It feels like 2026 just started and here we are, already in June. As we are continuously shocked at how time is speeding by, June is also great time of the year for a two reasons: summer has arrived and it’s great time celebrating books and reading. June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, Caribbean American Heritage Month and Audiobook Appreciation Month, and the start of summer reading! So many ways this month to propel your 2026 reading year or to give it the jolt that it desperately needs. Wherever you are in your 2026 reading year, June is great way to help you move forward.
So what are you in the mood for as we begin Summer Reading 2026? A heartwarming picture book? An unlikely duo standing up for women’s rights? A gay detective agency? Whether you are reading in print or audiobook format, your June is “booked” with these exciting new releases!
Featured Book of the Month
The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Five prodigies, one dead father, a mansion full of suspects…
Octavius the Maestro.
Fola the Brain.
Bilal the Olympian.
Perdita the Artist.
Romeo the Failure.
These are the five heirs of the illustrious billionaire Leontes Button. Adopted and viciously trained with their father’s infamous “Button Method” to prove his hypothesis for creating prodigies—child geniuses—the Button siblings have had no choice but to be brilliant according to their father’s impossibly high standards.
Until he is murdered at his annual Prodigy Ball.
Now, all who attended the ball are required to stay in the Button Manor while the police investigate. But the officers have their work cut out for them—each of the Button siblings has something to hide, but The Heirs aren’t the only ones with secrets. After all, Leontes Button was especially good at making enemies. . . (Credit: Feiwel & Friends)
Rebel Fire by Ann Sei Lin
Kurara has barely escaped the grasp of Princess Tsukimi. Reeling from her Crafter mentor’s grim betrayal, Kurara and her friends are desperate to catch up with their old airship, even if it means they have to do it on foot. But after everything she’s been through, Kurara refuses to give up on understanding and freeing the shikigami, origami creatures enchanted to life, nor will she stop at anything to understand her mysterious past, no matter who tries to interfere . . . or what dark truths about her role in the war may surface, the farther south she goes. Her goal is the Grand Stream, where Suzaku, the greatest shikigami of all, lies in furious wait.
But Kurara isn’t the only one searching for Suzaku. Traveling through forests, seas and the ruins of an underground Crafter city, there is no shortage of enemies who wish to control Kurara and the shikigami of the world for their own ends. When a bloody confrontation leads to horrifying revelations about the true nature of shikigami and Kurara’s past, Kurara will need all the support she can muster just to carry on.
In this sequel to the breathless Rebel Skies, readers will return to the soaring heights, incredible twists and dark depth. (Credit: Tundra Books)
Breakout
For Thurgood Marshall Academy’s best and brightest–five friends who’ve been thick as thieves since kindergarten–this spring break is all about forgetting: they want nothing more than to wash away last year’s tragedy, and the human-shaped hole it left in their friend group.
It’s a hole the new kid, Anthony Brooks, seems to fit right into. So when he invites the Five to join him on a private island for a week at his dad’s luxury resort, they agree with zero hesitation. No one’s counting on a freak tropical storm swooping in and killing the vibe. And speaking of killing, they’re also ill-prepared for the mounting collection of dead bodies… including (another) one of their own.
As their dream trip unravels, everything they tried to leave behind–secrets, lies, betrayals, dead best friends–seems to be washing up on the shore of their lives for everyone to see. Will any of them make it out alive?
From the bestselling, award-winning team behind Blackout and Whiteout—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—comes a thriller that begs the question: is it possible to outrun the worst thing you’ve ever done? (Credit: Quill Tree Books)
The League of Dangerous Young Ladies by J.A. Morgenstein
It’s 1909 and Rose Moriarty–teenage daughter of Sherlock Holmes’ greatest enemy–has made a name for herself fighting monsters and solving crimes. But that was before Rose met the one mystery she couldn’t solve: the disappearance of her headmistress. Now, her school has shut down, her classmates have scattered, and Rose is on her own.
On the very day Rose receives word that an old friend is dying, the shadowy Count Christoph and his ward Clara show up at her door. Rose has already figured out why they’re here (to hire her) and what’s in their bag (an ancient orb with incredible powers), but questions remain: Can Rose convince these strangers to help save her friend’s life? What are the grotesque, bug-shaped stalkers that plague their every step? And how can Rose pursue this adventure while avoiding a particular boy from her childhood? The only thing certain is that Rose is no longer alone, because danger forges strange alliances . . .
. . . and Professor Moriarty wasn’t the only famous villain to have a daughter.
Unexpected friendships, supernatural mystery, high-stakes heists, and budding romance billow together in this thrilling fantasy adventure, which introduces a motley crew of daredevil heroines who hunt monsters . . . in all their forms. (Credit: Stonefruit Studio)
Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom
The case of the bludgeoned lecturer has all of Cromwell University reeling, even though the elderly Professor Bullfinch wasn’t particularly well-liked. His ornery nature and Old World approach to campus politics ruffled more than a few feathers over the years, and present tensions within his department mean there are more suspects than mourners in the wake of his death. And the murder weapon—a bronze bust of Nathaniel Hawthorne—does seem to indicate that the attack may have been academically motivated…
Enter Dell Chandler, the failed English professor turned self-taught private detective whom Dr. Cutty calls in to investigate the crime. She has the background to tease out the motives among the staff and just enough experience to conduct a thorough inquiry. If she solves the case before the cops do, the university could keep the whole thing quiet, avoiding sensational media about the dark side of campus life. But to do so, she’ll have to dodge her own demons from her past life as a disgraced academic. (Credit: The Mysterious Press)
We Are Joy by Chrystal D. Giles and illustrated by Kitt Thomas
We are joy—showing off our moves and tick-tocking to the drumbeats
of our created culture—the culture that moves the world.
