strange and random happenstance

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst
Published by: Bramble
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Beth Durst brings cozy fantasy romance to the high seas in Sea of Charms, the third magical adventure in the Spellshop series!

Marin has always belonged on the great blue sea.

Betrayed by love, Marin lives and works as a supply runner, sailing from island to island, delivering an array of goods with Perri the sea serpent and Ree the sailor shrub as her crew.

On one of her routine trips to the capital, Alyssium, Marin finds a revolution underway - and her friend Dax in the line of fire.

What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: Marin will keep Dax on as a member of her crew if he pretends to be her boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home.

But against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile - and realizes that perhaps she isn't saving him. Maybe it's the other way around.

Sea of Charms is a cozy fantasy romance about finding your crew, your family, and moreover, finding yourself.

Read in whatever order your heart desires, but don't miss The Spellshop and The Enchanted Greenhouse."

Who else has had their signed, and personalized, copy preordered for months? I know it's not just me.

Eclipse of the Crown by A.K. Caggiano
Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the third installment of A.K. Caggiano's Villains and Virtues series perfect for fans of Sydney J. Shields and Kimberly Lemming, a demon lord and the baroness who's wormed her way into his heart try to find time to admit their feelings for each other. If only the world would stop ending long enough for them to do so...

Their destinies are irrevocably entangled, but will their bond finally be the realm's ultimate undoing?

Nothing about Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne's evil destiny has gone according to plan. The reason? A certain noblewoman who has somehow enmeshed herself in his softening heart.

Now back amongst his peers at Yvlcon, the preeminent congregation of the vilest and most unscrupulous villains, Damien's moral growth is threatened - and just when he was learning to be a little less evil too. Consequently, Lady Ammalie Avington, Daughter to the Baron of Faebarrow, finds her own virtue in peril when faced with so much temptation, namely in the form of a domineering blood mage she can't - or doesn't want - to say no to.

But a burgeoning romance is doused in the coldest of baths when the Grand Order of Dread commands Damien to once again face the swirling vortex of entropy that's been hunting them across the realm. The coming eclipse points to devastation and destruction, and with prophecy being, well, prophecy, annihilation seems impossible to avoid.

But there's an entire fortnight before the world is supposed to end, and surely that's enough time to find some way around it...or at the very least to confess one's devotion before it all burns down around them."

Or confess your devotion just as the flames are licking at your heels so you don't have to deal with rejection?

Tales of a Deadly Devotion by Jennifer Delaney
Published by: Diversion Books
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of the instant Sunday Times bestseller Tales of a Monstrous Heart comes the highly-anticipated sequel, with slow-burn romance and forbidden magic, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rachel Gillig.

As Fey wage hopeless war against the oncoming storm of mortal conquest, Fairfax Manor lies in ruins. The first witches of Blackthorn forged the ancient fortress from their very souls to keep those of their bloodline safe. No one is safe now.

Katherine Woodrow might have survived persecution at the Institute of Magic and journeyed across the divided lands of Elysior to study magic with the legendary Lord Emrys Blackthorn himself, but losing her heart and almost her life wasn't on the curriculum.

All magic has a price, and in this irresistible tale of gothic allure, shadowed by sorcery and slow-burn desire, it's a price so steep that Alma would rather have died than see Kat pay. But the dark isn't finished with Kat yet. And Alma, a shapeshifter, will stop at nothing to save her, drawing on the power of the beasts that simmer beneath her skin and even facing the secrets of her own past to help her friend.

And there's no time to lose. Because more demons are escaping from the cursed texts the mortals failed to guard. The world is slipping back into darkness. And something is returning...

A tale of deadly devotion."

It's always sad whenever the Gothic ruin you call home is no longer a haven.

Spellcast by Sophie Jordan
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan is back with an epic romantasy set in the world of A Fire in the Sky, about a girl on the hunt for the witch who cursed her, unaware of her own dormant power…waiting to emerge.

For ten long years, Arden has been invisible, trapped in her village by a spell she cannot break. She listens to friends chatter, watches her family grieve, but can never touch, speak, or be seen. Living like a ghost among those who've forgotten her, she dreams of vengeance against the witch who cursed her.

Until one fateful day, her village is devoured in flame, and everything changes.

From the wreckage rises a pride of dragons that can transform into humans. Their piercing eyes slice through her curse, and for the first time in a decade, Arden can be seen.

Swept off to the Crags by the enigmatic alpha dragon, Tage, Arden is forced into a world of fire and power, where danger lurks in every shadow. Though she plots her escape at every turn, Tage's fiery intensity and undeniable magnetism spark an unwilling response in her.

But Arden's fate is bound to a secret she has yet to uncover, a magic older and more perilous than she could ever imagine. With war on the horizon, Arden must decide whether to trust the dragon she swore to defy, harness the wild magic around her, or risk losing everything.

Sometimes all it takes to break a curse...is to cast another spell."

Stick with the dragons. ALWAYS choose the dragons.

A Tangled Magic by Andrea Eames
Published by: Erewhon Books
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Rapunzel meets Six of Crows in this darkly imagined high fantasy for fans of T. Kingfisher's Nettle and Bone, The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart, Naomi Novik's Uprooted, and Disney's Tangled, as a woman with amnesia - and magical hair - searches for her lost memories while navigating a web of royal intrigue, bone magic, and secret monasteries.

All her life, Netta has only known the Tower - its musty shelves of books she cannot read, ink-splattered quills, and endless scrolls of paper. Her mother, ambitious and analytical, has spent decades perfecting her greatest masterpiece: a spellbook of unspeakable power. Netta's only companions are her long red Hair, which moves of its own accord, and a telepathic raven named Baldbeak. Her only amusement lies in crafting intricate embroidery from scraps of silk and thread.

When attackers storm the Tower, her mother and the spellbook vanish. Determined to find her, Netta ventures into a kingdom on the brink of civil war. The monarch lies dying, while pious Temple fanatics and the noble elite scheme for the throne, forging secret alliances and building hidden armies. For reasons she cannot yet fathom, all these factions seek Netta - and the dangerous, uncontrollable magic in her Hair.

But whom can she trust? The sharp-eyed pickpocket bent on revolutionizing the use of magic? The elusive black-market trader known only as the Book Man? The charming magician who slips between shadow and light? From masked carnivals to opulent ballrooms, from hidden monasteries to catacombs, Netta must untangle a web of lies and intrigue - not only to find her mother, but also to uncover the true nature of the power that has shaped her life."

