Summer Reads! Makes Me Feel Fine!
We’re gearing up to take a summer vacation for the first time in two years, but you need some exciting books to pack for your getaway! Or maybe, like me, you are staying in one place, but you still want to travel the world through fantastic storytelling and immersive imaginations. This summer’s jampacked with all the excitement and thrills a book lover strives for in their reading. From Ireland to a Chateau in France, prepare for upcoming book releases that will excite, delight and chill you from beginning to end and keep you entertained and cool at the same time!
Fiction & Literature
Learning To Talk: Stories by Hilary Mantel
Absorbing and evocative, these drawn-from-life stories begin in the 1950s in an insular northern village “scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.” For the young narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. In “King Billy Is a Gentleman,” the child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage. “Curved Is the Line of Beauty” is a story of friendship, faith, and a near-disaster in a scrap-yard. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In “Third Floor Rising,” she watches, amazed, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity. (Credit: Henry Holt and Co.)
Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
Sweet like plantain, hot like pepper. They taste the best when together…
Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.
They’re soon embroiled in a fake relationship to try and salvage their reputations and save their futures. Kiki has never surrendered her heart before, and a player like Malakai won’t be the one to change that, no matter how charming he is or how electric their connection feels. But surprisingly entertaining study sessions and intimate, late-night talks at old-fashioned diners force Kiki to look beyond her own presumptions. Is she ready to open herself up to something deeper? (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
- Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- Other Names for Love by Taymour Soomro (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- Dead Water by C.A. Fletcher (Expected Publication Date: July 19)
- The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander (Expected Publication Date: July 19)
- Delphi by Clare Pollard (Expected Publication Date: August 2)
- Moth by Melody Razak (Expected Publication Date: August 9)
- Mad Woman by Louisa Treger (Expected Publication Date: August 23)
Haven by Emma Donoghue
Expected Publication Date: August 23
In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean? (Credit: Little, Brown & Company)
The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton
Expected Publication Date: August 30
Amsterdam, 1705. It is Thea Brandt’s eighteenth birthday. She feels ready for adulthood, but life at home is difficult. Her father Otto and her aunt Nella argue endlessly over money, selling off furniture to try to keep the family home.
As catastrophe threatens to engulf the household, Thea seeks refuge in Amsterdam’s playhouses. She loves the performances. But even better, in the backrooms of her favorite theater, Thea can spend a few precious minutes with her secret lover, Walter, the chief set painter. The thrill of their hidden romance offers Thea an exciting distraction. But it also puts her in mind of another secret that threatens to overwhelm the present: Thea knows her birthday marks the day her mother, Marin, died. Thea’s family refuses to share the details, and they seem terrified to speak of “the miniaturist”—a shadowy figure from their past who possesses uncanny abilities to capture that which is hidden.
Aunt Nella believes the solution to all Thea’s problems is to find her a husband. An unexpected invitation to Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball seems like a golden opportunity. But when Thea finds a parcel containing a miniature figure of Walter, it becomes clear that someone out there has another fate in mind for the family . . .(Credit: Bloomsbury Publishing)
Mystery & Thrillers
A Beginner’s Guide To Murder by Rosalind Stopps
Expected Publication Date: July 5
Grace, Meg and Daphne, all in their seventies, are minding their own business while enjoying a cup of tea in a café, when seventeen-year-old Nina stumbles in. She’s clearly distraught and running from someone, so the three women think nothing of hiding her when a suspicious-looking man starts asking if they’ve seen her.
Once alone, Nina tells the women a little of what she’s running from. The need to protect her is immediate, and Grace, Meg and Daphne vow to do just this. But how? They soon realize there really is only one answer: murder.
