Welcome to August! I hope everyone had a great reading month.

I am looking forward to this month. I have been traveling for about 10 straight weeks, and now I am back home with no major travel plans.

The only traveling I plan on doing this month is into the world of fictional books!

Just to quickly recap, at the end of May I attended the F1 in Montreal. Then 3 weeks in the USA in Chicago, Milwaukee, and NYC. A few days in Toronto to play tour guide for visiting friends, off to cottage country for a couple of weeks, then to the UK where we hit up a new city every 3 days, from Glasgow to Manchester to Cardiff to Barry Island to Salisbury to London.

Wonderful times and memories for life, but I never want to live out of a suitcase again!

I do weekly vlogs for our primary site Book Notification, so you can see me on my travels via those videos if you want. The trip to Scotland, Barry Island, and kicking about England.

While in Manchester, we visited the John Rylands Library and got to check out a 1700-year-old copy of The Odyssey. That was pretty surreal.

Last month’s mailbag was neat; we asked if there was a point in a book that you stop reading and DNF it, or how and when you decide to quit. What I thought was cool is that, while there is no hard rule, so many of you seem to have the same idea: you will read 50 pages and, if you aren’t hooked, give up.

It was neat just seeing people from all different walks of life all having the exact same ‘rule’ when it came to reading.

Last month I recommended The Traveler by Joseph Eckert and mentioned it hit that rare “S Tier” list for me in terms of book quality. It was great to hear from many of you who read it and loved it as well. It’s one of those books I am already itching to re-read and will likely listen to soon, as I want the Ray Porter experience.

I finished The Last Stop Video Shop by Keith A. Pearson, the story of a man who finds this random video store which has a tape with his name on it. It’s of a childhood memory – one that he knows was never filmed.

Keith is a tremendous author, and I always enjoy his works. This one came with a warning from him that it was a bit darker than normal, and it was. There were more serious themes, but that added a lot to the story, and the more I think about it, the more I think I’d list this as his best. That said, if you haven’t read Keith, I’d start with lighter works such as The ’86 Fix.

I read When I Kill You by B.A. Paris. She is a great thriller author, and this one was no exception. It’s the story of a woman with a secret past who believes someone is following her, spying on her, and planning on killing her.

I read Lost In Time by A.G. Riddle, which won Best Alternate History novel at the Dragon Awards. Now THIS was an experience. It’s a near-future story where murderers and criminals, as punishment, are sent back in time to the age of dinosaurs. I thought this was going to be more of a survival story, but it took a complete turn that I wasn’t expecting, but loved.

There was absolutely no balanced pacing in this book. It started out at the fastest gear and stayed that way. I didn’t mind that though; it was action-packed and the perfect book to read on the beach. I’ll certainly read more by him and would recommend checking that one out.

I re-read the entire Hunger Games series – well, the original trilogy. I was going to check out the Hunger Games live theatre experience in London, so I wanted to read the first book again. Well, after I read that, I had to watch the movie. And then I had to read the next two books. And watch those adaptations.

I always forget just how much I enjoy The Hunger Games. I think I’ve re-read it 5 or 6 times now. I always think about updating this mascot picture at the beginning of the newsletter to a more professional one; then I remember how much I enjoy the series and leave it.

Speaking of adaptations – on the flight to Scotland I re-watched the adaptation of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. It’s funny, as I only put that on as fun content for the Currently Reading video, but ended up glued to it. Such a great adaptation, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her works adapted.

Speaking of Freida, we were driving all over the UK, and my sister was the driver, so she got to pick the audiobook. We listened to One By One. I’d read that one before and really enjoyed it. The audiobook was alright; it never really added to the experience, and I think I prefer to read Freida’s books over listening.

I read No Place Left To Hide by Megan Lally. This is a YA Thriller. I read her debut book and enjoyed it, but this one was a little “too YA,” if you know what I mean. Basically, there are some young adult novels that an adult can read and enjoy, but there are also some that, as you read, you think “Yeeeah this is geared a bit more towards teenagers”. That’s how I felt with this one, and it wasn’t an enjoyable read for me personally.