I wonder if she ever uses her hair in her embroidery?

Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mother and daughter must break their family's curse through trials of war and immigration, love, loss, and redemption in this riveting multi-generational saga with a shimmer of magic, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Forgery of Fate.

1940s Hong Kong
When Japanese soldiers invade her hometown, Ha Yut Ying makes an unlikely escape - by turning invisible. But her miraculous survival is only the beginning. After the war is over, she's sent to Hong Kong to live with her distant father and glamorous stepmother, who end her dreams of becoming a singer and turn her into the family's servant. As the years pass, Yut Ying learns the hard truths of betrayal and ambition, of forbidden love and devastating loss, and discovers that sometimes the only way to endure is to disappear.

1960s San Francisco
Marigold has always had a knack for uncovering secrets, but nothing prepares her for the day she accidentally witnesses her mother vanish before her eyes. The moment fractures their bond, leaving questions that shadow her entire childhood. But when her mother's condition suddenly deteriorates, Marigold is convinced she's the only person who can save her. To do so, she must journey into the secrets her mother never shared and uncover the tragic, fairytale-tinged history their family has fought to forget.

A story of mothers and daughters, the scars they inherit and the magic that binds them, Fishbone Cinderella is a tender and enchanting exploration of what it means, at last, to be seen."

I mean, wouldn't your first reaction to your mother disappearing before you eyes be wonder?

Eight Enchanting Elixirs by Lynn Cahoon
Published by: Kensington Cozies
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon's irresistible kitchen witch, Mia the caterer, once again works magic with a meal - and with a murder - in an Idaho town with a lot of community spirits...

Mia's grandmother is feeling stress about an ex who's returned...from the dead. Mia's boyfriend is confined to his home for six weeks in a desperate attempt to get his fluffy Maltese pup, Cerby, trained as a hellhound. And Mia herself is being hassled by the coven, which is suddenly questioning the validity of her witch credentials!

Suspected of cheating on her exam, Mia is pressured to retake it. When she not only passes but moves up a level, national coven rep Suzanne Parker is furious. Parker, a relative of a witch hanged in Salem, threatens Mia with a witch's worst nightmare. When she's found dead the very next day, the coven suspects kitchen witch's potions contained an extra, very lethal ingredient.

With all this toil and trouble, Mia has no choice but to prove that she's a good witch - in every sense of the word..."

What is a witch's worst nightmare? Because I can think of a few...

Such a Witch by Sarah Henning
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Cliques clash and sparks fly in this delightfully fast-paced read that's part fluffy rom-com, part murder mystery with a (literal) witch hunt. The perfect pick for Wednesday fans.

Pretty, popular, and a total witch, Embry Woodcross is queen bee at Raven's Head School for the Magically Gifted. Entering senior year as head prefect, Embry is a celebrated fashionista and unrivaled solver of problems big, small, and unattractive. (She's quite generous with her handcrafted magical beauty products.)

When she meets Oakley Riddle, clueless transfer student and ultrarare vampire, Embry's mission is clear: take the new girl under her wing and make sure she's not thrown to the (were)wolves. Coven mate Rye Knighton may scoff at Embry's aggressive benevolence, but Raven's Head students reward her with love and appreciation...

Until one good deed too many makes Embry the lead suspect in a murder investigation.

Suddenly, the same people who begged Embry for enchanted acne potions are convinced she's a cold-blooded killer. Apparently, everyone loves a witch until something bad happens, and then it's all pitchforks and anecdotal evidence. As everything she's ever done is used against her, Embry teams up with Rye to find the real murderer, clear her name, and maybe fall in love along the way."

I mean, being a witch will always be a double-edged sword. 

Hell to Pay by Lora Beth Johnson
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ocean's Eight meets Six of Crows in this YA fantasy heist novel about a teenage con artist and her ragtag crew teaming up for their toughest job yet: stealing a soul from the Afterlife.

Elle Fields comes from a long line of thieves who specialize in breaking into the Afterlife to steal secrets - and magic - from the dead. But after her parents' disappearance and her brother's death, Elle is left adrift, without even her crew to rely on.

Until a mysterious stranger offers her a job she can't refuse: stealing a soul from the Afterlife. If Elle can get it done, it could be the key to restoring the life she lost.

The only problem is getting her crew back together. Oh, and the fact that the job's impossible - but Elle is confident that she'll be able to work it all out.

After all, how hard could it be to raise the dead?"

So it feels a bit sexist that they're comparing it to Ocean's Eight and not Ocean's Eleven. Or better yet, Ocean's Twelve, the best in the series. 

Marian Heretic Volume 1 by Tini Howard and Joe Jaro
Published by: BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A bold new vision of religious horror and rebellion!

Sister Marian is many things: a Mother Superior, a witch hunter, and a devout follower of a Goddess the Holy Father Church refuses to acknowledge.

When the Church declares her order heretical, Marian agrees to serve as its personal enforcer - delivering nightly judgment across the city of Vespers in exchange for her Sisters' survival.

But with every soul she condemns, Marian feels her own slipping further into darkness. Can she ultimately protect the faith that guides her even as the Church weaponizes her to destroy it?

From writer Tini Howard (Catwoman, Excalibur, Assassinistas) and artist Joe Jaro (Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer) comes a bold new take on nunsploitation where theology meets heavy metal.

Collects Marian Heretic #1-5."

I think you can gather from Sister Marian's habit that this is all about the nunsploitation. And not just by habit...

These Godly Lies by Rachelle Raeta
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A god stilled the hands of time for Anna in These Immortal Truths. Now, those stolen hours come due in These Godly Lies, the stunning and sweeping conclusion to the Peaches and Honey duology.

"She assumed they had forever. She knows better now."

After spending eight centuries witnessing the world's cruelty, Anna has finally found peace in the simple life she's made for herself with Khiran, the shapeshifting god who gifted her with immortality.

It is, she knows, too good to last.

When her existence - and her stolen immortality - is discovered, Anna and Khiran must abandon the home they have built together if they hope to escape the wrath of the all-powerful god they call The First. But they can't hide forever, and fighting means certain death - until they learn that they may not be the only immortals who wish to see The First fall.

With everything at stake, only one thing is certain: Fear isn't only for mortals. Fear is for them all."

The question is, does gaining immortality make you even more afraid of death?

The Whisper by Chelsea Iversen
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman and Riley Sager's Middle of the Night, comes a sweeping, atmospheric thriller following a group of friends and the power given to them by the trees...

