26 July Releases We're Excited About

And what you can read in the meantime

Reading ahead

Our TBR piles may be weighing down our bedside tables, but there are always new books coming out that we want to find space for. From thrilling sequels to magical romances to deluxe collector's editions, July’s most anticipated list is especially packed with must-reads! Here are 26 upcoming releases across a mix of genres. These titles are available for preorder, but in the meantime, we have recs for similar reads that you can enjoy now.

Contemporary fiction 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (July 2)
August 1975: Thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp. And this isn't the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. As a panicked search begins, the layered secrets of the wealthy Van Laar family collide with the blue-collar community working in its shadow.

What to read first: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella (July 2)
Since the death of his father, Jack has been at the helm of his family's beachfront restaurant, leaving him little time for a life of his own. When he's approached with an offer to sell, he wonders if closing the door on the restaurant might open a new window for him. But can he let go of the very things that have defined him?

What to read first: A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (July 9)
In 1980, a wealthy businessman is kidnapped from his driveway and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids, somewhat brutalized, less than a week later and the family tries to move on with their lives. But now, nearly forty years later, it's clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything, after all.

What to read first: The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

The Days I Loved You Most by Amy Neff (July 30)
After more than sixty years together, New Englanders Evelyn and Joe are still very much in love. When Evelyn receives a heartbreaking diagnosis, the couple decide to end their lives together in one year's time. This tearjerker traces that year, as they revisit their past and make peace with the legacy they will leave behind. 

What to read first: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Mystery, thriller, and suspense 

Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel by Lisa Jewell (July 2)
Meet Jessica Jones: Retired superhero, private investigator, loner. She tried her best to be a shiny spandex crimefighter, but it only led to unspeakable trauma. Now she avoids that world altogether and works on surviving day-to-day in Hell's Kitchen, New York. The first book in the new Marvel Crime series. 

What to read first: Ask for Andrea by Nicole W. Ihli

The Burning by Linda Castillo (July 9)
In the sixteenth riveting installment of this bestselling series, newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. At the scene, she discovers a gruesome murder. Her investigation uncovers a little-known chapter of early Amish history.

What to read first: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

Confessions of the Dead by James Patterson and J. D. Barker (July 9)
Hollows Bend, New Hampshire, is a picture-perfect New England town. The crime rate, zero, is a point of pride for Sheriff Ellie Pritchett. But when a mysterious teenage girl shows up. She can't—or won't—answer any questions. With the girl in protective custody, the town is hit with a wave of troubling crimes.

What to read first: Death of the Black Widow by James Patterson and J. D. Barker

A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva (July 9)
Art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon finds himself pursuing a powerful and dangerous new adversary when he agrees to help an old friend with a baffling murder investigation. The 24th installment of this bestselling series offers a dazzling tale of murder, power, and insatiable greed.

What to read first: The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

The Conditions of Unconditional Love by Alexander McCall Smith (July 16)
Moral philosopher and amateur sleuth, Isabel Dalhousie, is back and once again finds herself facing a number of tricky situations. With a questionable houseguest and suspect funding for a work project, Isabel must, as always, rely on her kindness, powers of deduction, and philosophical expertise.

What to read first: The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith

The Wilds by Sarah Pearse (July 16)
Concluding a twisty trilogy, this atmospheric thriller concerns the disappearance of a young woman in a Portuguese National Park. Detective Elin Warner arrives in the same park ready to immerse herself in its vast wilderness. Instead, she finds herself untangling the clues to try and find out what happened.

What to read first: Force of Nature by Jane Harper

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones (July 16)
It's 1989 in a small west Texas town where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel.

What to read first: The Pallbearer's Club by Paul Tremblay

Sci-fi and fantasy

Bound to the Shadow Prince by Ruby Dixon (July 2)
In order to protect her kingdom from the wrath of a vengeful goddess, Princess Candra must remain locked inside a tower for seven long years with her sworn enemy. Nemeth is terrifying, cruel, and disturbingly magnetic. Candra should kill him for his supplies, but she's desperate for his company . . . and his touch.

What to read first: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

The Darkness Within Us by Tricia Levenseller (July 9)
This YA enemies-to-lovers romantasy continues the story of the fiercely independent Stathos sisters, shifting the focus from Alessandra to older sister Chrysantha. Preorder now and get in on a special limited edition featuring spray-painted edges, detailed map endpapers, a ribbon bookmark, and more.   

