The Bookish Mindset

I know it can feel overwhelming scrolling through social media or browsing through bookshops with so much choice. Summer is well and truly here and if you’re looking for something juicy to get stuck into then I can help with that. Each month I create an exclusive list of the months new releases for our patreon group, it’s one of the groups favourite features.

So let me share some of my favourite new releases for July. Just tap on the titles to get more info from Bookshop.org and to support my work.

Human Rites – Juno Dawson. Fantasy. Hardback. The finale in the trilogy and the Lucifer’s chaos is about to take over. One of my most anticipated reads this year. (Read Her Majesty’s Royal Coven first). Publish date: 17/07

Necessary Fiction – Eloghosa Osunde. Literary. Hardback. From the author of Vagabonds comes a novel of “cross-generational queer life in contemporary Nigeria”. I can’t wait to read this. Publish date: 31/07

Tusk Love – Thea Gunzon & Critical Roll. Fantasy. Hardback. Yes you read that right (and maybe that’s just showing my nerdiness), that is a romance novel from the epic D&D campaign. Publish date: 01/07

Sweet Heat – Bolu Babalola. Romance. Hardback. Kiki and Malakai are back, but they’ve broken up since you last met them and now have to spend time together at their best friends wedding.. What could go wrong? Publish date: 03/07

Reframing Blackness – Alayo Akinkugbe. Non-Fiction. Hardback. Featuring 80 pieces of artwork with Black figures throughout western art. Publish date: 10/07

A Testimony of Blood – Rogba Payne. Fantasy. Hardback. A shadow wielder faces a dark choice; fight in the upcoming war or save his brother from certain death. Publish date: 17/07

House of the Beast – Michelle Wong. Fantasy. Hardback. From the Illustrator of Legend of Korra comes her own novel full of gods and revenge. Illustrations promised throughout! Publish date: 17/07

Love is a War Song – Danica Nava. Romance. Paperback. Opposites attract in this romantic comedy with indigenous rep. Publish date: 22/07

Rebel Hearts – Tanya Byrne. Romance. Paperback. Queer romance with themes of climate activism and influencer culture? Sign me up! Publish date: 17/07

Ghost Chilli – Nikkitha Bakshani. Literary. Paperback. A novel set around trying fit in in a new city, deemed “funny, sharply observed”. Publish date: 03/07

Behind Frenemy Lines – Zen Cho. Romance. Paperback. A quick paced and witty work rivals to lovers romance, set in a law firm. Publish date: 03/07

The Night Ends with Fire – K. X. Song. Fantasy. Paperback. Author of An Echo in the City. Inspired by Mulan, think love triangles and magic. I adored this one. Publish date: 10/07

What Will People Think? – Vedashree Khambete-Sharma. Literary. Paperback. Described as Jane Austen meets Bollywood in this sweet novel of community and love. Publish date: 03/07

The Lantern of Lost Memories – Sanaka Hiiragi. Literary Paperback. A cosy tale of memoirs and time travel. Publish date: 24/07

One of Our Kind – Nicola Yoon. Literary. Paperback. Yoon’s first adult novel follows a couple moving to a majority Black town in California. Publish date: 31/07

Have you planned to pick any of these up? I’d love to know!

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too. You can also find more content on my Instagram here.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 02/07/2025