Ep. 207: Regina Black (Author of August Lane)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 207, Sarah chats with author Regina Black about her newest novel, August Lane. A second-chance romance about two people healing from trauma, August Lane is set in Arcadia, Arkansas, with themes of family, generational scars, and a unique thread of Black country music. Regina also talks about how she got into writing Romance on top of her job as a law school administrator, how long she's been writing, and what spurred her on to seeking publication. Plus, Regina shares some of her top book recommendations!
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CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Highlights
- Books by Regina Black: The Art of Scandal and August Lane
- A brief, spoiler-free overview of August Lane.
- How long Regina has been writing and what moved her to seeking publication.
- Her unique journey to finding an agent
- What exactly does it mean to have a likable character?
- The way Regina uses and leans into typical romance tropes.
- Her decision to step away from social media to write like "no one's watching."
- A bit about the novel she's working on.
- Regina talks about how a lot of writers become lawyers rather than the reverse.
Regina's Book Recommendations [34:41]
Two OLD Books She Loves
- The Space Between Worlds (The Space Between Worlds, 1) by Micaiah Johnson (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:57]
- Indigo by Beverly Jenkins (1996) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:54]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- The Princess and the P.I. by Nikki Payne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[38:59]
- Black in Blues:How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:03]
- Other Books Mentioned
- South to America by Imani Perry (2022) [41:14]
One Book She DIDN'T Love
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:41]
- Other Books Mentioned
- Persuasion by Jane Austen (1817) [44:54]
One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About
- Where the Wild Flowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris (February 17, 2026) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [46:36]
Books From the Discussion
- Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (2021) [7:34]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. Join me every other week as we get real, and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. Let's get rolling. |
| 0:22.2 | If you listened to the 2025 summer preview and circleback episodes, you might remember me |
| 0:27.7 | sharing August Lane by Regina Black. It's a romance novel with a ton of depth. In addition to |
| 0:33.8 | the love story, it's also a story about two broken people trying to heal from the trauma of their childhoods, the small town of Arcadia, Arkansas, and Black Country Music. |
| 0:43.5 | August Lane is Regina's sophomore novel, and I also loved her debut The Art of Scandal, which y'all should definitely go back and read if you have not already. |
| 0:51.6 | So I am thrilled to welcome Regina Black, author of August |
| 0:55.3 | Lane, to the podcast. Regina is a former litigator, a current law school administrator, |
| 1:01.0 | and a lifelong romance reader who writes about art, identity, and love in the modern South. |
| 1:06.1 | Her debut, The Art of Scandal, was named a Best Romance of 2023 by Publishers Weekly, Amazon, |
| 1:11.7 | Audible, and the Chicago Public Library. And her second novel, August Lane, became an instant |
| 1:17.1 | USA Today bestseller and was praised as a, quote, powerhouse of the genre by the New York |
| 1:22.9 | Times Book Review. Also, in the New York Times book review about August Lane, there's one sentence that I |
| 1:30.7 | thought captured this book beautifully, and I'm just going to share it. It is, this is not the |
| 1:35.9 | Ashups kind of country. It's the murder ballads, the Rolling Thunder, the Long Black Road, |
| 1:40.7 | and the best romance I've read all year. Regina currently lives in Little Rock, |
| 1:44.9 | Arkansas with her husband and daughter. Welcome, Regina. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. |
| 1:50.5 | I'm so happy to talk to you. I've loved both your books. As my listeners know, I am not the |
| 1:56.8 | heaviest of romance readers, but I love finding romances that have a lot of depth to them, |
| 2:02.3 | and those kinds of books really hit the spot for me, and both of your books fit that category. |
| 2:08.3 | Oh, thank you so much. I love to hear that, so thank you. |
| 2:12.1 | In addition to talking about August Lane in particular today, which we will do in a bit, |
| 2:17.3 | I did want to talk to you about your |
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