August felt like a blur of a month if I'm being honest. I did spend a good chunk of it reading, and I have five books to share with you in this roundup, two of which are continuations of series I've been reading this year. The other three are stand-alones. I did manage to cross three more books off my summer reading list. That leaves only four books from that list unread. Let's dive in!

Beneath a Shattered Sky (The Fifth Nicnevin book 4)

Author: Marie Mistry

I have enjoyed reading this series, and I felt like I waited forever for this book to be released. However, I felt like overall this book didn't accomplish very much. It resolved the cliffhanger at the end of book three, but I really felt like all the characters spent this book fighting amongst themselves. They did gain an ally, but it was almost too easy compared to the first books. And, of course, this one ended in another cliffhanger, although not quite as edge-of-your-seat as book three.

Author: Lynda Rutledge

This book was so good. It was part of my summer reading list and will most likely make my end-of-the-year best books list. It's set in a small Texas town in the summer of 1964, so at the height of the Civil Rights Movement but before Martin Luther King, Jr., gives his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Corky is a 13-year-old tomboy whose father owns the town's only drugstore. When her father arranges a new housekeeper to help out her mother, Corky befriends her teenage daughter, America. Meanwhile, Corky's brother, Mack, is home from college for the summer with lots of new ideas about the world and how it should be. When Corky and Mack discover how fast America can run, they convince her to join the Baptist girls' softball team for the summer. This move obviously sparks controversy and leads to many events that will forever change the town.

Author: Janice Hallett

This book was on my summer reading list. It is a collection of correspondence being used to try to clear a woman of her murder conviction despite her confession that she is the killer. There is communication between lawyers  that are working on the appeal interspersed throughout this evidence to help guide you through what's happening. As such, I really felt like I was part of the book, solving the case.

There's a lot going on in this story, but it all revolves around a local theater group's fundraising efforts to help fund cancer treatment for the director's granddaughter. All the while, the group is still preparing for their next production. Then on the night before the opening performance, one of the actors is murdered, and there are a lot of suspects.

Author: Julia Drosten & Deborah Langton

This was my book club pick for August, and it was a tough read. This historical fiction book is set during time in which Great Britain is conquering the island of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. I knew going into this that the British weren't the kindest of invaders, but this author does not shy away from the brutality they inflicted on the natives. In fact, I feel like this author probably should have included a trigger warning because some of these scenes are incredibly uncomfortable.

In the early 1800s, the ruling family of Ceylon employed a royal elephant keeper. The title was passed from father to son, keeping the important role in the same family for generations. However, the current elephant keeper has only daughters, so he and his wife decide to raise their youngest as a male. In fact, Phedra has no idea she isn't a boy until she is 12 years old. That same year, the British conquer their country, and Phedra's family flees to the jungle, but her father and the other males do not simply accept their new rulers. They continue to fight, becoming the leaders of a doomed rebellion. Soon only Phedra, her mother, and her oldest sister are left and they must do whatever it takes to survive.

A Smidge of Voodoo (Cocktails in Hell series)

Author: S.E. Babin

I enjoyed this installment, even though it felt like not much happened to advance the main conflict. It did advance, but it felt like this book was more about Violet's character development. There was a break-up, a reunion, and a mission to save her best friend. We also meet a new villain, the infamous voodoo queen, Marie LaVeau. The archangel Michael is still a jerk and still on his mission of world domination. This book ends on a cliffhanger, and although it hints at the next book being a conclusion, there is no official word that that's the case from the author. I don't even have a release date or title.