Rule 1: When the trees whisper, listen.

Rule 2: Don't go into the woods alone.

In the small mountain town of Whisper Ridge, the girls were inseparable. Joey, Quinn, Sophie, and Elena. Together, they channeled magic in the woods, living by six simple rules. The first being: when the trees whisper, listen.

But all rules are forgotten, all bonds broken, when Quinn is found dead in the trees.

In the aftermath, the friends scattered. All except Joey, who still can't move on. Until now, over a decade later, she again hears the trees whisper.

Those woods remember some of Quinn's last words, and for the first time, Joey realizes she may learn the truth of what happened to her best friend. And so, the friends return to Whisper Ridge, to the woods that once held their magic and their secrets. But unearthing the truth about Quinn puts them all in danger, and in order to survive they'll need to channel their power for the first time in fifteen years to finally put the past to rest."

Not to be a drag, but the blurb is kind of spoiling Middle of the Night's more supernatural elements...

A Penance for Crows by Shannon Morgan
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An unnerving, hypnotic, modern gothic thriller set on a remote Irish island, where an artist is caught between deadly secrets, ancient superstition, and echoing madness. For fans of Simone St. James, Eve Chase, and Jennifer McMahon.

Off the southern tip of the Beara Peninsula lies Beanna Dubh, an island of savage beauty, its jagged cliffs lashed by Atlantic winds and infested by thousands of crows. Untouched by 21st-century advances, the islanders live under the strict rule of the church, while clinging to old superstitions of the crows as harbingers of disaster. To this desolate, unforgiving place Grizela Urquhart fled, seeking sanctuary from brutal bullying in her native Glasgow.

40 years on, Grizela still remains an outsider - the eccentric painter viewed with distrust and barely tolerated. The feelings are mutual, for she has discovered there are as many secrets on Beanna Dubh as there are crows.

When she stumbles upon the body of a young priest with a diabolical symbol drawn on his chest, the crows darken the skies, and Grizela is plagued by demonic whispers only she can hear. The islanders' suspicions fall on her, but she fears the answers lie in her tortured past.

As mass hysteria grows, Grizela scrambles to protect the innocent - a quartet of young girls she has taken under her wing. When she uncovers dark truths behind the girls' mysterious midnight gatherings, her grip on reality unravels and she is faced with an impossible choice: do the unthinkable to protect the girls as the whispers urge, or come out of hiding to face the sins of her past."

Is leaving the island an option?

Black Point by Jacqueline West
Published by: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In an insular small town steeped in Norse traditions, a local teen grapples with dark secrets from the past rising to the surface in this "spine-tingling thrill ride" (School Library Journal, starred review) by New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline West.

Lucia Sorenson holds on hard to the things she loves. Her tiny hometown clings to the bluffs above the Mississippi River, threatened by weather and time. Unlike most people her age, Lucia plans to stay after graduation and help her grandfather run the Viking Museum of Black Point. Maybe then she can keep everything her ancestors built from washing away.

When the Black Point Hotel, a supposedly haunted local landmark, is bought by an outsider, the town is shaken - and for Lucia, fresh changes arrive in the form of the owner's nephew, Max. As Lucia gets to know Max, she begins to question her role in the town's rituals and to see the place, and herself, with new eyes.

But the town is flooding, and old secrets are rising to the surface. Soon Lucia will have to choose between the home she thought she knew and the hideous truths hidden underneath."

Stephen King via Midsummer. 

The Séance Garden by Juliet Blackwell
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After a cheesy ghost tour in one of California's oldest towns stumbles upon an actual haunting, a skeptical historian of the occult becomes entangled in solving a murder case.

When Professor Harper Grae loses a bet with a friend, she finds herself on a local nighttime tour of "haunted" locations in Monterey. Harper's a lifelong non-believer in the occult, though her academic career is devoted to the historical and societal significance of witchcraft, ghosts, and medicinal poisons of all sorts. But her skepticism immediately gets tested when the tour stumbles on the body of local artist Delilah Mason - who's found murdered on the grounds of a nearly two-hundred-year-old mansion, once home to the infamous Perles family.

On the night Mason's body is found, Harper catches sight of something in the house that she can't shake, something that's impossible to explain, at least not rationally. Soon the murder investigation reveals that this is the second time a woman has been found murdered beneath a sprawling cypress tree in the gardens of the Perles Mansion. And when Harper's closest friend is questioned by the police, Harper fears the authorities will fail to uncover the real killer.

As Harper asks questions around town and digs deeper into the supernatural speculation and rumors surrounding the murders - two women killed in similar circumstances, separated by nearly two centuries  - she sees evidence she can't ignore that the notorious mansion truly is haunted by the ghost of Isabel Perles.

What will it cost Harper to rethink everything she's always believed to admit that the veil between the living and the dead might actually be crossed?"

Remember to always take head that advice of Sherlock Holmes...

We Were Never Here by Sophia Hannan
Published by: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The remaining members of a ghost hunting show return to the haunted manor that may have killed their friend in this "moody, character-driven" (School Library Journal, starred review) contemporary gothic debut perfect for fans of She Is a Haunting and Delicious Monsters.

Four teens went into the manor, three came out.

In July, Georgia Perry and Jules Park - secret girlfriends, covert art thieves, and cohosts of a popular YouTube ghost hunting show - step into a haunted house to steal a priceless painting. A few short hours later, there's a knife in Jules's chest and Georgia is waking up in a pool of blood with no painting and no memory of how she got there.

Now it's October, and Georgia is underwater. She hasn't been to class in weeks, and she's avoiding her old crew - and only friends - like the plague. But when the three remaining thieves get a call from the man who paid a hefty sum to keep them out of jail, demanding that they return to finish the job, Georgia has no choice but to return to her old life.

As the estranged friends scramble to steal the painting with no cover story and no leader, they quickly realize that something is very, very wrong, and it's not just the suffocating memory of Jules or the prying eyes of their viewers. Between the strange shadows that begin to trail them and the nightmares plaguing Georgia's sleep, only one thing is certain: something followed them home from De Lys manor, and it will do anything to keep them from going back."

Anyone else think the girl on the cover looks like Billie Eilish?

Indie Darling by Lauren Nossett
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A brilliant, breakout novel from ITW THRILLER AWARD-WINNING author Lauren Nossett - a mystery set in Nashville, where a Dolly Parton-loving private detective is drawn into the disappearance of an enigmatic pop star.

