August Lane

August Lane is a 2025 romance novel written by Regina Black of Little Rock (Pulaski County) and published by Grand Central Publishing, a division of the Hatchette Book Group. The novel centers upon country music star Luke Randall, a one-hit wonder known for the song “Another Love Song,” and August Lane, the woman from whom he stole the song, dividing the story between the narrative present of 2023 and 2009, when Luke and August were in high school in the fictional Arkansas Delta town of Arcadia.

The novel opens with Luke playing at the Memphis Best Value Bar and Lounge, thirteen years after “Another Love Song” hit the top of the country charts when he was only eighteen years old. After his performance, Luke meets David Henry, manager for Jojo Lane (mother of August Lane), who is about to become the first Black woman inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. David asks Luke to perform his famous song during the annual Delta Music Festival back in Jojo and Luke’s hometown of Arcadia, population 4,000, a community that is “an incubator for Delta music—gospel, blues, and soul—all brushed with the South in a way that shouldered up to country but was rarely identified as such.” Meanwhile, Luke is also getting divorced from his wife, Charlotte Turner, another country music star. They two had had a tumultuous marriage, with Luke having “played the dutiful husband” for the past ten years while she had a secret relationship with her attorney, Darla.

Just arrived in Arcadia, Luke unexpectedly encounters August waiting tables at King’s Kitchen, just as she did in high school. He tries to apologize for stealing the song she wrote, having decided that he “couldn’t accept another windfall that fell into his lap without trying to become a man who deserved it,” but she storms off. Aside from Luke showing up, she also recently lost her grandmother, Birdie, who raised her while Jojo pursued her career (Jojo had given birth to August while a teenager, after being raped). Meanwhile, Luke’s encounters with his own mother, Ava, bring back memories of all the physical abuse she inflicted upon him when he was younger.

August finally confronts Luke, who apologizes but refuses to acknowledge her authorship of the song publicly, knowing it would be the end of his career, meager though it is; consequently, she threatens him with exposure for stealing “Another Love Song” unless he works with her on another song and sings it at the festival, with credit given to her. As they work together, though, all their old emotions come to the fore, and he confesses to her that he continued to perform “Another Love Song” because it was “the only way to keep you with me.” However, their growing bond becomes fodder for social media as the festival nears, and August is lambasted as a homewrecker (Luke’s divorce from Charlotte not yet being public). Luke contacts a major country music podcaster and confesses that August wrote the lyrics to “Another Love Song.” This results in him being dropped from the upcoming festival, with organizers trying to recruit August for a duet with her estranged mother.

On the day she is set to arrive, Jojo Lane cancels her appearance. Consequently, David Henry and festival organizers move the Delta Blue Showcase, usually held at the juke joint run by August’s uncle, Silas, to the main stage. The book ends with August and Luke finally sing “Another Love Song” together, as it was meant to be sung, in front of a rapturous audience.

In an interview with the Arkansas Times, Regina Black linked her career as a law school administrator to the romances she had written: “With romance specifically, a huge part of being effective is presenting evidence that two people should end up together.” A write-up of the book in Kirkus Reviews noted that “while the story’s trajectory is fairly predictable, the final chapters deliver an emotionally impactful payoff, if the reader is patient enough to get there.” The New York Times listed August Lane as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2025; reviewer Olivia Waite described the novel as “a second-chance romance and a powerhouse of the genre” that was “the best romance I’ve read all year.”

For additional information:
Black, Regina. August Lane. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2025.

Grear, Daniel. “‘August Lane’: A Q&A with Writer Regina Black ahead of Six Bridges Book Festival.” Arkansas Times, September 25, 2025. https://arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025/09/25/august-lane-a-qa-with-writer-regina-black-ahead-of-six-bridges-book-festival (accessed December 11, 2025).

Review of August Lane. Kirkus Reviews, July 29, 2025. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/regina-black/august-lane/ (accessed December 11, 2025).

Waite, Olivia. “If You Have Time for Just One Romance Novel, Make It This One.” New York Times, August 20, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/books/review/new-romance-books.html (accessed December 11, 2025).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas