My August Reads
It’s that time again - time for my round-up of the books I’ve read over the previous month.
I haven’t done much writing at all throughout August, having felt completely burned out and in need of a break, which meant that I had more time to read! The result was that I read nine books this month. Well actually, I read eleven, but a couple of them are textbooks for authors so I haven’t included them.
August’s choice for the Read Christie Challenge 2025 was One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, though I also read an additional Christie novel. I ticked off another book in my Book Bingo Challenge, too. The final novel in a series.
I did find a couple of the books disappointing - one in particular was not at all what I expected and I struggled to read it. Very unusual for this particular author whose books I usually devour! Ah well, you can’t enjoy everything, can you? To be fair to the other authors I will say that the book in question was by Agatha Christie, and it was actually the last novel she wrote. It’s a Tommy and Tuppence book, and I really love that series, but Postern of Fate was a really tough read for me. Don’t let that put you off, though, because you might enjoy it!
Anyway, here are the books I read in August:
The Burial Witch by Cari Thomas
(Contemporary Fantasy/Witch Lit)
“The unopenable box. A mythical object that appears in fairy tales and folklore across all cultures around the world. Sometimes the box can only be opened by the right person at the right time, such a rightful heir, and in other tales it is considered a warning. A test given to the protagonist who are typically forbidden from opening the box. When they eventually succumb, what they unleash cannot be put back in.”
At home one memorable summer, Miranda unearths a mysterious suitcase in her attic that once belonged to her late grandmother. Inside, she finds a strange and unopenable wooden box.
Determined to discover what’s inside, she ends up enlisting the help of Maya, the owner of a local spiritualist shop, and is drawn into a world of witchcraft, magic and temptation.
As she tries to keep up appearances as the perfect daughter, her discovery threatens to tear everything apart, putting everyone around her in danger.
Can she find a way to stay in control or would the box have been better left buried?
Click to buy
Watermelon by Marian Keyes
(RomCom/Contemporary Romance)
Meet Claire Walsh.
On the day she gives birth, her husband drops a bombshell: he's been cheating and is leaving her.
Exhausted and furious, Claire runs home to Mum and Dad, but it's no sanctuary.
Amid family drama and baby demands, she misses her old life.
When James wants to reconcile, Claire must decide: forgive and forget, or take a chance on herself?
Click to buy
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie
(Cosy Mystery)
(The August choice for the Read Christie Challenge 2025)
A dentist lies murdered at his Harley Street practice…
The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand. Later, one of his patients was found dead from a lethal dose of local anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day of appointments?
A shoe buckle holds the key to the mystery. Now – in the words of the rhyme – can Poirot pick up the sticks and lay them straight?
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Avenue Cars by Chris Speck
(Gangland Thriller)
Our Dave has been running Avenue Cars on Chanterlands Ave, Hull, for as long as anyone remembers. You can depend on Our Dave... but it wasn’t always like that.
Back in the seventies he did things he isn’t proud of, and buried under the shed on his allotment behind Newland Ave, is a shotgun.
There are dark forces in this city. Leatherhead controls the heavy drugs that come through Hessle Road. The Mancs are trying to muscle their way in, and then you’ve got the bent coppers.
If Our Dave is to keep his drivers safe, he’ll have to go back to his old ways.
It’ll be murder.
Click to buy
The Coastguard’s House Darling Island by Polly Babbington
(Cosy Contemporary Romance)
Lucie Peachtree is living her (nearly) best life as she prepares to pack up her house to move to the country with her ever-so-handsome, teenage heartthrob boyfriend turned partner, Rob.
Rob, unfortunately, forgets to mention that while Lucie was selling their house, trying to get pregnant and was doing all the things, had secured himself another life, thank-you-very-much. A life complete with a twenty-four-year-old very much pregnant work colleague and not including Lucie in any shape or form.
Dropped into a world Lucie has never known, one night she sets out to a calling from the universe. With a glass of wine, a tub full of bubbly water and rather too many onion bhajis, she sees something on the internet that takes her fancy. Before she has time to think about it too much, she has bought a rather large, rather rundown house on a little island just off the coast.
And so begins Lucie Peachtree’s initiation into all things Darling Island, a place she arrives in with more than a pang of regret.
As she feels her way into Darling’s quaint ways, a very surprising love interest walks slap bang into her life and suddenly living on Darling looks oh-so-much more on the rosier side.
With its gorgeous old blue and white buildings, cosy small-town feel, floating bridges, trundling vintage trams and a plethora of wonderful characters, we are whisked along for the ride as we watch Lucie navigate her way to a new life on the coast in the old Coastguard’s House.
Click to buy
Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves
(Police Procedural/Crime)
(The Eighth Book in my Book Bingo Challenge ticked - The Final Book in a Series)
A woman's death sees rumours flood the island community – as Inspector Jimmy Perez's life is about to change forever. Wild Fire is the eighth Shetland mystery from Ann Cleeves.
A new English family have moved to Shetland, eager to give their autistic son a better life. But when a young nanny’s body is found hanging in the barn of their home, rumours of her affair with the husband begin to spread like wild fire.
With suspicion raining down on the family, DI Jimmy Perez is called in to investigate. For him it will mean returning to the islands of his on–off lover and boss Willow Reeves, who will run the case.
Perez is already facing the most disturbing investigation of his career when Willow drops a bomb-shell that will change his life forever. Is he ready for what is to come?
Click to buy
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage by Enid Blyton
(Children’s cosy mystery)
Someone has set fire to Mr Hick's cottage, but who could it be? Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, Bets and Buster the dog have their very first case to solve. But it's not easy being detectives with policeman Mr Goon telling them to "clear orf". The Find-Outers are determined - they have to solve the mystery before Mr Goon does!
Click to buy
Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie
(Cosy Mystery)
A poisoning many years ago may not have been accidental after all…
Tommy and Tuppence Beresford have just become the proud owners of an old house in an English village. Along with the property, they have inherited some worthless bric-a-brac, including a collection of antique books. While rustling through a copy of The Black Arrow, Tuppence comes upon a series of apparently random underlinings.
However, when she writes down the letters, they spell out a very disturbing message:
M a r y – J o r d a n – d i d – n o t – d i e – n a t u r a l l y…
And sixty years after their first murder, Mary Jordan's enemies are still ready to kill…
Click to buy
The Ward Witch by Sarah Painter
(Contemporary Fantasy/Witch Lit)
Mysterious, magical, and a little bit deadly… Welcome to Unholy Island.
Esme Gray runs the guest house and tends to the ethereal wards that protect the island. She’s sheltering from a terrible past and will do anything to stay safely hidden.
Luke Taylor has been searching for his missing twin for months, but has begun to believe that his brother might be dead. With his hope in tatters, a tip off leads him to a remote tidal island in the North Sea. It’s further out than the famous Holy Island, and far stranger.
Visitors shouldn’t be able to stay for more than two nights, so when Luke breaks this rule, the close-knit community is sent into turmoil. The residents of Unholy Island have secrets and they intend to keep them.
When Luke stumbles across one of the islanders dead on the shore, he finds himself under suspicion, made worse by his own troubles washing up on the tide.
Esme is drawn to Luke, but she doesn’t trust her own instincts. That’s not ideal for a witch — especially when there is a killer on the loose and a storm is rolling in…
Click to buy
I hope you find something here you enjoy. Until next month, happy reading!
