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Books in July - Book Recommendations
- The Little Bookshop
- 12 hours ago
- 7 min read
Hello Book Dragons, the Summer is here! But the heat can stay away… I think we can all agree ^^ Hope you have some great Summer plans and some great Summer reads. When I was younger (just a feeeew years ago) I always took huge piles of thrillers with me in the caravan… I was sooo happy! Parents a bit less: too much weight, are you really going to read all of them?! Books are heavy but they bring you so much and yes, I read all of them! Anyway, enough about what I’ll be doing this Summer (again). Let’s take a look at the July books:
Contemporary/Fantasy/Thriller/Sci-fi adults
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (2 July)
Because I already listened to this one and enjoyed the cozy setting
Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Jasmine run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power… Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and just might know how to unlock the spell’s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing.
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2 July)
Because this is the author of ‘My Sister, the Serial Killer’
No man will call your house his home. And if they try, they will not have peace… So goes the family curse, handed down from generation to generation, ruining families and breaking hearts as it goes. And now it’s calm, rational Eniiyi’s turn – who, due to her uncanny resemblance to her dead aunt, Monife, and her family’s insistence that she must be a reincarnation, has long been used to some strange familial beliefs. Still, when she falls in love with the handsome boy she saves from drowning, she can no longer run from her family’s history. Is she destined to live out the habitual story of love and heartbreak, or can she escape the family curse and the mysterious fate that befell her aunt?
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley (23 July)
Because I read her debut ‘Nightcrawling’ and thought it was promising work
Adela is sixteen years old. When she tells her parents she's pregnant, they send her from their home in Indiana to her grandmother’s in Padua Beach, Florida, "a town built on y’all bein' good now? and babies havin' babies, said in the rasp of a loud whisper and one polite little shake of the head." There, Adela meets Emory, who has a baby of her own she brings to high school, strapped to her chest; and Simone, ringleader of “the Girls,” young moms who hang out with their growing brood in the back of her red truck—dancing defiantly, breastfeeding, watching each other’s backs. The town thinks they’ve lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood. Before long they will find themselves on a collision course with one another.
Cosmos by Lucia Odom (30 July)
Because this is an important subject
So begins this epistolary novella charting the life of Cosmos, a Ghanaian refugee living in Copenhagen, making a living as a bottle collector. He spends his nights sleeping under the open sky in city parks, writing WhatsApp messages to his family, and his days cycling through the streets with The Crows, his ‘Copenhagen family’. Everything changes when Cosmos meets the enigmatic Elizabeth at a hair salon; between competitive games of basketball and swims in the sea, they fall in love and home takes on a new meaning. Set over the course of five months, Cosmos questions what it means to belong to a person, as much as to a place – it is a deeply moving story of diaspora and the invisible lives we pass every day, lives reduced to something temporary, precarious, abstract, painting a confronting and rich portrait of both love and loss in the margins.
YA Book Recommendations
Bad Creek by Peyton June (3 July)
Because I know you love queer and horror
Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad Creek, just like every summer. Except Iris’s older sister, Glory, drowned in the lake last year, and Iris can’t seem to move on; Gum is hiding his sexuality from his family while being viciously haunted by Glory’s rotting ghost; and Aidan is distraught over a drunken argument with Glory that he fears may have led to her death. When Iris sleepwalks to the dilapidated house that Glory obsessively sketched in her final days, she and the boys begin to uncover a sinister history in the very bones of the town. The trio must reckon with the events of last summer and uncover what lurks within Bad Creek before it takes Iris’s life next.
