Ep 471 – Most Anticipated Books for July/August 2026!

Episode notes

Brea and Mallory talk about their most anticipated books for July and August 2026! Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com!

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Books Mentioned –

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Trash! by Simon Pare-Poupart, translated by Pablo Strauss

July

With Friends Like You by Amy Chozick
Thriller, motherhood, obsession, friendship

The Forest Becomes Her by Julie Carrick Dalton
Literary, magical realism, three generations of women, nature, rage, family drama

Make Nice by Ryan Effgen
Literary, family drama, summer hotel, Lake Michigan, comedy of manners

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw
Fantasy, Gothic, women rediscovers mythical island she found as a child and man she knew who has not aged

Love You More by Emily Giffin
Romance, woman gets engaged then gets a call from her first love

Destination Funeral by Paige Harbison
Sci fi, estranged friends brought together for a funeral get trapped in a time loop

Meet Me in Paris by Kristen Harmel
Short stories, seven intertwined love stories in Paris, Love Actually meets The Notebook

City of Widows by Nadia Hashimi
Historical fiction, women of Afghanistan in the years after the Taliban took power

Crash into Me by Robinne Lee
Literary, romance, woman struggling to make her complicated life work runs into sexy man from her past

The Good Parts by Evann Normandin
Literary, sci fi romance, second chance, memory-erasing treatment

Man Overboard! by Kathleen Rooney
Literary, humor, man falls overboard on a cruise and must tread water and revisit his life until he’s rescued

The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders
Literary, family saga in the American South

The Simp: A Novel Without a Hero by Roshan Sethi
Literary, absurdist, out of work actor takes a very weird job

Some People by Parini Shroff
Literary, family drama, about to be divorced man forced to caretake for his injured future ex mother in law

Astronaut! by Oana Aristide
Historical fiction, dark humor, life under authoritarian rule in Romania 1989

A Real Animal by Emeline Atwood
Literary fiction, a woman coming of age and reckoning with being human

The Obsessed by Lizzie Buehler
Literary, woman maps the plot of her favorite novel onto her life and freaks out when it doesn’t go to plan

Famous Men by Julie Buntin
Literary fiction, woman coming of age, looking for father and finding herself

The Devoted by Catherine Cho
Literary, daughter of crimelord getting drawn into underground after she escaped, forbidden love

When Mikan Road Was Ours by D.K. Furutani
Literary, four generation family drama, California, WWII, Japanese-American family

Seven by Joanna Kavenna
Speculative fiction, young philosopher on hunt to find ancient game

Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli
Literary fiction, mother daughter road trip through Italy

Country People by Daniel Mason
Historical fiction, Vermont, humor, European family coming to America and getting wrapped up in a local legend

The Winds of Maracaibo by Maria Elena Moran, translated by Madeline Jones
Literary, family drama, politics, woman determined to rescue kidnapped daughter

Song for Another Home by Bora Lee Reed
Historical fiction, South Korea, Homegoing meets Pachinko

Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins
Literary fiction, woman making a life off the grid in the California desert when a man from her past returns

Matcha on Monday by Michiko Aoyama, translated by E. Madison Shimoda
Healing fiction, cozy, Japan, cafe only open on Mondays offers healing to patrons

The Seoul Letter Shop by Baek Seungyeon, translated by Clare Richards
Healing fiction, woman working in letter store discovers the healing power of letters

The Memory Bookshop by Song Yu-jeong, translated by Shanna Tan
Healing fiction, South Korea, magical bookshop

An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton
Historical fiction, 1960s space race, astronaut gets lost in space and his wife relives their love story as she tries to figure out what happened to him

Runner by Ashton Lattimore
Historical fiction, Prohibition-era Martha’s Vineyard, woman from Black seafaring family becomes a rum-runner to investigate her father’s death

The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson
Historical fiction, what more do you need besides the title?

