My August 2025 Reads – A Book Review

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

Let’s recap August!

The kids started school last month. Yay!

August is also the month of my wedding anniversary. To celebrate, the hubby and I kept it low-key and went out to a nice Italian restaurant. The lasagna was lasagna-ing. Maybe the most delicious I’ve ever had? I don’t know. Dessert was on point too. Skip the salad. That was underwhelming.

Baseball, baseball, baseball, music lesson, music lesson, music lesson and ice skating.

Oh and I saw the movie, “Caught Stealing” in the theater. Not bad. Entertaining. Craziness ensued. Good ending.

And… writing. I wrote two additional chapters of my book and am working on editing a third. We’re on Ch. 43 now. Getting there!

As always, if you’re interested in reading my first novel, The Secrets We Keep, it’s available to read here. This book has cheating themes and plenty of spice for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

What else did I do in August? Read! I read 16 books. Of those 16, seven were somewhere between good and excellent in my humble opinion. Without further ado, check out my reviews of the books I read and loved in August!

Let Me Hold You (The McClain Brothers, Book 2) by Alexandria House

I listened to this one on Audible.

Things I didn’t like: The jealousy stuff when they were new together, and she jumped to conclusions about him getting photographed with another celebrity. Also, how they said they didn’t want a relationship in the beginning, even though they both knew they wanted each other. And the MMC got on my nerves a little with all his cheesy sex talk, and nicknaming her vag right away.

Things I liked: The twists, misdirection and surprises that I should’ve seen coming, but didn’t. And I won’t spoil it here.

Overall, I enjoyed it!

4/5 stars

Let Me Show You (The McClain Brothers, Book 3) by Alexandria House

I also listened to this on Audible. I liked this couple. They were both flawed, with Bridgette and her tragic family issues. And Nolan playing backseat to his famous brother. Him finding himself in prostitution rings with Russian women. And him having money to take care of problems, and not being afraid to get his hands dirty.

I liked that he saved her from an attempted date rape. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with her and her potential assailant, but his spidey-senses kicked in. He erred on the side of caution and got her out of a dangerous situation. I fell for him instantly after that.

4/5 stars

Without You (Book 1 in the Without You Duet) by Marley Valentine

What a cover, huh? I listened on Audible. This is my first book by this author and it won’t be my last. I loved this love story. The sex was so hot. Loved the premise. Just loved. A bi-awakening story. Deacon didn’t know he was bi until he opened his heart to his dead brother’s boyfriend, Julian. Watching them fall in love was a lot of fun. They were so good together. Perfect for each other. The grieving. The healing. Just, wow. I loved it.

4.75/5 stars

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts

Listened to this on Libby. This is my first Nora Roberts book. I’ve heard of this author many times before, but never picked up one of her books. I’m so glad I did this time.

At first, I didn’t understand why we had to go through Sloan’s near-death experience, but then as the story unfolds, we start to understand why. It’s leading up to the villains, who are a pair of incredibly kooky, scary, super religious nuts. The villains were depicted perfectly. They actually believed they were justified and called by a higher power to commit their crimes. It was all very sad for their multiple victims.

Really well written, unique story that makes you want to watch your back a little more carefully. There are some psychos out there. It reminds you that people stalk, they plan, and they can take you if you don’t have your guard up.

Some romance was thrown in there too, which I appreciate. I cared about these characters. The only drawback for me was all the talk about home renovations, and one other thing I can’t get into because it’s a spoiler. But thoroughly enjoyed overall.

4.5/5 stars

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

Also listened to this on Libby. You can read my review for the only other book I read by this author, Anxious People, here.

I took off a quarter star because I’m sad that one of the characters had to die the way that they did. Two characters in the friend group were perfect for each other. Every time they got into a fight, I was like, ‘OK, this is just foreplay’.

They were such a tight-knit group. It was really fun to go on this little adventure. There was so much in the story – domestic abuse, rape, being in a foster home and having to deal with the drama of that, drug overdose, losing friends, death, plotting murder in self-defense, getting mugged and robbed violently, people who are sort of meek and mild-mannered having to deal with being stabbed.

It was very well written. As I was reading it, I was like, ‘this is one of those great American novels.’ It really was.

It wasn’t necessarily a good time. I didn’t cry, but I didn’t always want to grab it and read it. I just felt that I could appreciate it for being as well-written as it was. The ending was perfect.

It dealt with how tricky it is to insert yourself into someone else’s life, especially when you know or think you know there’s an abusive dad at home. I understand why nobody wanted to be the one to scream fire or to rock the boat. It’s better and easier just to keep the peace.

