14 of the Best Books Out in August

In her first contemporary romance, Liana introduces us to Sofia, a content creator who highlights forgotten women from history whose stories deserve to be heard. She develops an online friendship with one of her followers that feels like the precursor to a different kind of relationship…which wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t show up in person as her visiting friend’s boyfriend. I am not usually one for romances featuring someone who is already in a relationship, but I trust Liana to guide us through with grace. —Jessica Pryde

In a world where monsters are real and both managed and recorded by a corporation, Alexys is your typical human resources manager. Sort of. But when one of her people goes missing in the Appalachians, Alexys is ready to get out from behind the desk to find him. Nic, the director of research and cataloging, can’t resist the idea of a creature that hasn’t been recorded, so he tags along. This is either a very good idea or a very bad one. Did I mention they’re work nemeses?

If you’re looking to read more set in a world where monsters and magic are regulated but maybe with less existential horror, you might also want to check out Made to Be by Elle Young, which features a necromancer who takes his love life into his own hands. —Jessica Pryde

This award-winning horror comic follows a police detective and a journalist as they uncover the horrifying truth behind an alleged suicide and the abandoned, all-Black mental hospital where the death took place — and where countless other lives were destroyed during the hospital’s long decades in operation. —Eileen Gonzalez

For fans of detective duos, Japanese murder mysteries, and “an asteroid is about to hit the earth” setting

If there are only two months left to live—an asteroid is about to hit the earth—what’s the point of solving a murder? Turns out some people are trying to go about their lives as usual until they figure out what to do. Enter Haru, a university student getting her driver’s license, and Isagawa, her instructor/former police detective. When they find someone stabbed to death, they decide to investigate since the police most likely won’t. —Jamie Canaves

You’ve probably already heard me say it: This is one of the best SFF books of the year. Each book in this series about an unusual detective duo is better than the last, and that’s saying something, because they’re all fantastic. But RJB has outdone himself with this one, a wildly imaginative and smart case of an heir accused of murder that unfolds into so much more. —Liberty Hardy

Mary Church Terrell, Anna J. Cooper, and Ida Gibbs are accustomed to standing out in a crowd. They learned the art of debate at Oberlin College, where they first had to fight for their right to attend the school as Black women in the 19th century. Now, they’re fighting for civil rights and women’s suffrage even as they struggle to be recognized as full U.S. citizens because of their sex and the color of their skin. Their differences as much as their similarities have brought them here, ready to fight for their rights and freedom. —Rachel Brittain

South Korean author Kim Bo-Young’s fiction has been called a “breathtaking piece of cinematic art” by Parasite director Bong Joon-ho. Her recently translated novella is set in a seaside village that is quarantined after a plague spreads, turning its victims into fish-like monsters. Bodyguard Mu-young moved to the village to be with her niece, but now her niece is dead, and Mu-young’s only job is hunting down villagers who try to break isolation. But when a bureaucrat from Seoul arrives in the village, everything changes. —Emily Martin

Harper’s grandmother, Gigi, told her stories growing up about Brown girls who gathered magic from the stars. So when Gigi dies, Harper begins to feel some kind of magic stirring beneath her own skin. She wants to know what it all means.

This means Harper is going to enroll at Black Mountain Academy, an elite boarding school her grandmother attended, and that’s rumored to be haunted by witches.

Harper’s going to find out both her own power and about the secrets at Black Mountain, even if it means dodging an ex-bestie who wants her off campus and her ex-bestie’s cousin. So when Harper discovers a legend about 12 witches who died on campus, she’s unable to shake a connection with them. But the school doesn’t want its secrets unraveled, which means Harper’s attempts to learn about herself and the witches may be cut short before they begin.

This one is getting comps to Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn. —Kelly Jensen

For fans of middle grade mysteries, supernatural, and ghost tours

Following her grandmother’s death, 12-year-old Harmony Roundtree is touring the country with her guitarist dad rather than being home in Harlem. While staying in Savannah, Harmony is determined to prove ghosts exist, but ends up instead with a murder mystery connected to the woman her father is staying with. —Jamie Canaves