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Hate to scare anybody with that title, but it’s almost August, meaning that we’re coming up on the last few precious weeks of summer. The good news is that there are still plenty of new books coming out to keep you occupied, whether you’re at the beach, pool, sweating through all your clothes on public transportation… whatever floats your boat. If you just keep adding to your summer reading list, that means it has to stay summer forever, right? Check out these titles that are coming out towards the end of the season.
In this essay collection, the child voice actor, former law student, and editor-in-chief of Catapult examines the ways in which the media, law, and other aspects of society pay lip service to social justice causes, and the ways in which our words and actions don’t always match up.
Born in South Korea, Rho and her family moved to America when she was 6. As she assimilated, she kept fulfilling others’ expectations, keeping silent about the traumas she endured in the process. At age 40, Rho experienced a catastrophic event that caused her to leave her job and reclaim her Korean identity.
A bachelorette party in Greece starts off picture-perfect and ends with a dead body. But whose? That’s the question. Bride Lexi arrives in Greece with a ragtag group of women who don’t all know each other, and who each have their own reasons for being on the trip.
From the author of Tell Me Lies and Too Good To Be True comes another twisty suspense novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. In her early 30s, Molly Diamond doesn’t fit in with the other women in the wealthy suburban town she lives in with her husband and young daughter. When a new neighbor named Sabrina moves to town, Molly thinks she’s finally met someone who gets her — but Sabrina has her own ulterior motives for befriending Molly, and they’re not so innocent.
Florence Day works as a ghostwriter for a famous romance book author, but when a breakup takes her by surprise, she starts to doubt if she even believes in love. Her (v handsome) editor won’t give her an extension, but then Florence has a family emergency and has to return home. In a twist that’s like Sweet Home Alabama meets The Sixth Sense (but not scary), Florence returns home for the funeral and sees a familiar face: her editor. Turns out, he’s dead and has some unfinished business to attend to on Earth.
Set in 1889 in the wake of a fire that ravaged Spokane, Washington, Fire Season is told from three perspectives, each one a grifter with a supernatural ability and who stands to benefit from the fire.
Hannah Jones didn’t quite fit in with her posh classmates at Oxford, but her wealthy, popular roommate April Clarke-Cliveden immediately took a liking to her and they became fast friends. One fateful night, Hannah finds April dead in her dorm room — murdered. Thrust into the spotlight, Hannah becomes the star witness of her late friend’s murder trial. Decades later, new evidence that emerges forces Hannah to wonder if she’d helped put the wrong man in prison, so she returns to Oxford to try to find out the truth.
This thriller starts with Paris Peralta, much younger wife to the famed comedian Jimmy Peralta, passed out on her bathroom floor, clutching a razor, covered in her husband’s blood. Her husband is dead, and Paris is the number-one suspect—except she knows she didn’t do it. But as Paris works to clear her name, she’s also working just as hard to keep her past a secret, since it can threaten to blow up everything.
In this queer fantasy romance, protagonist Velasin vin Aaro is set to marry a woman for political reasons — until it comes to light that he’s gay. While his family wants to disown him, he instead becomes betrothed to the brother of the same family. But a new faction opposes the alliance — so much so that they’re willing to kill for it. Vel and his new husband, Cae, have no choice but to trust each other so they can make it out alive. Pub Date: July 26
This feel-good rom-com is the sequel to Real Men Knit, the story of four brothers who are working to keep their late adoptive mother’s Harlem knitting shop in business. In Knot Again, Lucas Strong, a firefighter, decides to participate in an FDNY charity calendar and becomes something of a local celebrity. By chance, he ends up meeting the daughter of his high school flame, and the two rekindle their romance — but is it love or just lust? Pub Date: July 26
After graduating college, Sneha moves to Milwaukee to become a consultant. Even though it’s the Great Recession, she finally has a healthy bank account, new friends, and the freedom to date women. But it wouldn’t be a good book without any tension, and pretty soon, Sneha’s great life falls apart, so she has to try to put it back together again. Pub Date: August 2
Gamarra’s novel, a retelling of Much Ado About Nothing in the Trump age, was named a most-anticipated read by Buzzfeed, Bookriot, She Reads, and others. Beatriz is a first-generation immigrant who becomes linked to poster boy of white male privilege, Ben, after they save someone’s life at a party. Turns out, saving a life can change your feelings about someone, but is love enough for them to overcome all their differences? Pub Date: August 2
Even though Luc and Oliver got their happy ending in Boyfriend Material, in the sequel, there’s some trouble in paradise. Luc is feeling the societal pressure to propose, since it seems like everyone around him is taking that step. But even though Oliver is totally husband material, it’s going to take a lot to get these two from “I don’t know what to do” to “I do.” Pub Date: August 2
Mikaela Marchand is living the dream: she’s a high-powered attorney in NYC and dating a handsome doctor. But things go sideways when a decades-old photo of Mikaela and her former childhood best friend is used as a magazine cover (and ends up on a billboard in Times Square). Her best friend sues the magazine, and the photographer, who just so happens to be Mikaela’s ex. Of course, Mikaela’s firm is tasked with defending the magazine, meaning Mikaela has to defend her ex against her ex-BFF. Talk about conflicts of interest! Pub Date: August 2
