake, the Adventurers Club’s Kungaloosh... the list goes on, and each comes with a bit of history about the dining spot where it originated. Big bonus: The cookbook itself is just so beautiful, making it a coffee table mainstay. — Julie Sprankles, Deputy Editor, Lifestyle & Entertainment

If you need one more beach read, have it be this. It's Abby Jimenez at her finest. I just love her books because they so aptly transport me out of my (very chaotic at this time of year) mind and into another, simpler world. It's just a lovely read and a great way to cap off the summer (I'm crying inside, too). — Kate Auletta, Editor in Chief

I've had this book on my TBR for years, and when I saw it was available at my local library, I snapped it up. I really wish I hadn't waited until my son was 5 to dive in. The way Garbes takes you through the science and biological miracle that is pregnancy is so beautiful. But her book is far more empowering and grounded than any other "pregnancy book" I've read to date. — Katie McPherson

In my continued quest to knock out all of the books in Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic series before Practical Magic 2 hits theaters in September, I read Magic Lessons this month. The third book written in the series (although first chronologically, if you prefer to read in that order), it’s definitely a little darker and slower than the others. But that makes sense because, here, Hoffman goes back to 1600s Salem to explore the origin story of why the Owens women can’t fall in love without devastating consequences. The real history makes it heavier, but it’s worth it. — Julie Sprankles

This debut is already an instant USA Today bestseller, and I completely understand why: It follows Joey Vasquez, a 32-year-old LA lawyer who dies after driving home from a dinner party and gets sent back to relive her freshman year of college with all the knowledge from her first life, determined to finally win the best friend she has pined over for fourteen years. The twist is that the man she absolutely cannot stand keeps showing up and pulling her attention in a direction she did not plan for, and the enemies-to-lovers slow burn is genuinely chef's kiss! — Katie Garrity

The Big Little Lies sequel we have been waiting a decade for is finally here! Big Little Truths picks up 10 years later with Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie, whose kindergartners are now teenagers navigating drugs, sex, and alcohol, which honestly sounds just as chaotic and stressful as the original but make it high school. When a mysterious stranger starts lurking around the school and the principal receives a severed finger in the mail, old secrets resurface and new ones threaten to unravel everything. — Katie Garrity

*Releases Sept. 22

The Queen of Twists just crossed over into full horror territory, and it drops Sept. 22... just in time for spooky season. Sometimes I Scare Myself is Jeneva Rose's first horror collection, featuring three standalone stories that start with setups you recognize and go somewhere you absolutely did not see coming: a 30th birthday séance that spirals horrifically out of control, a family who moves into their dream home that turns out to be anything but, and a roadside stop with a hand-painted sign that says "All items cursed — curse lifted at time of sale." The perfect preorder for anyone who loves to be genuinely scared! — Katie Garrity

We're all familiar with The Care and Keeping of You, and I was excited to see this book in the same vein, but dedicated to boys, hit my desk. It's written by medical professionals in language that makes hormones easy to understand and awkward situations, like peer pressure and wet dreams, feel navigable and like a normal part of growing up. I learned a thing or two and will definitely be holding onto this for when my son is ready. — Katie McPherson

If you have somehow never read Tana French and you are looking for a place to start, this is the one. In the Woods is the book that launched the Dublin Murder Squad series, and it is one of the most atmospheric, psychologically complex crime novels ever written. Detective Rob Ryan is called to investigate a murder at an Irish archaeological dig site, but the case keeps pulling him back to a childhood trauma he has spent decades trying to forget, and the tension between those two threads is absolutely suffocating in the best possible way. The ending is POLARIZING (according to Goodreads), but I liked it! — Katie Garrity

This series has been having a major moment, and once you start, you will completely understand why. It's 1883 London, and Emma M. Lion is a witty, fiercely independent young woman who has returned home to reclaim her inheritance from her absolutely insufferable Cousin Archibald, and the journals she keeps along the way are some of the funniest, most charming writing I have come across in years. I was laughing out loud! — Katie Garrity