Welcome to the August 2025 roundup!

Please tell me I am not the only one who blinked at the start of August and now it’s suddenly the end! Eight months down already for 2025, and I feel like I’ve only just struck the right balance of getting things done .

For me, this month was a whirlwind of bookish events, reading, blogging, authoring—and amongst the usual responsibilities of life—adding words to my WIP.

Now that I’m spending the majority of my writing time working on this new manuscript, I’ve set myself a very loose deadline to complete the first draft by the end of the year. Originally, I thought I could do it by October, using a booked holiday away as the deadline, but then I realised that’s now only 6 weeks away, and I doubt I’ll be able to draft that fast.

As for what else I got up to in August, read on…

After planning and plotting in July and then rewriting the opening three times, I finally hit a creative flow with my new WIP. It’s still untitled at the moment, but I’m hoping that as I go, the right title will emerge. As of the end of August, I’m just over 6,000 words deep and eager to write when I sit at my desk, so I’ll keep going with the enthusiasm while it lasts!

Freakier Friday

The sequel to Freaky Friday, which saw Tess Coleman and her daughter, Anna Coleman, switch bodies for the day. In Freakier Friday, a grown-up Anna switches places with her daughter, Harper, while Tess switches places with Anna’s soon-to-be stepdaughter, Lily. This is to teach the four a lesson about finding where they belong. While the plot doesn’t stray too far from the original, it packs it with so many nods and nostalgia, it can get away with it. It also helps that Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the newcomers Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons are all so great in the roles they play and during the switch-ups. The soundtrack is also great. If you’re a fan of Freaky Friday, this sequel is worth seeing.

The Thursday Murder Club

Based on the best-selling book, The Thursday Murder Club is packed with star actors and a great plot.

When Joyce (Celia Imrie) moves into a very fancy retirement home after the death of her husband, her goal is to make new friends. That comes about when her background as a nurse gets her invited to The Thursday Murder Club. Run by Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), and Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley), they solve the cold cases left by a former member and police detective, Penny.

When one of the owners of their retirement home is murdered, not only do they have the chance to solve a current case, but they can also stop their home from being sold. Full of red herrings, twists, and cake, it’s just a delightful movie all around.

Never a Hero (Only a Monster book 2) by Vanessa Len

It’s taken me a while to get to this sequel, but with the trilogy wrapping up with the release of the third and final book, I thought I’d get back into the series.

Never a Hero picks up with Joan in the new timeline she created after the events of the first book. While she remembers what happened, her family and friends do not, and she’s trying to move on. That’s hard to do when the new boy at her school turns out to be former monster slayer, Nick—the boy she kissed and betrayed. He doesn’t remember her, but is caught up in Joan’s mess when monsters from the future time-travel to kidnap her.

Before she knows it, she and Nick are on the run again, and she needs to let him know what she did to him without losing his trust. Flung into the future, they have to rely on other monsters, each other, and the other boy from Joan’s past—Aaron. When the enemy behind the current events plans for a more devastating timeline, Joan, Nick, and Aaron have to work together to prevent a future where they’re all doomed. There are some great twists in this one, and some banging final chapters to lead into what looks to be an epic conclusion to this YA fantasy trilogy.

Eleanor Jones is Playing with Fire by Amy Doak

Another excellent Eleanor adventure. When a fire destroys a property near Eleanor, she thinks she sees something suspicious. That hunch gets stronger as a series of fires breaks out in Cooinda. Despite promising to stay out of it, a threatening note gets her involved, and you know she won’t let up until it’s solved.

As usual, it’s the sarcastic wittiness of Eleanor and the good nature of her friends that anchors this series. The new romance between Eleanor and Troy is also a highlight and brings the right amount of sweetness to the story. If you have preteen readers looking to get into mystery stories that aren’t full of gore and horror, this series is the one for them, and is also enjoyable for any reader who likes lighthearted sleuth stories with good characters and solid writing.

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Another book set in the Inheritance Games world, but this one moves away from the main characters and brings in the new characters introduced in the spin-off books. They’re there to be part of The Grandest Game, an annual scavenger hunt run by Avery and the Hawthorne brothers.

Hawthorne Island, once the place of a deadly fire, is now the setting for the second annual Grandest Game, and every player wants to win, not just for the riches, but also to uncover each other’s secrets.

I really enjoyed this book as the games were back, and they allowed you to get to know the newer characters better. While the book ends on a cliffhanger to lead to the next release, what it serves up in the rest of the story is plenty of mystery, double-crosses, puzzles, and romance amongst the various teammates. If you enjoyed the original trilogy, this new trilogy is one to add to your TBR list.

Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge

When Kel Varra and her team of phoenix racers, The Howlers, are given the opportunity to train at a high-tech facility, they jump at the chance. Not only will it help them win races, but it’ll allow Kel to provide a better home for her phoenix, Savita. The only catch is they have to team up with Coup, a rider who pushes boundaries—and all of Kel’s buttons. But when not everything is a good as it seems under the guidance of their billionaire benefactor, Coup may be the only one Kel can trust.

Given that this story takes place in a world full of tech, magic, fantastical creatures, and racing, there is a lot of action. It’s fast-paced when the races happen, which creates tension and edge-of-your-seat chapters. Combined with found family, enemies-to-lovers, and a greatly foreshadowed twist leading to a satisfying finale, this is a read worth adding to your TBR pile if you’re a YA fantasy adventure fan.

Let’s Be Book Friends!

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your faves! You can also find and follow my book reviews on Amazon and BookBub.

This month, I’ve been taking photos of… bookish events and out-of-the-house writing sessions! In August, I attended the launch for Once A Villain by Vanessa Len, and met up with my fellow #6amAusWriters member, Belinda Grant, to work on our current WIPs while eating yummy food and drinking delicious hot chocolates.

In case you missed any of my posts or want to reread them, here are the latest blogs.

And that’s it for this month. I hope you’ve enjoyed my August Roundup. Let me know what you got up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

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