Nashville is a city of two faces, where the glitter often masks the grit.

Kelly Williams, a Dolly Parton-loving, sports-car-driving private investigator in Nashville, helps women. Sisters in search of lost siblings. Wives determined to uncover affairs. Daughters haunted by men lingering outside their windows. Clients trust her because she listens, she believes them, and over the years she's honed a specialized skill set.

Her latest client is Sarah Owens, better known as Seraph, the magnetic and polarizing lead singer of the indie sensation The Garden Snakes. After a series of threats turns violent, she hires Kelly to identify her assailant. With feminist anthems, cryptic lyrical easter eggs, and an electrifying stage presence, Seraph has built a fiercely loyal following - and attracted a number of critics. At that level of fame, her attacker could be anyone.

Then, in the middle of a Nashville performance, Seraph is shot on stage. The ambulance carrying her disappears. As the city reels and conspiracy theories swirl, Kelly is pulled into a dangerous web of secrets involving Seraph's bandmates, her troubled past, and the high cost of stardom.

Propulsive and atmospheric, Indie Darling is both a page-turning mystery and a powerful meditation on art, obsession, and the perils of being a female artist in a celebrity-obsessed world."

Fame and the deadly cost of it have always intrigued me.

You've Reached Margo by Nancy Savage
Published by: Mont House Press
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Kindle, 275 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ivy Miller talks people out of dying for a living.

This time it may cost her own life.

When Ivy answers a crisis line call from a frantic young woman named Margo, she has no idea it will change her life.

Hours after Margo tearfully announces her intention to end it all, she's found dead. The police call it suicide, but Ivy knows better. Margo didn't sound like she'd given up. She sounded scared.

Defying her employer, Ivy heads to Margo's hometown, Hickory's End, looking for answers. All she finds is silence.

No one wants to talk about Margo. In fact, no one wants to talk at all.

It soon becomes clear Margo uncovered something before her death. Something worth keeping her quiet for.

Now Ivy is in town asking the same questions.

And in Hickory's End, people who ask questions don't always make it out alive.

You've Reached Margo is a dark and unsettling psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Nicola Sanders and Natalie Barelli."

Get out before you get killed!

Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the internationally bestselling author of 56 Days, a page-turning thriller about two women whose shattered lives come crashing together around a house whose secrets could bury them both.

If these walls could talk, they'd scream...

When Ellie moves to 1 Delaney Row, she hopes to find a fresh start - a place where no one knows her name, her history, or her secrets. But what she doesn't know is that her new home is already hiding someone else's secrets - and the people determined to keep them are watching her.

As Ellie starts to unravel the house's disturbing backstory, coming closer to the shocking mystery at its center, she unwittingly puts herself on a deadly collision course not just with her new home's history, but with her own as well.

A puzzle box of a thriller full of mind-boggling twists and turns, Buyer Beware is a chilling exploration of the dark secrets that any house can hold - and of the lengths we'll go to start over."

If the secrets in this house are so dangerous to certain people, why did they let someone else move in?

The Night Hunter by Natalie Moss
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In a remote corner of the South African bush, two sisters reunite to bury a family secret once and for all, but when they're stranded among the wild animals, they find a predator far more dangerous waiting for them in the shadows....

When their conservationist mother passes, Danielle and her estranged sister Grace must return to their isolated family house nestled within a wild-game reserve. While Grace, their mother's favorite, clings to nostalgia, only Danielle carries the knowledge of her final request: "Find the storehouse...Burn everything inside."

To ease the pain of their homecoming - and the tension between them - each sister invites two friends on the two-day journey into the bush. What starts as a safari adventure, turns into a nightmare when one of them is murdered the first morning at the campsite. In the chaos that follows, they crash their vehicle, stranding them, with no way to call for help.

Now, with dwindling supplies and only one rifle, Danielle must lead them on foot across miles of merciless savannah. They have days of walking ahead…if they survive that long. As the group navigates land where every rustle could mean death, a truth emerges: someone is sabotaging their escape.

Breathtaking and tense, The Night Hunter maps the treacherous terrain of family duty and loyalty as the two sisters confront what they’ve spent years trying to forget."

I never thought to invite friends just so that they could be picked off first.... It's a valid plan.

Death at the Village Garden Party by Debbie Young
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: eBook, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Bunting. Fairground rides. Music...Murder. What more could you want from a garden party?

Alice Carroll is happily settled in the Cotswold village of Little Pride, running her beloved Curiosity Shop and cautiously planning the next chapter with her partner, Robert. So when Robert buys the neighbouring Cold Bottom estate, Alice offers to help him win over its eccentric residents by reviving the village's once-loved summer garden party.

But between grumbling fairground workers, gloomy villagers and a downpour that would dampen anyone's bunting, the day doesn't quite go to plan.

Then a guest stumbles into the marquee - and he's dead before his body hits the ground.

Can Alice untangle old rivalries and strange secrets to find the killer? Or will Cold Bottom's fresh start end in another funeral."

A very Father Brown death. I love it!

A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"November 1924. The glitzy and glamorous Endeavour sails from England to New York with 2,000 passengers - and a killer - on board.

When an elderly gentleman is found dead at the foot of a staircase, ship's officer Timothy Birch is ready to declare it a tragic accident. But James Temple, a strong-minded inspector, is certain there is more to this misfortune than meets the eye.

Birch agrees to investigate, and they form an uneasy partnership. Uncovering a web of surprising connections between the passengers aboard the Endeavor, running from the crew cabins below deck to the palatial suites of first class, their inquiries lead to the theft of a priceless painting. Its very existence is known only to its owner...and the dead man.

With just days remaining until they reach New York, the search for the culprit is fraught with danger.

And all the while, the passengers continue to roam the ship with a killer in their midst. One who is poised to strike again."

Obviously use the painting as bait!

Murder on Devil's Ridge by Irina Shapiro
Published by: Storm Publishing
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The girl lies on the ancient stone, her brown hair falling loosely onto the crude altar. Her narrow little arms are crossed just beneath the strange, angular dagger protruding from her chest.

Nurse Gemma Bell and her new husband, Inspector Sebastian Bell, are visiting his family in Suffolk when a neighbor discovers the brutal murder of a young girl, high on Devil's Ridge. Left alone to examine the body while Sebastian breaks the devastating news to the girl's father, Viscount Ravenel, Gemma finds disturbing wounds that suggest calculated ritual, not random violence. And before long, whispers from the village reach her of Pagan sacrifice and ancient blood offerings.

