Goodreads Editors Share Their July Book Picks

Posted by Cybil on July 1, 2026

Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we sort through a lot of books each month. Our monthly Readers’ Most Anticipated Books feature is exactly that—selections based on the data about the books that Goodreads members are placing on their Want to Read shelves. Essentially, these are the books that your fellow Goodreads regulars are excited about.
 
Of course, the Goodreads editorial staff gets excited about books, too. And we regularly come across specific new releases that we can’t wait to read—or “won’t shut up about,” to borrow a phrase from the colleagues who sit right next to us.
 
There are always way more great books each month than we have time to read, so we’re passing our findings along to you, complete with genre tags, our unhinged commentary, and general enthusiasm. Think of this list as our intel on the books you might not be hearing about absolutely everywhere else, from two people who really, really want to help you find a great read.
 
Some of the stories on tap for July: queer horror featuring dead rock stars and fashionable grave robbers; literary fiction set on an overnight train from London to Edinburgh; and thoughtful sci-fi concerning the end of the world. Bonus pick: Midwestern vacation destinations!
 
 


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: A debut novel. A heartbreaking romance. A natural disaster (tsunami hitting Hawai‘i). A read that’s being described as captivating and page turning. Yep, that’s an immediate add to my Want to Read shelf! 

Genre: Contemporary fiction


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: Honestly, I can’t believe Cybil let me have this book for this month’s column! This one lies right smack-dab in the middle of our Venn diagram of shared interests: aquatic horror (Cybil) where a group of academics studying an ancient cult (me) gets trapped in an underwater cave (both of us!). Surely there’s something here for everyone!

[Editor’s note: I also can’t believe I let Sharon claim this one! XOXO, Cybil]

Genre: Aquatic horror


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: You know those TikToks where someone’s like, “We just moved into this house and found a secret door! Open it with us…”? What if that were a novel? What if it were a debut novel that smartly examines the issue of loss?? WONDER NO MORE! Cannot wait for this one!

Genre: Fiction (Is a book set in 2008 historical fiction?? Discuss!)


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: One of my niche literary interests is the subgenre I affectionately call “translators in trouble.” In this newly translated work from Spanish author Marta Pérez-Carbonell, a translator aboard an overnight train gets drawn into the stories that two fellow passengers tell about themselves. Does she get in trouble as fact, fiction, and truth blur? I’m looking forward to finding out!  

Genre: Literary fiction


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: Over the past few years, I’ve become a huge Nunez fan (The FriendWhat Are You Going ThroughThe Vulnerables). She’s such a witty and insightful writer that I find myself reading passages from her work aloud to anyone within earshot! She’s back with her first ever short story collection, and this one will have me quoting her once again, I’m sure!

Genre: Short stories


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: This sharp and satirical sophomore novel from the author of Your Driver Is Waiting features a family of Tamil refugees just scraping by at the turn of the millennium with some small-time shoplifting grifts. Enter Mark, a born-again man with a plan that might rhyme with Fonzi Theme. Sounds like a banger to me!

Genre: Fiction


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: “A tense, darkly funny, and politically resonant novel of life under authoritarian rule.” That’s what the tin says (a.k.a. the book description) on this very promising tale from Aristide. Set in 1989 Romania and in the midst of neighbors ratting one another out to the government, news arrives that a man-eating bear is on the loose. Two characters—a police detective and a schoolgirl—soon find themselves embroiled in conspiracies and intrigue. (Yes, a real person used that em dash above; AI will not scare me away from using the em dash!) 

Genre: Humorous historical fiction 


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: Following an extended family over the course of the Korean War, this debut novel traces two storylines. In one, a mother and her two children make their way south from Pyeongyang in search of relatives and a better life. In the other, their cousin works at an orphanage and spends his days writing morally dubious letters to American benefactors.

Genre: Historical fiction


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: I don’t know about you, but the Big Stuff has really been bumming me out lately. Enter Bogost’s new book that calls for looking for hope through the small things in life and reclaiming those small things that may have become automated and digitally, well, dull. 