What to read first: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (July 16)
Collum is a gifted young knight who arrives at Camelot only to discover that King Arthur has recently died in battle, exposing Britain's fault lines. As kingdoms turn on each other, Collum joins forces with a ragtag fellowship of imperfect men and women full of strength and pain, looking for a way to reforge a broken land. 

What to read first: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness (July 16)
Continuing the story of Oxford scholar and witch Diana Bishop and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clermont: The two receive a formal demand from the Congregation to test the magic of their seven-year-old twins. Concerned with their safety, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family's future.  

What to read first: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Historical fiction 

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (July 9)
It's 1950 and people keep to themselves at Briarwood House, a women's boardinghouse in Washington DC. But when Grace March moves in, the lovely mysterious widow draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship with weekly dinner parties. But she hides a terrible secret of her own.

What to read first: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (July 9)
1891 Butte, Montana: Tom Rourke is a young poet and ballad-maker, as well as a fearsome degenerate. When Polly Gillespie arrives as the new bride of the mine captain, a thunderbolt love affair strikes between Tom and Polly and they take a wild chance, striking out west on a stolen horse.  

What to read first: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

The Windsor Conspiracy by Georgie Blalock (July 16)
Left penniless after her husband's death, Amelia takes a job as her cousin Wallis Simpson's private secretary in France. When she's asked by FBI and M15 operatives to spy on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor for their alleged Nazi sympathies, she finds much more than she bargained for.  

What to read first: The Duchess: A Novel of Wallis Simpson by Wendy Holden

Maria by Michelle Moran (July 30)
In the 1950s Oscar Hammerstein wrote a musical based on the life of Maria Von Trapp. His glamorized portrayal reportedly incensed the complicated matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. This novel aims to offer a more authentic portrait of the tenacious woman who helped her family escape Nazi-controlled Austria.

What to read first: The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta von Trapp

Romance 

Until Next Summer by Ali Brady (July 9)
Growing up, Jessie and Hillary lived for their summers together at Camp Chickawah. They drifted apart after Hillary declined to join Jessie as a camp counselor. Now Jessie is the camp director and when she learns that it will be sold, she plans an adults-only summer camp and invites her old bestie.

What to read first: The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey

The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey (July 16)
Tallulah is smart, vivacious, and studying to be a marine biologist. She's also twenty-six and broke. So when Burgess, a battle-scarred hockey veteran and newly single dad, offers her a job as his live-in nanny, she jumps at the opportunity. Things start to get complicated when sparks fly between Tallulah and Burgess.

What to read first: Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton (July 23)
Beth Pickering is on the verge of capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when the annoyingly handsome Professor Devon Lockley swoops in. Rival ornithologists hunt through England for a rare magical bird in this historical-fantasy rom-com reminiscent of Indiana Jones but with manners, tea, and helicopter parasols.

What to read first: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Bridgerton: Two new two-in-one Collector's Editions) by Julia Quinn (July 23)
Hardcore fans of the series will want to get in on these two-in-one Collectors Editions featuring gorgeous sprayed edges, intricate foil iconography, beautiful endpapers, and a ribbon bookmark. The Duke and I & the Viscount Who Loved Me and Offer From a Gentleman & Romancing Mr. Bridgerton.

What to read first: Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell (July 30)
Best friends Shiloh and Cary followed different paths after high school. They promised each other that their friendship would never change, but somehow it did. Now Shiloh's thirty-three, divorced with two kids. It's been fourteen years since she spoke to Cary, but he's all she can think about. 

What to read first: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Nonfiction 

Tiger, Tiger: His Life, As It's Never Been Told Before by James Patterson (July 15)
The impossible life of Tiger Woods—how did he become the GOAT, and what drove him to fall so spectacularly? In Patterson’s hands, Tiger’s story is a hole-in-one thriller. Cowritten with golf reporter Peter de Jonge, this biography taps into the most transformative moments of Woods's life.

What to read first: Miracle on the 17th Green by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge

Hopefully there’s something here that you want to add to your TBR list! Let us know which new books you’re most excited about this month.

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon