Most Anticipated New Books of July 2024
It's that time again. Time to add more books to those TBR lists!
I feel like every month I start writing this with the same comment, “I can’t believe it is already….” Well, I’m here to tell you that I can’t believe it’s already July. I feel like I blinked and June was over.
My son had his college orientation, my daughter competed at a National Finals with her dance team, I had my birthday, and bam… now it’s July. Clearly, it was a busy June, and that is my excuse for getting this post up a little late!
Summer is here and in full swing. It’s way too hot to be outside as it was the hottest June in Arizona on record, and we have yet to get any monsoon relief. What does that mean? It means that I have more time to read and go to the water park where my son is lifeguarding. It’s been fun. :)
Enough about me though, let’s get to why you are here…the books. July is full of exciting releases, and it includes my daughter’s most anticipated release of the year!
Without further ado, here is my top ten list for July! Don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know what you are most looking forward to.
Until Next Summer by Ali Brady (July 9)
I never went to summer camp when I was growing up, but there is something to be said about adult-only camps. I think I could be down for that. This little romance seems like an absolutely perfect beach read. BLURB: Two former best friends each find love at an adults-only summer camp in this romantic and nostalgic novel that proves “once a camp person, always a camp person.” Growing up, Jessie and Hillary lived for summer, when they’d be reunited at Camp Chickawah. The best friends vowed to become counselors together someday, but they drifted apart after Hillary broke her promise and only Jessie stuck to their plan, working her way up to become the camp director. When Jessie learns that the camp will be sold, she decides to plan one last hurrah, inviting past campers—including Hillary—to a nostalgic “adult summer camp” before closing for good. Jessie and Hillary rebuild their friendship as they relive the best time of their lives—only now there are adult beverages, skinny dipping, and romantic entanglements. Straitlaced Hillary agrees to a “no strings attached” summer fling wit h the camp chef, while outgoing Jessie is drawn to a moody, reclusive writer who’s rented a cabin to work on his novel. The friends soon realize this doesn’t have to be the last summer. They’ll team up and work together, just like the old days. But if they can’t save their beloved camp, will they be able to take the happiness of this summer away with them?
It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant (July 9)
This is one of two books in my top ten this month focusing on education and schools. I admit, as an educator, I’m pretty critical of books based in education. This one seems fun and is more on the side of overly involved parents. Hahahaha! That makes me giggle. This fun little mystery is sure to be a treat, and I can’t wait to read it. BLURB: Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee. As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting, when the new principal's plans leave Trisha absolutely furious. Later that night, when Mavis spies Trisha in yellow rubber gloves and booties, lugging cleaning supplies and giant black trash bags to her waiting minivan, it’s only natural that her mind jumps to somewhere it surely wouldn’t in the light of day. Except Principal Smith fails to show up for work the next morning, and has been MIA since the meeting. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Mavis, along with the school psychologist with the great forearms (look, it’s worth noting), launches an investigation that will challenge her views on parenting, friendship, and elementary school politics. Brilliantly written, It's Elementary is a quick-witted, escapist romp that perfectly captures just how far parents will go to give their kids the very best, all wrapped in a mystery that will leave you guessing to the very end.
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (July 9)
This is an Indie Next Pick AND it’s a romantasy. Honestly, what’s not to love about this one already? BLURB: Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz―a magically sentient spider plant―have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy―and very handsome―neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop. Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.
State of Paradise by Laura Vander Berg (July 9)
There is so much going on in this one I don’t know if I can keep up. I have this thing about mystery/thrillers set in Florida; no idea why, but there is just something about the summer heat, humidity, and personality of the state that just makes it the perfect setting. There are several elements in this book that I am eager to see how it all fits together. BLURB: It’s another summer in a small Florida town. After an illness that vanishes as mysteriously as it arrived, everything appears to be getting back to normal: soul-crushing heat, torrential downpours, sinkholes swallowing the earth, ominous cats, a world-bending virtual reality device being handed out by a company called ELECTRA, and an increasing number of posters dotting the streets with the faces of missing citizens. Living in her mother’s home, a ghostwriter for a famous thriller author tracks the eerie changes. On top of everything else, she’s contending with family secrets, spotty memories of her troubled youth, a burgeoning cult in the living room, and the alarming expansion of her own belly button. Then, during a violent rainstorm, her sister goes missing. She returns a few days later, sprawled on their mother’s lawn and speaking of another dimension. Now the ghostwriter must investigate not only what happened to her sister and the other missing people but also the uncanny connections between ELECTRA, the famous author she works for, and reality itself. A sticky, rain-soaked reckoning with the elusive nature of selfhood and storytelling, Laura van den Berg’s State of Paradise is an intricate and page-turning whirlwind. With inimitable control and thrilling style, van den Berg reaches deep into the void and returns with a story far stranger than either reality or fiction.
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (July 16)
I recently read The Wishing Game and thought it was great. I’m hoping this one will live up to the expectations that the author has now set in my mind. Being inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia, I’m ready to curl up and read this one. BLURB: As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived. Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy. Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories. Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.
The Ornithologists Field Guide to Love by India Holton (July 23)
Truthfully, I’m not 100% sure why I put this in my top ten. I think it sounds absolutely amazing, but I’m not big on historical fiction and this one is listed as being a “historical fantasy rom-com”. I’m thinking, and hoping, there will be enough of the other genres to balance out the historical aspect. And, I can’t get past that it apparently is “reminiscent of Indian Jones with but manners and tea.” Who doens’t love Indiana Jones? Don’t answer that… BLURB: Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, stealing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that's beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon. For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She's so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they're professional rivals. When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can't trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.