I read Denied Access by Don Bentley, his second novel in the Mitch Rapp series. He has a really different writing style from Kyle Mills and Vince Flynn, but it works; I enjoy that he is going back chronologically too and filling in some blanks in the story. I’m so glad that Vince Flynn’s estate has found two of the best authors to continue Vince’s legacy.

Don’s a really cool author too. I posted that Currently Reading video on Thursday, and he liked, commented, and shared it on every single social media channel he is a part of. We do so much work for authors, promoting their books and managing their book lists, etc., so it’s such a nice feeling to see that work reciprocated.

Plus it’s beneficial for them as well, as you can bet that when Don’s next book is released, I will be promoting it like crazy as I am thankful for what he did. We do a lot of promotion for debut authors as we want to help them celebrate that great achievement, and it’s always so disappointing when they can’t even muster up a like on a video or image that directly promotes their book.

I’m just about to start The Odyssey by Homer. My wife and daughter both read it last year, and based on the way they talk about it, I’m really looking forward to reading it and then seeing the movie.

That’s about it for me. As always, if you want:

  • 25x the authors as OrderOfBooks
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Each month, we give away 5 $25 Amazon gift certificates to random subscribers.

To win, all you have to do is be a subscriber. Nothing more! When we click “Publish,” we take a list of all our subscribers, put them into a random draw, and those are the winners.

Our winners this month are:

Ashoka from Hungington, NY
Wendy T. from Perth, Australia
Mike from NY, NY (email begins with ‘swee’)
Linda F. from Grayslake, IL
Janet J. from Canonsburg, PA

All of you have been e-mailed. If you don’t see anything, check your junk folder or contact me.

So it goes.

Graeme
OrderOfBooks.com

Book Shop Cats

I know a lot of the readers of this newsletter own and love cats. While in The Strand bookstore in NYC, I came across a book titled “Book Shop Cats”. The author’s name was Daphne Du Meowier. I thought – this would be perfect for the newsletter!

So each month, I’ll share a picture of the cat from the book, followed by the excerpt they wrote. Hope you enjoy! If you like these, you can buy the book.


QUIMBY

AGE: Nineteen months
BREED: Domestic Shorthair, tabby
BOOKSHOP: Wild Geese Bookshop, Franklin, Indiana, USA

ARRIVAL STORY: We hosted a kitten-adoption event on the porch for Independent Bookstore Day with Shelby County Community Cats and couldn’t part with him.

TEMPERAMENT: He looks constantly surprised.

FUN FACT: He prefers office work. And he once got stuck in a hole under the cabinet like Winnie-the-Pooh in the tree.

LITERARY ALIAS: A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. He has a honey-pot-shaped belly — hence getting stuck in the wall. Oh, bother.

Book Recommendations

In this section, I give 3-5 random book recommendations from readers of the newsletter. They can be old books, they can be new. Feel free to e-mail suggestions to me. Just hit reply. If you wish to add a description for the book around the same size as the ones below that’d be great too!

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie: Keith wrote in to recommend this one that he listened to. Here is what he wrote:

“A multi-generational saga of a matriarchal crime family in upstate Maine. Babs Dionne is a doting grandmother, proud Franco-American, and the ruthless leader of an organization that holds an iron grip over all aspects of life in Waterville, Maine. Aided by her daughters and a group of women who’ve known Babs since High School, the family controls the flow of drugs, both importing from Canada and local distribution. Babs grew up as part of a poor, French speaking persecuted minority exploited as cheap, expendable labor in the local paper mills.”

“When conditions became too dire, and the men too beaten down to resist, the women banded together to keep families fed, together and protected from a corrupt Government and greedy factory owners. This group evolved into an intricate web of co-opted police, politicians and residents, until Babs and her lieutenants essentially ran Waterville. That is, until a drug lord realizes that his sales were low in a distinct area and he sends “The Man” to investigate, intimidate, and bring Babs to heel. Excellent story performed by a skilled reader. This one sounds like reporting distorted just enough to avoid libel suits. Loved it! 8/10”

Broken by Don Winslow: Keith also wrote in to recommend this one – he’s a big fan of Don, and it was narrated by Ray Porter, so I knew he was going to like this one. If you’re looking to try out the great Don Winslow, this short story collection might be the best way to do that.

