Ladybug Books | The Books I read in August

The Books I Read in August

Desperate for a really strong fantasy read in September!

Reading Updates

Audiobook | Finished: Ancillary Mercy
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thoughts: It has been a long time since I binge-read a series, but I just couldn't stop listening to the audiobooks for the Imperial Radch trilogy. I found this last installment to be an odd continuation on the overarching plot. I'm surprised that the scope ended up being this narrow, given everything that happened in the first book. I can see why it happened the way that it did, but it didn't really feel like a finale. I loved the series as a whole. The characters are incredible, and I loved the detailed world-building. I plan to read the other books in the series soon, but I needed a little break from SciFi.

Ebook | Finished: The Sacred Space Between
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thoughts: The YEARNING in this book! Absolutely incredible. I loved the romance between Jude and Maeve so much. As a devout iconographer and an exiled saint they start off very ideologically opposed. I loved watching them form a bond of trust and mutual understanding as they learned to work together and help each other heal bit by bit. The slow building tension between them was perfect. I also love how this book explores themes of religion, faith, and devotion. A stunning debut!

Hardcover | Currently Reading: The Everlasting
Thoughts: I am literally 15 pages into this book, I have no thoughts yet lol. The writing style has me very intrigued. I'm also a little scared because the reviews for this book are so overwhelmingly positive I feel like it's impossible not to go into it with crazy high expectations.

Future Reading Plans

Rather than repeating the same books that I've been mentioning in my recent future reading plans updates, I thought I would share the last five books I added as "want to read" on Goodreads and what caught my interest.

• The Trident and the Pearl: Orbit. I pretty much automatically add any fantasy book Orbit publishes to my want to read list. The cover is also very interesting to me. A romantasy with gods and a seaside setting, I'm definitely keeping my eye on this one.
• Endless Blue Beneath: Another Orbit watery fantasy book that caught my eye on Instagram. This one a dark romantic fantasy with sapphic mermaids!
• One Yellow Eye: The cover caught my attention while I was watching a bookstore vlog on TikTok. "A brilliant scientist desperately searches for a cure after a devastating epidemic while also hiding a monumental secret—her undead husband." Torn between this sounding really interesting and the fact that I don't like reading about zombies.
• Weavingshaw: A very successful TikTok ad won me over even though the cover is really boring. A gothic romantasy about a young woman who can see the dead and strikes a deal with a dark, deadly stranger.
• Habits of the Sea: I am a sucker for the neon text on moody, painting-like covers trend. I find the aesthetic so appealing and it makes me want to be the kind of person who reads books like this. This is a 2026 release that follows a woman who rediscovers the fabled island where she went missing for a week when she was a child. Early reviews make me think this one might be a little too sad for me, but I will keep my eye on it.

Book Recommendations

It recently snowed a lot where I live so I think it is officially time to recommend some fantasy books with cold, wintry settings. Though my reading mood isn't heavily influenced by the season, I love to put together lists of seasonal book recommendations.

• Dark Water Daughter: This is a dark, wintry pirate story that follows Mary, a stormsinger who is captured by pirates and forced to help them find a mysterious treasure. We also follow disgraced naval officer Samuel whose connection to reality is slipping as his magic is corrupted. The cold winter setting is so well written, creating the perfect atmosphere to compliment the tense pirate story. The unique magic and magical creatures further enhance the setting.
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries: The first book in the Emily Wilde series takes place in a remote northern village in the middle of winter as scholar of the fae, Emily Wilde, travels to this village to document an elusive species of fae. She is joined by her academic rival, the lazy professor Wendall Bambleby. The two reluctantly team up to discover the secrets lurking in the snow and fend off the dark fae forces threatening the village. The snowy setting, cozy romance, and slightly dark magical elements make this a fantastic read for the winter months.
• Daughter of Redwinter: In this book we follow a young girl at a remote military outpost that is hiding a deadly secret. She can see the dead, a power that could get her killed as it means she has access to a forbidden level of magic. When she uses that magic to stop an attack on the outpost she finds herself wrapped up with a group of magic users. She must try to explore her power while keeping her forbidden abilities a secret.