The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu (July 23)
This is the second book based in education that is on my list, and the one that I am most interested in seeing. While there are other books I have read and enjoyed, books tend to relate more to elementary school. This one finally takes on the uniqueness of high school which is where I spend all of my days! This book really focuses on the educators within the building, the people that so many in the world don’t understand exactly how hard it is or what it takes to not just do the job, but to do it well. I tell my husband that being an educator isn’t a job, it’s who you are. Clearly, I am very passionate about education and looking for that book that I can connect with and relate to and be like, YES…that’s exactly what it’s like!! BLURB: With its ensemble of warm and unforgettable characters, The Faculty Lounge shows readers a different side of school life. It all starts when an elderly substitute teacher at Baldwin High School is found dead in the faculty lounge. After a bit of a stir, life quickly returns to normal—it’s not like it’s the worst (or even most interesting) thing that has happened within the building’s walls. But when, a week later, the spontaneous scattering of his ashes on the school grounds catches the attention of some busybody parents, it sets in motion a year that can only be described as wild, bizarre, tragic, mundane, beautiful, and humorous all at once. In the midst of the ensuing hysteria and threats of disciplinary action, the novel peeks into the lives of the implicated adults who, it turns out, actually have first names and continue to exist when the school day is done. We meet: a former punk band front man, now a middle-aged principal who must battle it out with the school board to keep his job; a no-nonsense school nurse willing to break the rules, despite the close watch on their campus, when a student arrives at her office with a dilemma; and a disgruntled English instructor who finds himself embroiled in even more controversy when he misfires a snarky email. Oh, and there’s also a teacher make-out session in a supply closet during a lockdown. As these people continue to manage the messiness of this school year, there is the looming threat of what will become of their beloved Baldwin High. Ultimately, at the heart of this unconventional workplace novel is a story of the power of human connection and of the joy of finding purpose in what it is we do every day.
The Wedding People by Allison Espach (July 30)
While at first glance, I thought this was going to turn out to be a rom-com; it clearly isn’t. I love books with family drama. I love books with weddings. I love books that make me feel good about people. This book just feels right to me. BLURB: It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other. In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (July 30)
Ok friends. We have made it to my daughter’s most anticipated book of the year. Granted, I was the one who suggested she read The Inheritance Games which she read in about two weeks (all four books) while being in school and having 9 hours of dance training every week. And, here we are. The adventure continues with Avery and the Hawthorne Brothers. To make it even better, this is the start of a new series! WHAT?!?!?! BLURB: Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime. Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year’s game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win. Some of the players are in it for the money. Some for power. Some for reasons all their own. Every single one of them has secrets. Amidst it all is Grayson Hawthorne, tasked with a vital role in this year’s game. But as tensions rise and the mind-bending challenges push the players to their limits—physically, mentally, and emotionally—it soon becomes clear that not everyone is playing by the rules.
The Bookshop Sisterhood by Michelle Lindo-Rice (July 30)
I’m also a sucker for bookstores. My dream in life would be to open a little beachside bookshop/cafe, so books that focus on bookshops already have me engaged. This one sounds like a great read. BLURB: When life rewrites the story, only friendship will see them through. After years of hard work, four best friends—Celeste, Yasmeen, Toni and Leslie—are finally on the verge of opening the bookstore of their dreams. A place where their community can find solace with an intriguing new read, a comforting beverage and book-loving friends. But before they can cut the ribbon, their worlds are upended. Toni receives devastating news just months before her wedding, while Celeste’s struggling marriage threatens to collapse completely. Leslie learns a shocking secret about her family, and a lotto ticket changes Yasmeen’s life—but not for the better. As the bookstore’s grand opening fast approaches, the four women must lean on each other now more than ever to navigate their grief and uncertainty. And together, they’ll learn that sometimes, even life’s most unexpected plot twists can lead to beautiful new beginnings.
There are several books that could have made my top ten list, and honestly, I kept changing my mind about where to put books. That definitely makes for a longer TBR list for the month. So, with that said, here are the additional books that are on my radar for July.
Honorable Mentions:
Summer Ever After by Jane Crittenden (July 1)
Dishonestly Yours by Krista & Becca Ritchie (July 2)
The Undermining of Twyla & Frank by Megan Bannen (July 2)
Reckless by Lauren Roberts (July 2)
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (July 2)
The Night Ends in Fire by K.X. Song (July 2)
The Darkness Within Us by Tricia Levensellre (July 9)
Hearts Overboard by Becky Dean (July 9)
Beep by Bill Roorbach (July 16)
The Astrology House by Carinn Jade (July 16)
House of Shade by Lianne Dillsworth (July 16)
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell (July 30)
Happy reading my fellow bookworms!
Don’t forget to check out my other fun sites!
Website for book lovers: www.azdesertbookworm.com
Instagram! Check it out - @azdesert_bookworm
Speaking LITerally podcast! Our monthly misadventures into all things literary. Separated the Atlantic, Liz and I come together in our love of reading!!! Find us wherever you listen to your other favorite podcasts! Click here to find us on iHeartRadio! (Links also on my website.)
If you are really bored, you can read about some of my personal adventures in life raising two teenagers, commentating on professional wrestling shows and loving a husband who is fighting Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and all the lesson I learn along the way. Educate This.