Happy Monday and happy July! We’re halfway through 2024, and I’m not quite sure how that happened. lol July has some amazing-sounding new releases to look forward to, and today I have a list of 15 books on my radar. Let’s check them out!
July 2nd: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
Title: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
Author: Megan Bannen
Series: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy #2
Page Length: 464
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Publisher: Orbit Books
Synopsis: The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla and Frank are still patrolling the dangerous land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods.
Twyla might look like a small town mom who brings cheesy potatoes to funerals and whips up a batch of cookies for the school bake sale, but her rewarding career in law enforcement has been a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank’s job a lot safer … and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals covered in liquid glitter–and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon–they are more than happy to be back on the beat.
Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as the danger closes in and Twyla and Frank’s investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might just be the person who has lived next door all along…
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 2nd: Bound to the Shadow Prince
Author: Ruby Dixon
Page Length: 536
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Publisher: Wattpad Books
Synopsis: A steamy new monster romance from the bestselling author of Ice Planet Barbarians!
He is a hulking winged beast, complete with claws and fangs, and she is trapped alone with him in a dark tower. She should be terrified of him, so why does he turn her on?
Princess Candra must remain locked inside a tower for seven long years in order to protect her people from their goddess’s wrath. Seven years without a friend—or a lover—by her side. And locked inside the tower with her? A fearsome winged Fellian warrior, Nemeth.
He’s terrifying, cruel, and disturbingly magnetic . . . and the only other living being in the tower. Candra is torn between wanting to kill him for his supplies or having her way with him. After all, seven years is a long time to be alone.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 9th: When the Viscount Seduces
Author: Darcy Burke
Series: Rogue Rules #3
Page Length: 316
Publication Date: July 9, 2024
Publisher: Zealous Quill Press
Synopsis: Rogue Rules When a young lady is ruined, her friends vow none of them will ever be ensnared by a scoundrel again. They will resist every gentleman’s charms even—and especially—if it means gaining a reputation for being impossible to woo. It will take extraordinary rogues to break their rules…From USA Today Bestselling Author Darcy Burke, author of The Untouchables and Phoenix Club series, comes your next Regency romance must-read.When the Viscount Seduces
After a disastrous Almack’s debut, bookish and clumsy Gwendolen Price is determined to improve her reputation and make her parents proud. The Viscount Somerton, her brother’s friend and one of Society’s most eligible bachelors, offers to help her, and she’s certain his attention will increase her standing—even though he’s exactly the kind of rake she has vowed to avoid. Lazarus Rowe, the eminently unserious and dashingly handsome Viscount Somerton, has spent a lifetime hiding his shameful he simply cannot read well. With a speech to Parliament looming, he’s desperate to remedy this deficiency. The chance to help his friend’s hopelessly bluestocking sister seems the perfect trade—his presence as her devoted escort in exchange for her help as his tutor. As sparks fly between them with every lesson, Gwen refuses to fall for a rogue while Lazarus, begins to reconsider his rakish ways. When a woman from his recent past makes a shocking revelation, Lazarus fears all is lost. Will Gwen retreat to the safety of her books, or do she and this almost-redeemed rake have a chance at a real life happily ever after?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 9th: A Magic Fierce and Bright
Author: Hemant Nayak
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: July 9, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Synopsis: A young technomancer teams up with a handsome thief to save her sister in this propulsive, magic-filled young adult fantasy that is perfect for fans of Gearbreakers and Iron Widow .
Adya wants nothing more than to be left alone. Content to be loyal to no one but herself in the isolated jungles of South India, she dreams only of finding her lost sister, Priya, and making enough money to take care of their family. It’s too bad that her rare ability to wake electric machines—using the magic that wiped them out five centuries ago—also makes her a coveted political pawn. Everyone seems to believe that her technomancy can help them win the endless war for control over the magic’s supernatural source.