35-year-old Mika Suzuki has no romantic prospects, no job, and a strained relationship with her roommate and parents. Then, out of the blue, Mika gets a call from the daughter she put up for adoption 16 years before — and her daughter wants a relationship. Mika makes up a little lie to impress her daughter which quickly spins out of control, and suddenly Mika is living a full-on fake life. Pub Date: August 2
This historical fiction novel focuses on Isabel Cooper, who is one of only two female codebreakers following the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the other female codebreaker at her station goes missing under mysterious circumstances, she becomes less focused on her mission of avenging the death of her brother, who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over 20 years later, a fledgling journalist begins covering a disappearance, and ends up discovering wartime secrets and an unexpected connection to Isabel Cooper. Pub Date: August 2
Dorothy Moy has suffered from dissociative episodes and struggled with mental illness and is dismayed to see her 5-year-old daughter exhibit similar behaviors. In fact, her daughter starts remembering events from the lives of their ancestors, like Faye Moy, a nurse in China; Zoe Moy, a student in England; Greta Moy, the tech executive of a dating app, and others. As Dorothy works through her generational trauma she seeks to find peace for her daughter and the love she’s been looking for for years. Pub Date: August 2
Serena, Michelle, Kenya, and Lynette are childhood best friends who have helped each other through it all. They’re now 40 and still meet on the first Saturday of the month for lunch, even if their lives are vastly different from each other’s. This poignant novel traces the friendship as each woman deals with family issues, finds love, and learns about forgiveness. Pub Date: August 9
Garza’s latest novel is told through multiple POVs to paint a portrait of Fish Village, a neighborhood of popular tourist spot Galveston, where all the locals live. It’s also the only home Carly Castillo has ever known — she’s a descendant of the Karankawas, an indigenous Texas tribe that no longer exists. Carly struggles against the expectation to stay in Fish Village, and when Hurricane Ike threatens to wreak havoc when it hits land, the Galveston residents have to decide if they will weather the storm or pack up and leave their homes behind. Pub Date: August 9
Sarah Lai went from star Hollywood producer to a lecturer at an obscure college, all because of a harrowing incident that thwarted her career. When a journalist reaches out, Sarah realizes she can no longer hide what happened to her. As she starts revealing Hollywood’s dark secrets, Sarah realizes she may have been complicit in sins as well. Pub Date: August 16
After three years in Shanghai, Sophie Go moves back to Toronto, ready to embark on her new career as a professional matchmaker. There’s just one hiccup, though: she never actually graduated from matchmaking school, making her a pariah in the industry. Sophie turns to a secret club of Chinese bachelors called the Old Ducks and manages to persuade them to hire her as a matchmaker. Soon, she’s tasked with finding matches for seven septuagenarians all while coming to terms with her own desire for love. Pub Date: August 16
Imani Banks is a psychiatrist who lives in a nice townhouse in Brooklyn with her husband Philip. When Philip’s restaurant is forced to close during the lockdown, they decide to take in Tonya Sayre, a single mom to a teenager, as a tenant. But when a prominent couple in the neighborhood is murdered, Imani wonders if her new tenant had something to do with it — but she can’t exactly evict her in the midst of the pandemic, even if Tonya is a suspected killer. Pub Date: August 23
Think How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, but make it young adult. Kind of. Up-and-coming journalist Sasha meets Brazilian bad boy Daniel, a famous musician, and realizes that getting close to him would give her the chance to move up the ranks at the celebrity gossip magazine she works at. Daniel, though, is surprisingly sweet (not to mention, hot), potentially compromising Sasha’s story. But Sasha’s not the only one with a secret; Daniel is hiding news of his own. Pub Date: August 30
This historical novel, which takes place in 1836, tells the stories of a Black indigenous woman in New Orleans and a Jewish abolitionist in New York City, and their acts of resistance. Stella embroiders maps to help enslaved men flee the Confederacy and join the Union Army. Lily stitches quilts to send to soldiers. They are both in love with Union soldiers in the same battalion, and as they work to bring their men home, Stella and Lily’s lives intersect in unexpected ways. Pub Date: August 30
Ok, so, relatable premise: Lizzie has had more of her fair share of fuckups in life. I’m talking kitchen fires (been there), bangs (double been there), pyramid schemes (not so much, but I get it). She has one rule: don’t let anyone get too close. But when a stressful day caused by her ADHD causes her to break her rule, she has a hookup with love-shy Rake that changes everything. Pub Date: September 6
Selena Montgomery is the pen name of Stacey Abrams — yes, that Stacey Abrams. How does she find the time…? Anyway, Rules of Engagement is about Dr. Raleigh Foster, an operative for a top-secret intelligence organization who’s tasked with infiltrating a terrorist group. It all seems fairly straightforward, until she’s assigned the handsome Adam Grayson to not only be her partner in the mission, but also to pretend to be her romantic partner. Pub Date: September 6
I was told to include some nonfiction on here, so this—er, hysterical—memoir deals with Bassist’s issues with repressing her voice. It deals with feminist topics, the many ways women and femmes are gaslit and silenced, and how we are taught to silence ourselves. Pub Date: September 13
Images: TINO RENATO / Deathtothestockphoto.com