With no local police, the desperate viscount begs Sebastian and Gemma to investigate. And as the couple question the manor's servants and family, they uncover forbidden desires, bitter resentments, and desperate ambitions lurking behind respectable façades.

When another child vanishes from her bed, the investigation takes on terrible urgency. Racing against time to prevent another death, Gemma risks everything to uncover the truth. But in this close-knit, isolated community, could the killer's next target be the outsider nurse who knows too much?

A richly atmospheric Victorian mystery. The next thrilling read for fans of Andrea Penrose, Anna Lee Huber, and the Lady Sherlock mysteries."

Reminiscent of Tana French's In the Woods.

The Clockmaker's Murder by Emily Organ
Published by: Storm Publishing
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 278 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A murdered clockmaker. A stolen masterpiece. An observatory full of secrets.

London, 1889. When elderly clockmaker Horace Whitby is found bludgeoned to death in his workshop at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, suspicion falls on the woman who discovered his body - Charlotte Mellor, who makes her living selling the time, carrying her pocket watch from banks to shipping offices each day to keep London's clocks in step with Greenwich.

Convinced of Charlotte's innocence, Emma Langley and her friend Penny Green begin their own investigation. But Charlotte has not been entirely truthful with them - and the world of the Royal Observatory is far more secretive than it appears. Behind its gates lie bitter professional rivalries, a decades-old family feud, and whispers of a clock so valuable that powerful men have been scheming over it for years.

As Emma and Penny dig deeper, they attract dangerous attention. Someone has been watching them. And not everyone investigating Whitby's murder wants the truth to come out...

Emma Langley returns in this enthralling Victorian mystery - a tale of ambition, betrayal and murder in the shadow of the Royal Observatory."

Wait, could people really make a living selling the time? 

The Laudanum Ladies' Society by Elisabeth Hobbes
Published by: One More Chapter
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Kindle, 353 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In a London that insists women remain quiet, dutiful, and dull, two unlikely conspirators discover a secret that awakens everything society tells them to suppress...

Jenny Rosewood - single, clever and nearly thirty, heaven forbid - has long disguised herself as a man to attend nighttime lectures and chase knowledge forbidden to her. But when an accidental alteration of her uncle's sleeping draught unleashes a dizzying rush of freedom, Jenny sees an opportunity.

Together with Gwen Walters, a pharmacist's wife hidden in her husband's shadow, they form a covert sisterhood where London's ladies gather to indulge in their secret tincture under the guise of afternoon tea.

Soon, society's most proper ladies are sipping their way toward inspiration, rebellion and risk.

Because once women taste freedom, no amount of decorum can force it back in the bottle."

They do know laudanum is bad right!?!

Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli
Published by: Knopf
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the beloved, award-winning author of the modern classics Lost Children Archive and Tell Me How It Ends comes her most powerful and page-turning novel yet: the tale of a mother and a daughter starting over, searching for a new story.

This story begins when a mother and her daughter take off on a trip. It is a summer of rapidly changing winds, volcanic rumbles, and sudden tempests. They've landed in Sicily, near the ancient ruins where the mother's grandmother worked long ago on an archaeological dig. The narrator's marriage has collapsed, her mother is losing her memory, and her daughter is on the threshold of adolescence, starting to ask difficult questions and form complex memories. How do you begin again? the narrator wonders, pondering her family line. How do you begin again if you got the beginning wrong?

While the mother tries to figure out how to reconstruct their lives as a duo - cooking meals side by side, reading out loud to each other, playing chess, bickering and making up - her daughter takes the reins of the story, and their journey soon becomes a quest for origins, not just to the familial past across continents, languages, and generations, but also farther back, to a mythical and even geological past.

Beginning Middle End evolves into a road novel of exquisite tenderness, spanning four generations of women. In their travels through Sicily, mother and daughter cross paths with the island's migrants, storekeepers, and elders, and also its volcanoes, its winds, and its waters. Weaving myths, ancient philosophy, and natural history with fleeting moments of contemporary life, the unforgettable characters in this novel take us on a journey across time, and confront some of life's primary questions: How do stories shape our children's memories and imagination? How do we situate ourselves deeply in the world while accepting our transience in it? How are a family's memories made and what happens when they disappear?

Warm, funny, and poetic, this novel is an ode to imagination and possibility in dark times."

I think everyone feels that they got the beginning wrong. 

Fossil Feud by Maggie North
Published by: Dell
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The hunt for fossils - and love - is on in this steamy, STEMinist romance about two opposing paleontologists who join forces to prevent a fraudulent dinosaur discovery, but accidentally dig up feelings for each other along the way.

Renegade paleontologist Ripley Adams is this close to digging up a fossil treasure and vindication. She's spent the last three years in academic exile after her ex-boyfriend stole her work, betrayed her trust, and broke her heart in one fell swoop. If she can unearth a complete specimen of her newest discovery - a never-before-seen missing link between dinosaurs and birds - it will put her back on the map and finally restore her ruined reputation.

But when unfairly hot Oxford professor James Smithson crashes Ripley's dig site, she realizes she's not the only one searching for redemption in the Montana dirt. James is convinced a splashy new fossil is a fraud, and he needs Ripley's help to prove it. She'd tell the buttoned-up Brit where to stick his suspicions, but the fake fossil is eerily similar to hers...and the fraudster is her ex.

The race is on to reveal a T-rex-sized discovery. Polar opposites Ripley and James will have to find common ground if they're going to take down a hoax that could ruin them both. And as they dig deeper into their unlikely attraction, Ripley's excavation boots won't be the only things getting a little dirty...."

I mean, if the lead is dressed EXACTLY like Dr. Ellie Sattler on the cover, you know this book is a must read for me!

Pride Comes Before a Fall by Virginia Heath
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: July 28th, 2026
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the third installment of this witty Regency romcom series, a headstrong chaperone is torn between following her rigid principles or her heart.

Despite his many responsibilities, there is nothing Leopold Sloane, the 11th Duke of Debden, takes more seriously than the safety of those he loves. When one of his sisters is injured at a protest rally, he drags his family to Bath for the summer to keep his reckless and rebellious siblings out of harm's way. The only flaw in his plan is his overwhelming but inexplicable attraction to the new chaperone he has hired to watch out for them. An outspoken conundrum of a woman who soon causes him more trouble than both his sisters combined...but who calls to his soul regardless.