The Novel Detective by Teresa Dovalpage
Thriller, mystery writer protagonist, Cuba, metafiction, woman returning to hometown to uncover truth of suspicious deaths at her high school

How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz
Mystery, cozy, Britain, bestselling crime writer is murdered and daughter must investigate

Last Night Was Killer by Mary Pauline Lowry
Mystery, humor, struggling single mom who wakes up with a body in the trunk of her car

The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Historical mystery, noir, conman gets more than he bargained for

Shrink Solves Murder by Philippa Perry
Mystery, cozy, Britain, small town therapist solves murder

The Masala Chai Mystery Club by M.J. Soni
Mystery, cozy, retired librarian must solve murder of much hated neighbor

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead
Mystery, third book in Harlem Trilogy

Sisterhood Above All by Kathleen Barber and Amayah Shaienne
Thriller, competing sorority houses in the American South, murder

Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox
Thriller, Texas beauty pageant turns deadly

Helpless by Jessica Knoll
Psychological thriller, Hollywood, producer gets kidnapped by ex and starts to see her past differently

Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan
Thriller, detective investigates case where 3 identical packages arrive at 3 unconnected people’s houses, each designed to ruin the life of the recipient

The Parisian Heist by Jo Piazza
Thriller, dual timeline art world heist

The Man by Laura Sims
Thriller, 1960s housewife/amateur photographer fears for her life when she notices a silhouette of a man in the background of her photos

The Death Row Club by V.A. Vazquez
Thriller, someone turns up dead at the annual getaway for adult children of serial killers

Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Windstead
Thriller, actress gets accused of murder and must solve crimes, which connect to the years-earlier murder of her sister

Wisdom Corner by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Thriller, Virgin Wounded Horse book 2

The Lord of the Wood by E.M. Anderson
Queer horror fantasy, deadly magic forest, gay romance

The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance by Chiara Bullen
Queer cozy romantasy, scholar sent to research mysterious inn uncovers centuries-old secret

The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick
Fantasy, historical, alternate Spanish Golden Age, fae, adventure

Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim
Fantasy, historical, Hong Kong 1940s, magic

Not with A Bang by Temi Oh
Sci fi, thriller, family unraveling as a mysterious object hurtles towards Earth

The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry
Fantasy, historical Wales, 1940s, reborn Arthurian legends

Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne
Queer cozy sci fi, sapphic romance, refurbishing old spaceship

The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell
Fantasy, funny, dragon with three heads and three personalities pretends to be tame to live in a dragonrider academy

Ravenous by Kresley Cole
Romantasy, warring immortal beings with immortal hungers

A Tangled Magic by Andrea Eames
Romantasy, woman with amnesia and magical hair searches for her lost memories

The Farewitch of Foxe Holler by Ellen Pauley Goff
Romantasy, cozy, Steel Magnolias meets Practical Magic, kitchen witch whose recipes have the power to heal

Dominion by Jean Kwok
Romantasy, Fourth Wing meets Chinese mythology

Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment by Leslie Rene
Romantasy, dangerous spell gone wrong forces incantations professor in forced proximity with an alchemist

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst
Romantasy, sailor rescues a composer refugee with her ship, sea serpent companion

Among the Thorns by Jennifer K. Lambert
Romantasy, sapphic sorceresses, animal companions, love triangle, morally grey characters, dark cottagecore

Wild Goose Chase by Sarah Adler
Contemporary romance, funny, forced proximity, antique dealers must deal with illegal stuffed goose and their attraction to each other

In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto
Contemporary romance, academic rivals-to-lovers, storm-chasing meteorologists in hurricane season in Florida

If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle
Contemporary romance, humor, romance reader gets trapped in murderous meetcute

Just a Highland Fling by Naina Kumar
Contemporary romance, Scotland road trip, forced proximity

The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren
Contemporary romance, accidental erases the memory of a troubled marriage, second chance

Vera Stein Is Fine by Julie Murphy
Contemporary romance, plus size protagonist, woman who has given up on love gets a job at her grandma’s Hollywood retirement home and runs into the man she never expected to see again

Fossil Feud by Maggie North
Contemporary romance, “STEMinist”, two paleontologists

Yes, Chef by Grace Reilly
Contemporary romance, The Bear meets romance

The Final Score by Lana Ferguson
Contemporary romance, hockey

Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray
Literary, queer friend group, Sydney, funny, friendship-turned-feud-turned-love-affair across 18 years

Misery’s Wife by Joan Tierney
Sci fi, cli-fi, queen reimagining of Portuguese folktalk, trans protagonist

A Fate Worse than Drowning by Sarah L. Hawthorn
Fantasy, horror, queer, sapphic, lighthouse keeper makes a devil with the deal