We are joy—full surrounded by laughter, and light
and love, and love, and love.
Shining with lyrical prose and gorgeously vibrant art, this delightful picture book read-together is an inspiring celebration of the beauty and strength of Black culture, Black community, and Black family. It’s an empowering affirmation that joy—especially black joy, is all around us—in the people we love, in our commmunities, and in our hearts. (Credit: Random House Books for Young Readers)
Hysteria by LJ Ross
In a beautiful world, murder is always ugly…
Recently returned from his last case in Ireland, elite forensic psychologist and criminal profiler Dr. Alexander Gregory receives a call from the French police he can’t ignore. It’s Paris Fashion Week, and some of the world’s most beautiful women are turning up dead–each killed in a frenzy, their faces slashed as the world’s press looks on.
Amid the carnage, one victim survives–but she’s too traumatized to speak. Without her testimony, the police are powerless to stop the killer before he strikes again. Can Gregory unlock the secrets buried in her mind before it’s too late?
Murder, beauty, and obsession collide in this fast-paced psychological thriller set against the glittering, dangerous backdrop of Paris. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.
The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is unexpectedly sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and the lives of those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás, and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping and get them both home?
Land is a novel about separation and reunion, tragedy and recovery, colonization and rebellion. It is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away. As spellbinding and varied as the landscape that inspired it, Land is, above all, a story of survival, for our times and for all time. (Credit: Knopf)
The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen
Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew–a group of loveable and messy queer twenty-somethings–and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love, and Jon ghosts. Case closed–or is it?
When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cellphone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him, thinking that this must at last be his Cinderella story.
But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder–and sees Jon fleeing the scene.
Determined (and not in over their heads whatsoever), Brandon, Ollie, Nicole, and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon’s true identity…they just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley
Bestselling romance author Ivy Harcourt has been as unlucky in love as she’s been successful in writing—as her sad relationship track attests, there are no good dating options left in New York . . . Until she rescues an escaped dog in the park, and runs into Liam. Charming, British, hot architect Liam. The exact description of the love interest in her next book.
When an instant connection leads to a whirlwind relationship, Ivy is convinced she’s found the dream man. Except he may be too perfect. He may be hiding something.
And Ivy may have secrets of her own. (Credit: Minotaur Books)
Our Aimless Nights Vol. 1 by Koumori
Peppy high school girl Chika and quiet boy Waya seem like they have nothing in common. However, they share a secret. They meet every week outside the convenience store where Waya works. Slowly, the two start learning more about each other. Before either of them knows it, something begins to bloom between them in the moonlight. (Credit: Ink Pop)
She Walks At Night by Seishi Yokomizo
In this mind-bending new addition to Seishi Yokomizo’s bestselling Kosuke Kindaichi Mysteries—translated into English for the first time—scruffy sleuth Kindaichi is called to the home of the aristocratic Furugami family, where in the midst of the Musashino countryside and enclosed on all sides by a long earthen wall, a gruesome scandal is brewing.
At the centre of the estate is the family patriarch: the drunken, sword-wielding father Tetsunoshin. His mistress, the icy, alluring Lady Oryu, is also housed in the estate along with their illegitimate daughter Yachiyo —beautiful and unstable—and the drink-ravaged Furugami heir, Naoki Sengoku. With each family member holding onto their own dark secrets, tensions between them ride high.
But this family feud turns bloody when the mutilated, headless body of Yachiyo’s fiancé is discovered in the Furugami estate. To solve the case, Kindaichi will need to pick apart the threads of the family’s carefully-woven story. But can he find the killer before the family is torn apart by its own secrets?
Perfect for fans of Knives Out and Lucy Foley, this thrilling mystery from Japan’s greatest and best-loved crime writer is rife with family drama and shocking twists that will captivate readers old and new. (Credit: Pushkin Vertigo)
The Secret Attic Chelsea Conradt
The past isn’t just haunting her–it’s hunting her.
Addison Lowe knew her mother-in-law despised her, but inheriting Barb’s massive estate after her death feels less like closure and more like a trap. Barb’s hoarded rooms aren’t just filled with clutter–they’re filled with secrets. And it’s Addison’s job to unearth them while Luke grieves the loss of the mother he could never let go of.
But Luke grows stranger with every box they open–restless, secretive, cruel in ways Addison has never seen. And the house itself seems to breathe with Barb’s presence. Ivy claws through the windows. A murder of crows drops trinkets at her feet. Dolls stare from the shadows, labeled with names Addison doesn’t recognize–until she does. One doll bears the name Cassidy Warren, a girl who vanished years ago. And the more Addison uncovers, the more Barb’s legacy seems tied to the streak of “bad luck” that has haunted Rockside Bay for decades.
The deeper Addison digs, the clearer it becomes: some secrets were meant to stay buried. And the husband she thought she knew may be hiding the darkest one of all..(Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
The border cuts you in two.
When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.
Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.
She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.
How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make? (Credit: Tor Books)
A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney for the City of New York and Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, has her sights set on the one and only Lucky Luciano, head of New York City’s five largest organized crime families. Other prosectors have tried to bring down Lucky, but they’ve all focused on the crime syndicate’s traditional businesses—bootlegging, gambling, loan sharking, and drug dealing—or tax evasion. No one has thought to approach the mob through its role in prostitution. Until Eunice. But she can’t get Luciano alone.
