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Readers' Most Anticipated Books of July
At the beginning of each calendar month, Goodreads’ crack 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: Two childhood friends navigate historical change and political upheaval in Marjan Kamali’s The Lion Women of Tehran. A case of mistaken identity livens up a Rhode Island family gathering in Alison Espach’s The Wedding People. And a surprise inheritance means weird times at a haunted Scottish castle in Shannon Morgan’s new gothic horror saga.
Also on tap this month: a rebooted Arthurian legend, reimagined Chinese mythology, and big trouble at summer camp.
Add the books that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments section.
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: Two childhood friends navigate historical change and political upheaval in Marjan Kamali’s The Lion Women of Tehran. A case of mistaken identity livens up a Rhode Island family gathering in Alison Espach’s The Wedding People. And a surprise inheritance means weird times at a haunted Scottish castle in Shannon Morgan’s new gothic horror saga.
Also on tap this month: a rebooted Arthurian legend, reimagined Chinese mythology, and big trouble at summer camp.
Add the books that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments section.
Historical fiction specialist Kate Quinn is back on shelves with this ensemble story set in an all-female boardinghouse in Washington, D.C., circa 1950. McCarthy-era intrigues are generating tension for the residents of the run-down Briarwood House, whose tenants include the mysterious widow Grace, the gangster moll Nora, and Bea, former star of the women’s World War II baseball league. Everyone, it seems, has secrets. But then a shocking act of violence turns the world itself upside down.
Phoebe Stone has just arrived at the grandiose Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. There’s a big wedding getting started, and Phoebe gets swept up in the excitement. The awkward part: She’s not technically invited. Or even acquainted. In fact, Phoebe doesn’t know any of these people, which makes it weird when they keep telling her their secrets. This comic novel from author Alison Espach (Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance) reminds us that sometimes it’s the chance encounters that make life interesting.
The friendships we make when we’re young have a certain enduring strength. That’s the observation—well, one of them—behind this new novel from author Marjan Kamali (The Stationery Shop). Born into different social classes, young Iranian girls Ellie and Homa create a bond that perseveres through time, distance, betrayal, and 30 years of political turmoil in Tehran. Linking them forever are the golden memories of childhood, walking the city’s famous Grand Bazaar, dreaming of becoming “lion women.”
This multigenerational family saga from the author of Fleishman Is in Trouble follows the genuinely astonishing journey of Long Island’s wealthy Fletcher family. The book explores sibling dynamics and American Jewish life, but also features—and we quote—“old wives’ tales, evil eyes, ambition, achievement, boredom, orgies, dybbuks, inheritance, pyramid schemes, right-wing capitalists, [and] beta-blockers.” It’s a pretty good pitch, right? Bonus trivia: Author Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.
August 1975: Teenage Barbara Van Laar, daughter of the region’s wealthiest family, has disappeared from her summer camp bunk bed. Complicating matters severely is the fact that her family owns the camp and employs most of the region’s working-class residents. Also: Barbara’s older brother disappeared much the same way 14 years ago. Author Liz Moore (Long Bright River) unspools a double mystery of class, inheritance, and dizzying narrative switchbacks in the lonesome Adirondack mountains.
Billed as a novel of “emotional suspense,” this variation on the domestic thriller introduces troubled NYU student Cleo, who returns home to find her corporate lawyer mom is missing. Subsequent events reveal that Mom is more than the typical Park Slope professional; she’s actually a ruthless and resourceful fixer for her high-powered law firm. Trouble is brewing, and several parties are looking for blood—quite literally. Can these two save each other? Kimberly McCreight (Reconstructing Amelia) has the details.
This one looks fascinating: A mystery-thriller with an off-center heart, author Kerryn Mayne’s debut novel introduces a different kind of protagonist. Lenny Marks has lived a rigidly proscribed and essentially empty life, ever since a childhood trauma she has kept deeply repressed. When a letter from the parole board arrives, Lenny’s deliberately underachieving lifestyle gets complicated—bloody complicated, you might even say. Bonus trivia: Author Mayne is also a Melbourne police officer.
Author Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians) has made a career out of reshaping standard horror genre tropes into stories that are approximately 1,000 times more interesting. This new standalone novel is being promoted as a new kind of summer teen movie in novel form—a slasher story with a twist. Set in 1989 in a small west Texas town, the tale features a 17-year-old reluctant killer and is said to explore author Jones’ own Texas upbringing.
