Summer is looking a little different this year, but one thing remains reassuringly the same: there are a whole lot of new books hitting bookstore shelves. In fact, July's crop of must-read books [1] is so expansive, narrowing down this list to just 26 titles was no easy task. The first full month of summer includes new releases from bestselling authors like Emma Donoghue and Alex North and stunning debuts in nearly every genre, including fantasy and romance.
Whether you're looking for the perfect poolside read or the kind of literary novel that will leave you with a book hangover [2], the best books of July have you covered. (And just in case you need even more titles to add to your TBR, don't forget to check out June's list of must-read books [3], too.)
Scarlet Odyssey by C.T. Rwizi
Drawing on the stories he heard growing up in Swaziland, debut author C.T. Rwizi has created a culturally rich and compelling new fantasy world in Scarlet Odyssey [4]. Rwizi's central character Salo defies the expectations placed on him by his tribe in order to nurture his magical instincts in a world where men are warriors and women are mystics. When his village is attacked by an enchantress, Salo finds himself embarking on a quest to become a mystic, with a band of fellow outcasts at his side.
Out July 1
Someone Else's Secret by Julia Spiro
Two women must confront a shared trauma in Julia Spiro's wrenching Someone Else's Secret [5]. In 2009, 19-year-old Lindsey and 15-year-old Georgie bond during a summer in Martha's Vineyard where Lindsey is working as the nanny for Georgie's family. However, when a shocking event takes place on the beach, their friendship is shattered, leaving them unable to face what happened that night for 10 long years.
Out July 1
Fast Girls by Elise Hooper
Sadly, the 2020 Olympics were cancelled, but in Fast Girls [6] by Elise Hooper readers can journey back to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany alongside a trio of women who are part of America's first integrated women's Olympic team. Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens leave their hometowns behind in hopes of finding glory, even as the world stands on the brink of war.
Out July 7
Gatecrasher by Ben Widdicombe
Can't get enough Hollywood gossip? Then Gatecrasher [7] by Ben Widdicombe is the book for you. Widdicombe drew from his time as a writer at Page Six, TMZ, and The New York Times to write this dishy nonfiction title that includes his encounters with everyone from Kim Kardashian [8] to Donald Trump [9].
Out July 7
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Melissa Bashardoust's Girl, Serpent, Thorn [10] is a can't miss LGBTQ+ YA fantasy that gleefully rewrites the fairy tale playbook. Like all good fairy tales, the story focuses on a princess, but thanks to her poisonous touch, Soraya doesn't easily fit within the damsel in distress narrative. In fact, she straddles the line between hero and monster as she slowly comes to accept the true extent of her power.
Out July 7
The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg
At long last, the thriller genre is serving up a novel that truly deserves to be mentioned alongside Gone Girl. Camilla Läckberg's The Golden Cage [11] is a riveting story of female revenge that centres on Faye, the wife of a billionaire who brings her husband to his knees after she discovers his infidelity.
Out July 7
The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
The Heir Affair [12] by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the highly-anticipated sequel to The Royal We, is the next chapter in Bex and Prince Nicholas's love story. Just don't expect the newlyweds' life together to get off to an easy start. When a scandalous secret breaks during their wedding, Bex and Nicholas flee the public eye in hopes of maintaining their privacy, but the only way for this royal couple to truly begin their lives together is for them to face the scandal head on.
Out July 7
Memoirs and Misinformation by Jim Carrey and Dana Vachon
Memoirs and Misinformation [13] by Jim Carrey [14] and Dana Vachon isn't your typical celebrity memoir. In fact, it's not really a memoir at all. Instead, Carrey and Vachon weave a riveting story of celebrity, yearning, and privilege in Hollywood, with just the right amount of wild celebrity appearances from the likes of Taylor Swift [15] and Nicolas Cage [16] to keep readers turning the pages straight through to the surprisingly apocalyptic ending.
July 7
Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey
Kerry Winfrey's followup to Waiting for Tom Hanks [17] is Not Like the Movies [18], another charming rom-com full of lovable characters and sweet romance. This time around, Annie's best friend Chloe takes centre stage as buzz for the romantic comedy Annie wrote about Chloe and her boss grows. Now even Chloe can't deny that her boss might be the perfect guy for her, but their path to happily ever after isn't as smooth as Hollywood would have you believe.
Out July 7
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
The Bachelorette [19] gets the body positive, diverse makeover it so desperately needs in Kate Stayman-London's refreshing debut One to Watch [20]. Plus-size fashion blogger Bea Schumacher doesn't fit the Main Squeeze mold, but after posting a scathing takedown of the reality dating series, she ends up with an offer she can't refuse: join the show as the next bachelorette. Thus begins Bea's search for self-love (and romance) which includes a diverse cast of men vying for her heart and forcing her to challenge her own preconceptions about herself and them in the process.
Out July 7
The Shadows by Alex North
Alex North's The Shadows [21] is a haunting thriller that will leave readers unsettled in a way that only the best suspense novels can. Years after his friend Charlie murdered their third friends in a gruesome manner, Paul is forced to return to his hometown to care for his mother. Unfortunately for Paul, Charlie's infamy lives on, leading to a copycat killing that brings the horrors of the past rushing back.
Out July 7
Want by Lynn Steger Strong
The need to survive, to thrive, and to connect is at the centre of Lynn Steger Strong's illuminating Want [22]. Strong's powerful novel is the story of Elizabeth, a woman who does everything she's supposed to do in order to become successful and still finds herself facing bankruptcy. With her life in crisis, Elizabeth reaches out to her childhood best fiend, only to discover that she's dealing with her own traumas in a twist that could revive their friendship after years apart.