Polly Adler has worked long and hard to build up her high-class brothel business. Her client list is filled with well-known names, both the famous and the infamous, who all know her booze is top-notch, her music first-rate, her food exquisite, and her girls the best. But Lucky has gone too far, putting her girls in danger, and Polly finally sees the chance to end his reign once and for all.
Together, Eunice and Polly fashion a case utilizing a network of women. Bridging the enormous divide between them and risking their own lives, they assemble evidence bit by bit, under the nose of the man they’re trying to convict. It is this very alliance—of two women from vastly different worlds—that launches the most sensational trial New York City has ever seen. (Credit: Berkley)
An Artful Dodge by Karen Odden
London, 1879: Twenty-year-old Kit Jimeson has fingers so nimble she can nick a necklace off a lady in a crowded theater without raising alarm. Kit and her dodge partner, Mary, are the highest earners in the notorious all-women thieving ring in South London’s Elephant and Castle district.
Kit, whose mother had been a thief before her, dreams of a different life, one where she’s not constantly on the lookout for constables and plainclothes detectives, and where a mistake or pure bad luck won’t land her in the hangman’s noose. She has been saving her earnings so her younger sister, a maid for a wealthy Mayfair family, might have a shot at respectability.
possesses. (Credit: Soho Crime)
Marion by Leah Rowan
NORMAN WAS HER FIRST…
Marion is in deep. She’s stolen money from the Manhattan ad agency where she works in a desperate bid to help her sister escape an abusive marriage, but the bus breaks down before she can make it to Saratoga Springs. It’s late at night, and the only place with vacancies is an old set of cabins on the outskirts of town. She pays for a room in cash, and ends up chatting with Norm, the young innkeeper who’s handsome, charming and a touch hung-up on his elderly mother. Back in her room, she steps into the shower, scrubbing off the late-summer heat, when the curtain is pulled back…
Norm Billings is there with a knife. He raises his arm to strike, but before he does, Marion knees him in the balls, grabs the knife, and stabs the life out of him. Now, she’s covered in blood, and she’s a woman on the run—not just a thief, but a killer, too. Where will she go? How will she save both herself and her sister? And what mysteries will she uncover as she does?
In Psycho, Hitchcock shocked audiences when he killed off his protagonist. But what if the leading lady had fought back? Marion offers an alternate history of the most famous dead blonde to ever grace the silver screen. Only this time, the knife is in her hands—and she’s no victim. (Credit: St. Martin’s Press)
Tell Your Friends by Lauren Wilson
University was meant to be Crystal’s way out. Growing up, there was nothing in her life that couldn’t be turned into content for her mother’s popular (and profitable) family vlog channel, At Home with the Shaws—including the tragic death of her older sister when they were kids. When she arrives on campus, her mother demands she keep filming her every experience for her subscribers—but Crystal has just one story in mind, one that will blow them all away.
At Home with the Shaws is Crystal’s prison, but it is Alyssa’s escape. An aspiring journalist from a deeply troubled family, she jumps at the chance to help Crystal with an exciting project. When she realizes her new friend’s goal is to expose her family and put an end to the channel, Alyssa becomes desperate to find a way to stop the Shaws’ carefully curated image from shattering.
As the two girls discover unsettling truths about themselves and each other, and shocking new information about the Shaws comes to light, Crystal realizes what’s really at stake. If she doesn’t figure out whom she can trust, her freedom will cost her much more than just her fame. (Credit: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar)
Missing In Soho by Holly Stars
Misty Divine is bold, beautiful and back in action. She’s barely settled into her new role as the glamorous hostess of Lady’s Bar when a private detective arrives out of the blue. He’s been stabbed. With what might be his final breath he whispers a cryptic message. “You’re in danger, Misty… you must find Jeremy.”
As Misty dives wig first into the investigation, she gets up close and personal with a number of shady characters, including a notorious televangelist, a group of mysterious financiers, and a bunch of drunken bachelorettes at a drag brunch. And when it becomes clear that Misty’s beloved Lady’s Bar is under threat, she’ll have to seek help in the unlikeliest of allies to solve the case, save the bar, and find Jeremy before he disappears for good.
Can Misty find Jeremy and save Lady’s Bar? And what, or who, might she lose in the process? Her club, her career, her relationship… everything’s at stake. No-one is safe and there’s a young photographer Missing in Soho. (Credit: Berkley)
We Are Pan by Andre Frattino and illustrated by Yasmin Florez Montanez
We Are Pan is based on the true story of Operación Pedro Pan, a joint effort between the U.S. government and the Catholic Welfare Bureau to evacuate 14,000 children from Cuba to the U.S. between 1960 and 1962. With the rise of communism following Fidel Castro’s revolution, parents feared for their children’s future and, through this secret operation, secured passage for them to America. These children (later referred to as “Pedro Pans”) would be distributed across the U.S., mostly living in foster homes. In many cases, these children never saw their families again, and their lives would be changed forever. This is their story. (Credit: Top Shelf Productions)
Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan
I feel invincible.
Like I could run and run
and never stop for breath.
I feel a power in me
I didn’t know I had.
The power to speak,
to say what I need.
Surya knows exactly who they are. Coming out as non-binary to their queer parents and best friend? A total non-event. Catching feelings for Blessing – the boy in drama club whose smile makes their heart race? That’s trickier.
As their final year of school unfolds and the two of them grow closer, Surya starts to question: Does Blessing really see them? Or just a version of them that doesn’t exist? They’d ask their best friend for advice, but she’s busy falling in love too. . .
