Thoughts

Available 07/29/2025

Oh my goodness, the way I love this book. It was pretty emotional for me as I related a lot to one character. So there were times I was actually crying.

But I loved the story and I highlighted so much! Obviously, JoJo talking about why she sang country music is in a different context but I felt it because it has been years, maybe a decade, since I listened to country music because it is problematic and the artist aren't great either. But it is hard when you love something, when it is something you grew up on. But this book made me nostalgic for those good country love songs.

The love story between August and Luke reminded me so much of Seven Days in June. I was hooked from the beginning. I am not even sure which parts I liked best because I just enjoyed the entire book.

I honestly cannot wait to get a physical copy to tab up and hopefully get a signature at Steamylit. I think this is going to go in my stack of favorites of the year.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for this eARC.

I loved this one so much! Great for Black Country Music lovers!
I absolutely was engrossed in the second-chance romance! Huge fan of reading about "flawed" characters with difficult upbringings.
The interview aspect of this was great too.
This was my first Regina Black book & I am pleasantly HAPPY about this!
Would FOR sure recommend.
Thank you @grandcentralpub for a Chance to read this early

A story of love, struggle, and redemption. August Lane starts as we follow Luke Randall, a broke country musician who is given the opportunity to perform a duet with a popular black country singer during her award ceremony. In order to do this performance, Luke finds himself back in his small hometown where he has to face our FMC, August Lane again. August and Luke have a tumultuous relationship dating back years where they first wrote a hit song together.

Told in dual timelines, 2009 and 2023, we follow August and Luke as we see them first meet, form their friendship and writing partnership, and all the tough battles they had to endure as kids. From Luke dealing with being an alcoholic who grew up in an abusive household, August taking care of her grandmother with dementia, my heart ached for them and I just anted to reach through the pages to give them a hug. I loved that this was told in dual timelines because we really got to see how their experiences earlier in life shaped them into the adults that they were. The romance between August and Luke was messy but real, which made me love their slow burn even more.

Regina Black’s writing in this once again excels. Through her storytelling, this book explore race in the country music genre, racism, dementia, alcoholism, domestic violence, and trauma. While these are all heavy topics, she writes about this with the respect and care that they deserve. Regina Black is truly a master of character building and I just loved August and Luke. I will forever read what Regina writes and can’t wait to see what she does next!

The audiobook is narrated by four incredible narrators: Bahni Turpin, William DeMerritt, January LaVoy and Stephanie Cannon. They all did an amazing job bringing these characters and all the emotions to life.
Rating: 3.5⭐️ rounded up

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing & Netgalley or the e-ARC and Hachette Audio for ALC in exchange for my review. It was such a great time getting to immersive read this one!

This darn near unputdownable romance explores who gets to call themself a country artist, the creative process, love, addiction, and recovery.

What an emotional ride! This book takes you on such a journey. August Lane is for the slow burn fans, that’s for sure. I liked how the past and present chapters ended up tying everything together.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the review copy on Netgalley. This is my voluntary and honest review.

Goodness me, this was emotional, angsty, and painful that made my heart hurt. It needs to be a movie so I can WEEP. The writing is beautiful, I was highlighting lines left right and center. The story switches between their present and their past, with heroine's mother's podcast transcript interwoven throughout providing insights. This format felt appropriate for the slow pacing and when I think things are on the up and up, I get hurt all over again.

Both the heroine and the hero trauma bond through their neglectful mothers, how life fails them and to finding solace in the dark. Their relationship truly shone when they started making music together. I loved how devotedly the heroine loves, with her whole heart even when it's detrimental to herself. The hero struggling with years of guilt and addiction still held onto slivers of his true self. I just want them to be happy and singing into the sunset.

I wanted to like this so bad but it just wasn’t for me. I struggled with the flashbacks throughout the book it didn’t seem to build up the story as much as it could. There also was so many plot lines it was hard to follow and I wasn’t completely sold on the romance between the main characters.