These senseless power struggles mean little to Adya. But when her enemies dangle news of her sister before her, she’s all too quick to leap at the chance to bring Priya home—even if it means teaming up with a rakish, disreputable thief in order to do it. With the threat of invasion looming ever larger on the horizon, Adya must reconcile the kind of person she is with the kind of person she wants to be and untangle the web of intrigue, conspiracy, and deceit that threatens to take all of India down with it.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 9th: Black Tide Son
Title: Black Tide Son
Author: H.M. Long
Series: The Winter Sea #2
Page Length: 448
Publication Date: July 9, 2024
Publisher: Titan Books
Synopsis: Swashbuckling adventure on the high-seas, full of magic, betrayal, redemption and fearsome women, in the second book of the Winter Sea series, for readers of Adrienne Young and Naomi Novik.
A captured pirate reveals shocking news to Mary and Samuel that sends them in urgent pursuit of Samuel’s twin brother, Benedict, but their search uncovers much more than they bargained for. While evading a cunning new foe, Mary and Samuel must navigate the complexities of their own growing bond as they launch a rescue mission within one of the most secure fortresses on the Mereish Coast.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 9th: Heir, Apparently
Author: Kara McDowell
Series: The Prince & the Apocalypse #2
Page Length: 336
Publication Date: July 9, 2024
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Synopsis: An American teen learns she may have accidentally married the King of England, only to end up stranded on a tropical island with him in this highly-anticipated sequel to The Prince & The Apocalypse.
Freshman year is stressful enough without accidentally being married to the King of England. Of course, Wren Wheeler can’t tell her Northwestern classmates about that; after surviving a narrowly-averted apocalypse over the summer, everyone’s had enough excitement for one lifetime. Wren knows she needs to move on from Theo, but she can’t forget the look in his eyes when he left her on that island in Greece—and also, he took her dog.
When an ill-fated attempt to rescue Comet the Apocalypse Dog turns into a chemistry-fueled reunion with Theo that’s caught by the paparazzi, Wren finds herself under the royal spotlight. Suddenly, she’s a problem for “the firm” to solve, and in order to be protected from the rabid press, she’ll have to fly back to London with Theo. Along for the ride are Naomi and Brooke, as well as Theo’s siblings, including Henry, the brother he’s spent his life being compared to. But because the universe can’t let these two maybe-newlyweds have one conversation in peace, their plane goes down over the Atlantic, crashing on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.
Stranded with no sign of rescue, the group will have to band together against poisonous animals, catastrophic injuries, a brotherly rivalry, and an ill-timed volcano if they’re going to make it out alive. And, scariest of all, Wren and Theo will have to face their feelings for one another and decide what they want their futures to look like—and if that future will be heartbreak, or happily ever after.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 16th: Not Another Love Song
Author: Julie Soto
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: Two string players fight their attraction for each other as they compete for center stage in this spicy and emotional romance.
Gwen Jackson and Xander Thorne are both musical prodigies, but each has had very different paths to success. Xander was born into classical music royalty, while Gwen had a natural ear for music that was nurtured by a kind shop owner.
After Gwen performs at his friend’s wedding, she’s mortified when she realizes Xander has no clue who she is—despite having worked together for a year at the Pops Orchestra. But she’s more furious that he arrogantly critiques her performance.
When Gwen is offered the role of First Chair of the orchestra, something Xander had secretly coveted for years, their existing hostility goes up a notch. But their respect for each other’s music is undeniable, and their onstage chemistry off the scale. As they begin to explore their feelings for one another, suddenly they’re box office dynamite and the fragile romance that’s growing between them is in danger of being crushed beneath a publicity stunt…
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 16th: The Au Pair Affair
Author: Tessa Bailey
Series: Big Shots #2
Page Length: 384
Publisher: Avon
Synopsis: A sports rom-com about a burly, surly, single dad who falls head-over-hockey-stick for his quirky live-in nanny…
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 to get paid while living in a super fancy neighborhood and being around Lissa, his cool but introverted tween.
