Read time: 8 minutes
August turned into one of those months where the books just kept surprising me. Thirty-two books, one DNF, and an average rating hovering around 3.7. This might sound modest until you remember two of my five-star reads this month came from genres I don’t even normally read. Cozy mystery still ran the show, seventeen of the thirty-two, but the four favourites that made the cut this time span horror, nonfiction, and two very different flavors of emotional gut-punch cozy. No Book of the Month picks this round, just a stacked Favourite Reads list and a genuinely strong batch of ARCs. If nothing else, August proved I will read outside my comfort zone when a book insists hard enough.
Favourite Books
Hollowmarch
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 391 pages 📅 Released July 26, 2026 Genre: Horror 🏷️ Publisher: Independently Published
C.C. Knight completely upended my no-horror rule with this one, a trapped-in-another-reality nightmare so vividly drawn I had strict daylight-only reading rules for it. Five stars from someone who actively avoids the genre, and this one earns its spot on your TBR the second you see it.
Book Links: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | Booktrovert
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
🎧 Listened in audio 📢 Narrated by Sophie Gilbert ⏱ Duration: 9 hours Genre: Non Fiction 🏷️ Publisher: Books on Tape / Penguin Press
Sophie Gilbert doesn’t let anyone off easy here, not the industries, not the culture, not us for looking away, and the result is a gut-punch of a listen that stays uncomfortable in exactly the right way. Five stars, and if you’ve ever wondered how we got HERE, this is essential listening.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Sleep in Heavenly Pizza (Deep Dish Mysteries #4)
🎧 Listened in audio 📢 Narrated by Holly Adams ⏱ Duration: 9 hours Genre: Culinary Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: SpotifyAudiobooks and Minotaur Books
Mindy Quigley turns three books’ worth of trusted friends into suspects here, and somehow makes you feel guilty for even doubting them, this one wrecked me in the best way. Holly Adams’ narration is sharper than ever, giving each character her own distinct voice, and I went in expecting a cozy holiday whodunit and came out completely emotionally ruined.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Written in Stone (Scottish Bookshop Mystery #10)
🎧 Listened in audio 📢 Narrated by Eleanor Caudill ⏱ Duration: 7 hours Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Minotaur Books and Tantor Media
Ten books in, Paige Shelton still found a new way to make me feel something for this found family in Edinburgh. The mystery itself won’t stump you (I clocked the killer early), but that was never the point, this one’s about Delaney realizing home isn’t the place you started, it’s the place you built.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
ARCs in this month
The Spiral (A Nina Esposito Mystery #1)
📚 Read as a book 📃 336 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours (Kobo) 📅 Releases October 27, 2026 Genre: Thriller 🏷️ Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Rosanne Limoncelli pulls you straight into 1979 Greenwich Village and doesn’t let go, with writing so vivid it’s giving me nightmares in the best way. The atmosphere and suspense earn a full recommend, though the ending leaves one unanswered question about the killer’s motive. Mark October 27 on your calendar for this one.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Sticks, Pucks, and Murder (Carolyn Lutkin Mysteries #1)
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 180 pages ⏱ Duration: 2 hours 📅 Released July 1, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Bee in the Poppy Press
Carolyn Lutkin is the kind of character who makes you want to follow her into whatever arena or crime scene comes next, even when the mystery plot around her wobbles a little. The pacing is quick, the clues are fair, and if you want a cozy that trades tea shops for skate tape and sticks, add this one to your TBR.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover
‘Tis the Season to Be Scary (A Year-Round Christmas Mystery #9)
📱📖 Read on Kobo 📃 295 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours 📅 Releases September 8, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Merry’s crush-adjacent dynamic with Diane Simmonds via Mattie (a very good, very smitten dog) is worth the read alone in this Halloween-flavored addition to the Year Round Christmas series. The paranormal thread stays light-handed and never silly. Add it to your TBR before the ghosts of Rudolph beat you to it on September 8.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
The Mystic and the Missing Girl
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 336 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours 📅 Releases September 8, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Minotaur Books
Drew and Hannah’s relationship carries real weight, and the tarot chapter openers are a genuinely clever touch that made this a fun one to sit with. The mystery moves slower than I’d like and the fair play element could use tightening, but Vikki VanSickle has a strong foundation here. Mark September 8th for this one.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | Litsy
Death by Red Velvet Latte (Bookstore Café Mystery #16)
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 320 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours 📅 Releases October 27, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Sixteen books into the Bookstore Café Mystery series, what sold me this time wasn’t the murder but watching Krissy actually behave like an exhausted, overwhelmed bride-to-be instead of a superhero sleuth. The pacing dragged and the ending leaned a little too hard on a spiritual hand-wave, so it’s not a perfect entry, but Alex Erickson knows this world too well for me to give up on it now. Mark October 27th for this one.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert
The Ghost Moon Tide (The Manatee Bay Cozy Mystery Series #2)
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 257 pages ⏱ Duration: 4 hours 📅 Releases September 14, 2026 Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Twitching Whiskers Press
A ghost binding three holiday traditions together while an old Prohibition-era secret claws back to the surface is one of the stronger hooks I’ve come across in the genre this year. The multiple POV structure kept me guessing right up to the reveal. Mark September 14 on your calendar, I’m genuinely invested in where Taffy Beach takes this series next.
Book Links: My Review | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Deck the Halls with Boughs of Murder (Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #7)
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 320 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours 📅 Releases October 6, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
If you’ve been with Holly since book one, book seven feels like the right kind of quiet, a new mom is not supposed to go all in on a murder investigation with a six month old on her hip, and the slower pacing reflects that. Jacqueline Frost still hands you that same snow-dusted, cinnamon-scented Mistletoe though. Mark October 6th, that alone was worth the trip back this year.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
A Critical Conjunction (Booktown Mystery #20)
📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 350 pages ⏱ Duration: 5 hours 📅 Releases September 29, 2026 Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Publisher: Berkley
Twenty books in, and this is the one that finally made the Miles family dysfunction impossible to ignore, between the entitlement, the doormat behaviour, and a mystery that mostly solves itself. The ending felt tacked on with a motive that comes out of nowhere, and it’s got me questioning how much longer I want to stick around with this series.
Book Links: My Review | Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Until Next Month
That’s a wrap on August, ghosts, gut-punches, and one very stubborn Booktown family included. What was the standout read on your list this month? Drop it in the comments, I’m always hunting for the next book to fall into.
Stats for the Month
- Total books read: 32
- Total pages: 10,229
- Average rating: 3.66 ⭐
- Format breakdown: 21 Audiobook, 11 Kindle
- Genre breakdown: 17 Cozy Mystery, 4 Fantasy, 4 Non Fiction, 2 Thriller, 2 Romantasy, 1 Horror, 1 Romance, 1 Science Fiction
- DNFs: 1
- ARCs read: 11
Discover more from Views She Writes
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