With gorgeous illustrations throughout, Bad Queer draws us deeply into queer friendship, family secrets, and the necessary act of loving yourself. Perfect for fans of Alice Oseman, Dean Atta, and Sarah Crossan.
This is a love letter to queer futures – tender, curious, and fiercely alive. (Credit: Faber & Faber Children’s)
My Papa Has A Red Mustache by Leo Espinosa
Papa is a fearless pillow fighter, a pancake ninja, and a pigtail artist – that’s what his daughter thinks. There’s just one problem. Papa has a red mustache. While every other man has a black mustache, Papa is the only man with a red one. It’s embarrassing!
But when Papa takes his daughter to watch her first soccer game, she is too excited to realize that the two have become separated. Where is her papa with the red mustache? In a victorious and goal-worthy finale that will have readers laughing and cheering, she realizes that her papa’s red mustache makes him shine the brightest. (Credit: Random House Studio)
Blue Beach by Karyn Parsons
Expected Publication Date: June 9
Fifteen-year-old Blue Collins’s parents own the only Black beach in Santa Monica in 1929. She loves spending time there with her handsome friend Ben Clark. It’s a quiet spot where they can be alone and where Ben’s darker skin won’t be judged by onlookers–or Blue’s own family.
During a sunset rendezvous after a summer parade, the pair discovers the body of Dottie Whitehouse, a white debutante. Blue Beach is already threatened by local white property owners. Now their whole community could be at risk. In their panic, Blue and Ben move Dottie’s body into the waters of a nearby white beach.
Dottie’s body washes ashore, and it isn’t long before all eyes are on Ben. Everyone saw how Dottie teased him and how they shared smiles. And their history goes deeper than Blue ever realized. But to save Ben from the outraged white townspeople, she’ll need to do whatever she can to dig up the truth and prove his innocence. Ben isn’t the only one whose life depends on it. (Credit: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Based On A True Story by Sarah Vaughan
Expected Publication Date: May 9
All families have secrets. But it’s the lies that can kill.
A lavish seventieth birthday party. A body found on a storm-lashed beach. And a secret that someone is dying to tell. . . .
Famed children’s author Dame Eleanor Kingman has summoned her family and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs. They’re celebrating her birthday—and her latest number one bestseller in her series of books based on a mother fox and her cubs.
But the night before the party, Eleanor receives an email that threatens to expose the lie she’s kept up for over half a century.
Someone knows her secret. Is it her estranged literary agent? Is it her ex-husband, to whom she no longer speaks? Is it the nanny she fired all those years ago, who always did have a knack for storytelling? Or is it one of her three daughters, all of whom have a stake in the publishing empire she has built…
With a television crew arriving to film a documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email—and preserve her legacy and multimillion-pound career.
But when push comes to shove, and it’s time to tell the truth will anyone actually believe her? (Credit: Harper)
Sol Goes fo Goal! by Julio Anta and illustrated by Gabi Mendez
Expected Publication Date: June 9
Twelve-year-old Sol is a great friend, a model student, a beloved daughter and a star soccer player. At least that’s what everyone always expects of her. But when the soccer team captain Lily walks by, Sol starts to lose focus. What’s with this heart fluttering feeling she has around Lily?! And how can she stay the star player–the star everything–that people see her as if she can barely remember her name (much less how to play soccer) around Lily? Is Sol destined to let everyone down, including herself? Or can she figure out how to be the Sol she wants to be…on and off the field. Settle back into the cozy community of Hillside Valley in this second irresistible graphic novel! And don’t miss the first Hillside Valley Graphic Novel, Speak Up, Santiago! (Credit: Random House Graphic)
Strangers Behind Closed Doors by Catherine Adel West
Expected Publication Date: June 9
Giovanni Mason worked hard to become the first Black head concierge at Chicago’s exclusive and glamorous Ivory Hotel. It’s a job that requires patience, perfection, and, above all, self-control. But when Giovanni reunites with her former best friend, makeup influencer Natalie Moore, things get heated as a mending of fences morphs into a public argument in the hotel restaurant, and Giovanni loses her cool. Hours later, Natalie is missing. Evidence piles against Giovanni–a ransacked, blood-spattered hotel room, fresh bruises on her body, and a troubling gap in her memory from the last twelve hours.
Detective Redding Stark is the only one unconvinced of Giovanni’s guilt. She sees disturbing parallels to a series of disappearances targeting Black women and believes Natalie’s case is part of something bigger. Together, she and Giovanni are pulled into a dangerous web of privilege, power, and betrayal inside–and far beyond–the walls of the Ivory Hotel.
Will Giovanni and Detective Stark find Natalie or join the missing? (Credit: Park Row)
How Queer Bookshops Changed the World by A.J. West
Expected Publication Date: June 9
The remarkable tale of how queer bookshops built communities, nourished minds, redefined literature – and changed the world
For over a century, LGBTQ+ bookshops have been the unsung heroes of queer liberation
Home not only to books but chaotic community noticeboards, vicious rescue cats and countless meet cutes, queer bookshops have always been more than just bookshops, offering friendship, solidarity and sanctuary.
Travelling the world – Shakespeare and Company in Paris, Gay’s the Word in London, the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York – A. J. West explores the remarkable history of these bookstores. Tracing their evolution from under-the-counter operations to beloved out-and-proud institutions, West reveals how the queer bookshop stood at the vanguard of LGBTQ+ rights, offering support and vital information through the AIDS crisis and bringing the fight to Section 28 and book bans.
