A new month means a whole new batch of books to get excited about and August has some good ones!
Welcome to my new release series! Once a month, I’ll be sharing a handful of the romance releases that have caught my eye and landed on my own TBR. From heartwarming contemporary romance and magical romantasy to historical, dark, YA, and beyond, there’s a little something for every kind of romance reader! This won’t be an all-inclusive list (because, let’s be honest, there are way too many books for that!), just a few upcoming releases I’m especially excited about and think you might want to add to your list, too.
So grab your TBR and let’s see what August has in store. I’m so glad you’re here!

Lost & Found by Tarah DeWitt
Release Date: August 4, 2026
Bea always wanted to be a mom. But she never expected she’d have to lose her best friend to do it. Armed with nothing but her best friend’s eggs and a bucket list to complete, Bea’s world is a sea of changes.
When she needs a place to stay, her longtime friend Silas steps in to help. A firefighter grappling with the aftermath of an accident, Silas has his own challenges to work through that have left him cautious and vulnerable.
At first, they expect nothing. But as these two former sunshines knit together in a love that has been unfulfilled until now, a new beginning comes out of the ashes of the past—one that will lead to a love that can withstand all the slings and arrows, joys and triumphs, that life can throw.

The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent
Release Date: August 4, 2026
Some blood tastes like vengeance. Some blood tastes like grief. Some blood tastes like nothing at all.
Under an eternal night, the world has been ravaged by ten years of war between humans and vampires. Kyrene scrapes by as a bounty hunter, bearing a blessed sword from the goddess of justice. But in the wake of a devastating loss, Kyrene commits a crime that makes her a target for mortals and gods alike – and she is still desperate for vengeance.
Her only chance at survival – and revenge – is making a deal with her enemy, the silver-tongue vampire prince, Septimus, who offers her one final job: to slay the gods themselves.
Together, Kyrene and Septimus must hunt the ultimate marks, all while navigating a web of prophecies and curses. Septimus is calculating and mysterious, masking secrets bloodthirsty enough to consume them both. Yet, most dangerous of all, Kyrene finds an unexpected kinship in him.
But their growing attraction is deadly in a world where the only currency is blood. And Kyrene will stop at nothing to fulfill her ultimate goal: to kill the goddess of vampires, even if it means sacrificing love for revenge.
Every kingdom breaks…Every ruler kneels…This is how a pantheon falls.

Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Release Date: August 4, 2026
HR Update: The position of “adversary to the villain” has been filled. Evie Sage does not recall applying.
Evie has always tried to be helpful, loyal, and only mildly involved in treason. But with a dangerous prophecy threatening the very magic of Rennedawn—not to mention the race to claim its necessary artifacts before King Benedict does—things are starting to feel…less like a career path and more like a serious problem.
The prophecy won’t stop pointing in Evie’s direction. The Villain’s magic keeps choosing her. And honestly, if you’re going to be accused of evil anyway, you might as well commit.
Unfortunately, the more Evie leans into her alleged villain era, the more her boss starts acting like the hero of a completely different story. Trystan is getting closer—closer than is wise, advisable, or even remotely professional—and looking at her like she’s already chosen a side. His.
Which is deeply inconvenient, because if Evie can’t save the kingdom’s magic, she might just become its greatest threat.

Devour Me by Emily Rath
Release Date: August 4, 2026
The haunt is over. This is the hunt. I will have them for my own.
Dáinn the Devourer has spent the last two hundred years of his undead life reluctantly bonded to a dark witch, doing her dirtiest work. Devouring corrupt souls may not be satisfying for a wraith, but it keeps him fed. Sent on a job to Burr Island, Dáinn is forced to devour the soul of a rival witch.
But Jasper Prescott is no corrupt magical misfit. He’s powerful and beautiful, with a soul worth savoring. Dáinn is eagerly devouring the witch when he’s abruptly stopped. By a human no less. With one word, Birdie Rhodes does what no being has ever done: she takes his breath away. Now the witch, the wraith, and the human are set on a path that could lead to their destiny…or their ruin.
Desperate for his freedom, Dáinn makes a deal with Jasper: kill my mistress, and I’ll let you keep living. But Jasper wants more than just to live. He has a coven to protect. Their secrets are being threatened by magical forces on and off the island. Bound together in this strange new deal, Jasper fights his growing attraction to the wraith, who is far more human than he appears. And Dáinn fights the urge to devour the delectable witch whole.
The only one who can save them is Birdie Rhodes, hapless historian and sometimes shop girl. Birdie only came to Burr Island for summer work. She has no idea magic is even real. She certainly has no idea she’s now the only thing standing between her witch boss and the hungry wraith aching to devour them both.
As magical forces of darkness loom at Burr Island’s shores, Jasper and Dáinn are both determined to keep Birdie close in Devour Me, book one in a dark, spicy paranormal romance trilogy.
Tropes:
- Shadow daddy
- Unrequited instalove
- Age gap
- Why Choose/Polyamory
- MMF
- Dysfunctional throuple
- Lurking is my love language
- Grumpy witch/charming wraith/jaded human
- No one gets to kill you but me
- The cat is not a cat

Through the Woods by Taylor Hornig
Release Date: August 4, 2026
“He left. He left me.”
Amelie thought surviving Winter Solstice would be enough.
She was wrong.
Kiaran is free from his curse, but at what cost? Worse, every memory of Amelie has been stripped away, leaving her to face an impossible choice: walk away from the life they dreamed of, or fight for a future he no longer remembers.
Valla has spent centuries wielding power without consequence, silencing those who stood against her and destroying lives in the process.
But secrets have a way of surfacing.
Determined to reach Kiaran, restore what was stolen, and expose the woman responsible, Amelie embarks on a journey that will give hope to Avonya, test her courage, and challenge her heart. Along the way, she’ll discover that justice demands more than sacrifice—it demands a revolution.