From the moment Portia Kendall read her first revolutionary pamphlet beneath her bedcovers at Miss Prentice's School for Girls, she realized that her true calling was to make the world a fairer place for the masses downtrodden by the aristocracy. A calling that led her to Equitas, a radical newspaper that champions reform. But as Portia discovers, writing doesn't pay the bills. To make a living, she must push aside her principles and serve the very people she criticizes weekly in her column. A temporary position as a chaperone in the home of a pompous duke seems like the perfect way to earn enough to follow her heart. Unfortunately, the duke who hires her seems to be more dashing and noble than pompous and soon begins to call to her heart too - as much as she tries to deny it. But dare she risk her principles for love or will her pride always come before a fall?"

Or, take down the aristocracy from the inside?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A.K. Caggiano, Chelsea Iversen, Elisabeth Hobbes, Elizabeth Lim, Emily Organ, Irina Shapiro, Juliet Blackwell, Lauren Nossett, Lynn Cahoon, Maggie North, Sarah Beth Durst, Tom Hindle, Valeria Luiselli, Virginia Heath

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 592 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell's epic fantasy, the Simon Snow trilogy, concludes with Any Way the Wind Blows.

In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong.

In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages - and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

Carry On was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us."

I'm so excited about this, but also, I need to ask, I'm not the only one who sings these book titles right!?!

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A princess in exile, a shapeshifting dragon, six enchanted cranes, and an unspeakable curse...Drawing from fairy tales and East Asian folklore, this original fantasy from the author of Spin the Dawn is perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone.

Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to forswear - no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Elizabeth Lim has crafted a fantasy like no other, and one that will stay with readers long after they've turned the last page."

I love the weaving together of stories, but more than that, I love dragons. Bring on the dragons.

Synchronized Sorcery by Juliet Blackwell
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"As witch and vintage store owner Lily Ivory steps into her new role as leader of the Bay Area's magical community, she's faced with a mysterious death of magical proportions...

Strange things are happening in Lily Ivory's San Francisco. First, she finds a vintage mermaid costume which dates from the 1939 San Francisco's Treasure Island World's Fair - and which gives off distinctly peculiar vibrations. Next, she stumbles upon a dead man in the office of her predecessor, and as the community's new leader, she feels compelled to track down the culprit. Just when Lily thinks things can't get any stranger, a man appears claiming to be her half-brother, spouting ideas about the mystical prophecy involving San Francisco and their family...

When the dead man is linked to the mysterious mermaid costume, and then yet another victim is found on Treasure Island, Lily uncovers ties between the long-ago World’s fair and the current murders, and begins to wonder whether the killer might be hiding in plain sight. But unless Lily can figure everything out in time, there may be yet another body floating in San Francisco Bay."

Is it just me or does it feel like a loooooong time since we've had an new volume in this delightful series?

Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a student disappears and is presumed dead, her professor passes off her manuscript as his own - only to find out it implicates him in an unsolved murder in this new thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of The Request.

After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.

There’s just one problem: Connor didn’t write the book. His missing student did. And then she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, threatening to expose him.

Connor’s problems escalate when the police insist details in the novel implicate him in an unsolved murder from two years ago. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing scandal on campus and faces an impossible dilemma - admit he didn’t write the book and lose his job or keep up the lie and risk everything. When another murder occurs, Connor must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student’s manuscript.

This is a suspenseful, provocative novel about the sexual harassment that still runs rampant in academia - and the lengths those in power will go to cover it up."

Naughty Connor. This book has two things I love, people getting their just desserts and a Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch "Kill Your Darlings" reference.

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twentieth gripping novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations, fifteen years apart, of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events.

On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence.

Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the container victims that, initially, she doesn’t register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one unsettling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret - and willing to do anything to keep it hidden.

An absorbing look at the sinister uses to which genetics can be put, and featuring a cascade of ever-more-shocking revelations, The Bone Code is Temperance Brennan’s most astonishing case yet - one that gives new meaning to today’s headlines."

I'm glad we live in a world where there is always more Bones. 

Manfrone or, The One-Handed Monk by Mary Anne Radcliffe
Published by: Valancourt Books
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 324 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Manfrone; or, The One-Handed Monk (1809) opens with an unforgettable Gothic scene: a lascivious monk enters the lovely Rosalina's bedroom at midnight through a secret panel, planning to rape her-but suffers the gruesome loss of his hand when he is caught in the act.

But the one-handed monk is not the only danger facing Rosalina. Her father, the haughty Duca di Rodolpho, is determined to marry her to the cruel Prince di Manfron and has imprisoned her true love, Montalto, in the castle dungeon. And then there is the mysterious Grimaldi. What are his inscrutable plans, and is he trying to help Rosalina or destroy her?

This new edition of one of the most popular of 19th-century Gothic novels includes the unabridged text of the original four-volume novel and features a new introduction by Lisa Kroger."

A reissue of a classic novel my Mrs. Radcliffe that Jane Austen surely read!

Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev
Published by: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The author of Recipe for Persuasion - "not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today" (Shelf Awareness) - adds an Indian American twist to Jane Austen's classic Sense and Sensibility in this delightful retelling that is a feast for the senses.

Yash Raje, California’s first serious Indian gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants - and how to use his privileged background to get it. He attributes his success to a simple mantra: control your feelings and you can control the world.

But when a hate-fueled incident at a rally critically injures his friend, Yash’s easy life suddenly feels like a lie, his control an illusion. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic.

Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust - his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by a family of yoga teachers, India has helped San Francisco’s high strung overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. But this man - with his boundless ambition, simmering intensity, and absolute faith in his political beliefs - is like no other. Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed.

Including their one magical night ten years ago - a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens the life he’s crafted for himself. Exposing the secrets might be the only way to save him but it’s also guaranteed to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community...until now."

And speaking of Jane Austen, if you're not reading Sonali Dev right now you are seriously missing out. 

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 592 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free woman of color who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies.

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom - and that of her sister and her mother - from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history."

When Lauren Willig tells you you MUST read a book you do it. If you happen to be a blogger like me, you hunt down an ARC of it so you don't have to wait for the "must read book of summer!"

The Hollywood Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Maggie Hope is off to California to solve a crime that hits too close to home - and confront the very evil she thought she had left behind in Europe - as the acclaimed World War II mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal continues.