A powerful testament not only to bookshops but to the courage of queer booksellers, from Sylvia Beach hiding books from the Nazis in laundry baskets to Craig Rodwell facing off against the police at the Stonewall riots, A. J. West celebrates the shops and booksellers that brought queer literature and lives into the mainstream.
Bookshops covered include: The Highlander & Dove, The Librarie Parisienne, Shakespeare and Company, City Lights Bookstore, The London Underground, Adonis Bookstore, The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, Glad Day, Lambda Rising, Giovanni’s Room, A Different Light, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, A Woman’s Place Bookstore, Womanbooks, Sisterwrite, Modern Books, Housmans Bookshop, Prinz Eisenherz, Gay’s The Word, Lavender Menace & West and Wilde, Vrolijk, Silver Moon, London, The Bookshop Darlinghurst, Paperxclips, Gay-on-Wye, Gayberystwyth Books. (Credit: Oneworld Publications)
The Missed Connection by Tia Williams
Expected Publication Date: June 9
Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she’s always casting–at happy hour, the grocery store, everywhere. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn’t do, however, is relationships. Too much energy, not enough time.
On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha’s seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly–but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help, but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide! The international manhunt to find Seat F begins.
Meanwhile Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime–who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways.
With a worldwide search underway, will love take flight for Sasha? (Credit: Grand Central Publishing)
The Pinnacle by Abir Mukeherjee
Expected Publication Date: June 16
Washed-up American heart throb George Abercrombie hates India, even from his apartment on the 68th floor of Mumbai’s grandest luxury skyscraper. He hates the noise, he hates the heat, and just maybe he’s grown to hate his wife, the newest queen of Bollywood, Sweety Sahota, decades his junior. So when George wakes from a drunken stupor (free whiskey, for which he’s the national spokesperson) to find his wife murdered in their bedroom, he knows quite well just how badly he’s cooked. But where is her computer, her cellphone, and where has his personal assistant gone?
The Pinnacle is a dazzling and addictive thriller that’s three plots in one, as George seeks to find the killer, as a conflicted young woman working as Sweety’s P.A. struggles to find out who’s blackmailing her, and as a servant who knows too much goes on the run. A dark sendup of world’s most privileged coexisting with the world’s most desperate, from the winner of the 2025 British Book Awards Thriller of the Year. (Credit: Little Brown and Company)
The Summer Fun Massacre by Craig Dilouie
Expected Publication Date: June 16
It’s 1992, and in the heat of Texas, camp Summer Fun rests by a crystalline lake surrounded by a shady forest. The counselors have set out the kayaks, prepped the kitchens, and refurbished the cabins. Now, on the night before camp begins, a bonfire and the teenage counselors’ rites of passage await.
But the camp has a horrifying history. In the ’80s, there was a massacre that left a sole survivor. One final girl. The killer never caught.
Deputy Tom Bailey is always on edge this time of year. There are rumors that the woods are haunted. That the killer might one day return. Tom has deeply personal ties to the ’80s massacre, and those ties have plagued his dreams.
Then Tom gets a call reporting bloodcurdling screams coming from the camp. The real nightmare is just beginning . . . .(Credit: Run For It)
Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl by Amena Brown
Expected Publication Date: June 16
Black women always find a place to meet: in the natural hair aisle, at Beyoncé concerts, even online in memes and catchphrases. This book is one of those places: a living room where readers can contemplate how a well-picked afro can defy the laws of physics and why boob sweat has to exist in the first place. Here, Black Girl is a verb. Here, Black women can Black Girl in every way we want to.
Amena Brown’s book Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl blends storytelling, humor, and pop culture commentary to traverse the magic and wisdom she’s gleaned from being raised by Southern Black women, and supported by the community of Black women who hold her down today. After graduating from the International Black Girl Headquarters (the renowned HBCU Spelman College), Amena has built a career telling stories and celebrating Black womanhood. In her book, she shares stories of dancing in Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope” music video and partnering with Tracee Ellis Ross to compose odes to natural hair. She imparts essential life lessons from the Real Housewives of Atlanta, and tells hair tales, including wisdom on the ideal style for her first speaking gig at Essence Fest (box braids, 100 percent).
In the end, Brown shares that Black women are a whole world. A galaxy of customs, language, code, and unspoken understandings, all explored with humor and heart in this unforgettable book. (Credit: Tiny Reparations Books)
The Butler by Clare Mackintosh
Expected Publication Date: June 16
The South of France is stunning, though not without its imperfections, from pickpockets to burglars to the occasional cold-blooded killer. But in his twenty-five years of service, Baxter–with a spotless reputation as a polished, well-mannered butler–has never run into any issues catering to the ultrawealthy. Until now.
Baxter’s latest assignment is at Villa Sérénité, where Alec Prescott is hosting a colorful cast of characters, including his ex-wife, his much younger lady friend, and some Hollywood hotshots, after the Cannes Film Festival. But it doesn’t take long for a week of sun, wine, and a family birthday celebration to devolve into bickering and backstabbing. And soon, secrets aren’t the only thing floating to the surface . . .