When Dealing With Dragons by Dana Swift (9 July)
Because dragons…
In Farren’s world, dragons are prized for their precious scales – giving the humans they bond with metal-crafting magic. Farren’s family believe dragons are worth so much more, which is why they dedicate their lives to caring for them. It’s also the reason she hates people who exploit the incredible creatures. That includes her classmate James Murphy, an arrogant dragon racer whose silver-crafting family tops the social hierarchy but represent the worst of greed and dragon abuse – worse still, he's the biggest competition for the college scholarship Farren desperately needs. When James unexpectantly gets a job her family's dragon sanctuary, it puts everything at risk. Farren isn't just the plain copper-crafter she seems. She's hiding a secret that could change not only her life, but society as a whole. And James has his own secret . . . a years-long crush on Farren. As the summer passes, hating James becomes harder than Farren thought, and suddenly Farren has a new secret to keep, the fact that she’s falling in love with James Murphy.
Heledd’s Song by Fiona Collins (23 July)
Because this sounds intriguing
Seren is 14 years old and lives with her nain having lost her single-parent mother to cancer. An only child, scarred by this early bereavement, she struggles at school. Heledd, a girl who exists in the 7th century AD, whom Seren meets in her dreams, has her own struggles in the aftermath of the Mercian war which left almost everyone dead. Together, they help one another survive. A magic realist story with creative engagement with the Early Welsh poem, Canu Heledd drawing on the rich mythology and literary heritage of Wales.
Paint Me Like Your Dead Girls by Cynthia Murphy (23 July)
Because we should always have at least one thriller
When aspiring crime journalist Fliss Keller uncovers a disturbing self-portrait of a man at an estate sale, her Art History professor dad buys it, despite how unsettled Fliss feels. The portrait has been lost for decades and completes a set of four existing paintings of women by the same artist already hanging in the town’s gallery. That evening, the portrait falls to the floor, revealing paperwork inside the frame that suggests the artist was a serial killer and that the women depicted were his victims. Despite her alarm, Fliss vows to investigate and uncover the truth. But when a series of gruesome murders rock the community, and some think the resurrection of the self-portrait has unleashed a curse, Fliss knows better than to believe them. There are shocking similarities between the poses of the modern-day murders and the painted women, and she’s sure there’s a copycat killer on the loose. Racing against time, can Fliss unravel the clues before she becomes the murderer's next muse?
Children’s Books
When I was a Wolf by Liz Flanagan (2 July)
Because I love Liz Flanagan’s books!
Jasmine uncovers the magic of creativity while navigating the complexities of friendship and family. Jasmine loves wolves, her mum and her best friend, Ella. But Jasmine’s mum has fallen ill, and Ella is busy with Layla, the new girl at school. Everything has changed. At a new art club, Jasmine learns to channel her worries and sadness into creativity, building a magnificent wolf lantern for the town parade. But when a moment of anger threatens to undo all her progress, can Jasmine find a way to control her emotions and repair her friendships?
The Mole Who Went Undercover by Tim Collins (2 July)
Because I know the kids love ‘Sherlock Bones’, also from Tim
When the detective agency is flummoxed by a spate of mysterious crimes, they enlist the help of a brilliant young detective (the reader) to crack the case. The agency asks them to infiltrate the inner circle of a criminal mastermind, Silas Ridley, who used to work as a police puzzle specialist. To help with their work as a mole, they give them an actual mole, who is an expert tracker! Can the reader help bring the criminal to justice, solving one Detectogram® at a time?Packed with a mix of 46 logic, visual and text-based puzzles. From clues to unravel, maps to navigate, suspects to examine and secret codes to crack, there’s plenty of fun and perplexing puzzles to be solved in this brain-busting mystery for young super sleuths.
The Tiger Who Came to Tea Little Library by Judith Kerr (2 July)
Because it’s a new mini tiny library
Discover colours, numbers, family and friends and best of all, the Tiger.
Baby T. Rex Finds Colours by DK (2 July)
Because it glows in the dark! Soooo cool
Follow Baby T-rex through a playful prehistoric world as he learns about yellow, red, blue, green, and orange. When the day ends and it is time for bed, the pages come alive with soft, glowing shapes under the night sky.
We hope you enjoyed our little list and that it gave you some book inspiration!
Looking to pre-order one of these books? Just follow the path! 👇
This blog post is written by The Little Bookshop, your bookshop for English books in Rennes.