Her tween charge isn’t the only one who could use some help fitting in, though. According to…well, everyone except Burgess, he needs to get back on the dating scene, and adventurous Tallulah is just the girl to show him how. But as boundaries are slowly crossed and Burgess finds himself pulled between his daughter, who wants her parents back together, and his insane chemistry with Tallulah, a huge rift is formed, and Tallulah does the “right” thing—breaks her own heart and walks away.
Though Burgess knows it’s for the best—he’s too jaded, with too much baggage—a chance meeting, and a new push from his daughter, forces him to put everything on the line and fight to prove he learned his lessons well and is worthy of a happily ever after with Tallulah.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 16th: The Design of Us
Author: Sajni Patel
Page Length: 368
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: One impulsive lie leads to a weeklong adventure of fake dating for two bickering coworkers in this swoony destination wedding rom-com by Sajni Patel, author of The Trouble with Hating You .
Sunshine incarnate Bhanu brings big UX energy to whatever she does, including going for the promotion where her only serious competition is her work nemesis, AKA Sunny, the grump with the Denzel voice. She expected to get a reprieve from him while visiting her family in Hawai’i, but the universe has other plans. When Bhanu runs into Sunny at the hotel and witnesses his ex criticizing him about being single, Bhanu does the first thing that comes to she impetuously claims to be Sunny’s girlfriend just to get some peace and quiet. Except Sunny is on island for a friend’s wedding and his ex has already texted the entire wedding party about this mysterious girlfriend.
Bhanu truly is the bane of Sunny’s existence. But the last thing he wants to do is cause tension during his friend’s wedding festivities, much less be the object of their pity. He has no choice except to play along, if only he and Bhanu can put aside their quarreling and act like a real couple.
Between Bhanu’s hilariously meddling family and Sunny’s ecstatic friends, the two are pushed closer together, even as stress mounts over the impending promotion.
They say what happens on island, stays on island. But as Sunny and Bhanu let their guards down, will either of them be able to resist this romantic getaway without crossing the line?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 16th: The Backtrack
Author: Erin La Rosa
Page Length: 304
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Synopsis: Life, rewound …
Nearly twenty years ago, Sam Leto left her small hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia, to pursue her dreams of becoming a pilot. While she’d prefer to keep flying away from her painful childhood memories, her beloved grandmother Pearl decides it’s time to sell the family home. Reluctantly, Sam is summoned back to pack up the house.
The 2000s nostalgia from Sam’s old bedroom hits Fall Out Boy posters, drawers of roll-on body glitter and even her favorite CD player with a mixtape from her best friend, Damon Rocha. Damon was always a safe place and Sam often wonders what if her teenage self admitted her feelings for him back then…
Mysteriously, the CD player still works all these years later. And somehow it has the power to show Sam an alternate version of her life.
Song by song, Sam receives flashbacks from her past—senior prom, graduation, leaving home. But the memories aren’t as she remembers them; they show what could have been. Suddenly, Sam knows exactly what would have happened if she’d taken a chance with Damon—and she can’t help feeling she made a terrible mistake leaving Tybee all those years ago.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 23rd: Asking for a Friend
Author: Kara H.L. Chen
Page Length: 336
Publication Date: July 23, 2024
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Synopsis: Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:
1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.
2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.
When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 23rd: Ne’er Duke Well
Author: Alexandra Vasti
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: July 23, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Synopsis: In this steamy Regency romp, Lady Selina is determined to find the Duke of Stanhope the perfect wife―the only problem is she’s starting to think that might be her.
Peter Kent―newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana―must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep―not his fault!―he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft.
Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter asks for her help, she suggests courtship and marriage to a lady of unimpeachable reputation. (Which is to say, definitely not herself.)
But matchmaking doesn’t go according to plan. Peter’s siblings run rampant on Bond Street. Selina ends up in the Serpentine. And worst of all, the scorching chemistry between Peter and Selina proves impossible to resist. For the disreputable duke and his unpredictable matchmaker, falling in love just might be the ultimate scandal.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 30th: That Prince is Mine
Author: Jayci Lee
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: July 30,2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: A love-averse Korean royal court cuisine instructor in search of a perfect-on-paper husband is waylaid from her practical, heartbreak-proof plan when she meets a gorgeous professor—and prince in disguise—who will do anything to prove to her that love and happily ever after can be theirs.
