Must-Have August Releases + A Linkup

How is it already time for another must-have releases post? I feel like I just finished the one for last month and yet, here we are, gearing up for August! I’m super excited for all of these books though, that’s for sure!

Guide Me Home

Working in the massive cave might allow Rebekah the chance to bring joy back to her family. But will it claim more than it gives?

After tragedy leaves its mark on Rebekah Hardin’s family, she plans to help her parents and six siblings honor her beloved brother’s memory and alleviate their poverty by working as a guide in the dangerous cave system. Kentucky’s renowned Mammoth Cave presents profitable opportunities for hardworking, capable men. But Rebekah is determined and if it means presenting herself as a himself, then she’s up to the job.

Under the wing of experience guide Tolly Sanford, “Reb” begins to learn the complexities of the cave and the two are joined by an aspiring young cartographer, Devlin Bale.

The university student has traveled to the hill country to map tunnels—not to fall for a girl in disguise. Can the God who designed miles of underground astonishment shape Devlin’s ambitious plans and free Reb from the weight from the past.

Guide Me Home is Kim Vogel Sawyer’s newest stand-alone novel, and I’m so completely excited for it to release. I’m a big fan of Kim’s, and therefore am looking forward to getting to read more of her work once this finally comes out.

A Tapestry of Secrets

Now in her eighties, Perla Phillips has carried a secret since she was eighteen years old. When she sees her granddaughter, Ella, struggling for perfection, she decides to share her secret to show that God can use even the biggest mistakes for good. But before she can reveal what happened during that summer sixty years ago, she has a debilitating stroke.

Carrying a secret of her own, Ella arrives back in Wise, West Virginia, to help her aunt Sadie care for Perla. Both know the woman wanted to tell them something, but she’s now locked in silence. Together they begin looking into the past, but they may learn more than they expected.

Will they have the courage to share their hearts? Or will the truth remain buried forever?

A Tapestry of Secrets is the third book in Sarah Loudin Thomas’ Appalachian Blessings series, coming after Miracle in a Dry Season and Until the Harvest. I really, really enjoyed the first two books in the series, and I cannot wait for this one! It sounds fantastic, and I’m so excited to read it!!!

Where Hope Prevails

When Beth Thatcher returns to Coal Valley, she has much to be excited about. She anticipates Jarrick’s proposal of marriage and perhaps a spring wedding. The mine is expanding, and there are more schoolchildren than ever.

But the town’s rapid growth brings many challenges. A second teacher is assigned, and Beth finds herself going head-to-head with a very different philosophy of education—one that dismisses religion and rejects God. Fearful for the children who sit under the influence of Robert Harris Hughes, Beth struggles to know how to respond.

At the same time, Beth wonders if Jarrick is considering a position at her father’s company simply for her sake. Should she admit her feelings on the matter? Or keep silent and allow Jarrick to make up his own mind?

Where Hope Prevails is the third book in Janette Oke’s Return to the Canadian West series, coming after Where Courage Calls and Where Trust Lies. I haven’t had a chance to read any of the novels in this series, but I have read almost all of Janette’s other novels, so I am confident that all three novels will make wonderful reads!

A Heart Most Certain

While Lydia King’s reasons for joining the Teaville Moral Society might be suspect to some members, her heart is in the right place. Because of her father’s debts and her mother’s persistent illness, her best chance at a secure future and curing her mother is to impress the politician curing her. Her first task—to ask the town’s wealthiest man to donate—seems simple enough…until he refuses.

Despite appearances, Nicholas Lowe wants to help others, but prefers to keep his charity private. When Lydia proves persistent, they agree to a bargain, but Nicholas still intends to do things his own way. Neither predicts what they’ll learn about true charity or foresee the complications their actions will bring to the town, forcing Lydia to decide where her beliefs and heart truly align.

A Heart Most Certain is the first book in Melissa Jagears’ new Teaville Moral Society series, but isn’t the first book I ever read by her. I’ve read a few books in her Unexpected Brides series and really enjoyed them, so I’m hopeful that this novel will be just as good!

The Wedding Shop

Two women separated by decades. Both set out to help others find their dreams when their own have crumbled.

It’s the early 1930s, but Cora Scott is walking in stride as a career woman after having inherited her great aunt’s wedding shop in Heart’s Bend, Tennessee, where brides come from as far away as Birmingham to experience her famed bridal treatment. Meanwhile, Cora is counting down the days until her own true love returns from the river to make her his bride. But days turn into months and months to years. All the while, Birch Good continues to woo Cora and try to show her that while he is solid and dependable, he can sweep her off her feet.