Second chance romance. He left and took credit for the song they wrote together. Now he’s back ready for his comeback joining a concert show for her mom‘s recognition award. Luke is singing his only hit song, the song he took full credit for, with her mom as a duet. The vulnerability and the depths of the character was heavy with emotion and tension. I loved everything about it. It felt like I was reading someone’s biography. It was so good. The romance was the perfect amount of tense and angsty, with dual timeline. I honestly didn’t want this book to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for early access to “August Lane” by Regina Black. I had lofty expectations for this book because of how enthralled I was with Regina Black’s “The Art of Scandal”, and I was not disappointed. I am a sucker for this wave of mixed media/multi-timeline narrative frames. It sucks me right into the action, while also seamlessly creating a cinematic effect in my brain. In this case, that works on an even deeper level because of the gritty and at times heart wrenching material included in this book. I lost myself in the helplessness of young Lucas and August, and then found comfort in the strength of their older selves. This book shows the beauty of finding out who you are in the midst of tragedy and of what you seek to become once you escape it!

“I’m gonna tell you what I wish someone had told me before I let them put that crown on my head. This is your life. It’s happening right now and it’s the only one you’ll ever have. Stop asking permission. Don’t wait to be saved. Fight hard and fight dirty until they’re afraid to take anything from you.”

August Lane is a second-chance romance intertwined with strong themes of strained familial dynamics, addiction and the journey of navigating one's identity. In this book, we follow August, the daughter of a famous Black country star, and Luke, a country singer who has gotten his fame from a song written by August without recognition given to her. August and Luke have an intertwined, messy and layered history that we follow as we jump back and forth between past and present, learning more about the challenges they both faced as teenagers growing up in a small town with complicated family dynamics. The angst in this story is palpable - Bahni Turpin and William DeMerritt have done an amazing job at bringing life to August and Luke, including the dual POV, tone and pace. The audiobook felt like an immersive experience, which is always the goal!

I would recommend this to you if you enjoy reading about:
- Small Town Romances
- Country Music
- Complicated Family Dynamics
- BIPOC Representation
- Slow (but worth it) Burn Romances

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the digital ARC and Hachette Audio for the ALC in an exchange for my honest review!

Regina Black’s August Lane is a masterclass on redemption and forgiveness. There are generations of hurt people hurting people in August Lane and Luke Randall’s families. No one has hurt August more than her mother, JoJo Lane, and Luke, and they are both coming back to Arcadia, Arkansas looking for recognition, redemption, and another chance. Luke’s return is an opportunity for August to grab a future for herself.

August Lane is messy and angsty. It’s not the fun kind of bonkers romance messy, it’s the kind of mess you get when you’ve fractured all the important relationships in your life and you press on the bruises just to feel something. It’s generational trauma messy. It’s the intersection of race, gender, and class messy. What else could it be? It’s a country music romance inspired by “Belinda” a song about a singer constantly asked to sing a love song written for a woman he cheated on that was co-written by Ben Folds and Nick Hornby. Regina Black takes that inspiration and leaves it in the dust. The singer of “Belinda” knows he’s lying about love in his hit song. Luke’s love is real, but he’s lying to everyone else. Luke’s relationship to the song he wrote with August (and then didn’t give her credit) is more complicated than shame.

August has been the sacrifice for her mother and for Luke. She’s been the one left behind, who they love in absentia, the vessel that keeps their shame and secrets, and August is (justifiably) angry about that. When Luke and August are face to face, they have to confront their different interpretations of the past, the ways they’ve been hurt, and the ways they have hurt themselves. Out of all the mess and angst, Regina Black builds this beautiful redemption for August and Luke. August Lane is a romance, so you know it’s going to have a happy ending, but how they get there is the important part. Not every relationship gets healed in the Hallmark manner. As we move towards the ending, it gets clearer which relationships are most important and the healing goes there. August and Luke’s relationships with music became entwined when they fell in love as teens, which is part of why his betrayal hurt so deeply. Their happily ever after has to include music.

Jojo looms over the story in her many iterations: reluctant mother, beauty queen, defiant daughter, musician toiling away in a genre that doesn’t love her like she loves it, and finally a legend receiving her long delayed flowers. Segments of a podcast interview between JoJo and a white woman about JoJo’s career and her relationship with country music frame the sections of the book. I thought it was a masterful choice, and I can’t wait to hear Regina Black talk about why she made that choice. I also can’t wait to get the audiobook in my ears, because I’ll bet it’s amazing. This is easily one of my top reads of the year. Do be aware that there is child abuse, parental neglect, infidelity, alcoholism and substance abuse on page and discussed.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

What a stunning novel, Regina took me on a journey that was both magical and heartfelt. An extraordinary exploration of history, Black country music, love, grief and second chances. I felt every ounce of dedication put into every word.

