August Lane

I couldn’t let this month end without reading Regina Black‘s new romance, August Lane. Set between the late 2000s and 2023, this second-chance romance takes one-hit-wonder Luke Randall back to his small hometown in Arkansas to perform a song with the new Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, JoJo Lane. But he knew JoJo’s daughter, August, back in high school, and that love song he’s famous for was secretly co-written by her. They haven’t spoken in over a decade, and August isn’t happy to see him. Even so, she sees an opportunity to write a new song for him to perform. Can their music careers—and romance—get the revival they deserve?

What I Liked:

• Diving into country music, especially where Black artists fit within the genre. I grew up on country music, and though my tastes changed when I was a teenager, I still remember enjoying the genre. It was interesting to revisit country music here and see the perspectives of JoJo, August, and Luke on why they love country despite its often racist reputation and exclusion of nonwhite artists. I also appreciated learning more about the genre’s history and other Black country singers.
• Songwriting! August was born with lyrics in her heart; Luke doesn’t know how to articulate his emotions with words, but he can express them with chords and melodies. I loved seeing these two lean into each other’s strengths and compose songs together. The songwriting here felt top notch.
• Harsh depictions of alcoholism. Even as a teenager, Luke already used alcohol as a coping mechanism for the abuse he suffered growing up. It’s hard to read about how his mom treated him and how he turned to drinking to numb the pain. By 2023, Luke has been sober for five years, but each day he must overcome the urge to drink. It’s so raw and honest. My dad was an alcoholic, and the depiction here rang true for me.
• Harsh depictions of family, too. August and Luke can bond over their respective difficulties with their moms. Where his is abusive, August’s famous mom JoJo is just absent. JoJo never wanted to have a child and was only a teenager herself when she had August. This has absolutely affected the way August sees herself and her worth.
• Second-chance and dual timeline. While these aren’t tropes I always enjoy, they were done so well here! I loved getting to know our main characters both as teenagers and as thirty-something adults. They go through a lot, and their friendship is tentative but real. This is a hard-won happily ever after.
• Podcast interview snippets. I really enjoyed the excerpts of interviews, mainly with JoJo and but also with Luke. JoJo’s interview parts give her much-needed side of the story; it makes her seem less like an awful parent and more like a full person who faced her fair share of challenges. She also gives a lot of perspective on country music and her place in it.

Audiobook:

Bahni Turpin and William DeMerritt do a marvelous job of narrating as August and Luke. I’ve been a fan of Bahni Turpin for several years now, and she always delivers a perfect voice acting in every book she does; August Lane is no exception. She captures the title character’s full range of emotions, both as a teenager and an adult, and adds extra nuances like laughter to go the extra mile. William DeMerritt, likewise, portrays Luke so well, from the awkward teenager he was to the somewhat defeated man he’s become.

January LaVoy and Stephanie Cannon fill out the cast, lending their voices to the podcast excerpts that give glimpses of JoJo Lane’s perspective. I also enjoyed the audiobook’s use of extra media, such as making a voice message sound distorted like the real thing. A lot of care and attention to detail went into this audiobook!

Final Thoughts

August Lane is an excellent novel that feels so full. It’s a friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance, but it’s also about family, trauma and recovery, and a profound love for music. The whole novel feels like getting lost in a good country song, both for its deft storytelling and the eight-part structure of verses and choruses. This is a must-read, and if you enjoy audiobook versions, a must-listen. I’m excited to read more from Regina Black, starting with her debut novel, The Art of Scandal.

Special thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy August Lane here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

August Lane by Regina Black
Audiobook Narrator	Bahni Turpin, William DeMerritt, January LaVoy, and Stephanie Cannon
Audience	Adult
Genre	Contemporary Romance
Setting	Arkansas
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Audiobook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	July 29, 2025
Publisher	Grand Central Publishing

Official Summary

From the author of The Art of Scandal comes a small town romance about the visibility of Black women’s voices in country music, for readers of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev.

Every Thursday night, former country music heartthrob Luke Randall has to sing “Another Love Song.” God, he hates that song. But performing his lone hit at an interstate motel lounge is the only regular money he still has. Following another lackluster performance at the rock bottom of his career, Luke receives the opportunity of his dreams, opening for his childhood idol—90’s era Black country music star, JoJo Lane, who’s being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. But the concert is in Arcadia, Arkansas, the small hometown he swore he’d never see again. Going back means facing a painful past of abuse and neglect. It also means facing JoJo’s daughter, August Lane—the woman who wrote the lyrics he’s always claimed as his own. 

August also hates that song. But she hates Luke Randall even more. When he shows up ten years too late to apologize for his betrayal, she isn’t interested in making amends. Instead, she threatens to expose his lies unless he co-writes a new song with her and performs it at the concert, something she hopes will launch her out of her mother’s shadow and into a songwriting career of her own. Desperate to keep his secret, Luke agrees to put on the rogue performance, despite the risk of losing his shot at a new record deal.

When Luke’s guitar reunites with August’s soulful alto, neither can deny that the passionate bond they formed as teenagers is still there. As the concert nears, August will have to choose between an overdue public reckoning with the boy who betrayed her, or trusting the man he’s become to write a different love song.