Los Angeles, 1943. As the Allies beat back the Nazis in the Mediterranean and the United States military slowly closes in on Tokyo, Walt Disney cranks out wartime propaganda and the Cocoanut Grove is alive with jazz and swing every night. But behind this sunny facade lies a darker reality. Somewhere in the lush foothills of Hollywood, a woman floats lifeless in the pool of one of California's trendiest hotels.

When American-born secret agent and British spy Maggie Hope learns that this woman was engaged to her former fiancee, John Sterling, and that he suspects her death was no accident, intuition tells her he's right. Leaving London under siege is a lot to ask. But John was once the love of Maggie's life...and she won't say no.

Maggie struggles with seeing her lost love again, but what's more shocking is that her own country is as divided and convulsed with hatred as Europe. The Zoot Suit Riots loom large in Los Angeles, and the Ku Klux Klan casts a long shadow everywhere. But there is little time to dwell on memories once she starts digging into the case. As she traces a web of deception from the infamous Garden of Allah to the iconic Carthay Circle Theater, she discovers things aren't always the way things appear in the movies - and the political situation in America is more complicated, and dangerous, than the newsreels would have them all believe."

I love this new trend for WWII novels to be set in Hollywood. Because, truthfully, there was A LOT going on out west the contributed to the war!

The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Faking a love story is a whole lot easier than being in love...

The world can see that international A-list actress Whitman ("Win") Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski are made for each other. Their kisses start Twitter trends and their fights break the internet. From red carpet appearances to Met Gala mishaps, their on-again, off-again romance has titillated the public and the press for almost a decade. But it's all a lie.

As a woman of color, Win knows the Hollywood deck is stacked against her, so she's perfected the art of controlling her public persona. Whenever she nears scandal, she calls in Leo, with his endearingly reckless attitude, for a staged date. Each public display of affection shifts the headlines back in Win's favor, and Leo uses the good press to draw attention away from his dysfunctional family.

Pretending to be in a passionate romance is one thing, but Win knows that a real relationship would lead to nothing but trouble. So instead they settle for friendship, with a side of sky-rocketing chemistry. Except this time, on the French Riviera, something is off. A shocking secret in Leo's past sets Win's personal and professional lives on a catastrophic collision course. Behind the scenes of their yacht-trips and PDA, the world's favorite couple is at each other's throats. Now they must finally confront the many truths and lies of their relationship, and Win is forced to consider what is more important: a rising career, or a risky shot at real love?

The View Was Exhausting is a funny, wickedly observant modern love story set against the backdrop of exotic locales and the realities of being a woman of color in a world run by men."

If, like me, you've been pissed about the cancellation of The Arrangement for years now, this here is the book to help salve the wound. 

Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For the first time, the full, fascinating, and inspirational true story of Danny Trejo’s journey from crime, prison, addiction, and loss to unexpected fame as Hollywood’s favorite bad guy with a heart of gold.

On screen, Danny Trejo the actor is a baddie who has been killed at least a hundred times. He’s been shot, stabbed, hanged, chopped up, squished by an elevator, and once, was even melted into a bloody goo. Off screen, he’s a hero beloved by recovery communities and obsessed fans alike. But the real Danny Trejo is much more complicated than the legend.

Raised in an abusive home, Danny struggled with heroin addiction and stints in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons, including San Quentin and Folsom, from an early age, before starring in such modern classics as Heat, From Dusk till Dawn, and Machete. Now, in this funny, painful, and suspenseful memoir, Danny takes us through the incredible ups and downs of his life, including meeting one of the world’s most notorious serial killers in prison and working with legends like Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro.

In honest, unflinching detail, Danny recounts how he managed the horrors of prison, rebuilt himself after finding sobriety and spirituality in solitary confinement, and draws inspiration from the adrenaline-fueled robbing heists of his past for the film roles that made him a household name. He also shares the painful contradictions in his personal life. Although he speaks everywhere from prison yards to NPR about his past to inspire countless others on their own road to recovery and redemption, he struggles to help his children with their personal battles with addiction, and to build relationships that last.

Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, Trejo is a portrait of a magnificent life and an unforgettable and exceptional journey through tragedy, pain, and, finally, success that will transfix and inspire."

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Danny Trejo and in particular his cameo on last season of Dynasty? Because if not, here is your reminder. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Danny Trejo, David Bell, Elizabeth Lim, Jane Austen, Juliet Blackwell, Kathy Reichs, Lauren Willig, Mrs. Radcliffe, Rainbow Rowell, Sonali Dev, Susan Elia MacNeal, The Arrangement, Tuesday Tomorrow, Vanessa Riley

A Peculiar Peril by Jeff VanderMeer
Published by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 656 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Peculiar Peril is a head-spinning epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying, from the Nebula Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer.

Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather’s overstuffed mansion - a veritable cabinet of curiosities - once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon discover that the house is filled with far more than just oddities: It holds clues linking to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley has stormed back to life on a magic-fueled rampage across a surreal, through-the-looking-glass version of Europe replete with talking animals (and vegetables).

Swept into encounters with allies more unpredictable than enemies, Jonathan pieces together his destiny as a member of a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora. But as the ground shifts and allegiances change with every step, he and his friends sink ever deeper into a deadly pursuit of the profound evil that is also chasing after them."

I was excited just by the idea of cataloging a curious house, throw in Aleister Crowley and I'm beyond excited! 

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a new twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery - until she decides to return to her mother's hometown... where history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Ever since Margot was born, it's been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot's questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that's not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it's not what she bargained for.

Margot's mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what's still there?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there's poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she's there, she might never escape."

Oh, family secrets and hometown pilgrimages!

Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Maia Tamarin proved her skill as a tailor when she wove the dresses of the sun, the moon, and the stars, but it will take more than a beautiful gown to hide the darkness rising up within her. . . . The stakes are higher than ever in this breathtaking sequel to Spin the Dawn, perfect for fans of Six of Crows.

Maia Tamarin's journey to sew the dresses of the sun, the moon, and the stars has taken a grievous toll. She returns to a kingdom on the brink of war. Edan, the boy she loves, is gone - perhaps forever - and no sooner does she set foot in the Autumn Palace than she is forced to don the dress of the sun and assume the place of the emperor's bride-to-be to keep the peace. When the emperor's rivals learn of her deception, there is hell to pay, but the war raging around Maia is nothing compared to the battle within. Ever since she was touched by the demon Bandur, she has been changing...glancing in the mirror to see her own eyes glowing red; losing control of her magic, her body, her mind. It's only a matter of time before Maia loses herself completely, and in the meantime she will stop at nothing to find Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country."