And so begins the tale of the three most unlikely murderers-in-the-making, and may hell protect anyone who underestimates them. (Credit: HQ)
The Ruins by Phoebe Wynne
Expected Publication Date: July 5
Welcome to the Chateau des Sètes, a jewel of the Cote d’Azur, where long summer days bring ease, glamour, and decadence to the holidaymakers who can afford it. Ruby Ashby adores her parents’ house in France, but this August, everything feels different. Unexpected guests have descended upon the chateau–friends of her parents, and their daughters–and they are keen to enjoy the hot, extravagant summer holiday to its fullest potential. Far from England, safe in their wealth and privilege, the adults revel in bad behavior without consequence, while the girls are treated as playthings or abandoned to their own devices. But despite languid days spent poolside and long nights spent drinking, a simmering tension is growing between the families, and the sanctuary that Ruby cherishes soon starts to feel like a gilded cage. Over two decades later the chateau is for sale, its days of splendor and luxury long gone, leaving behind a terrible history and an ugly legacy. A young widow has returned to France, wanting to purchase the chateau, despite her shocking memories of what transpired that fateful summer. But there is another person who is equally haunted by the chateau, and who also seeks to reclaim it. Who will set the chateau free–and who will become yet another of its victims? (Credit: St. Martin’s Press)
First Born by Will Dean
Expected Publication Date: July 5
Sisters. Soulmates. Strangers.
Molly Raven lives a quiet, structured life in London, finding comfort in security and routine. Her identical twin Katie, living in New York, is the exact opposite: outgoing, spontaneous, and adventurous.
But when Molly hears that Katie has died, possibly murdered, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. As terrifying as it is, she knows she must travel across the ocean and find out what happened. But as she tracks her twin’s final movements, cracks begin to emerge, and she slowly realizes her sister was not who she thought she was and there’s a dangerous web of deceit surrounding the two of them. (Credit: Blackstone Publishing)
The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson
Expected Publication Date: July 12
When Detective Anjelica Henley is called to investigate the murder of popular preacher in his own church, she discovers a second victim, tortured and tied to a bed in an upstairs room. He is alive, but barely, and his body show signs of a dark religious ritual.
With a revolving list of suspects and the media spotlight firmly on her, Henley is left with more questions than answers as she attempts to untangle both crimes. But when another body appears, the case takes on a new urgency. Unless she can apprehend the killer, the next victim may just be Henley herself. (Credit: Hanover Square Press)
- The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark (Expected Publication Date: June 21)
- The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths (Expected Publication Date: June 28)
- Death On Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo (Expected Publication Date: July 5)
- Reputation by Sarah Vaughan (Expected Publication Date: July 5)
- Peril at the Exposition by Nev March (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- The It Girl by Ruth Ware (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey (Expected Publication Date: July 19)
- The Other Guest by Helen Cooper (Expected Publication Date: July 26)
The Swell by Allie Reynolds
Expected Publication Date: July 19
The waves are to die for.
Three years ago, passionate surfer Kenna Ward lost her two great loves—after her boyfriend drowned, she hung up her surfboard and swore off the water for good. But she is drawn back to the beach when her best friend, Mikki, announces her sudden engagement to a man Kenna has never met—a member of a tight-knit group of surfers. Kenna travels to a remote Australian beach, entering a dangerous world far from civilization where the waves, weather, and tides are all that matter. Kenna is tempted back into the surf, and drawn into the dazzling group and the beach they call their own.
But this coastal paradise has a dark side, and members of the group begin to go missing. Kenna realizes that in order to protect Mikki and learn more about the surfers, she must become one of them…without becoming one of their victims. What follows is an adrenaline-fueled thriller packed with twists and turns, exploring the dangerous edge between passion and obsession. (Credit” G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Retreat by Sarah Pearse
Expected Publication Date: July 19
They couldn’t wait to stay here.
An idyllic wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation–but the island itself, known locally as Reaper’s Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s rumored to be cursed.
But now they can’t leave.
A young woman is found dead below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But Detective Elin Warner soon learns the victim wasn’t a guest–she wasn’t meant to be on the island at all.
And they would do anything to escape.
The longer Elin stays, the more secrets she uncovers. And when someone else drowns in a diving incident, Elin begins to suspect that there’s nothing accidental about these deaths. But why would someone target the guests at this luxury resort? Elin must find the killer–before the island’s history starts to repeat itself.
Most are here to recharge and refresh. But someone’s here for revenge. . . . (Credit: Pamela Dorman Books)
How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
Expected Publication Date: August 2
When I think about what I actually did, I feel somewhat sad that nobody will ever know about the complex operation that I undertook. Getting away with it is highly preferable, of course, but perhaps when I’m long gone, someone will open an old safe and find this confession. The public would reel. After all, almost nobody else in the world can possibly understand how someone, by the tender age of 28, can have calmly killed six members of her family. And then happily got on with the rest of her life, never to regret a thing.
