It’s August and can you believe that we’re already more than halfway through 2019?! Today, we will share a selection of debut releases that you don’t want to miss this month! And if you’re ready to find your next favourite book (and author too!), be sure to keep reading this post as we’ve selected a few of our most anticipated!
100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons
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A contemporary story from debut author Abbie Emmons, featuring Tessa Dickinson, a blogger/poet who just recently become blind because of a car crash and Weston Ludovico, a confident and optimistic amputee who wants to help Tessa to keep blogging by becoming her typewriter. Through many ups and downs, and after Life knocked both of them down with different challenges during different times, we got to witness how the two started as barely a stranger, and become each other’s biggest support system.
As Many Nows As I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl
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In one impulsive moment the summer before they leave for college, overachievers Scarlett and David plunge into an irresistible swirl of romance, particle physics, and questionable decisions. This is the story of a grounded girl who’s pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath.
Color Me In by Natasha Diaz
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Inspired by her personal experiences, Color Me In is a coming-of-age novel about the meaning of friendship, the joyful beginnings of romance, and the racism and religious intolerance that can both strain a family to the breaking point and strengthen its bonds. Biracial 16-year-old Nevaeh Levitz had to move to her mom’s family home in Harlem and she labeled as a white who’s too privileged to relate to the injustices they face on a daily basis as African Americans. Can she face this challenge when it comes from her own family?
Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon
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When homosexuality is still considered as a mental illness in 1973, aside from alcoholic father, sympathetic neighbor, and his friend, Carla, 16-year-old Jonathan Collins is completely alone. To cope with his loneliness, he escaped to an alternate universe, his own imagination. In this place, he had his hero David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and dead relatives, including his mother. Until suddenly, Web, a fearless, fearsome and, most importantly, not ashamed of being gay, stumbled into his life. And maybe, Web is a kind of escape Jonathan has never known.
Carnegie Hill by Jonathan Vatner
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A belated-coming-of-age novel about sustaining a marriage—and knowing when to walk away. It chronicles the lives of wealthy New Yorkers and the staff who serve them, as they suffer together and rebound, struggle to free themselves from family entanglements, deceive each other out of love and weakness, and fumble their way to honesty.
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
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Hollow Kingdom is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow can become a hero. When one day, S.T., a domesticated crow, saw his owner’s eyeball falls out of his head, he feels like something isn’t quite right. Forced to leave his old life, S.T. now ventures out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, and discovered that humanity is about to extinct, and he seems to be the only one who can save it.
I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones
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When the opposite Lena and Campbell went into the Friday-night football game, they didn’t expect to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together. They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night.
They Could Have Named Her Anything by Stephanie Jimenez
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Racism, class, and betrayal collide in this poignant debut novel about restoring the broken bonds of family and friendship. They Could Have Named Her Anything explores the heartfelt expectation of what it means to live up to the name you’ve been given and the more rewarding discovery of what really matters.
A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause
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When 18-year-old Emmaline Watkins heard about the design competition held by the most admired fashion house in the city, she knew this is her opportunity to get closer to her dream. As the first “country girl” to compete, Emmy knows she’ll encounter extra hurdles on her way to the top. But as she navigates the twisted world of high fashion she starts to wonder: will she be able to tailor herself to fit into this dark, corrupted race? And at what cost?
Beasts of the Frozen Sun by Jill Criswell
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As a descendant of Aillira and god-gifted in her own right, Lira has the power to read people’s souls, to see someone’s true essence with only a touch of her hand. Until one day, a golden-haired warrior washes up on the shores of her homeland — Reyker — and after reading his soul, she realizes Reyker is different than his brethren who attack the coasts of Glasnith. As Lira and Reyker form a bond forbidden by both their clans, the wrath of the Dragon falls upon them and all over their city, and Lira finds herself facing the same tragic fate as her ancestor. The battle for Lira’s life, for Reyker’s soul, and for their peoples’ freedom has only just begun.
Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford
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Every girl in Ilara is dreaming to become the next princess of a kingdom that’s ruled their village for as long as anyone can remember. When a childhood accident left Nor with a permanent scar, it became clear that her identical twin sister, Zadie, would likely be chosen to marry the Crown Prince—while Nor remained behind, unable to ever set foot on land. But when Zadie is gravely injured, Nor is sent to Ilara in her place. To Nor’s dismay, her future husband, Prince Ceren, is as forbidding and cold as his home—a castle carved into a mountain and devoid of sunlight. And as she grows closer to Ceren’s brother, the charming Prince Talin, Nor uncovers startling truths about a failing royal bloodline, a murdered queen… and a plot to destroy the home she was once so eager to leave.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
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Twelve sisters lived in a manor by the sea, but when accidents came to them one by one until only four of them left, Annaleigh, one of the girls that survived, Annaleigh became increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to join or stop them. When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.
