Summer's winding down, so make sure you squeeze in a few more good reads before it's truly over! We've rounded up the best of the best from this month's new releases — and each one brings a different perspective on love, family, sex, friendship, and life. From Joan Didion's biography to a heartwarming story of young love, August books have a lot to offer!
A Window Opens
In Elisabeth Egan's A Window Opens [1], a mostly happy married mother of three is eager to take a chance to fulfill her professional goals — but quickly learns that with every opportunity, there is a price. She discovers that the goal shouldn't be trying to have it all; it should be trying to truly figure out what it is she wants out of life.
Out August 25
Barbara the Slut and Other People
Barbara the Slut and Other People [2] is a dark, hilarious, and refreshingly honest collection of stories about love, intimacy, family, sex, coming out, and the slut-shaming culture that makes these experiences all the more difficult. Lauren Holmes's genius debut exposes the vulnerabilities of women, as well as their bravery and relatability.
Out August 4
Everybody Rise
Hilarious and poignant, Stephanie Clifford's Everybody Rise [3] is a novel about social class, old money and new money, friendship, family, and the universal desire to fit in somewhere — one that anyone, no matter who they are, can relate to.
Out August 18
The Sex Myth
Author Rachel Hills breaks down social taboos about women and sex in a novel that is "equal parts social commentary, pop culture, and powerful personal anecdotes from people across the English-speaking world." The Sex Myth [4] aims to expose the "invisible norms and unspoken assumptions that shape the way we think about sex today."
Out August 4
Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes
Single mother Ally Hughes has no time for dating — she's too busy teaching, raising her daughter, and dealing with her own mother. Still, the Brown University professor does form a unique bond with one of her students, Jake, who challenges her to open up about life and love. Fast forward ten years, and Ally is still single but her daughter isn't — in fact, she brings home Jake to her mother. Jules Moulin's Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes [5] is about a woman's journey toward figuring out that an "independent, 'liberated' woman can still make room in her life for love."
Out August 25
Who Do You Love
After a chance meeting in a hospital as children, Rachel and Andy think they will never see each other again. But in Jennifer Weiner's warmhearted novel Who Do You Love [6], the two continue to meet by chance, linked by something inexplicable and destined to change each other's lives.
Out August 11
The Last Love Song
Joan Didion is known for both her incredible fiction and screenplays, as well as her honest essays, literary journalism, and non-fiction. Critically acclaimed author Tracy Daugherty delves into the life of the literary great with the first biography ever written about the author. Fans of Didion won't be able put The Last Love Song [7] down.
Out August 25
If You Only Knew
Two sisters — one whose marriage ended in divorce and the other whose marriage is threatening to crumble — look to their parents's perfect marriage to find an example to follow. However, in Kristan Higgins's If You Only Knew [8], the women learn that not everything is ever as it seems, love can be found where (and when) you least expect it, and the only way to get over the past is to embrace the future.
Out August 25