When Grace Bernard discovers her absentee millionaire father has rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge and coldly sets out to get her retribution—by killing them all, one by one. Compulsively readable, Bella Mackie’s debut novel is driven by a captivating first-person narrator who talks of “self-care” and social media while calmly walking the reader through her increasingly baroque acts of murder. But then, Grace is imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit. (Credit: The Overlook Press)
Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard
Expected Publication Date: August 16
Movie-making can be murder.
The project
Final Draft, a psychological horror, being filmed at a house deep in a forest, miles from anywhere in the wintry wilds of West Cork.
The lead
Former soap-star Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute. She can’t help but hope that this opportunity will be her big break – and she knows she was lucky to get it, after what happened the last time she was on a set.
The problem
Something isn’t quite right about Final Draft. When the strange goings-on in the script start to happen on set too, Adele begins to fear that the real horror lies off the page… (Credit: Blackstone Publishing)
- Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister (Expected Publication Date: August 2)
- The Couple At Number 9 by Claire Douglas (Expected Publication Date: August 2)
- Three Assassins by Kotaro Isaka (Expected Publication Date: August 9)
- The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell (Expected Publication Date: August 9)
- The Blame Game by Sandie Jones (Expected Publication Date: August 16)
- Wake by Shelley Burr (Expected Publication Date: August 30)
- Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (Expected Publication Date: August 30)
Graphic Novels & Manga
Stray Dogs: Dog Days by Tony Fleecs and illustrated by Trish Forstner
Expected Publication Date: July 26
The follow-up to 2021’s surprise cartoon/horror smash hit, STRAY DOGS! In DOG DAYS, each of the Strays gets their moment to shine with a series of vicious short stories. Questions are answered, mysteries solved and old wounds get torn open. This genre bending thrill ride takes the reader from the first dog he captured to the final moments at the Master’s house of horrors.
STRAY DOGS: DOG DAYS is a heartbreakingly adorable horror anthology by My Little Pony comic artists TONY FLEECS and TRISH FORSTNER. In this collection… Every dog has its day. (Credit: Image Comics)
The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito
Expected Publication Date: July 26
What destiny awaits them after the screaming?
After abruptly departing from a train in a small town, a couple encounters a “weeping woman”—a professional mourner—sobbing inconsolably at a funeral. Mako changes afterward—she can’t stop crying! In another tale, having decided to die together, a couple enters Aokigahara, the infamous suicide forest. What is the shocking otherworldly torrent that they discover there? (Credit: Viz Media)
- The Elusive Samurai, Vol. 1 by Yusei Matsui
- Lore Olympus: Volume 2 by Rachel Smythe
- Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith
- House of Slaughter Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV
- To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda
- Talk To My Back by Yamada Murasaki (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- Paris by Andi Watson and illsutrated by Simon Gane (Expected Publication Date: July 12)
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 5: Volume 5 by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe (Expected Publication Date: July 19)
Twelve Percent Dread by Emily McGovern
Expected Publication Date: August 2
Katie and Nas are best friends, exes, co-dependents. They share everything, including a tiny room in a North London townhouse belonging to their landlord Jeremy, former host of the hit 90s show ‘Football Lads’.
While Katie bounces from job to job and obsesses about falling behind in life, Nas has bigger things in mind–waiting endlessly for their visa to come through, while working on a seismic art project that will revolutionize politics and society as we know it. Their friend Emma, meanwhile, seems to have it all figured out–job, mortgage, engagement–yet the long hours working for tech giant Arko and endless wedding admin prove equally dread-inducing.
But when Katie’s latest job finds her tutoring the daughter of Arko’s formidable CEO, Michelle, and Emma welcomes the eccentric and enigmatic Alicia to her team at Arko, none of the three women are aware that their lives–and possibly the future of society itself–are about to change forever. (Credit: Dark Horse Books)
Steeple Volume 3 by John Allison
Expected Publication Date: August 23
A new year begins in Tredregyn, and a Satanic ritual goes awry–bringing the filming of a cozy TV detective drama to town. Unfortunately, this particular Pandora’s box contains a few things a lot less pleasant than casual jobs and showbiz glitz. Plus, in a special backup feature, a teen sleuth puts the cat among the parish pigeons as she attempts to solve the disappearance of a glamorous author. (Credit: Dark Horse Books)
- Cat+ Gamer: Volume 2 by Wataru Nadatani (Expected Publication Date: August 9)
- Sakamoto Days: Volume 3 by Yuto Suzuki (Expected Publication Date: August 9)
- Komi Can’t Communicate: Vol. 20 by Tomohito Oda (Expected Publication Date: August 9)
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vol. 7 by Haro Aso (Expected Publication Date: August 16)
- Rooster Fighter Vol. 1 by Shu Sakuratani (Expected Publication Date: August 16)
- Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo (Expected Publication Date: August 30)
Children & Young Adult
The Society For Soulless Girls by Laura Steven
Expected Publication Date: July 7
Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous North Tower murders at the elite Carvell College of Arts, forcing Carvell to close its doors.
Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless student Lottie is determined to find out what really happened. But when her roommate, Alice, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual hidden in Carvell’s haunted library, the North Tower claims another victim.
Can Lottie uncover the truth before the North Tower strikes again? Can Alice reverse the ritual before her monstrous alter ego consumes her? And can they stop flirting for literally fifteen seconds in order to do this?
The King is Dead by Benjamin Dean
Expected Publication Date: July 7
James has been a prince all his life, and since he was born, he’s been thrust into the spotlight as the first Black heir to the throne. But when his father dies unexpectedly, James is crowned king at the tender age of seventeen, and his life irrevocably changes.
When James’ boyfriend suddenly goes missing, threatening envelopes appear in the palace, and gossip and scandals that only he knows are leaked to the public. As the anonymous informant continues to expose every last skeleton in the royal closet, James realises even those in his inner circle can’t be trusted.
- Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow
- What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix by Tasha Suri
- Something Certain, Maybe by Sara Barnard (Expected Publication Date: July 7)
- Her Dark Wings by Melinda Salisbury (Expected Publication Date: July 7)
- Rapunzella, Or, Don’t Touch My Hair by Ella McLeod (Expected Publication Date: July 7)
- Nura and the Immortal Palace by M. T. Khan (Expected Publication Date: July 7)
- The Hayley Mysteries: The Haunted Studio by Hayley Leblanc (Expected Publication Date: July 19)
- You Can Do It: How to Find Your Voice and Make a Difference by Marcus Rashford and Carl Anka (Expected Publication Date: July 19)
Wild Is The Witch by Rachel Griffin
Expected Publication Date: August 2
Iris Gray knows witches aren’t welcome in most towns. When she was forced to leave her last home after an illegal display of magic, she left behind a father who was no longer willing to start over. And while the Witches’ Council was lenient in their punishment, Iris knows they’re keeping tabs on her.
Now settled in Washington, Iris she vents her frustrations by writing curses she never intends to cast and spends her days at the wildlife refuge with a witch-hating intern, Pike Adler.
Iris concocts the perfect curse for Pike: one that will turn him into a witch. But just as she’s about to dispel it, a bird steals the curse before flying away. If the bird dies, the curse will be unleashed and turn not just Pike, but everyone in the region, into a witch.
Iris begs Pike to help her track the bird, and they set out on a trek through the Pacific Northwest…and find they may like each other’s company more than they want to admit. (Credit: Sourcebooks Fire)
Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston
Expected Publication Date: August 30
After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.
But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!
But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.
The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope–so how can Amari refuse? (Credit: Balzer & Bray/Harperteen)
- The Day No One Woke Up by Polly Ho-Yen (Expected Publication Date: July 21)
- No Way Home by Jody Feldman (Expected Publication Date: August 2)
- A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic by Debbie Rigaud (Expected Publication Date: August 4)
- Cuts Both Ways by Candice Brathwaite (Expected Publication Date: August 4)
- Resist by Tom Palmer (Expected Publication Date: August 4)
- A Tangle of Spells by Michelle Harrison (Expected Publication Date: August 16)
These Are Words by Nikita Gill
Expected Publication Date: August 18
Reclaim your agency. Discover your power. Find the words.
Taking you on a journey through the seasons of the soul, in this collection Nikita gives you the words to help heal from your first breakup, to celebrate finding your family, to understand first love, to express your anger and your joy, to fight for what you believe in and to help you break some rules to be your truest self.
Gorgeously illustrated throughout by Nikita herself and featuring seasonal astrological poetry, this collection is an achingly beautiful, stunningly warm and fearless expression of truth from one of the most influential and well-known voices in modern poetry. Credit: Pan Macmillan)
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