The Hexing Miss Helena by Darcy McGuire
Queer romantasy, magic, enemies to lovers, witches, scandal

Perverts by Mac Crane
Literary, queer, short stories about desire

Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden
Horror, New England, vampires

Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle
Horror, queer, thriller, Drive meets Beetlejuice

Our Knives Will Save Us: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef by Nephi Craig
Memoir

Unsayable: A Life in Writing by Michael Cunningham
Memoir

Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America’s Love for the Wild by Heather Hansman
Biography

I’m A Lot: Surviving Myself and All the People I’ve Been by Alison Leiby
Memoir

Dad, Love, Me by Matthew Quick
Memoir

Liberation Summer: The Moment that Changed the Women’s Movement and the Future of American Politics by Micki McElya
Women’s history

Aging Out: An Exploration of Caregiving, Corporations, and How Americans Grow Old by Lucy Schiller
Sociology

How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words by Sophia Smith Galer
Anthropology

Ghost Girl: Surviving the Black Swan Murder by Eva Benefield
Memoir, true crime

Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast by Pamela Colloff
True crime

Sisters of the Midnight Sun: A Murder in Arctic Alaska by Rebecca Wright Stevens
True Crime

August

The Marriage Rebound by Meka James
Romance, sapphic, sports, basketball, WNBA

Gender Rituals: Creating a Sacred Space for Your Body, Your Gender, and Your Becoming by Eli Lawliet, PhD
Nonfiction

She Haunts Me Still by De Elizabeth
Horror, fantasy, queer, theater, ghosts, dark academia, New England, vampire panic

First Summer by Ekin Oklap
Literary, summer, coming of age, sapphic

Ship Happens by Mason Deaver
Contemporary romance, second chance, trans protagonist, forced proximity on a cruise ship

Homeward for a Spill by Jamie Pacton and Rebecca Podos
Queer cozy romantasy, sapphic, music, adventure, spicy, motley crew, monsters

Unprecedented Times by Malavika Kannan
Literary fiction, queer, coming of age, New Adult, “Rishi used to want to save the world, now she just wants to have gay sex”

The Divine Gardener’s Handbook: Or What to Do If Your Girlfriend Accidentally Turns Off the Sun by Eli Snow
Queer dystopian fantasy, sapphic, gardening, gods

In What World by Bridget Morrissey
Romance, sapphic, sci fi, time travel, rivals to lovers

Unsafe: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash by Sarah Lamble
Nonfiction

Be Still My Unbeating Heart by Josh Winning
Mystery, paranormal, gay vampires, seaside Italian village, magical talking cat

Appetite by P. Paramita
Literary, New Adult, queer, coming of age of a young chef, pro wrestling

Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
Mystery, queer, funny, struggling writer who steals a young gay man’s story

Sunsplitter by S.A. Maclean
Queer fantasy, second in duology

The Unknown by Riley Sager
Thriller, paranormal, dual timelines, Vermont, filmmaking, creepy island

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher
Romantasy, queer, sequel

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett
Fantasy, Shadow of the Leviathan #3

How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle by Alissa DeRogatis
Romance, contemporary, funny, writer starts planning her own meet cutes

Death Row by Freida McFadden
Novella, thriller, woman on death row for killing her husband sees her husband visiting the jail one day

Pink Ink by Avina St. Graves
Dark romance, Gothikana meets Dexter, student/professor, sexy serial killer

Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty
Sequel to Big Little Lies

The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen
Thriller, paranormal, decades old mystery, historical, ESP program, dual timelines

The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter
Thriller, North Falls #2

Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier
Thriller, serial killer recants long-ago confession

The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent
Romantasy, Crowns of Nyaxia #5

Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Fantasy, Assistant to the Villain #4

Dreamland by Olivie Blake
Fantasy, mystery, Gothic, girl gets a job working for a strange Hollywood family during a summer while women are being murdered in LA

The Wild Beneath by Kelly Anderson
Sci fi, romance, Wild Dark Shore meets Time Traveler’s Wife

Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon
Folk horror, queer, Vermont, historical, dual timelines, small town, mysterious illness

The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian
Thriller, historical, young golf prodigy accidentally kills a man at a country club with her stray ball and the investigation reveals dark secrets