For those who appreciate manor-on-the-moors-style Gothic horror, In the Lonely Hours promises a good, spooky time. It seems that Edie Nunn has inherited an ancient castle on a remote Scottish island. Unfortunately for Edie and her teenage daughter, the castle comes with a legacy of family tragedies, multiple ghosts of varying hostility, and a cursed gem called the Maundrell Red. This sophomore novel from author Shannon Morgan is recommended for readers of Eve Chase, Megan Shepherd, and Lisa Jewell.
The new book from author and journalist Lev Grossman pivots off a remarkably cool cross-genre concept. The Bright Sword is a kind of alternate history of the Camelot legend. King Arthur is already dead, and the future of the realm depends on a ragtag band of reluctant heroes and kinda-sorta knights. As evidenced by his excellent novel The Magicians, Grossman does extremely interesting things with dusty old fantasy tropes. It should be fun to see what he does with hallowed British mythology.
Based on the famous Chinese legend of Mulan, this fantasy adventure from author K.X. Song (An Echo in the City) follows a princess who disguises herself as a boy to enlist as a soldier. Also in the mix: a handsome prince turned fellow soldier, an opium-eating father, and a sea dragon spirit with its own mysterious agenda.
Anticipation is high for this bold experimental novel, which operates as a kind of choose-your-own-adventure story for the discerning speculative fiction enthusiast. Acclaimed author Peng Shepherd (The Cartographers) tells the tale of a middle-aged woman who’s given the chance to rewrite every mistake she’s ever made. Shepherd twists the very format of her book to match the theme of the story, which concerns quantum technology, time travel, and the physics of free will.
What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas. But it seldom works out that way. Athletic trainer Kennedy Kay finds this out the hard way in the new baseball-themed sports romance from author Liz Tomforde. Kennedy has just woken up in bed with a shortstop. That’s confusing enough, but the player happens to be employed by the same team that writes Kennedy’s paycheck. Also: Kennedy has a ring on her finger. Uh-oh. What happened last night?
Shiloh and Cary were more than just friends in high school—they were best friends. Allies. Soulmates. Purely platonic, but deep and intimate all the same. After a separation of 14 years, they meet again at a mutual friend’s wedding. Can the connection they forged so long ago be revived after all this time and kids and divorces? Veteran author Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park) is back with a heartwarming love story of two lost souls who find each other again.
The YA fantasy-romance Reckless is the second installment in Lauren Roberts’ The Powerless Trilogy, which imagines a kingdom where psychic Elites live in splendor and the Ordinary live in ghettos. The talented thief Paedyn Gray survives by using her (ordinary) powers of observation to pass as a psychic. When she kicks off a growing resistance movement, the stakes get real high, real quick. Roberts’ “kiss-or-kill” romantasy series is recommended for readers of Red Queen and The Hunger Games.
Fans of The Inheritance Games series will want to check out this one, which serves as a kind of soft reboot of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ crazy-popular YA mystery franchise. The setup focuses on billionaire Avery Grambs and the Hawthorne brothers as they ramp up the Grandest Game, an annual competition of puzzles for the next generation of fortune seekers. But with worldwide fame and some truly stupid amounts of money on the line, not everyone is playing fair.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Comments Showing 1-44 of 44 (44 new)
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Jul 01, 2024 05:24PM
Where to start? The only books that look good here are The Grandest Game and Reckless. I'd skip the rest.
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How is Children of Anguish and Anarchy not on this list?!
Browniesgirl4eva wrote: "How is Children of Anguish and Anarchy not on this list?!"This is a July list & CoAA was released in June
I read an advanced copy of The God of the Woods and really enjoyed it. Several others on this list that are on my TBR. :)
The Lion Women of Tehran looks interesting.
Browniesgirl4eva wrote: "How is Children of Anguish and Anarchy not on this list?!"It came out June 25
All of these books are really interesting to read
The Same Bright Stars is what I’m looking forward to reading in July.
