Shark Heart: A Love Story

Emily Habeck

This book seems a little strange for BOTM, but I think the themes are enough for BOTM to overlook the shark part.

Synopsis: A gorgeous debut novel of marriage, motherhood, metamorphosis, and letting go, this intergenerational love story begins with newlyweds Wren and her husband, Lewis—a man who, over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark.

Debut

Under the Influence

Noelle Crooks

Previously, BOTM favored books that featured influencers, but I am not sure if that is true any longer. So I think this is a toss up.

Synopsis: The Devil Wears Prada meets The Assistants in this compulsively readable debut following a young woman who takes a job working for an enigmatic influencer and quickly discovers there’s an ugly side to being a #GirlBoss.

Family Lore

Elizabeth Acevedo

One of Elizabeth Acevedo’s previous books was a BOTM pick. This novel is her first for adults. I think there is a small chance it will be a pick, depending on whether the publisher is willing.

Synopsis: From the bestselling, National Book Award–winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives.

Repeat Author

Happiness Falls

Angie Kim

Angie Kim’s debut novel, Miracle Creek, was a pretty popular BOTM pick a few years ago. I think her sophomore novel is a shoe-in for a selection this month.

Synopsis: When a father goes missing, his family’s desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another in this thrilling page-turner, a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis from the award-winning author of Miracle Creek.

Repeat Author

Western Alliances

Wilton Barnhardt

BOTM does not due a lot of funny or satirical novels, but every few years they surprise us with one.

Synopsis: Wilton Barnhardt’s Western Alliances is a vivid portrait of a wealthy family set against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis. This laugh-out-loud, darkly funny novel follows the Costa family―whose members are every bit as richly absurd as the characters in HBO’s Succession.

The Apology

Jimin Han

This novel is blurbed by at least one past BOTM author. It sounds like some past family sagas that BOTM has featured as well.

Synopsis: This sweeping intergenerational saga tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends—and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come.

California Golden

Melanie Benjamin

This book about sisters has BOTM vibes written all over it. But not having read it, I cannot say for sure if the cover matches the inside pages.

Synopsis: Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife.

Alchemy of a Blackbird

Claire McMillan

Alchemy of a Blackbird is a seemingly different take on WWII historical fiction. While I do not think it is a guaranteed BOTM selection, it is blurbed by several past BOTM authors and suggested for fans of The Age of Light, a previous BOTM selection.

Synopsis: A beguiling novel of artistic ambition, perseverance, and friendship based on the true story of the 20th-century painters and tarot devotees Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington. Alchemy of a Blackbird is about a dynamic female friendship that became a historic artistic collaboration between two giants of the art world.

Where There Was Fire

John Manuel Arias

BOTM every once in awhile features historical family sagas. They are among my favorite selections. I would love to see this book as an August selection, but it may be too literary.

Synopsis: A lush and lyrical debut novel about a Costa Rican family wrestling with a deadly secret, from rising literary star John Manuel Arias. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed forever.

Debut

Tastes Like Shakkar (Dating Dr. Dil, #2)

Nisha Sharma

While the first first book in this romance series was a pick, that does not necessarily mean that this will be one. I think it is a toss up.

Synopsis: Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life, the next she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with “probably temporary” face blindness. But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, she falls into―love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?―with not one man but two very different ones.

Repeat Author

The Book of Silver Linings

Nan Fischer

I am struggling for good romance options this month. This book seems like it could possibly be a pick, but I am not confident.

Synopsis: Within the margins of an antique book, a timeless love waits for a young woman on the precipice of a terrible mistake in this enthralling new novel from the acclaimed author of Some of It Was Real.

The Hundred Loves of Juliet

Evelyn Skye

A retelling with a bit of magic? Sounds right up BOTM’s alley.

Synopsis: It’s a frosty fairytale of an evening in small-town Alaska when Helene and Sebastien meet for the first time. Except it isn’t the first time. You already know that story, though it didn’t happen quite as Shakespeare told it. A woman discovers that she is part of a legendary love story that spans lives, years, and continents in this modern-day reimagining of Romeo and Juliet.

None of This Is True

Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell is a tried and true BOTM author. None of This Is True will be published on August 8, but there is a chance that the app hints are about it.

Synopsis: Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Repeat Author

Good Bad Girl

Alice Feeney

Alice Feeney is another author whose books are often BOTM selections. BOTM has also featured her books as early releases; so this one may be a selection this month, despite its late August publication date.

Synopsis: Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Repeat Author

Gone Tonight

Sarah Pekkanen

Whether with her writing partner or not, Sarah Pekkanen is a pretty popular BOTM thriller writer. I think it is likely we will see this book among the selections.

Synopsis: Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Repeat Author

The Last One

Will Dean

BOTM featured Will Dean’s previous book, First Born, but had never included any of his past novels. I think there is a small chance this new novel could be a pick, but I do not think it is a shoe in. Not having read The Last One, I cannot say for sure how likely it is this will be a pick.

Synopsis: When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, it’s the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends, but when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing.

Repeat Author

Delicate Condition

Danielle Valentine

This book is described as a combination of two past BOTM picks. Because it is horror, I do not necessarily think that makes it an obvious pick, especially when there is another horror novel by a repeat author.

Synopsis: The Push meets The Silent Patient in a gripping thriller that follows a woman convinced a sinister figure is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens―while the men in her life refuse to believe a word she says.

Debut

Vampires of El Norte

Isabel Cañas

Synopsis: As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Repeat Author

My Name Is Iris

Brando Skyhorse

This book has a super fascinating premise and is compared to two past BOTM authors.

Synopsis: A riveting literary dystopian novel set in a near-future America where mandatory identification wristbands make second-generation immigrants into second-class citizens—a powerful family saga for readers of Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West and Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind.

The Invisible Hour

Alice Hoffman

I think it is likely we will see Alice Hoffman’s newest novel as a selection but not a guarantee. BOTM has only included one Hoffman book outside of the Practical Magic series. I will be interested to see if they continue featuring her novels.

Synopsis: One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost 200 years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Repeat Author

The Great Transition

Nick Fuller Googins

I would love to see this as a BOTM pick. It is compared to a past selection, but I would not be surprised if BOTM tries to stay away from speculative fiction or anything related to climate change.

Synopsis: For fans of Station Eleven and The Ministry for the Future, this richly imaginative, immersive, and profound novel is the electrifying story of a family in crisis that unfolds against the backdrop of our near future.

Repeat Author