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Readers’ Most Anticipated New July Books
At the beginning of each calendar month, Goodreads’ editorial squad assembles a list of the hottest and most popular new books hitting shelves, actual and virtual. The list is generated by evaluating readers’ early reviews and tracking which titles are being added to Want to Read shelves by Goodreads regulars.
Each month’s curated preview features new books from across the genre spectrum: contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, nonfiction, and more. Think of it as a literary smorgasbord. Check out whatever looks delicious.
New in July: Molly Fader explores feminist vigilantism in the historical thriller Lady X, Silvia Moreno-Garcia delivers 1940s Mexican noir in The Intrigue, and Shannon Sanders blends Black history with ancestral ghosts in The Great Wherever.
Also on tap this month: a Cinderella story in Hong Kong, hurricane romance in Florida, and the long-awaited final installment of Alice Oseman’s beloved Heartstopper series.
Each month’s curated preview features new books from across the genre spectrum: contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, nonfiction, and more. Think of it as a literary smorgasbord. Check out whatever looks delicious.
New in July: Molly Fader explores feminist vigilantism in the historical thriller Lady X, Silvia Moreno-Garcia delivers 1940s Mexican noir in The Intrigue, and Shannon Sanders blends Black history with ancestral ghosts in The Great Wherever.
Also on tap this month: a Cinderella story in Hong Kong, hurricane romance in Florida, and the long-awaited final installment of Alice Oseman’s beloved Heartstopper series.
Author, psychiatrist, and Stanford literature professor Daniel Mason (North Woods) likes to keep busy, clearly. His much anticipated new novel follows the adventures of father and husband Miles Krzelewski, who is running about a decade late on delivering his PhD dissertation. After a move to rural Vermont, things get weird. Russian folktales are involved, and an enchanted forest, and at least one Shakespearean temptress. Early readers are enjoying the book’s humor and heart.
In author Ben Reeves’ fascinating debut novel, Death is simply a guy named Travis Smith, who lives alone in a small town with his cat. His portfolio of cosmic duties is vast, but he takes the time to get to know a single mom named Dalia and her two young daughters. Reeves’ story pursues some deep and complex themes about loss, but early readers report that the book is warm and life-affirming.
The lively new novel from author Kristin Harmel (The Book of Lost Names) threads together a half dozen interconnected love stories featuring Americans in the City of Light. Characters include a rock star on a reunion tour, a World War II vet seeking his long-lost love, and a middle-aged mom facing down a distressing diagnosis. Here’s the fun part: All of the action in the book takes place over the course of a single week, as the various stories entwine and circle and occasionally collide.
It’s a pretty fascinating setup: The year is 1968, and Vivian Mitchell’s astronaut husband is literally lost in space after NASA loses contact with his spacecraft. The official explanation is “operator error,” but Vivian is determined to find out what really happened. That’s when she starts receiving mysterious messages—messages only her husband could possibly send. Chanel Cleeton (The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes) returns with a historical love story set amid the expanding horizons of the 1960s Space Race.
D.C. gig worker Aubrey Lamb has just inherited a shared stake in her family’s Tennessee farm, which has been in the hands of Black farmers since Reconstruction. She soon learns that she’s inherited some problems, too, not least of which are the gossipy ghosts of her ancestors. Author Shannon Sanders delivers a heartfelt family saga with a narrative twist, recommended for readers of Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton.
For a sci-fi variation on the second-chance romance story, consider the latest from author Christina Lauren. The new book introduces scientist Emery Finch, who has been neglecting her marriage for her very important, top-secret work. After all, she and Luca have plenty of time to invest in their relationship in the future…until an accident changes everything. But remember that top-secret project? Look for sprinkles of suspense and STEM, plus a few plot twists toward the end.
More second-chance romance, this time with an existential spin: After an unfortunate incident involving her sudden death, 32-year-old corporate attorney Joey Vasquez is offered the opportunity to return to her freshman year in college and rethink her adult life from the ground up. In fact, she’s given the chance to choose one pivotal moment to begin her second-chance run. Debut author Natalie Messier is enjoying some really nice reviews on her romance time warp.
Contemporary romance and rom-com specialist Rachel Lynn Solomon (The Ex Talk) offers up an appealing story premise: What if a world-famous twentysomething pop star were to ditch the celebrity life and enroll in college? What if her attempt at normalcy was derailed by an impossibly handsome psychology professor? What if an unexpected crisis were to accelerate their relationship in a rather thrilling fashion? Romance authors get paid to think up questions like these—and answer them, too. That’s why it’s such a sweet gig.