When one of the guests is found dead in the villa’s glittering pool, the gendarmes turn to the unflappable Baxter to help determine who’s responsible. A good butler is expected to see everything and say nothing–but what if he too becomes a target? (Credit: Podium Publishing)
I Won’t Pretend These Missiles Are Stars: Life in Iran During the 12-Day War by The Cartoonist Collective
Expected Publication Date: June 16
Elizabeth Zhang is well aware of her place in the world. She’s in the tenth percentile for likability, the seventieth percentile for attractiveness, and the ninety-ninth percentile for academics. While she’s never been the most beautiful or the most liked, she knows she has the intelligence and ambition to achieve her greatest dream: Harvard Law School. But when Harvard rejects Elizabeth for not standing out enough—which she knows means she’s just another boring Asian female—her carefully constructed life falls apart. What shocks her even more is that Laura Kim, a classmate at Columbia, got in. Elizabeth can’t figure out how this could have happened. Why was Laura accepted? What makes her so interesting? (Credit: Street Noise Books)
Blood Caste by Shylashri Shankar
Expected Publication Date: June 16
Is Jack the Ripper at large on the streets of Victorian India?
Hyderabad, India, 1895. When three bodies are discovered with mutilations bearing an eerie resemblance to the Ripper’s Whitechapel victims, Chief Inspector Soobramania known as Soob is summoned to investigate.
Suspicion alights upon three powerful men: a Russian grand duke and an English earl visiting the city, and their friend, a Deccani noble, who is also the stepson of one of the victims.
Faced with the thorny imperial politics of accusing relatives of Queen Victoria, Soob must ally with his rival in the British Residency Police, Inspector Wilberforce, to hunt down the killer.
So begins a deadly game of cat and mouse played in the shadow of empire, where high birth protects foul deeds and where spilt blood counts for less than wealth. (Credit: Canelo)
Blink and You’ll Miss It by Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan and illustrated by Keith Browning
Expected Publication Date: June 16
In the strange town of Perennial Harbor, time doesn’t just heal wounds—it reopens them.
Decades after their love faded, Melody and Jesse find themselves caught in a spiraling mystery where the past is more alive than the present. As Melody slips further back in time, she finds herself reliving memories and rewriting fate for a time and place she thought she’d left behind. Can she discover the unsettling truth causing reality to unravel around her? Or will it ultimately destroy her and the only person she’s ever truly cared for?
From the breakout writing team of Ethan S. Parker (Hello Darkness) and Griffin Sheridan (Kill Your Darlings) and featuring stunning debut art by Keith Browning, this genre-blurring emotional thriller blends sci-fi, romance, and psychological horror into one unforgettable story. (Credit: BOOM! Studios)
The Fata Unpleasantness At Netherfield by Claudia Gray
Expected Publication Date: June 16
Jonathan Darcy has recovered from the wound he received in a duel three months prior, during a disastrous London Season. But his parents aren’t over the shock, and they remain convinced that, no matter how many murderers have been caught via their investigations, Jonathan must end his association with Miss Juliet Tilney—particularly now that she is a young lady of ruined reputation. He prays for some opportunity to be with her again, but unfortunately, the answer to those prayers comes in the form of murder: his uncle Charles Bingley’s brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, is found dead from poisoning at Netherfield Park. Aunt Jane is desperate for answers, which means Miss Tilney must be invited to Netherfield to investigate!
Juliet, still reeling from her newfound ruination, is happy to be back in the thick of an investigation. The reunion with Mr. Darcy is difficult—Juliet has missed Jonathan terribly, but she is tormented by the knowledge that his parents will never approve their match. Adding to her troubles are the scheming Caroline Bingley Allerdyce and her daughter Priscilla, whose machinations threaten any hope Juliet might have of societal rehabilitation, much less an engagement. Then, Mr. Hurst proves to be only the first victim at Netherfield, casting a pall of danger—and worse, scandal—over the Bingleys’ household. Jonathan and Juliet must find the culprit, and will ultimately be called to make a final choice between respectability…and love. (Credit: Vintage)
You Girls Play Nice by KD Aldyn
Expected Publication Date: June 16
Four friends. Four plans for revenge. One secret killer.
When Helen Wyatt is brutally murdered, her four best friends anxiously wait in the courtroom to ensure justice is served. But when her attacker is acquitted of all charges, the women decide to get revenge.
Hypothetically, of course.
The friends host a girl’s night, each presenting a different way they would kill the culprit to avenge Helen. It’s a silly thing, a way to ease their grief. Until, a week later, a murder is discovered that mirrors one of their imagined killings. Then another. What started as a cathartic exercise soon ends in carnage, with suspicion quickly falling on the four friends.
Someone has discovered their secrets. And now, the women will have to hunt down who is framing them for murder. Or, even more chillingly, question who among them may be capable of being a killer themselves… (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen
Expected Publication Date: June 23
The sleepy town of Cedar Lake is best known as the shooting location of the campy ’80s horror flick Slasher. In high school, preppy Patrick, jock Jason, cheerleader Tiffany, stoner Freddy, goth Jennifer, and nerdy Mikey had played the cast of Slasher during midnight showings, with virginal Carrie as the Final Girl, of course.
Years later, the friends reunite at the remote cabin where Slasher was filmed. They’ve changed since high school—Carrie found a boyfriend, Patrick came out, Mikey bulked up, and, well, Freddy’s still stoned—and they’re looking forward to a weekend to catch up. But when night falls, and the eponymous masked killer is spotted, the reunion takes a deadly turn. The friends discover their tires deflated and the phone line disconnected, and soon they’re being stalked by a mysterious assailant. Is someone trying to make their Slasher experience as authentic as possible?
One thing is for sure. Before the night is over, they each will have to take on the role they thought they’d left behind. (Credit: Crown)
It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell
Expected Publication Date: June 23
Jane Trevally is walking her dogs on her country estate when a small white terrier appears, alone and with no sign of the teenaged girl he’d been staying with nearby. When the teenager is reported missing, Jane offers to return the dog to his registered owner, hours away in London. Arriving at a run-down house called Thornwood in the deepest backwaters of Hampstead, she is immediately on alert—because Jane has a dark history with this house.
