Why we’re excited
Eve falls hard for August on a train to Montauk in 2011, then watches her best friend Tess run straight into his arms on the platform. Sixteen years on, Eve is an architect hired for a Montauk house built around one of August's paintings, and he and Tess are divorced.
Annabel Monaghan's Same Time Next Summer and Nora Goes Off Script made her a go-to for adult summer romance. A dual-timeline story about loving your best friend's ex fits that pattern well. It suits readers who like second-chance plots, beach houses and a bit of guilt.
On our most-anticipated list since 21 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about August After All
Annabel Monaghan is a familiar name here: 3 of Annabel Monaghan’s books have full reviews, averaging 4.0 out of 5. The one we rated highest is Dolly All the Time (4★).
Readers have saved it often enough to put it at No. 7 on our list of May 2027’s most-anticipated releases.
From the publisher
A woman falls in love with the one man she shouldn’t over a complicated, exuberant beach house summer, from the New York Times bestselling author of Dolly All the Time.
"An Annabel Monaghan novel is like a place I never want to leave." —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author
She loved him first.
Summer, 2011. Eve meets August on the train to Montauk. She’s never known anyone like him before, someone who drinks her every word up like she’s a tall glass of water and he's parched. It feels fated when he asks for her number, her future suddenly as bright as the Montauk sky. She’s still reeling when she steps off the train, her best friend Tess there to greet her. Until Tess barrels straight into August’s arms.
Summer, 2027. Eve, now a successful architect, is heading back to Montauk to design a tabloid famous divorcee’s luxury home. She doesn’t know what to expect, but finding August there, the artist whose painting they're designing the house around, is the surprise of a lifetime. She’s barely seen him since he and Tess divorced a year ago, and she feels disoriented. Because suddenly he looks like the boy she first met on that train.
So begins the most complicated and beautiful summer of Eve's life.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read August After All yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
