July 2021 New Book Releases

Summer is always an interesting time for releases and reading. When is it too late to release a ~beach read~ but is it also too early for cozy fall mysteries? This month we have multiple releases that fall into both categories so I think the real answer is there’s never too many new books to read! Glad that’s settled.

This year is particularly interesting because were starting to see the beginning of pandemic and apocalypse stories that were clearly written in the quarantine of 2020. I wonder if people are ready for those yet or generally we’ll want some space before diving into those worlds. I know some BIG authors that will be releasing in this genre come Fall so I’m definitely keeping an eye on it.

And as always if you don’t feel like waiting for these books to be released, check out the previous months that are already out!
April.
May.
June.

July 6th

Together We Will Go

by J. Michael Straczynski
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book through Netgalley. See my review here!
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
The dark premise and discussion of many triggers-suicide, drugs, chronic pain, and mental illness-means this story is definitely not for everyone. If you can safely handle these though, I highly recommend it.
Mark Antonelli is coming up on 30 with nothing but a failed writing career. He decides to plan a cross country road trip including buying an old tour bus and sending out an ad for people to join him. An eclectic group joins but they all have one thing in common, at the end of the trip when they arrive in San Francisco they’ll find a high cliff with an amazing view and drive off of it. Will they cross the country and find out more about the will to live or the choice to end it?
For Fans Of: Matt Haig, The Silver Linings Playbook

Kill All Your Darlings

by David Bell
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
When one of his students goes missing and is presumed dead, English professor Connor Nye decides to send off her manuscript as his own in the hopes of finally getting published. It works, until that missing student shows up on his doorstep alive. The novel also leads to the police implicating him in a murder from years ago. As he tries to save both his freedom and his reputation the truth behind the murder leads to the uncovering of a disturbing scandal hidden on campus.
For Fans Of: Patricia Highsmith, Mystery Thrillers

The Forest of Vanishing Stars

by Kristin Harmel
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
A young woman is stolen from her German parents and raised in the wilderness until her kidnapper dies. She is left completely alone until she comes upon a group of Jews fleeing from the Nazis. As she finds out what is happening in the world she vows to teach them everything she knows about surviving in the unforgiving outdoors. A betrayal forces her into town for the first time and her past is finally forced to collide with her present.
For Fans Of: Where the Crawdads Sing, WWII Historical Fiction

Too Good to Be Real

by Melonie Johnson
bookshop.org // Kindle
Julia is ready to give up on love. Her friends might be dreaming of meet-cutes but she’s more worried about layoffs than swiping right. She thinks she finds the perfect story pitch for her boss when she stumbles on a resort that lets you live out all your rom-com dreams. Between seagulls, corgis, karaoke, and adorably awkward Luke, Julia might be falling in love until the truth about their lives in the real world are revealed.
For Fans Of: Contemporary Romance, Lyssa Kay Adams

The View Was Exhausting

by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
“Win” Tagore is an A-List actress but she knows being a woman of color means Hollywood is always going to be stacked against her. She keeps her public persona perfectly curated and controlled to stay ahead of the game. That includes Leo, a jet-setting playboy always good for getting the headlines back in her favor. Their decade long on-again, off-again relationship is adored by the press and the world, which means their plan has worked perfectly despite the relationship being a lie. Friendship behind the scenes has always been enough until a secret from Leo’s past forces them to confront all the truths and lies of their relationship.
For Fans Of: Daisy Jones & the Six, Emily Henry

The Stranger in the Mirror

by Liv Constantine
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Julian doesn’t know what happened to his wife two years ago, but he does know she wouldn’t just leave him and their 7 year old daughter without a word. Addison is about to get married, but after being found bleeding on the side of the road two years ago she still doesn’t know who she used to be. Or why she can’t shake the feeling that she did something very bad.
For Fans Of: Lisa Gardner, Psychological Thrillers

Dear Miss Metropolitan

by Carolyn Ferrell
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Fern, Gwin, and Jesenia are living their normal high school lives when they’re kidnapped and held captive in a run down house in Queens. When they’re finally rescued it’s a spectacle around the block with everyone out to watch, and claim ignorance of this horror show that happened right across the street for years. Miss Metropolitan is a writer for the local weekly but how could a “newspaperwomen” miss this. And why are only two women found? How do the two remaining girls try to move on when they’re forced to become symbols and survive their trauma while adapting to the present.
For Fans Of: Shuggie Bain, Colson Whitehead

Lights Out in Lincolnwood

by Geoff Rodkey
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
The Altman’s are typical suburban family-Mom, Dad, two teenage kids, all going along their lives when one day at the beginning of school and on the commute to work the world stops. All of the technology in the 2ist century goes out and life as they know it is over. For four days the Altman’s are faced with trying to hold it together through paramilitary neighbors, water shortages, and a surprisingly well-mannered looting of the nearby Whole Foods.
For Fans Of: Station Eleven, Emma Straub

July 2021 New Book Releases

July 13th

The Therapist

by B.A. Paris
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Alice and Leo are moving into their dream home- newly renovated in a gated community. But as Alice gets to know her new neighbors she learns the secret behind the house and starts to feel a connection to Nina, a therapist who used to live there. As Alice becomes obsessed with figuring out what happened her neighbors seem to be hiding something and no one wants to talk.
For Fans Of: Ruth Ware, Psychological Thrillers