Freyja by Marget Ann Thors
Thriller, crime, Iceland, unsolved girl’s disappearance gets reopened twenty years later, Icelandic folklore

(Mostly) Human Resources by Grace Viall
Paranormal romance, romantasy, cryptids, rivals to lovers between wardens working for a company that manages monsters

The Dog Park Murders by Angela Barker
Mystery, dog groomer finds a human body in the dog park and teams up with surly cafe owner to solve the case

The Iron Hex by Victoria S. Walsh
Romantasy, secret witch, forbidden magic, quest for a missing princess

The Dark in Her Veins by M.K. Lobb
Romantasy, noir, YA, queer, sin is a disease and the rich hire the poor to carry out their basest instincts

The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson
Romantasy, vampires, spicy, magic, enemies to lovers, vigilante justice against abusive men, arranged marriage

Mia by Leslie Bazzett
Thriller, psychological suspense, expat in Mexico encounters a glamorous older woman and their lives spiral out of control

You’ll Love It Here by Natalie Sue
Literary, friendship, humor, down on her luck woman takes a job at the super for a quirky apartment building

Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang, translated by Shanna Tan
Horror, South Korea, plant shop owner who helps women bury the bodies of their terrible husbands

Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue
Fantasy, fae, magic is outlawed, thief protagonist with a secret, sexy fairy man, woman with blades, enemies to lovers

But I Hate Him by Page Powars
YA queer romance, academic rivals, competitive summer camp

Eyes of Kings by Chloe Gong
Fantasy, Flesh and False Gods #3

Devil by Sierra Simone
Erotica, Priest #4

Sunrise by Tea Obreht
Historical fantasy, woman survives plane crash in wilderness and finds strange Old West town, triple timelines

The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer Givhan
Horror, family curse, Chicana-Indigenous reimagining of the legend of the headless woman

Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour
Historical fiction, queer, New Orleans, family saga, motherhood, sisterhood

My Sister is Going to Kill Me by Nina Simon
Thriller, family-centric whodunnit, sisters working together to find a killer as they raft down the Grand Canyon

Devour Me by Emily Rath
Paranormal romance, spicy, New England island, why choose, queer, witch, wraith

The Secret Dinner by Raphael Montes, translated by Zoe Perry
Mystery, funny, four friends make a plan to get money and it spirals out of control

Kitten by Stacy Yu
Literary, coming of age, young woman who can’t get it together becomes obsessed with her rich boyfriend’s cat and everything changes

Colt by Jessica Perterson
Romance, cowboys, hot single dad, ranch, small town

Only One for the Orc by Isabelle
Romantasy, cozy, monster romance, bookshop owner protagonist

Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty
Sci fi, three strangers lives change when they’re drawn to a mysterious time travel agency

They Say a Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough
Thriller, small town secrets, strange cyclical murders

Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken
Romantasy, fae, magic perfume, slow burn, solving a murder

The Infinite State by Richard Swan
Sci fi, dystopia, three people entangled in a plot to escape a fascist state, space

I Haunt It That Way by Isabelle Popp
Romance, paranormal, haunted cabin, forced proximity

For the Love of the Quest by Alexandra Ammon Parthun
Sapphic historical romance, Arthurian legends, hunt for Excalibur

The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen
Horror, queer, psychological drama, classic composer’s descent into madness

Hello Baby by Kim Eui-kyung, translated by Sora Kim-Russell
Literary, motherhood, six women undergoing IVF

The Calamities by Chuck Wendig
Horror, fantasy, occult magic, family drama, heir to a powerful family reckons with the demonic secret of their power

Murder Bites by Mimi Montgomery
Cozy mystery, city transplant to a dog obsessed small town becomes a suspect when the local dog walker is murdered

Bridget and Gabe are Not Okay by Lex Croucher
YA queer romantasy, Camelot Disasters #2

The Halls of the Dead by S.M. Hallow
Horromance, Gothic, queer, necromancy, London

Reliquary by Hannah Whitten
Horror, fantasy, Gothic, mystery, woman whose fiance mysteriously dies gets invited to live at his family’s strange seaside house

Bonfire and Bliss Bookstore by Brittanee Nicole
Romance, autumnal, friends to lovers, small town, fake dating

