Hi and welcome to the reading world!
Today’s post is another installment of anticipated new releases, this time for July!
As usual, I want to start off this post with a disclaimer: there are a ton of incredible sounding upcoming releases, and this list is by no means comprehensive nor will I be able to read every single one of these. I’m just curious about these books coming out soon and want to share a little about them in case one also is of interest to other readers!
Let’s get into this list, which is organized by publication date at the time of writing this post!
July 5
Set in a planet-sized matriarchal city where magic and technology freely bleed together, a male courtesan’s quest for vengeance against his aristocrat father draws him into an ancient struggle between dragons, necromancers, and his home district’s violent history. In the world-sized city of Jadzia, magic and ancient science merge into something dark and wondrous. Koré’s life is consumed by power, politics, sex and vengeance, and as courtesan to the wealthy and powerful, he is privy to all manner of secrets. He knows meddling in politics is dangerous─still, he is willing to risk everything to stop his father from seizing the Imperial Throne of the War District. But Koré soon finds the corruption runs far deeper than just one man. During a tryst in an ancient tomb─in the pursuit of political influence─Koré encounters a dying god, who imbues him with the powers of one of the city’s sacred dragons. Suddenly Koré finds himself a hunted man, threatened with becoming a pawn by whoever finds him first. If the wrong person discovers his secret and lays claim to his powers they would plunge their world into war, unleash untold horrors and destroy the city─and the two people he has come to love.
Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor
Published by Solaris on July 5, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Dragons & Mythical Creatures, Fiction / Fantasy / General, Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy, Fiction / Romance / General
Pages: 475
The long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existence With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness. In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. Whether the stories take place in modern-day Japan, the future, or an alternate reality is left to the reader's interpretation, as the characters often seem strange in their normality in a frighteningly abnormal world. In "A First-Rate Material," Nana and Naoki are happily engaged, but Naoki can't stand the conventional use of deceased people's bodies for clothing, accessories, and furniture, and a disagreement around this threatens to derail their perfect wedding day. "Lovers on the Breeze" is told from the perspective of a curtain in a child's bedroom that jealously watches the young girl Naoko as she has her first kiss with a boy from her class and does its best to stop her. "Eating the City" explores the strange norms around food and foraging, while "Hatchling" closes the collection with an extraordinary depiction of the fractured personality of someone who tries too hard to fit in. In these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.
Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata
on June 6, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Absurdist, Fiction / Short Stories (single author), Fiction / World Literature / Japan
Pages: 256
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
July 12
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home. To have the woman she loves back should mean a return to normal life, but Miri can feel Leah slipping from her grasp. Memories of what they had before – the jokes they shared, the films they watched, all the small things that made Leah hers – only remind Miri of what she stands to lose. Living in the same space but suddenly separate, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had might be gone. Our Wives Under The Sea is the debut novel from the critically acclaimed author of salt slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep, deep sea.
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
Published by Pan Macmillan UK on March 8, 2022
Genres: Fiction / General, Fiction / Women
Pages: 400
“Ruby Barrett’s writing leaves me breathless.” —Rosie Danan A fiery restaurant owner falls for her enigmatic head chef in this charming, emotional romance Amy Chambers: restaurant owner, micromanager, control freak. Amy will do anything to revive her ailing restaurant, including hiring a former reality-show finalist with good connections and a lot to prove. But her hopes that Sophie’s skills and celebrity status would bring her restaurant back from the brink of failure are beginning to wane… Sophie Brunet: grump in the kitchen/sunshine in the streets, took thirty years to figure out she was queer. Sophie just wants to cook. She doesn’t want to constantly post on social media for her dead-in-the-water reality TV career, she doesn’t want to deal with Amy’s take-charge personality and she doesn’t want to think about what her attraction to her boss might mean… Then, an opportunity: a new foodie TV show might provide the exposure they need. An uneasy truce is fine for starters, but making their dreams come true means making some personal and painful sacrifices and soon, there’s more than just the restaurant at stake. Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters. Book 1: Hot Copy
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
Published by Harlequin on July 12, 2022
Genres: Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Bisexual, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+ / General, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 316
Book 2: The Romance Recipe
Startling stories that center the bodies, memories, myths, and relationships of Asian American women, from the National Book Award “5 Under 35” honoree and author of Bestiary With each tale, K-Ming Chang gives us her own take on a surrealism that mixes myth and migration, corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian. Stunningly told in her feminist fabulist style, these are uncanny stories peeling back greater questions of power and memory.
Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang
Published by Random House Publishing Group on July 12, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Asian American, Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian, Fiction / Short Stories (single author)
Pages: 224
In “Auntland,” a steady stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking surreptitious kisses from women at temple, buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prepare for citizenship tests, and hatching plans to name their daughters “Dog.” In “The Chorus of Dead Cousins,” ghost-cousins cross space, seas, and skies to haunt their live-cousin, wife to a storm chaser. In “Xífù,” a mother-in-law tortures a wife in increasingly unsuccessful attempts to rid the house of her. In “Mariela,” two girls explore one another’s bodies for the first time in the belly of a plastic shark, while in “Virginia Slims,” a woman from a cigarette ad comes to life. And in “Resident Aliens,” a former slaughterhouse serves as a residence to a series of widows, each harboring her own calamitous secrets.
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “claustrophobic spine-tingler” (People) One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder. April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder. “The Agatha Christie of our generation” (David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author) proves once again that she is “as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime” (The Washington Post) with this propulsive murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Published by Simon and Schuster on July 12, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 432
July 19
“A page-turner, an eye-opener, a heartbreaker, a delight, The Work Wife is that rare book that illuminates a world we never knew existed while also making us feel so much less alone in everyday life.” —Julia Phillips, author of National Book Award finalist Disappearing Earth “The Work Wife is a bold and wholly satisfying novel about power, ambition, and the price women must often pay for their dreams. I gobbled it up.” —Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of All Adults Here Zanne Klein never planned to be a personal assistant to Hollywood royalty Ted and Holly Stabler. But a decade in at thirty-eight, that's exactly how she spends her days, earning six figures to make sure the movie mogul and his family have everything they could ever dream of and more. However, today is no ordinary day at the Stabler estate. Tonight, everyone who's anyone will be there for the Hollywood event of the season, and if the party’s a success, that chief of staff job Zanne's been chasing may soon be hers. Which means she can buy a house, give her girlfriend the life she deserves, pay off her student loans. Nothing's going to get in Zanne’s way—not disgruntled staff, not a nosy reporter, not even a runaway hostess. But when Ted’s former business partner, Phoebe Lee, unexpectedly shows up right before go time, Zanne suddenly has a catastrophe unfolding before her—one with explosive consequences. As the truth comes out and Zanne realizes how deeply entangled she's become in the Stablers' world, she must decide if the sacrifices she's made for the job are worth the moral price she has to pay. Told over the course of a single day and from three fierce perspectives, The Work Wife is a richly observed novel about female ambition, complicity, privilege and what happens when the brightest of stars aren't allowed to shine.
The Work Wife by Alison B. Hart
Published by Harlequin on July 19, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce, Fiction / Feminist, Fiction / LGBTQ+ / General, Fiction / Women
Pages: 322
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a dreamy reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. "As alluring as it is unsettling, filled with action romance, and monsters . . . Readers will fall into this tale immediately, enchanted."--Booklist (starred review) ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022--She Reads Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers. The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor's labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities. All of them live in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Dr. Moreau's patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction. For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and, in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Published by Random House Worlds on July 19, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Hispanic & Latino, Fiction / Science Fiction / Genetic Engineering, Fiction / Thrillers / Historical
Pages: 320
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is both a dazzling historical novel and a daring science fiction journey.
July 26
Jayci Lee's romcom Booked on a Feeling features an overachieving lawyer. A failing bookstore. A childhood friend. And the chance of a lifetime... Lizzy "Overachiever" Chung, Esq. has her life mapped out neatly: If all goes to plan, she will check off that last box in a couple years, make her parents proud, and live a successful, fulfilled life in L.A. What was not in her plans was passing out from a panic attack during a pivotal moment in her career. A few deep breaths and a four hour drive later, Lizzy is in Weldon for three weeks to shed the burnout and figure out what went wrong. And what better place to recharge than the small California town where she spent her childhood summers with her best friend, Jack Park. Jack Park didn't expect to see Lizzy back in Weldon, but now he's got three weeks to spend with the girl of his dreams. Except she doesn't know of his decades-long crush on her--and he intends to keep it that way. She's a high-powered attorney who lives in L.A. and he's a bookkeeper at his family's brewery who never left his hometown. He can't risk their friendship on a long shot. Can he? When Lizzy decides that the local bookstore needs a little revamp, of course, Jack is going to help her bring it back to life. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore there might be more than just friendship among the dusty shelves and books... Sometimes the path to the rest of your life has been in front of you all along.
Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on July 26, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Multicultural & Interracial, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 352
* Become a lawyer. Check.
* Join a prestigious law firm. Check.
* Make partner. In progress.
What are some new releases you’re excited for in July?
Thanks for stopping by!
Rae
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