I love the epic fableness of this series. 

The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan
Published by: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 576 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Scott Lynch, R.F. Kuang, Kate Elliott, Ken Liu, Todd McCaffrey, Garth Nix, Peter S. Beagle, and other modern masters of fantasy and science fiction put their unique spin on the greatest of mythical beasts - the dragon - in never-before-seen works written exclusively for this fantasy anthology compiled by award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan and with art by Rovina Cai!

Here there be dragons...

From China to Europe, Africa to North America, dragons have long captured our imagination in myth and legend. Whether they are rampaging beasts awaiting a brave hero to slay or benevolent sages who have much to teach humanity, dragons are intrinsically connected to stories of creation, adventure, and struggle beloved for generations.

Bringing together nearly thirty stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today - Garth Nix, Scott Lynch, R.F. Kuang, Ann Leckie & Rachel Swirsky, Daniel Abraham, Peter S. Beagle, Beth Cato, Zen Cho, C. S. E Cooney, Aliette de Bodard, Amal El-Mohtar, Kate Elliott, Theodora Goss, Ellen Klages, Ken Liu, Seanan Maguire, Patricia A McKillip, K. J. Parker, Kelly Robson, Michael Swanwick, Jo Walton, Elle Katharine White, Jane Yolen, Kelly Barnhill, Brooke Bolander, Sarah Gailey, and J. Y. Yang - and illustrated by award-nominated artist Rovina Cai with black-and-white line drawings specific to each entry throughout, this extraordinary collection vividly breathes fire and life into one of our most captivating and feared magical creatures as never before and is sure to become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales."

The older I get the more I want to proclaim my love of dragons!

Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The fourth book in the smart, snarky, and action-packed Heroine series follows Evie Tanaka, Aveda Jupiter, and Bea Tanaka as they combat a new supernatural threat.

Everything in Evie Tanaka's life is finally perfect. As a badass superheroine, she defends San Francisco from demon invasion on the regular. Her relationships with superhero partner Aveda Jupiter, little sister Bea, and hot, half-demon husband Nate have never been stronger. Maybe it's possible for a grad school dropout turned put-upon personal assistant turned superhero to have it all?

Just when she thinks life can't get any better, Evie learns she's pregnant. Everyone around her is overjoyed...but Evie has major doubts about whether she's cut out for motherhood. Before she can dwell on her dilemma, a local women's college reports a string of mysterious "hauntings," and Evie and Aveda are called in to investigate, going undercover as grad students during the creepiest time of the year: Halloween.

As she confronts terrifying ghosts and lives out a bizarre version of the grad school life she left behind, Evie can't help but wonder about the road not taken: what would her life be like if she'd stayed here instead of pursuing superheroing with Aveda? And can an overwhelmed pregnant superhero truly have it all?

She's about to find out."

I love that this series keeps growing and expanding, I love it even more that there are hauntings! 

The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Making it up the aisle was the easy part: Rebecca "Bex" Porter must survive her own scandals and adjust to royal British life in this "timely and positively delicious" follow-up to The Royal We that's "just as fun, charming, and delightful as the first" (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca "Bex" Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world's judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.

But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they'd placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick's brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten - nor forgiven."

For your "royals" fix now that Harry and Meghan are off living the L.A. life.

Bodies from the Library edited by Tony Medawar
Published by: Collins Crime Club
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922.

At a time when crime and thriller writing has once again overtaken the sales of general and literary fiction, Bodies from the Library unearths lost stories from the Golden Age, that period between the World Wars when detective fiction captured the public's imagination and saw the emergence of some of the world's cleverest and most popular storytellers.

This anthology brings together 16 forgotten tales that have either been published only once before - perhaps in a newspaper or rare magazine - or have never before appeared in print. From a previously unpublished 1917 script featuring Ernest Bramah's blind detective Max Carrados, to early 1950s crime stories written for London's Evening Standard by Cyril Hare, Freeman Wills Crofts and A.A. Milne, it spans five decades of writing by masters of the Golden Age.

Most anticipated of all are the contributions by women writers: the first detective story by Georgette Heyer, unseen since 1923; an unpublished story by Christianna Brand, creator of Nanny McPhee; and a dark tale by Agatha Christie published only in an Australian journal in 1922 during her 'Grand Tour' of the British Empire.

With other stories by Detection Club stalwarts Anthony Berkeley, H.C. Bailey, J.J. Connington, John Rhode and Nicholas Blake, plus Vincent Cornier, Leo Bruce, Roy Vickers and Arthur Upfield, this essential collection harks back to a time before forensic science - when murder was a complex business."

If you all knew about this series of anthologies and never told me about it I'm going to be pissed! 

Death at the Dance by Verity Bright
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: July 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 276 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A masked ball, a dead body, a missing diamond necklace and a suspicious silver candlestick? Sounds like a case for Lady Eleanor Swift!

England, 1920. Lady Eleanor Swift, adventurer extraordinaire and reluctant amateur detective, is taking a break from sleuthing. She’s got much bigger problems: Eleanor has two left feet, nothing to wear and she’s expected at the masked ball at the local manor. Her new beau Lance Langham is the host, so she needs to dazzle.

Surrounded by partygoers with painted faces, pirates, priests and enough feathers to drown an ostrich, Eleanor searches for a familiar face. As she follows a familiar pair of long legs up a grand staircase, she’s sure she’s on Lance’s trail. But she opens the door on a dreadful scene: Lance standing over a dead Colonel Puddifoot, brandishing a silver candlestick, the family safe wide open and empty.

Moments later, the police burst in and arrest Lance for murder, diamond theft and a spate of similar burglaries. But Eleanor is convinced her love didn’t do it, and with him locked up in prison, she knows she needs to clear his name.

Something Lance lets slip about his pals convinces Eleanor the answer lies close to home. Accompanied by her faithful sidekick Gladstone the bulldog, she begins with Lance’s friends – a set of fast driving, even faster drinking, high-society types with a taste for mischief. But after they start getting picked off in circumstances that look a lot like murder, Eleanor is in a race against time to clear Lance’s name and avoid another brush with death..."

A masked ball in the 1920s with a side of murder? Just what I wanted!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Bodies from the Library, Dragons, Elizabeth Lim, Georgette Heyer, Heather Cocks, Jeff Vandermeer, Jessica Morgan, Rory Power, Royals, Sarah Kuhn, The Book of Dragons, Verity Bright