The man who answers the door is not the man that Jane remembers from her past. He is cagey, and claims to know nothing about the missing teenage girl. Then, through the window of the house, Jane catches a glimpse of a haunted-looking woman.
Conjuring her memories from twenty-five years ago, Jane knows this unsettling house holds the key—to the missing teenager, to her own traumatic story, and to the dark secrets of the past. (Credit: Atria Books)
Nine Lives by Catherine Steadman
Expected Publication Date: June 23
Reeling from a very recent divorce, Frankie has moved into a glamorous London neighborhood. This is a new chapter in her life. She’s decided to put down roots with Blue, the beautiful Persian cat she left her marriage with.
But little doubts about her perfect new life start to grow, and when Blue returns one night from slipping into places he shouldn’t, Frankie’s concerns solidify. Two words are roughly scratched into his collar: help me. Unsettled and unwilling to ignore the incident, Frankie roots out an old unused “cat cam” collar. What slowly begins as a voyeuristic fascination with her neighbors and the secrets they’re hiding soon turns into a perilous quest for the truth that threatens to bring untold terrors to her doorstep. (Credit: Bantam)
Doe by Rebecca Barrow
Expected Publication Date: June 23
Maris Larsen is the captain of the West Eaton High cheer team. She’s Coach’s favorite and the team worships her. Being on the team makes her feel special—powerful. When she’s leading the girls on the mat, Maris doesn’t have to think about her dead-end life in a dead-end town. She can forget about her depressed mother and absent father and the fact that her girlfriend doesn’t really love her. But when newcomer and Coach’s new golden girl, Genevieve Ray, joins the team, the only thing going right in Maris’s life is suddenly in jeopardy. A bitter rivalry develops between the two, but Maris is determined to take Genevieve down. The knife she needs to wield comes to Maris in her dreams.
While sleepwalking, Maris is visited by a monstrous, decaying beast in the shape of an enormous deer. Doe is an ancient, tired creature who has been wandering, trapped in her current form for decades. She cannot die, but she cannot go on living as she has. Only a girl related by blood to those who bound her in this form can free her, but those girls she loved died years ago—murdered in a fire.
But Maris is somehow linked to Doe’s beloved girls—linked by blood—and so she has the power to free Doe, to unleash her immense power. In Maris’s dreams, she and Doe form a bond, but Maris doesn’t know the creature from her dreams is real. Maris doesn’t understand the danger she’s in. She only knows Doe has promised her a way to win her battle with Genevieve. But for Maris to win, someone has to die, and the only real winner in the end will be Doe. (Credit: Nancy Paulsen Books)
Worse Than Strangers by Kyleigh Leddy
Expected Publication Date: June 23
Rose and Lily are best friends first, mother-daughter second, which is good because right now, Lily could really use a friend. Recently fired from her NYC magazine job and heartbroken, Lily has fled to the family cottage in Siasconset. She is shocked when she stumbles across her first love at the grocery store holding hands with his new fiancé—a fiancé he never mentioned on their many, many late-night phone calls.
Rose has secrets, too. A therapist about to start her own private practice, Rose’s world is rocked by the handsome renter staying in their guest cottage, Thomas Wentworth: the one person she thought she would never see again and the man who has always (unfortunately) held her heart.
A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion set against a backdrop of blue and purple hydrangeas, swollen brick sidewalks, tall sea grass, and uniform, shingled houses, Lily and Rose Gardner’s summer journey of second chances, healing, and hope begs the question: Can you repeat the past, and is it ever too late to try again? (Credit: Gallery Books)
Rules for Aging and Larceny by Julia London
Expected Publication Date: June 30
Frances Deluca has always been a force of nature. Active and agile into her 70s, she can handle anything—except perhaps the stretch of empty days looming ahead. Widowed, with a grown son living far away and her own mortality suddenly in view, Frances longs to feel busy again. What she really wants is the familiar rush of a well-crafted plan coming together. It’s been a while, decades in fact—since Frances and her friends pulled off a heist . . .
Frances, Joan, Edie, and Irene were a girl gang before such things even existed, joining forces in their 20s for a one-time job that revealed a remarkable affinity for crime. They developed a code of honor, taking only from those who deserved it—until misunderstandings and pride drove them apart.
Now, one by one, Frances manages to convince her old friends to put aside their grudges and reunite. And where better for a reunion tour than Las Vegas? Their target: Rocco Vitali, a mobster’s grandson who’s developed a high-tech shakedown. Rocco is a Crypto-loving scam artist, and Edie’s beloved granddaughter just lost everything to him, including her self-respect. But the women intend to take it all back—with interest.
Risks will be taken. Fractured relationships will be mended. And four badass seniors will discover how formidable a whole lot of experience can be . . . (Credit: Kensington)
Winners & Liars by Aleema Omotoni
Expected Publication Date: June 30
Derin’s acceptance into Cambridge University is the end of an era—just not the one she expected.
When she and her ultra-competitive Uni prep group, the Kenfield Set, were first invited to Professor Darnley’s summer ball, they planned on celebrating the group’s success, surrounded by the riches of his historical Kenfield estate—not kicking off the festivities with the professor’s will reading.
But when the Darnleys’ aristocratic children are disinherited, the students are offered the opportunity of a lifetime: compete in a Victorian, literary-inspired inheritance competition to be named the new heir—winner takes all!