Beautiful and heartfelt. The dual timeline worked gorgeously here, giving the story depth and life, and I was utterly taken by Luke and August's raw, authentic journey.

I think there is something magical about reading a book where the author explores a topic that they love. You could feel the love for Black country music pulsing off the page in this story. I really enjoyed the themes of grief and homecoming explored through the novel. There is such a romantic intimacy of music and sharing that with others, especially when it is also a tool of shelf exploration. I do, at some points, feel like the novel lost ahold of the romance for me. Mainly when the parental and family relationships began to take center stage, the romance felt a bit like an afterthought to me.

The only true pause I had for this book was the relationship to addiction. I understand its historical relevancy to the community the novel follows, but it is a hard topic for me. So, it was a bit of a struggle to get through some chapters, especially without a trigger or content warning in the beginning (that I didn't see but I could be mistaken). Overall, I think this was a lovely novel that truly captured the love and joy music can give to people, and the strength of young love finding each other when its right. Second chance romances are such a wonderful way to allow people to explore the power of forgiveness, and I love that this novel brought that across all the relationships explored. I would give this novel 4.25 / 5 stars. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review main of all my original thoughts!

August Lane by Regina Black is the perfect small-town romance for lovers of country music and second chances. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for my advance review copy.

August Lane, daughter of the biggest Black female country artist in the genre's history, still lives in the small town she grew up in. She's feeling unmoored after the death of Birdie, the grandmother who raised her, and her world is suddenly turned upside down when the boy who stole her teenage heart shows up out of the blue. Luke Randall, five years sober, is back home, preparing to sing with August's mother, who is being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Back home, he has to face the past he left behind--his addict mother and his biggest regret, August. He's a has-been country music sensation, known for one song--a love song he and August wrote together their senior year of high school, but he took all the credit. He isn't home to ask forgiveness--he doesn't feel like he deserves it--but he is trying to make amends.

August and Luke eventually arrive at their happy ending, but this is a book that doesn't shy away from alcoholism, addiction, racism, physical abuse, and sexual violence (although the latter is only referenced and doesn't appear on page). If those are triggers, read with care. I couldn't put this one down.

I think overall this was a good story. Regina Black is a great writer and story teller. I loved the plot of these two country artist who have this crazy past with each other through music. The story of the hardships in the music industry, especially as a Black country interesting to read about. They both had their traumas that seemingly brought them together in the past and present. I like the back and forth that gave us context to how they new each other as teenagers and how they came back together as adults. I also found the background on their family life to be a story that was told well and gave us more insight into why they are the way they are. The interview chapters also gave great context into August especially when it came to her relationship with her mother and grandmother.

Unfortunately the main thing that I didn't quite connect with was the romance. For some reason I just couldnt get into the chemistry between these two characters. I understood their history and how they came together, but I just didn't feel engaged. I thought everything outside of the relationship was a lot more interesting. Depsite this, I feel like I might revisit the book again to see if my opinion will change.

Thank you Grand Central Pub!

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Audio | Grand Central Publishing for the free ALC and e-arc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. Regina Black is a Supremely talented author and this follow up from her debut did not disappoint. I am absolutely in my based on real life historical fiction. This has my whole entire attention.as someone who loves music I know many genres are as a result of black singers performers. I will absolutely be looking into this more. This bookmis so important with the current state of things and the erasure of historical events.

Suggest giving it a try.

5/5☆

What a stunning romance! I enjoyed Regina Black's debut, The Art of Scandal, but I loved August Lane even more. It's emotional and painful to see these characters struggle but, because it's a romance, there is hope at the end and it was all hard-won and worth it. I also loved the conversation around Black country music artists. If you like messy characters finding their HEA in a unique setting, I definitely recommend this!

I am COMPLETELY OBSESSED with this gorgeously complex romance novel about Black country musicians in small-town Arkansas. Every character is beautifully and richly crafted. The world of music draws you into the story from the start, and you'll wish you could listen to the songs on repeat. Regina Black is absolutely brilliant and I can't wait to read what she writes next.

3.5 stars

This one had some really beautiful story telling but some of the plot itself got lost in the bouncing timelines and POVs.
This story follows August and Luke's reconnection after years apart and what most would consider a major betrayal. I felt like a lot of the tension and plot points were either brushed over or I didn't fully understand. For instance, August is furious with Luke and then within a few chapters seems to be over his big lie.

Despite some of that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and kept returning to finish it off.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.