The Final Girl Support Group

by Grady Hendrix
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
There’s always a final girl at the end of a horror movie, the one who survived and ends victorious against the monster. But what happens after the credits roll and she has to return to normal life. Every day of Lynnette’s life is defined by the fact that she is a real life survivor of a massacre. For over ten years she and five other ‘final girls’ have been meeting with a therapist to try to piece their lives back together. Until one day one of the girls doesn’t show up and all of their worst fears are realized as someone tries to tear apart their lives once more.
For Fans Of: Horror, Dark Contemporary Fiction

How Sweet It Is

by Dylan Newton
bookshop.org // Kindle
Kate Sweet is the queen of romance event planner who will create the wedding of your dreams. So how does her best friend manage to rope her into planning a horror writer’s book launch. Drake Matthews is tired of being known as the Knight of Nightmares, he really is a nice guy! When Kate sweeps into his life with chaos and steel-tipped stilettos he’s not ready for attraction or inspiration to take his writing in a whole new direction.
For Fans Of: Beach Read, New Adult Contemporary Fiction

The Rehearsals

by Annette Christie
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Megan and Tom are supposed to be starting their perfect wedding weekend but with difficult families and too many secrets things quickly go wrong. A disastrous rehearsal dinner leads to a vow to call everything off. Until they wake up the next morning stuck in a time loop destined to relive that terrible day over and over.
For Fans Of: Palm Springs, Time Travel Comedy

Such a Quiet Place

by Megan Miranda
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Hollow’s Edge used to be an idyllic neighborhood until the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. The testimony of residents put one of their own behind bars but Ruby’s conviction is overturned and now she’s back. Harper has always seen Ruby as a wayward little sister, even sharing a home with her. She didn’t expect Ruby to move back in, returning to the scene of the crime seems like a terrible choice but Harper is terrified and can’t turn her away. Suspicion spreads across the neighborhood within days and surprisingly not everyone was telling the truth about what really happened that night. When Harper receives a threatening note she’s left with no choice but to uncover the real story or else she’ll be the next victim.
For Fans Of: Suspense, Laura Dave

It Happened One Summer

by Tessa Bailey
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Piper is a fashionable and very influential wild child which mean the paparazzi are documenting her every move. When one party gets too out-of-control her step-father cuts her off and sends her and her sister out of LA and back to Washington to work at her late father’s dive bar. No one thinks she’ll last a week, including sea captain Brendan who is her polar opposite. Piper is determined to show everyone she’s more than just a pretty face but as she settles into life in Westport does she really want to fall for someone who is gone weeks at a time, and does that mean she’s the one who wants to stay.
For Fans Of: Schitt’s Creek, New Adult Rom-Com

July 2021 New Book Releases

July 20th

For Your Own Good

by Samantha Downing
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Teddy Crutcher works at the prestigious Belmont Academy, winning teacher of the year of the brightest students around. The death of a parent doesn’t really mean anything to him. Except for the student that won’t stop digging into his personal life. Teddy says his wife is happy for him but no one has seen her around for quite some time. All he really wants is for everyone-colleagues, parents, students-to stay out of his way. Excellence can come at a high price.
For Fans Of: B.A. Paris, Mystery Thrillers

Red Wolf

by Rachel Vincent
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Adele is 16 and has lived in Oakvale her whole life. No one ever leaves the village though. It’s surrounded by woods so dark and full of monsters that not even light can penetrate it. Everyone is told to stay away but Adele has a good reason to ignore them, for generations the women in her bloodline have had the ability to change into wolves and protect the village, without anyone knowing of their existence. When that calling forces her to choose to between the person she loves and her values she’ll have to decide how far she’s willing to go.
For Fans Of: YA Retellings, Fantasy

Isn’t It Bromantic? (Bromance Book Club #4)

by Lyssa Kay Adams
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Each book in this series covers a different member of the ‘Bromance Book Club’, and they’re all SO much fun.
Vlad is a hockey player in Nashville. Stuck in a marriage of convenience he’s desperate to find a way to make his wife love him more. Elena was in danger back in Russia so marrying Vlad and escaping to the U.S. was the best option to stay safe. The bros are ready to do whatever it takes to make sure Vlad doesn’t have to give up on his true love dream, but will Elena’s past take away their happily ever after?
For Fans Of: Sporty Rom-Coms, Friends-to-Lovers

July 2021 New Book Releases

July 27th

Heartbreak for Hire

by Sonia Hartl
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Brinkley was supposed to follow in her mother’s footsteps, a rising star in grad school until she dropped out and left that world behind just to work as an insurance agency assistant. Her real job though is at Heartbreak for Hire where they specialize in revenge for lovers, coworkers, and frenemies-if you have cash to spare they’ll take that man down a notch for you. It helps Brinkley save for real dream job as well as exorcising some personal demons. But when it’s announced they’re going to start hiring male heartbreakers, including a former target Brinkley was paid to take down, she isn’t so sure she’s doing the right thing anymore.
For Fans Of: Chick Lit Romance, Christina Lauren

Fierce Little Thing

by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Saskia was enamored by the idea foraging in the forest, midnight bird calls, and sourdough starters when she joined the commune Home as a damaged teenager. Abraham was the charismatic leader that she and her 4 best friends, the other teens at Home, used as their guide to life. Twenty years later Saskia is both physically and mentally walled off from the world while living in her Connecticut estate. Threatening letters shatter her peace though. Now Saskia and the other girls must all return to Home or else the truth about that terrible thing they did will be revealed.
For Fans Of: Joshilyn Jackson, Mystery Thrillers

~Alison