For Derin, it’s a chance to help her working-class family. But the remaining Darnleys won’t take losing their stately home and its multimillion-pound inheritance lying down. And added to the mix, a mysterious note is slipped under Derin’s door alluding to a dark family secret lying in wait.
Now Derin must balance the cutthroat games; scheming relatives; and a cute Kenfield intern amid her dawning realization that the history of this inheritance might be soaked in lies . . . and blood. (Credit: HarperCollins)
School Bus Graveyard, Volume 1 by Red
Expected Publication Date: June 30
Ashlyn has always been a loner, and she likes it that way. However, she’s forced to make allies fast when after a high school field trip goes horribly wrong. She and a few others now see a monstrous phantom invisible to everyone else. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be able to hurt them. Until midnight that is, when the skies turn red, and Ashlyn finds herself in a world of murderous ghosts. To survive, she’ll need to trust her classmates and uncover the secret of the curse, but can she survive long enough to do it?
This volume collects episodes 1-32 of the hit WEBTOON with over 250 million views, School Bus Graveyard. Featuring additional artwork from the author, this will be a must-have for fans! (Credit: Ink Pop)
Champions of the Galaxy by Tolá Okogwu
Expected Publication Date: June 30
Earth has never been in more trouble. The Galactic Syndicate is unhappy with the danger humans pose to the rest of the galaxy and is planning to annex Earth and eradicated its human inhabitants…unless humans can redeem themselves. In the Terra Trials, fifteen of Earth’s smartest and bravest children from across the world must compete in humanity’s last chance to save itself.
Enter Kola Adesola. Kola is not chosen as a Terra Champion…but his sister is. And if there’s one thing Kola’s going to do, it’s protect his sister. After stowing away on the transporter that takes his sister to the mother ship, Kola gets a whole lot more than he bargained for and must enter the competition himself.
But all is not as it seems aboard the ship. Strange things keep happening and their alien hosts seem more invested in stoking the friction between the champions than helping them succeed. Kola must rely on his relationships and his determination to uncover the truth, making him question whether the Terra Trials are just a front for something bigger… (Credit: Margaret K. McElderry Books)
The Princess Diaries: The Graphic Novel by Meg Cabot and illustrated by Bethany Crandall
Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there’s nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine frizzy-haired freshman, who also happens to be flunking algebra.
Is she ever in for a surprise.
First, her mom announces that she’s dating Mia’s algebra teacher. But her dad’s announcement is even worse: he is the crown prince of Genovia, and guess what that makes Mia?
A frizzy-haired freshman who is flunking algebra, and also happens to be a PRINCESS.
Mia might not be ready for the throne, but one thing totally rules: #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot has adapted her classic The Princess Diaries into a royally hilarious graphic novel with art by Bethany Crandall! (Credit: HarperAlley)
The Housewife by Natalie Barelli
Expected Publication Date: June 30
Jodie always dreamed of being a housewife. And after a whirlwind romance, she marries renowned psychologist Dr. Roy Davies and moves into his perfect Beverly Hills home. But the fairy tale fades fast. Roy is distant, his friends view her as a gold-digger, and the house still reveres his late wife, Deborah, whose presence still looms over everyone and everything.
When Jodie learns Deborah became a recluse before death, she begins to suspect Roy was behind it. And the deeper she digs, the darker Roy’s past appears–obsessive, controlling, unfaithful. Increasingly convinced he had something to do with Deborah’s death, Jodie knows she should go to the police, but that would require revealing her own secret. A secret that could destroy her.
But Jodie won’t be silenced. Because the truth about Roy is worse than she imagined–and now, trapped in a house built on lies, she must find a way out before she becomes the next perfect wife to vanish. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
No One Knows You’re Here by Rachel Howzell Hall
Expected Publication Date: June 30
For crime reporter Syeeda McKay, obsession is part of the job–and no story has ever consumed her like that of the Phantom Slayer. This serial killer has targeted sex workers in South Los Angeles for nearly twenty years. She named him. She’s tracked him. And only she can bring justice to these victims the city has ignored.
The latest: a minister’s daughter–a far cry from the usual pattern and impossible to ignore. Overnight, the case explodes, and so does Sy’s life. Someone’s watching her. Following her. Anticipating her every move. And then come the emails from someone claiming to be the Slayer himself, offering details only the killer could know. She’s made him famous–and this is the Slayer’s way of saying thank you.
But he’s not done.
As her investigation gets closer to exposing the truth, Sy realizes that she’s more connected to the Slayer than she knew–and that he’s been waiting for her all along. (Credit: Thomas & Mercer)
What Happened to Those Girls byCarlyn Greenwald
Expected Publication Date: June 30
Emma knows her friends all lie to her. And everyone knows Emma is the outcast of their group. She’s usually fine with that, until her friends go on a camping trip that she planned…without her. The next morning, she wakes up to the news that all three of them died at the campsite.
When Emma starts receiving unnerving videos of the girls the night they died from an anonymous source, it becomes clear their deaths weren’t an accident. And if this becomes a murder case, Emma will be suspect number one. Because while everyone knows she had been excluded from the plans, what they don’t know is that she went to the campsite that night after all, and someone has proof.
Emma teams up with Beck, one of the victims’ sisters, to return to the woods and figure out what really happened the night her friends died, uncover who is behind the mysterious videos she is receiving, and make sure that nobody can pin their murders on her. But stranded in an eerie town that doesn’t welcome outsiders with a murderer on their heels, Emma and Beck just might be next… (Credit: Sourcebooks Fire)
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