Discounted for August 2025: Captivating Literary Books You Don’t Want to Miss!

American teenager Aden Sawyer is resolute on her mission: escape her hometown, where her mother turns all the family photos to face the wall, and her father—an Islamic professor—and his wife patrol her every move. Far from the fantasies of most people her age, Aden decides to move to Peshawar, Pakistan, studying Islam at a madrasa.

So she disguises herself as a young man named Suleyman and burns her passport, fully committing to this new life. But, soon, she finds herself in greater danger than she could ever imagine.

As violence and loss run rampant, Aden must decide what matters most to her, and who, above all, she wants to be.

When marine biologist Amelia Drakos loses funding for her laboratory, she reluctantly agrees to become curator of Minnesota's Mall of America Sea Life Aquarium. Soon, she begins to receive emails from a man with her late father's last name, Ted Drakos, who makes her aware of an inherited property in Lake Superior.

Once she arrives, she is met by the sweetest husky puppies under the porch, and she takes them back to Minnesota and introduces them into her already chaotic life.

With her additions, Amelia soon becomes involved in a heated environmental debate—and she hopes that she and her newfound brother can overcome their fathers' seedy past together. 

Eric is a historian just out of graduate school, and with no other immediate prospects, he decides to accompany his lover, Em, on her travels to the Yucatan. But he soon finds himself alone in a foreign place and decides to embark on his own mission, tracing his family’s history to a Mexican ghost town.

There, over a hundred years ago, Cornish miners, including Eric’s grandparents, worked to their death—and now, he finds the native Huichol Indians in the cruel minds. When speaking to the workers, he provokes their self-appointed savior, Dona Vera, who is not at all what she seems.

The paths of these characters meet on the Day of the Dead, bringing the present and history together in a powerful and dark twist.

The young Costanza comes from a noble family, so her disappearance raises many concerns. Edgardo, the family’s secretary, agrees to find her, which is an ambitious task for a man with failing eyesight and a list of other ailments.

Along the way, he is confronted by visions of his lost love, Kallis, an enslaved person who was swept away by a storm years ago.

But help arrives in the form of Abella, a family doctor in Venice, who educates Edgardo on the occult practices of Sabbatai’s Apothecary. There, the city’s most vulnerable seek help—and there may lie the secret to the Costanzas’ disappearance. 

Neelie Sterling has spent the last year in the African Sahara, away from her troubles in the city. But she must return to the States and leave behind unfinished business, in the form of an elephant up for execution.

Recruiting her new friend Diamond-Rose Tremaine, a safari operator, the pair endeavors to raise funds to save the creature upon touchdown in New York.

Not only will they have to readjust to the urban jungle, but Neelie will have to swallow her pride, summoning the courage to ask for help from her wealthy conservationist ex-boyfriend, Tom. And that may be the most difficult challenge she’s faced yet. 

Edinburgh is full of literary history—from Sherlock Holmes to Harry Potter, some of the most important fictional characters have been born in the magnificent city.

In five enchanting stories, based around specific landmarks or histories of Edinburgh, writers explore the city’s rich past over the past few decades. These authors contemplate the changes they have witnessed, both physical and through generations, in a one-of-a-kind anthology. 

Robert the Bruce stands out in Scottish history as one of the greatest kings. Crowned King of Scots in 1306, when the kingdom was facing harsh occupation by the British, his army was attacked, resulting in a disastrous defeat that forced the Bruce into hiding. 

But over the next five years, King Robert regained his strength in battle, culminating in 1314, when he led the English invasion. This time, though, at the Battle of Bannockburn, the Scots conquered the British in an epic tale.

Embodying only one of many of the King’s captivating lives, embark on a fascinating account of Scottish history, where love, honor, and revenge collide.

Adventurer Bill Conan enters himself in an around-the-world sailing race, for a chance to win life-long fame and fortune. But when travelling across the Atlantic Ocean, a strong wind sends him overboard, in what has now become a fight for his life. 

Unbeknownst to Conan, he has fallen into the migratory path of Aka, a bottlenose dolphin, and his pod. In a selfless act, Aka will work to keep Conan afloat, forging an unlikely bond and an extraordinary adventure.