Here are some more books to add to that July 2024 list:Aiden Bailey -- Cage of Traitors
Daniel Silva -- Death in Cornwall
Mary Romasanta -- The Eternal Secret
Nick Thacker -- The Giza Cipher
My July list:How To Be A Citizen by C.L. Skach*
Death Pact by Matt Hilton*
Forbidden Girl by Kristen Zimmer*
Made For You by Jenna Satterthwaite
Ladykiller by Katherine Wood
Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne
Only One Survives by Hannah Mary McKinnon
The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa
Shades Of Mercy by Bruce Borgos
One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day
Beyond Policing by Philip V. McHarris
Second Chance Romance by Carol Mason
Decade Of Disunion by Robert W. Merry
Polite Calamities by Jennifer Gold
Textbook Romance by Kristen Bailey
Hello Little Girl by Kay Bratt
* = review available on Hardcover.app
I’m curious about The Night Ends With Fire. That’s the only one that piqued my interest.
I’ve had Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder on my TBR since last year. I didn’t realize it was out only in Australia and is just now coming out here. Very excited for this book.
The God in the woods will probably be the only book I read from this month’s new releases.
What about All The Colours Of The Dark?
I highly recommend The Wedding People. It's an immersive, fun read. Loved it!
Who picks these; not one in the bunch I'd bother with.
Shannon wrote: "I read an advanced copy of The God of the Woods and really enjoyed it. Several others on this list that are on my TBR. :)"I will read anything she writes.
The Blackbird Oracle by Deborah Harkness!!!
How is The Best Lies by David Ellis not on this list? One of the most awaited books of the summer!
Emily wrote: "What about All The Colours Of The Dark?"Released 6.25, so not a July book
The Cliffs-J. Courtney Sullivan (7.2)This Great Hemisphere - Mateo Askaripour (7.9)
The Seventh Veil of Salome - Silvia Moreno-Garcia (7.16)
The Blackbird Oracle - Deborah Harkness (7.16)
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love - India Holton (7.23)
The Drowning House-Cherie Priest (7.23)
Queen B: the Story of Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen - Juno Dawson (7.23)
I'm looking forward to The God of the Woods! I already read Like Mother, Like Daughter through Netgalley and really enjoyed it.
I marked lonely hours, teenage slasher, and god of the woods
Jane wrote: "Who picks these; not one in the bunch I'd bother with."Surely that's your problem, nobody else's?!
I agree with Jane... not interested in any of the books
Currently reading God of The Woods… enjoying so far!
Jane wrote: "Who picks these; not one in the bunch I'd bother with."These are literally the most shelved books on GR released this month. So I guess a lot of people picked them.
Tell It To Me Singing - Tita Ramirez should be on here for sure
One Girl, One Summer -Isabel AshdownThe Wilds - Sarah Pearse
After Annie-Anna Quindlen
The Missing Family-Tim Weaver
Just a few more.
The God of the Woods intrigues me and y’all giving it love in the comments makes me hopeful it’s a banger! 🙂
This list is missing so much! My biggest July anticipated books are:
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle came out on the 9th and is one of my top books for the whole year. (This being absent from the list is egregious imo)
The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Lee Mi-Ye released in English this month also on the 9th
Alley: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito comes out at the end of the month. Junji Ito was mentioned twice as horror author favorites in a recent Goodreads article.
The wrote: "This list is missing so much! My biggest July anticipated books are: ..."
Ooo, I read Dallergut Dream Department Store when it was published in English in January in the UK and really enjoyed it. There’s a sequel landing here in November. Hopefully it’s not far behind for other jurisdictions! 🌈
Karen wrote: "The Cliffs-J. Courtney Sullivan (7.2)This Great Hemisphere - Mateo Askaripour (7.9)
The Seventh Veil of Salome - Silvia Moreno-Garcia (7.16)
The Blackbird Oracle - Deborah Harkness (7.16)
The Orn..."
Is This Great Hemisphere any good? It seems to be an intriguing sci-fi novel. What about Black Buck?
I'm practically counting the minutes until Bright Sword downloads to my kindle.
Another I’m excited for is “The SpellShop” by Sarah Beth Durst! it looks so cozy and charming!
I REALLY CANT WAIT FOR GRANDEST GAMEEE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The Briar Club and The Wedding People are new additions to my library.
Emily wrote: "What about All The Colours Of The Dark?"That book was published on June 25 2024. This is a July list.
the grandest game sadly doesn’t come out until 2025 in the uk
Counting off the days for the Grandest Game