Meteorologists need love too, you know. That’s the animating principle behind this new enemies-to-lovers romance from author Chelsea Curto (D.C. Stars), who also includes a few complications in the forecast. Instagram weather queen Quincy Monroe not only has to reckon with rival TV weatherman Sebastian Dunn, but she has to do so over the course of a record-breaking hurricane season in Florida. Storm chasing! Forced proximity! Meteorology!
New York City real estate is serious business. Everyone knows this. So when affluent Brooklynites Jill and Ted run into financial troubles—troubles that threaten their beloved brownstone—serious remedies must be considered. The good news is that a windfall of inheritance money is in play. The bad news is that an unsuspecting family member must die to turn on the money faucet. Psychological thriller ace Shari Lapena (The Couple Next Door) has the story.
Ooh, this looks fun: When a series of brutal murders rocks Los Angeles, the prime suspect is pop star Scout Sage, who has spent years clawing her way to the top of the cutthroat Hollywood scene. Scout’s being set up, and she suspects the murders are related to the death of her sister years ago. So Scout turns to her community for support, mobilizing her network of highly ambitious hot girls to find the real killer. Ashley Winstead (In My Dreams I Hold a Knife) is clearly having fun.
Told in an alternating dual-timeline format, Molly Fader’s contemporary/historical thriller centers on the legend of the vigilante—or perhaps the vigilante movement—known as Lady X. By way of parallel stories in contemporary L.A. and 1977 New York City, Fader explores themes of righteous vengeance and female rage, all wrapped around an astonishing family secret. Interested readers might want to double back to Fader’s earlier, gentler take on family dynamics, The Sunshine Girls.
If questionable ideas had a Hall of Fame, this would surely be a nominee: The Death Row Club is an annual weekend get-together for the adult children of serial killers. Nicola Fischer, whose father murdered five young women, makes the dubious decision to attend the event, held at a remote wilderness location. She does, indeed, make some new acquaintances, right before things get bloody. Early readers are digging the clever twists and twisted cleverness of author V.A. Vazquez’s debut.
Novelist Silvia Moreno-Garcia broke through in a big way with 2020’s blockbuster Mexican Gothic, which won a Goodreads Choice Award that year, among other accolades. Her noirish new mystery-thriller, set in 1940s Mexico, features an overconfident con man, a lonely old woman in Veracruz, and her skeptical niece. Oh, and a plan that goes spectacularly wrong. The new book is being billed as a “cauldron of avarice and lust,” and you can’t really go wrong with a book like that.
Brigitte Knightley’s Dearly Beloathed romantasy series has some of the best book titles in the business. (Book 1? The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy.) This second installment returns to the story of the scholar-healer Haelan, the guild assassin Osric, and their unlikely courtship. It seems a devastating Pox has been deliberately inflicted upon the commonfolk, and it’s up to Haelan and Osric to solve the mystery and save the day.
When Ha Yut Ying is sent to live with her father and his new wife, she finds herself forced to work in the cruel factories of the industrial district. On the upside, she has secret magical powers. And she just met a boy.… Fishbone Cinderella is a loose retelling of the famous folktale, with the action shifted to 1940s China and Hong Kong. Author Elizabeth Lim (Six Crimson Cranes) uses the Chinese version of the Cinderella story to structure a dual-perspective story about family curses, generational trauma, and magical fishbone bracelets.
New York author Sarah Beth Durst has staked out a nice little plot of storytelling real estate with her Spellshop series, a blend of cozy adventure, romantic comedy, and cottagecore fantasy. Book 3, Sea of Charms, takes a turn for the nautical with the story of island smuggler Marin and her companions, including a sea serpent and a sentient shrub. When a musician on the lam needs passage on her ship, it’s love boat time. Check the reviews on previous installments—readers adore this series.
Acclaimed author Jean Kwok (Girl in Translation, Searching for Sylvie Lee) gets into the romantasy game with Dominion, the first book in an ornate new romantasy series steeped in ancient Chinese mythology. Kwok’s worldbuilding is a full-service affair, featuring battle tygers, ribbon dancers, metal mages, and demon troubles. Good names, too, including Rubi Morningtail and Blake Axefire. Bonus trivia: Author Kwok is a former professional ballroom dancer.
This sixth and reportedly final installment in the world-famous Heartstopper series promises to bring resolution to Alice Oseman’s beloved LGBTQ+ graphic novel saga. What began in 2016 as a boy-meets-boy webcomic has blossomed into one of the 21st century’s great love stories. Advance word from early reviewers reveals that the final volume includes a series-spanning epilogue, capping the stories of all the major characters.
In yet another series wrap-up, The Gilded Blade is the third and final installment of The Grandest Game spinoff series and an overarching climax for Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ sprawling Inheritance Games saga. Returning readers can expect Barnes’ patented mix of adventure and romance, plus the final unfolding of the series’ various mystery and puzzle threads. Pretty slick cover art, too.
