upcoming summer releases!
Happy summer!
While looking ahead to August releases I discovered that there were only three books I wanted to highlight, so I have decided to combine July and August’s posts into one giant post. I will be back to my regular schedule come September, where I have my usual 8-12 titles. Also, because I have been so sporadic in posting the past couple months, no paywall this time!
July
Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney — July 8th
After a catastrophic hurricane severely damages her library, children’s librarian and single mom Tansy must temporarily move her branch into a shed in the county botanic gardens, where her archnemesis Jack is the assistant director. When Jack and Tansy are tasked with working together on the spring festival, they have no choice to call a truce and their newfound professional partnership gives way to a deep intimacy they’ve both been silently craving. Other than Emily Henry, I’ve never read a romance with a librarian before, so I’m intrigued.
The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware — July 8th
Nearly a decade after publishing The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware has returned with a story about Lo Blacklock. This time the reader finds her attending the opening of a luxury Swiss hotel and ends up in a cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe. The Woman in Cabin 10 is being adapted into a film on Netflix this fall, so I have a feeling that’s why this sequel is being published now.
How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold — July 8th
After legendary horror author Mortimer Queen passes away, a group of writers (each with their own connection to the literary icon) find themselves invited to his will reading expecting a piece of his massive fortune. However, upon arrival they are invited to play a game: solve the riddle and progress to the next room or the manor will take one of them for itself, because like a true horror story, the house is hungry. The blurb calls this a mashup of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and The Fall of the House of Usher!
Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi — July 22nd
Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his own invention called Motive Method Death: everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other. It’s not long before the game reawakens old resentments and brings private matters to light and with each fictional crime, someone new gets a very real motive. Pavesi’s The Eighth Detective is one of my all-time favorite mystery novels, so I was very excited when I heard he had a new book coming out. Unfortunately this doesn’t have the best reviews on goodreads, but I will be picking it up to see for myself eventually.
Greenwich by Kate Broad — July 22nd
In the summer of 1999, Rachel Fiske arrives at her aunt and uncle’s mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut to help her aunt heal from an injury and escape her own troubles back home. Excluded from the world of adults and their secrets, Rachel’s only bright spot is Claudia, a recent college graduate and the live-in babysitter for Rachel’s cousin. When a tragi accident occurs, she must make a pivotal choice. Caught between her desire to do the right thing and to protect her future, she’s the only one who knows what really happened—and her decision has consequences far beyond what she could have predicted. This is said to be a debut novel for readers of Celest Ng and Liane Moriarty, set against the backdrop of immense wealth and privilege.
The Game is Murder by Hazell Ward — July 29th
A fresh and immersive murder mystery, where the reader is put in the role of the Great Detective, reinvestigating an infamous never-before-solved case from 1970s England. I love the recent trend of meta and interactive mysteries and this one seems like the perfect thing to pick up on vacation.
August
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson — August 5th
Following the murder of her husband, Hannah Cole is struggling to turn a profit in her confectionary shop on Piccadilly. Henry Fielding, the famous author-turned-magistrate is threatening to confiscate the money in her husband’s account because he believes it might have been illicitly acquired. And even those who claim to be her friends have darker intent. Hannah becomes drawn into a web of love, betrayal, and intrigue in a battle of wits.
Baldwin: a Love Story by Nicholas Boggs — August 19th
Drawing on new archival material, this is the first major biography of James Baldwin published in three decades and reveals how profoundly his personal relationship shaped his life and work. Boggs shows how Baldwin drew on all the complex forces within his relationships—geographical, cultural, political, artistic, and erotic— and alchemized them into novels, essays, and plays that speak truth to power and had an indelible impact on the civil rights movement and on Black and queer literary history.
Katabasis by R. F. Kuang — August 26th
Dante’s Inferno meets Piranesi in a dark academia fantasy? Sign me up! Two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.
What are you excited to read this summer? I’d love to chat about it in the comments!
I have a discount code for $5 off your first order at PangoBooks, a marketplace for book lovers, if you’re interested: here.