Take What You Can by Naima Coster
Literary, female friendship, class, independence, new motherhood

Bedeviled by Laura Thalassa
Paranormal romance, Bewitched #3

I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy by Kimberly Lemming
Romanti-scifi, Cosmic Chaos #2

The Whitechapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier
Historical fantasy, Victorian London during Jack the Ripper, woman takes job at mysterious society trying to find her missing brother

The Responsible Party by Claire Carusillo
Historical mystery, woman obsessed with saving strange family’s legacy and solving a cold case

Etna by Paul Yoon
Literary, magical realism, war dog on a journey home

Siren Says by Jennifer Herrera
Fantasy, witches, dangerous plant magic, Celtic spirits

The Wound is Where the Light Enters: A Memoir of Resilience by Chris Young
Nonfiction

The Salt King by Natasha Pulley
Queer romanti-scifi, strange happenings in a mining town, bizarre cures

Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson
Middle grade horror, Savannah, ghosts, mystery, murder

The Blue Moon Cafe & 24 Hour Occult Emporium by Lexie Sharabianlou
Queer cozy romantasy, sapphic, magic witness protection program, small town

Demons and Diplomacy by Megan Frampton
Historical romantasy, 1850s London, pact between woman and the son of the Devil

Find My Way Down to You by Julian Winters
YA romantasy, You’ve Reached Sam meets Hadestown, underworld

The Seekers of Deer Creek by Thao Thai
Literary, two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting that holds the secret of their family

These Walls Remember by Del Sandeen
Horror, historical, Southern Gothic, two estranged sisters, haunted house, Savannah

If We Survive the Night by Jo Salazar
Horror, apocalyptic, zombies, YA, queer, group of girls

Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II: An Indigenous Horror Anthology
Short stories

The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty
Horror, haunted house, family moves into dream home that has an insatiable hunger

Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd
Sci fi mystery, time travel tourism gone wrong

International Relations by Zac Hammett
Romance, contemporary, gay, fake dating, marriage of convenience, international diplomacy

Levels of Love by Anabelle Stehl
Romance, competitive video games, New Adult, rivals to lovers

The Matchmaker’s Cottage by Kat Sloane
Romance, cozy, autumnal, small town, bed and breakfast, upstate New York

The Devil Knows Her Name by C.N. Vair
Horror, Appalachia, deal with the devil, ancient magic, wildlife sanctuary

World’s Okayest Oracle (Reluctantly) Seeks Demon by Olivia Dade
Paranormal romance, spicy, oracle teams up with demon from her past to avert catastrophe

Natural Selection by Clare Edge
Queer YA thriller, three girls bond when a bear starts picking off known abusers in their small mountain town

A Witch in Notting Hill by Alexandra Paige
Cozy paranormal romance, witch and occult bookstore owner, London

Some Kind of Haunted by Hazel Beck
Horroromance, Halloween, city girl going to a small town because of an inheritance, curse, family secrets

A Tender Age by Chang-rae Lee
Literary, coming of age, family, community, masculinity

Hocus Pocus by Brinda Charry
Historical fantasy, young magician traveling the world while hiding a secret, Indian stage magic, 1800s

Want Me, Take Me, Haunt Me, Make Me by Isabel Crowley
Horromance, medium staving off demonic possession and trying to hide it

A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig
Historical horror, retelling, Gothic, forest with monsters, town curse

The Castle & the Cloister by Laura E. Weymouth
Fantasy, Priory of the Orange Tree meets Black Sun, political fantasy

The Everest Mystery: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory, and the Truth Still Buried on Everest by Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb
History

Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith by Jamie Fisher
Biography

The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time-and How to Fix It by Annie Lowrey
Nonfiction

Mothers of Invention: A History of Creativity from the Greek Muses by Moiya McTier
Nonfiction

Mahalia Jackson, Moving on Up a Little Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer by Timothy B Tyson and Mary D Williams
Biography

The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything by Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Nonfiction

Exhumed: Unearthing the History of the American Vampire by Aaron Mahnke
History

Triage by Claudia Rankine
Literary fiction, friendship

Don’t Be Evil: Bad Bosses, Fake Promises, and My Escape from Big Tech by Claire Stapleton
Memoir

The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn by Dave Zirin
Biography