It’s July! That means a whole month of new releases to look forward to reading while you sunbathe with a cool drink in hand. Here are five books you’ll want to add to that TBR pile next to your lounge chair right away!
This nonfiction self-help book is for anyone who is dating in the post-covid, super-online world. The author is the licensed therapist Jeff Guenther, whose posts have helped thousands navigate the choppy waters of the contemporary dating pool. Whether you’re looking for insight, compassion, red flags, first-date how-tos, or how to develop your ideal partner checklists, this book is definitely one to add to your TBR pile!
This psychological thriller is the perfect way to keep the pages turning through the long midsummer days. Leyna Clarke watched her sixteen-year-old sister walk away from home with her boyfriend when she was twelve years old… and she never saw either of them again. Now that she’s twenty-eight, Leyna spots her sister’s lookalike in the restaurant where she works, and that woman vanishes soon after, too. Leyna has to decide whether to keep living her life as normal or return home to prove her that her sister and boyfriend weren’t the willing runaways that law enforcement would have them accept.
For the romantic book reader, we have Not Another Love Song. In this novel, you’ll meet violinist Gwen Jackson. She is self-taught, but her passion still gets noticed. When she gets offered the first chair role in the orchestra, her Manhattan Pops bandmate, the cellist Xander who’s full of big, performative emotion gets jealous. Animosity bubbles up between them, and now that they have to play together more closely, they can’t ignore their attraction for one another. This novel is the perfect summer read.
In this nonfiction book, distinguished scholar and writer Philip V. McHarris imagines a world without police. He presents ideas where safety is built more on community support and prevention, including elements like community mediators and violence interrupters. He also explores the ideas of nonpolice crisis teams, driving offense changes, and many others. This book is sure to challenge our assumptions about law enforcement as we know it while we consider possible alternatives.
If you love a fairy-tale retelling, check out this revisited story of the Gorgon, Medusa. You know her as Athena’s priestess whom—after being raped by Poseidon—Athena curses to have snakes for hair and turn any man who looks at her into stone. In this novel, Medusa travels blindfolded and alone across Greece, meeting gods, nymphs, and even a three-headed dog while Perseus closes in on her. This is your “one to grow on” book, since it releases mid-August—but you can always go ahead and pre-order it!
Mary Kay McBrayer is the author of America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster. You can find her short works at Oxford American, Narratively, Mental Floss, and FANGORIA, among other publications. She hosts the podcast about women in true crime, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. Follow Mary Kay McBrayer on Instagram and Twitter, or check out her author site here.