Emma Yoon runs a small business as a culinary instructor in Los Angeles teaching Korean royal court cuisine to young ladies striving to marry into the exclusive upper crust Korean families. She has built her business alongside her renowned Korean matchmaker godmother, which brings her one step closer to her dream of opening up a culinary school on her own. But when her godmother’s fellow matchmakers decide to meddle in Emma’s love life in a bid to sabotage her godmother, and indirectly push Emma’s dream out of her reach, she must go on a series of arranged first dates and find herself the perfect-on-paper husband to help save both, her godmother’s reputation and her dream–even if she’s not ready for love. But when she meets Michel Aubert, a professor at USC, after a series of disastrous first dates, she wonders if she might reevaluate her position on love.
Prince Michel Aubert is bound by duty and responsibility to his country, but an arranged marriage is the last thing he wants. If he is going to spend the rest of his life in service of his people, then he at least wants someone he loves and trusts by his side while doing it. He needs to find a woman who loves him for who he is before his engagement to his handpicked bride is announced. Emma Yoon might be just the woman he is looking for.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 30th: The Mirror of Beasts
Title: The Mirror of Beasts
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: Silver in the Bone #2
Page Length: 576
Publication Date: July 30, 2024
Publisher: Hachette Children’s Group
Synopsis: With the dream of Avalon in ruins, Tamsin and her friends are all that stands in the way of Lord Death’s plans to unleash the horrors of Anwnn on the world of the living. As the Wild Hunt carves a bloody path across continents, Tamsin is mustering allies, tracking down powerful artifacts, and traversing into new otherlands in search of a way to stop him.
Legend tells of a “Mirror of Beasts,” powerful enough to trap even Lord Death in its accursed glass, but the mirror is not all that it seems. Tamsin must confront her own darkest secrets if she hopes to tap the mirror’s strength to defeat her enemies.
Arthurian legend bleeds into contemporary action, and scars of the past are torn open anew by a starcrossed love that refuses to go quietly. This riveting conclusion to the Silver in the Bone duology will hold you in its thrall until the very last page.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
July 30th: Castle of the Cursed
Author: Romina Garber
Page Length: 304
Publication Date: July 30, 2024
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Synopsis: THE HOUSE IS ALWAYS HUNGRY…
After a mysterious attack claims the lives of her parents, all Estela has left is her determination to solve the case. Suffering from survivor’s guilt so intense that she might be losing her grip on reality, she accepts an invitation to live overseas with an estranged aunt at their ancestral Spanish castle, la Sombra.
Beneath its gothic façade, la Sombra harbors a trove of family secrets, and Estela begins to suspect her parents’ deaths may be linked to their past. Her investigation takes a supernatural turn when she crosses paths with a silver-eyed boy only she can see. Estela worries Sebastián is a hallucination, but he claims he’s been trapped in the castle. They grudgingly team up to find answers and as their investigation ignites, so does a romance, mistrust twined with every caress.
As the mysteries pile up, it feels to Estela like everyone in the tiny town of Oscuro is lying and that whoever was behind the attack has followed her to Spain. The deeper she ventures into la Sombra’s secrets, the more certain she becomes that the suspect she’s chasing has already found her . . . and they’re closer than she ever realized.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Are any of these on your TBR? What other July releases are you looking forward to? Comment below!
Black Tide Son is definitely one of my top releases this month too.
I hope we both love it!
Ne’er Duke Well and That Prince is Mine are both on my July radar/TBR as well. My most anticipated however is the 9th release of The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
I’ve heard a lot of good things about that one. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
How many interesting titles!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks, Suzy!
There are just so many great looking books coming out this month!!
Right! I have a feeling I’ll be reading A LOT! lol