“I stumbled across this one while scanning through the 500+ titles read by Ray and available at my local library. It’s a collection of 6 novellas featuring high-level thieves and low-life crooks, obsessed cops struggling with life on and off the job, private detectives, dope dealers, bounty hunters and fugitives – IOW, Winslow’s usual cast of fringe elements.”

“With a tag line of “No matter how you come into this world, you come out broken”, each of these polished gems shows a different facet of that worldview. Familiar characters from Winslow’s earlier novels appear frequently, with some early in life / career and some approaching retirement. These stories, and Ray’s performance, are so good that they might get me to drop my aversion to short fiction. 8/10”

Rocket’s Red Glare by James Patterson & Matt Eversmann: Star Marie wrote in to recommend this one, writing:

“I finished “Rocket’s Red Glare” by Patterson and Matt Eversmann in less than 24 hours after I checked it out of the library. Yes, it was that good. Can’t give away the plot, just know that if you love “Black Hawk Down” by Matt Eversmann, you’ll love this book.”

I always enjoy those ‘can’t give away the plot’ e-mails as I get it; when I read a book that I really enjoy and want to recommend to people, it’s hard to describe it as you don’t want to give away anything.

Here’s a short synopsis of it:

Former Special Forces leader Nat Phillips and his elite team are called into action when a murder during a presidential campaign sparks a deadly crisis on American soil.

Rachel Hatch series by L.T. Ryan and Brian Christopher Shea: I know we have recommended L.T. Ryan before – but not this series. Penny wrote in to recommend it. There are about 19 stories in all at the moment, with more coming, so if you’re looking for a good-sized series to get stuck into, this might be for you.

Penny described it as a book that she found hard to put down. Former Army investigator Rachel Hatch returns home after her sister’s suspicious drowning and joins the local sheriff to uncover the truth before those responsible come after them too.

The Final Target by Nora Roberts: Now I know we have recommended Nora Roberts multiple times in here, but she is so prolific, and I am always happy to add a recommendation when there is a specific book.

Virginia wrote in to recommend The Final Target and said she felt it was the best book Nora has ever written.

This is Nora’s latest standalone, and I do see it getting rave reviews everywhere. In this gripping thriller, a young author survives an assault by an obsessed fan. She decides to start over in a small Oregon town, but his fixation and rage continue to threaten her life.

August Book Of The Month

The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter: There will be a lot of Karin Slaughter fans who have had August marked on the calendar.

She started a new series last year, the North Falls Thriller series, and the first novel, We Are All Guilty Here, was very well received.

The follow-up, The Secrets We Hide, releases on August 11th and is already receiving rave reviews from early readers. It takes place in North Falls, a “small town with a big secret”.

When a woman is murdered and her teenage daughter is left for dead, small-town sheriff Emmy Clifton must dig through North Falls’ secrets to uncover what really happened.

10 More Notable Books Releasing in August

Brought to you by BookNotification.com where you can get updated on all the upcoming books by your favourite authors with your own personalized calendar!

Pictures of the Month

Thanks to Carla for the first 4 and David for the pick of the awesome socks/mug combo he spotted in a store.

Send in your own to site@orderofbooks.com or by replying!

Images, jokes, etc. We’ll take it all!

Your Thoughts!

Last month, we asked if there was a specific point in a book that you decided to stop reading. The answers are later in the newsletter.

For this month, I’m asking:

What book(s) have you read in the last year or so that you’re still thinking about, for whatever reason? That are living rent-free in your head?

I thought about this earlier this week. I read The Women by Kristin Hannah last year. First book I have read by her, and I really enjoyed it. I knew about 3 pages in I was going to enjoy her writing style.

While I’m not specifically thinking of that book, it has been in my mind lately, to the point I’m really aching to read another by her, and will start The Nightingale shortly.

I also read Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy last year, and that was a great work which I still think about a lot.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is another one. And I read Replay by Ken Grimwood in 2020, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of that book and that picture in that scenario. That’s probably the most fitting answer for this question.

What about you – what books are living rent-free in YOUR head? And for a good or bad reason?

E-mail us your feedback to site@OrderOfBooks.com or just reply to this e-mail, and we’ll pick the best comments and feature it in next month’s newsletter. Five people will also randomly win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.

Reader Mailbag!

Click here to read.

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Order of Books » Newsletter » OrderOfBooks August 2026 Newsletter

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