Magic We Made by Meg Cabot
Release Date: August 11, 2026
She doesn’t believe in magic. He is magic. But when they meet, a spark is lit, and neither will ever be the same—in this charming new stand-alone in the Witches of West Harbor series from New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot.
Frankie
A trained therapist, Francesca Giovanni knows there’s a scientific explanation for everything. Unfortunately, she lives in West Harbor, CT, a town that’s recently exploded in popularity thanks to “witch tourism.” Suddenly, witches are everywhere, offering locals their psychic services. Frankie’s fine with this…until aspiring teenage witches begin to disappear, and strange things start happening in the lake house next door. Frankie suspects not all newcomers to West Harbor have the good of the community in mind—especially not her new neighbor, Ash Merit.
Ash
Ash Merit finds lost things—and people—for a living. All he wants is to help his clients, and maybe get to know the stunningly beautiful (and newly single) Dr. Frankie Giovanni a little better. But thanks to some troublesome young witches—not to mention his often faulty psychic “superpower”—everything goes wrong. If only Frankie wasn’t so distractingly attractive…and so unwilling to admit there might not be a logical reason for everything, including the flames that ignite whenever the two of them kiss. Ash hopes to change that, but first he and Frankie have to find the missing girls, as well as the truth about what’s happening in West Harbor…a truth that could change everything they thought they knew about themselves—and the magic of love.

The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson
Release Date: August 18, 2026
In the absence of a conscience, men need something to fear. I’ve made myself their monster.
Every person Harlow Carrenwell kisses dies immediately, and that’s the way she likes it. The poison-lipped youngest daughter of Lunameade’s magical founding family has used her power to annihilate their opposition.
Her first husband is in the ground. Her mysterious new betrothed is next.
But Harlow has a secret. When she’s not acting as an assassin at her parents’ whims, she moonlights as a vigilante hunting abusive men in their walled-off city.
Meet a man. Lure him in. Kill him with a kiss. Until one night Harlow kisses a mark and he doesn’t die.
Worse, the man immune to her kiss is her new betrothed, Henry Havenwood, and now he knows about her double life. The only way to protect her secret and her city is get close enough to Henry to figure out why the Havenwoods have reappeared after years of silence and what they have planned.
Cursed with a husband she can’t kill and trapped in a fortress surrounded by vampire-infested woods, Harlow’s survival requires her to do the impossible: Make the man who knows she’s a killer fall in love with her anyway.
Tropes:
- Marriage of inconvenience
- Feminine rage
- Forced proximity
- Touch her and die
- Enemies to lovers
- Vigilante FMC
- Dash of vampires
- Primal/fear play
- “Who did this to you”
- Dual POV

Fall Shook Up by Piper Sheldon
Release Date: August 18, 2026
Fall Shook Up is a cozy, autumn-inspired, grumpy/sunshine small-town romantic comedy about a reclusive artist and a nosey journalist who just can’t seem to stay away from him…
The grumpy recluse begrudgingly rents me his guest house if I agree to leave him alone. Too bad I’ve never been good at doing what I’m told.
I am in desperate need of a place to live when my ex-boyfriend unceremoniously kicks me out weeks before a huge break in my career. Things look hopeless until I find a listing for a home that would be perfect, complete with a concise list of dos and don’ts. All I have to do is ignore the alarmingly good-looking owner, Levi, and follow his strict rules.
As the days pass and I continue to push boundaries it gets harder to avoid his sweet compassion, capable hands, and attractive glower. The lines of our strict owner/tenant relationship continue to blur as the truth behind his protective shell is uncovered.
Can I let him be or will my instincts for information trample the intense attraction growing between us?
I’m under deadline, over my head, and (F)all shook up thinking about Levi.
Read this book for…
- Forced Proximity
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Slow Burn
- Extra Spice
Grab a pumpkin spice latte, a warm fuzzy blanket, and make your way down to Cozy Creek! Each book in the collection is a complete stand alone with a happily ever after.

Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: August 18, 2026
Members of the ancient House Rosebourne have a strange gift born of a fairy ancestor: the ability to infuse fragrance with magic capable of manipulating mind, body, and emotion.
When a shocking murder leaves the kingdom of Albion vulnerable to a coup, royal spymaster
Hugh Thornton seeks the one person who can help: Viola Lockhart, the last living Rosebourne and secret heir to a fraught legacy.
Livid at the silver-eyed aristocrat who had her thrown in jail to force her compliance, Viola nevertheless comes to an agreement with him. In exchange for crafting Immortal Rose, the singular perfume capable of saving Albion, illegitimate Viola can seize the life—and fortune—that should have been hers.
As Hugh and Viola race to find the perfume’s lost fairy ingredient, hidden deep in Albion’s dark underbelly, neither can deny the scorching attraction building between them—especially as the attempts on Viola’s life grow increasingly brazen.
But a terrible truth lurks in the heart notes of their kingdom—and while every bargain has a cost, Immortal Rose may demand more than Hugh and Viola can ever pay.

The Cozy Nook Bookshop by Jeannie Chin
Release Date: August 25, 2026
Emma Rogers-Li is having her worst chapter yet. She’s lost her friends, her apartment in Manhattan, and a jerk of an ex. When a job opens to run a bookshop in the quirky small town of Heart’s Hope Crossing, Vermont, Emma jumps at the chance to start over. For the first time in years, she feels like she’s finally calling the shots in her own life … until she runs smack into Hunter Hall.
According to town legend, it’s fate–couples who meet (or collide) at that corner are meant to be. And while Emma doesn’t believe the town gossips now convinced she and Hunter are meant for each other, something about the tall, gruff forest ranger sends her completely off-balance. Falling in love with Heart’s Hope Crossing might be the best thing to happen to Emma.
But Hunter has a complicated past of his own when it comes to love. Can they both take one last chance on a perfect happily-ever-after?

Long Story Short by Kat Singleton
Release Date: August 25, 2026
I came to the Hamptons for one reason: to fix my broken manuscript. No distractions. No detours. Just me, my deadline, and a love story I can’t seem to get right.
But I didn’t plan on Tyson Bishop.
My dangerously charming, infuriatingly confident neighbor has a habit of showing up exactly when I should be working—and with a way of looking at me like he knows how to unravel me. Every smirk feels like a dare. Every touch lasts a second too long.
I tell myself I can handle this. Him. That this is just the kind of connection my story is missing. Showing me what it feels like to be wanted. To be consumed.
But somewhere between late nights and heated touches, the things I feel for Tyson stop feeling like inspiration…and start feeling real.
Long story short, I came here to write a love story.
I just didn’t expect to start living one.

Roped by Saffron A. Kent
Release Date: August 25, 2026
I’m Peyton Turner. I’m nineteen years old, and I have … a stalker.
No, I don’t have proof–but I know he’s watching me. I feel his stare burning through my bedroom window at night, smell his intoxicating scent when he’s close. Every time I try to catch him, he vanishes into the shadows like he was never there at all.
All I know for certain is that under his black Stetson, he wears a skull mask. It almost hides the wicked scar carved down his face, but it can’t hide his piercing green eyes. Eyes that haunt me.
I should be terrified of his attention. Instead, I find myself drawn to it. I only understand the danger too late, when my best friend goes missing. I’ve decided I won’t run, though. I won’t hide. I’ll set a trap to lure him out of the dark and force him to lead me to her.
But the man I’m hunting is a far more skilled predator than I imagined. And once his rope tightens around me, I’m no longer the one in control. I’m the prey.

The Plight Before Christmas by Kate Stewart
Release Date: August 25, 2026
Clark Griswold was onto something, at least with his annual holiday meltdown. And since the last three weeks of my life have been riddled with humbug-another breakup, a broken toe, an office promotion I deserved and didn’t get-I’m not at all in the mood to celebrate nor have the happ, happ, happiest Christmas EVER.
When Mom insisted that we all gather at my Grandparent’s ancient cabin for an old school family Christmas, I fully intended to get into the holiday spirit with the help of the three wise men, Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels, and Jim Beam. But those boys did absolutely nothing to offset the shock or temper the sting of seeing my EX on our doorstep the first day of our holiday soiree.
Apparently, Santa missed the memo, and this elf is pissed.
Stuck for a week with the man who obliterated my heart nearly two decades ago, I did the only thing I could do and put on my game face, thankful for the home advantage.
I knew better than to drink that last cup of eggnog.
I knew better than to get tongue tangled beneath the mistletoe with the only man to ever break my heart.
I knew better than to sleep with Satan’s wingman on the eve of the Lord’s birthday.
I could blame the nog. I could blame the deceitful light blue eyes, thick, angelic hair, and panty evaporating smirk…but mostly, I blame Eli because he always knew exactly which of my buttons to push.
I foolishly thought a family Christmas filled with nostalgia was going to turn my inner Scrooge around, but this year’s festivities went up in flames. Leave it to the ghost of my Christmas past to be the one to light the match.
Fa la la la la, la FML.
And that’s a wrap on a few of the romance releases I have my eye on this August! I hope you found a book (or maybe a few 😉) that made its way onto your TBR.
Here’s the full list of releases featured in this month’s roundup, in case you want to save it for later or come back when you’re ready to add to your TBR!
https://bookshop.org/lists/new-releases-august-2026-shar-s-books
What new release are you most excited about this month? I’d love to know what you’re looking forward to reading!
Keep turning pages & falling in love. Until next month, happy reading! 💕
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