Genre: Nonfiction/Self-help


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: Personal friends can attest that I love a novel set over the course of a single day. Mrs. Dalloway? Yes. Ulysses? Double yes! Luckily for me, this novel brings the conceit into the present with a woman at the end of her maternity leave who’s determined to have THE BEST DAY EVER(!!!) with her children before she returns to work. Whew. Leopold Bloom could never.

Genre: Fiction


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: The author of the breakout debut thriller Winter Counts is back with a tale of life and death on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Here we find a retired vigilante being pulled back into his old ways when a local legend is found dead. He’ll be facing challenges from a rival gang, a shady politician, and the long shadow of a past scandal at a local Native boarding school.

Genre: Thriller


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: My fellow elder Millennials, this book’s for us. When 35-year-old Ruby Wynne wakes up in a Technicolor mansion with a Jeep parked out front, she realizes she’s living out a MASH game from the seventh grade. Jumanji rules appear to be in play, so the quickest way out of this reality seems to be through finishing the game. Except that means she needs to marry Penn Hayes, her brother’s best friend, whom she’s always found DEEPLY annoying. Oops!

Genre: Romance


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” Well, in The Mortons, the rich are also literal, hands-on serial killers. This novel where murder is the family business sounds like a bonkers wild ride. 

Genre: Gothic thriller, maybe?? 


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: Cli-fi told in the form of a folktale reimagining? Sign me up! In a world that resembles ours, “but more; like a sink overflowing,” a young woman’s sisters are whisked away to marry the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and the King of Misery. Sounds like the start of a quest to me! Early readers are saying this one’s whimsical and dreamy.

Genre: Fantasy/Climate fiction


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: You can have your “who is Elena Ferrante?” mystery, because to me the juiciest literary unknown is “who is Chuck Tingle?” Am I right, Buckaroos? Whoever this literary man of mystery may be, I think we can all agree that a new Tingle title is something to be Very Intrigued by. His latest is a very violent tale of a fashion influencer/grave robber who is tasked with moving a gay icon’s body from the medical examiner’s office.

Genre: Unhinged horror


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: August Clarke lampoons weirdo gazillionaires and their postapocalyptic bunker fantasies in this high-concept dystopian sci-fi. Hallelujah and her sisters were designed as hospitality workers for a nuclear fallout shelter where the wealthy plan to wait out the end times. Surely these rich folks have all read a lot of books and are totally genre-savvy and prepared for what comes next…

Genre: Science fiction/Dystopia/Satire


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: In this messy family drama set over a long weekend at Michigan’s Mackinac Island, the Pickford siblings have gathered to mourn their mother. But they also manage to get into a good deal of dysfunctional hijinks along the way. If you love a family drama set in a Midwestern vacation destination, add this one to your Want to Read shelf!

Genre: Family drama


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: If an unknown celestial object were hurtling toward Earth, how would you react? By hoping for a narrow escape? By Doomsday prepping? By joining a UFO cult?! That’s the conundrum confronting the Minton family in this inventive novel that marries an apocalyptic scenario with interpersonal drama. Some problems you just can’t get around, even at the end of the world.

Genre: Literary sci-fi


Cybil can’t wait to read this book because: I love a nonfiction book that focuses on science and nature, so Kwok’s look at the messiness of the pursuit of scientific truths is a perfect addition to my Want to Read shelf. This book promises to take readers from Greenland glaciers to Borneo rainforests to the outer edges of the solar system.

Genre: Nonfiction/Science 


Sharon can’t wait to read this book because: The whole “struggling underemployed protagonist has a chance to observe the 1% up close” premise is not a new one, but I always enjoy when an author dials up the absurdism to the nth degree. Here, an aspiring actor becomes the personal assistant for a powerful Hollywood family, or—as they are listed on the job ad—Hollywood Family. Domestic chaos ensues, huzzah!

Genre: Fiction/Satire