More than eighty years later, former Air Force Captain Haley Morgan has returned home to Heart’s Bend after finishing her commitment to military service. After the devastating death of her best friend, Tammy, and discovering the truth about the man she loved, Haley is searching for her place in life.

When Haley decides to reopen the romantic but abandoned wedding shop where she and Tammy played and dreamed as children, she begins a journey of courage, mystery, and love.

As Cora’s and Haley’s stories intertwine through time in the shadow of the beloved wedding shop, they both discover the power of their own dreams and the magic of everyday love.

The Wedding Shop is Rachel Hauck’s most recent stand-alone novel, and is a book I am so, so excited for. I’m a huge fan of Rachel’s, and really love her “wedding” novels—such as The Wedding Chapel, which I read recently—so I’m so glad she’s coming out with this book. It sounds fabulous, doesn’t it?!

Fraying at the Edge

Family, community, faith, and love. These “quilt blocks” sewn together made Ariana’s beautiful life. When they are pulled to pieces, will anything familiar remain?

The Old Order Amish life Ariana Brenneman loved vanish virtually overnight with the discovery that she was switched at birth twenty years ago. Now she’s immersed in the Englischer world, getting to know her mother, and under the authority of her biological father, an atheist intellectual with resolute plans to expand Ariana’s worldview. Only Quill Schlabach, a childhood friend living Englisch, can help steady Ariana’s tilting ground between the two worlds, but can she trust him after so many betrayals?

At the same time, Skylar Nash is forced to choose rehab or spend several months with her true relatives, the large Brenneman family and their seemingly backward life—no electricity, no technology, no fun. What the young woman can’t leave behind is her addiction to illegal prescription drugs and deep emptiness from the belief that she doesn’t belong in either family.

New ties are binding Ariana and Skylar to the lives they were meant to have. Can they pray for the wisdom and strength they’ll need to follow God’s threads into unexpected futures?

Fraying at the Edge is the second book in Cindy Woodsmall’s The Amish of Summer Grove series, coming after Ties That Bind. I hadn’t read any of Cindy’s other books before I read Ties That Bind, but I absolutely LOVED it, and I’m dying to know what else happens for Ariana, Quill, and Skylar, so believe me when I say I’m so ready for this book!

The Lady and the Lionheart

Raised amid the fame and mystique of the Big Top, Charlie Lionheart holds the audience in the palm of his hand. But while his act captivates thousands, it’s away from the spotlight where his true heart lies. Here he humbly cares for the pride of his lions as if they were his brothers, a skill of bravery and strength that has prepared him for his most challenging feat yet—freeing an orphaned infant from the dark bondage of a sideshow. A trade so costly, it requires his life in exchange for hers, leaving him tarnished by the price of that choice.

As the circus tents are raised on the outskirts of Roanoke, nurse Ella Beckley arrives to tend to this Gypsy girl. All under the watchful eye of a guardian who not only bears a striking resemblance to the child, but who protects the baby with a love that wraps around Ella’s own tragic past, awakening a hope that goodness may yet reign. When their forbidden friendship deepens, Charlie dares to ask for her heart, bringing her behind the curtain of his secret world to reveal the sacrifice that gave hope to one little girl—boldly showing Ella that while her tattered faith is deeply scarred, the only marks that need be permanent are his own.

The Lady and the Lionheart is Joanne Bischof’s most recent stand-alone novel. Although I haven’t read any of her books as of yet, this one sounds absolutely amazing, so I’m hopeful I will get a chance to read it soon!

Those are my must-have August releases! And now on to the linkup!

 Features

First I'm featuring this adorable post from Shea from Shea Lennon about her and her son's book lists from the summer. I love books, and I adore the idea of sharing my love of reading with my children someday, so this post really spoke to my heart.

Next, I'm featuring Nina from A World of Dresses, because I really agree with her points about taking a week off and really giving yourself a good break every once and a while.

Rules

-Link back to Spreading His Grace, Bows and Clothes, or both

-Subscribe to both blogs and follow each of us on at least one social media

Mackenzie: Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Sarah: Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin'

-This linkup has no theme so we encourage you to link any of your recent posts. Also note that we have the right to delete your link if it isn't appropriate. However, we are super excited to read about your passions and are so glad that you've decided to join us! 

An InLinkz Link-up

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopses goes to each author and their respective publishers.