I felt that the four friends were all unique individual characters. I was surprised that the painting was two boys and a girl from the perspective of the artist. I thought it was three boys, but when you look at the cover again, you see that two boys are shirtless, and then one has a shirt on, and that’s the girl.

I really enjoyed the character, the boy who was getting abused by his father, and how he really wanted the artist friend to go out there and be somebody, because he knew that wasn’t his destiny, but he really wanted it for his friend. He knew that his friend wouldn’t go after it himself, so he pushed him, and got mad at him when he said he’ll just stay in their small town and do a regular job. His friend told him, no, you will not. That was a true friend.

It was a beautiful story about life. I also enjoyed the ‘they’re one of us,’ throughout, how it was cyclical. They knew the people who were their people. I liked that.

4.75/5 stars

Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood

I listened on Libby, while reading the ebook and library book. This was another one of those instances where I was reading a book and I did not realize it was book two of a series. But I caught on pretty early because of the names of the characters mentioned, Rue and Eli. I was like, where do I know this name? It is the two main characters from Not in Love, which I enjoyed. I actually wanna go back and re-read it. I was looking at my notes from Not in Love, and I actually wrote in there that I wanted to see the story between Maya and Connor, because they start a little somethin’ in Not in Love. And here it is, the author granted my wish, so this was a very nice surprise. Thank you Ms. Hazelwood! You can read my review for Book 1, Not in Love, here.

The story is told on two different timelines. We start in the present day, then we rewind to three years ago and see how Maya and Connor’s relationship unfolded over the course of three years. We see how he kept pushing her away, telling her she’s too young and he didn’t want to take advantage of her. He kept saying ‘This won’t work,” even though secretly he was madly in love with her. “I’m trying not to be like my dad who dates super young women.” He just had a lot of issues and baggage, while her heart is completely open to him.

They have this friendship over the phone and FaceTime, and whenever she calls him, he’s always answering, doesn’t matter the time of day or night.

Then in the present day, when they get intimate, it was so sad afterwards when she realizes they’re not on the same page. I don’t want to get into specifics, but she was crying and I was close to tears when I listened to that part. The narrator who did that particular scene was incredible.

I have mixed emotions about this book because we had to focus on another couple in it because we were at their Italian wedding, but it was still fun. The side characters were fun too. The FMC was a spunky, spirited little thing, and a bit of a freak.

Still, there was something missing from it for me, but it also gave me a lot too. I can’t put my finger on what was missing. Maybe the back-and-forth of the timeline, maybe the fact that I wish that we knew Connor a little bit more. I also didn’t love that Book 1 and Book 2 didn’t have book covers that matched or seemed like they were in the same world. You’d never know these books were related.

Overall, the book was lighthearted and fun.

4/5 stars

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

What a surprise! I listened to this on Libby and finished it in 3 days. When your mouth falls open in shock, not once, but twice? Wow! Just brilliant.

This is a period piece set in the 60s to early 70s, depicting both a simple farm life and a glamorous writer’s life. It’s hard to sympathize with a spouse who is cheating. But all the characters were so broken, and it was such a heartbreaking story to read, that we forgive them. She really was in love with two men. A tragic story done exceptionally well.

4.75 stars

The remaining nine books I read that were just not for me were as follows:

• The Outlaws Series by Elle Kennedy. This series contained three books. Claimed, Addicted, and Ruled. It was one of this author’s earlier works and though some parts of it I liked, I didn’t vibe with all of it. That’s just me.
• I also read Book 1 and Book 4 of The McClain Brothers series by Alexandria House. I just didn’t like them as much as the second and third books.
• I read a big bestseller too, The Names by Florence Knapp. There were some plot points I didn’t agree with, which made me not like the story as much. I certainly felt deep emotions while reading this book though, especially when they documented the domestic abuse. It made me think about abuse in a different way. It’s not always about fists landing. It’s also about control, humiliation and manipulation. Parts of it were very well done.
• Another book that just wasn’t for me – Dream State by Eric Puchner. At its heart, it’s a story about best friends who fall in love with the same woman. However, the author skipped over some pretty important dramatic events. Like exactly what happened when Cece decided to leave her husband? I wanted to see that played out. And when Cece decided to engage in an affair later in life, I wanted more details on that. And the author skipped ahead a lot in the timeline, passing over even more important events. For example, Lana, who was Cece and Gabriel’s daughter, was a second-rate actress. And then we skip ahead, and she’s an accomplished film director. How did we get there?
• And finally, I read the first two books in the Slave to Sensation series by Nalini Singh. Book 2 is Visions of Heat. I picked this one up at the recommendation of a booktoker I follow who reads a lot of werewolf fiction. Since I’ll be diving into that world in my writing journey, I read this for research purposes. I, again, just didn’t vibe with these books. And I decided to stop the series.

Thanks for reading!