Out July 7
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
Call Your Girlfriend podcast hosts Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman's nonfiction book Big Friendship [23] isn't just the story of their relationship: it's a guide to making friendships last through even the toughest of times. By mining their own 10 years of being best friends and talking to experts, Sow and Friedman have written the ultimate guide to maintaining long-lasting friendships through moves, major life events, and tragedy.
Out July 14
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
The Only Good Indians [24] by Stephen Graham Jones is one of 2020's most anticipated books for good reason. Jones' horror novel focuses on four American Indian men whose past is quite literally haunting them in a terrifying story that seamlessly weaves together the themes of cultural identity and revenge.
Out July 14
The Safe Place by Anna Downes
Emily's life is a mess in Anna Downes's The Safe Place [25]. After losing her job and her apartment in the same day, Emily takes an enticing offer to nanny for the family of a wealthy CEO at his remote French estate. Her new gig seems like a dream on the surface, but there's more to her new employers than meets the eye.
Out July 14
Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave
Three generations of Indian women struggle to maintain their bonds in Saumya Dave's Well-Behaved Indian Women [26]. As Simran begins to realise her life isn't on the path that she wants it to be on, her fragile relationship with her mother Nandini begins to fracture, leaving her grandmother Mimi Kadakia to bridge the gap between them.
Out July 14
The Daughters of Foxcote Manor by Eve Chase
Gothic mystery The Daughters of Foxcote Manor [27] by Eve Chase alternates between the past and the present to tell a story of mothers and daughters that's as chilling as it is moving. In 1970, the Harrington family relocates to the eerie Foxcote Manor after a fire destroys their London home. In the countryside, someone leaves a baby on their doorstep leading to a mystery that continues to haunt the family decades later.
Out July 21
He Came in With It by Miriam Feldman
In He Came in With It [28], Miriam Feldman shares how her teenage son's schizophrenia diagnosis changed her family forever. As she tells not her only her story as a mother to a child living with a mental illness, but also her son's story, Feldman lays bare the inadequacies of America's mental healthcare system, explores the ways a diagnosis can lead to stigmatizion, and dispels the myth of the perfect family.
Out July 21
Paris Is Always a Good Idea by Jenn McKinlay
Paris Is Always a Good Idea [29] by Jenn McKinlay is the perfect summer read. At the age of 30, Chelsea Martin decides to redo her gap year roaming through Europe all over again in hopes of getting her life back on track after her mother's death. What follows is a heartwarming, romantic, and hopeful story of new beginnings and self-discovery.
Out July 21
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Set in Dublin, Ireland during the flu pandemic of 1918, Room author Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars [30] tells the story of three women whose lives intersect over the course of three days in a maternity ward. Together, nurse Julia Power, Dr. Kathleen Lynn, and a volunteer named Birdie fight to save lives in the midst of the devastating pandemic.
Out July 21
Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Alaya Dawn Johnson's Trouble the Saints [31] has it all: an alternate history setting, a deadly female assassin, and an epic love story. It's also a timely story about America's racial divide as seen through the eyes of a daring woman from Harlem who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones she loves.
Out July 21
A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane
Partly inspired by his time spent working as Carrie Fisher's assistant, Byron Lane's A Star Is Bored [32] is a hilarious, beautiful story of a most unconventional friendship. Charlie Besson has nothing to lose when he interviews to be the famous Kathi Kannon's assistant, which only makes the experience of being allowed into her inner circle so much sweeter once it actually happens. Over the course of three years, Kathi changes Charlie's life and inspires him to become the hero of his own story in the process.
Out July 28
Everything Here Is Under Control by Emily Adrian
The shock of motherhood sparks a woman to retreat to her hometown in Emily Adrian's Everything Here Is Under Control [33]. New mom Amanda unexpectedly shows up on the doorstep of her childhood best friend years after their friendship ended. It's a shock to both of them, but by going back to the beginning, Amanda hopes to find her footing as a mother and reconnect with a part of herself that she left behind in Ohio.
Out July 28
Mr. Malcolm's List by Suzanne Allain
Soon to be a movie starring Constance Wu and Sam Heughan [34], Mr. Malcolm's List [35] by Suzanne Allain is a delicious regency romance that's perfect for Jane Austen fans. Mr. Malcolm is a highly eligible, extremely picky bachelor in search of the perfect wife. Meanwhile, Selina is the one woman who seems to meet all of his criteria, but before she'll say yes to Mr. Malcolm, he's going to have to show her that he has more to offer than a handsome face and desirable position in society.
Out July 28
This Is My America by Kim Johnson
Kim Johnson's This Is My America [36] is a timely, searing examination of America's broken justice system. Tracy Beaumont is a 17-year-old girl who is tirelessly fighting to get her innocent father off death row, when her brother is wrongly arrested for murdering a white girl. Now Tracey is determined to not only save her father, but to clear her brother's name in what could be the most important YA book of the year.
Out July 28
The Truth Hurts by Rebecca Reid
Rebecca Reid explores the dark side of a "carpe diem" style relationship in her intense thriller The Truth Hurts [37]. At first, Poppy finds herself captivated by her new husband's desire not to talk about their respective pasts, but what begins as an exciting romance all about living in the present soon becomes dangerous, leaving Poppy to wonder what her husband is hiding.
Out July 28