2021 Reading List: July and August
All I want to do in the summer is read by the water, or sit outside on quiet mornings with iced coffee and good book. This year I am a little overwhelmed by how many books I want to read! Making these lists has been so helpful for finding new releases and always having something to read next, and there are so many good books coming out, that for this round, I am focusing on two months instead of three. The books below are a fun mix - a few mysterious murders and crimes, trips gone wrong and romances, with a compelling memoir and some coming-of-age stories sprinkled in.
I’m linking to the first quarter list and the second quarter lists for reference - there are options on those lists that Eloise and I both loved, including Malibu Rising (which I think we can safely say is the “it” book of early summer), Dial A for Aunties, Good Company, The Rose Code, and You Have a Match (perfect for the teens in your life or any adults missing summer camp!).
(Images link to books on Amazon, we may collect a small commission for some purchases)
July
Shoulder sEason by christina clancy
Publishing Date: July 6
This sounds like such a fun and sexy summer read! In the 1980’s 19 year old Sherri loses both of her parents, and leaves her sheltered world to become a Bunny at the Lake Geneva Playboy Resort in Wisconsin - an unlikely spot for a Playboy Resort to say the least. Living at the “Bunny Hutch,” the Playboy dorm, she makes friends, becomes financially independent and leans into the world of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Sherri gets drawn into a love triangle, with tragic results that follow her for the next forty years.
Dear Miss Metropolitan by carolyn ferrell
Publishing Date: July 6
Three teens with very different personalities, Fern, Gwin and Jesenia, are abducted by the mysterious Boss Man and forced to live in a run-down house in Queens, N.Y. for years. When two are them are finally rescued, the neighborhood reels, trying to come to terms with how it happened for so long right under their noses, including Miss Metropolitan, a local advice columnist who lived just across the street. The mystery of what happened to the third girl, the trauma they endured and what it means to become symbols of the crime follow the two survivors as they try to move forward.
the therapist by b.a. paris
Publishing Date: July 13
Leo and Alice move into a gated community called “The Circle” but discovers a huge secret about their new home. Alice starts to dig into it’s past, bonding with Nina, the therapist who lived there a few years prior and uncovering the mystery of what exactly led her to leave. B.A. Paris writes riveting thrillers, and I couldn’t stop reading her book Behind Closed Doors, so I am hoping this is the summer thriller of my dreams!
a touch of jen by beth morgan
Publishing Date: July 13
I read a description of this that described it as “what might happen if Ingrid Goes West took place atop the Hellmouth of Sunnydale “ and was immediately fascinated. It centers on two friends whose friendship is fading, except for their shared obsession with a former coworker who has become an influencer. They run into her and get pulled into her life, joining a surfing trip to the Hamptons. While they try to fit in, their obsession with her and their jealousy escalate into a horror show, pushing them into a psychadelic alternate reality. This book sounds insane and amazing!
while we were dating by jasmine guillory
Publishing Date: July 13
Yay! A new Jasmine Guillory romance! Rising ad world star, Ben Stephens lands a new campaign that features Anna Gardiner, a movie star on a mission to become a household name. They start a flirtation, which quickly turns into something more serious when real life comes knocking. Will they survive the pressures of Hollywood and get their own rom com ending??
August
The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones
Publishing Date: August 3
Rachel and Noah have been friends for 20 years, never be more than friendship, both married to other people and happily a fivesome with Will, Noah’s brother. When Will plans a couples trip to Portugal for his wedding to his new fiance Ali, the five set off for a relaxing stay at a clifftop villa. When Rachel discovers a dark secret about Ali, it brings everyone’s complicated pasts to the surface, threatening friendships and marriages.
the husbands by chandler baker
Publishing Date: August 3
Nora and her family look to move to the exclusive Dynasty Ranch neighborhood, which seems like a reverse Stepford wives situation - the wives are all powerful and talented, with supportive and loving husbands. As a hard-working mother and lawyer, Nora finds her place amongst these women — save for the supportive husband, as she finds herself pulling more than her fair share at home. When she agrees to help out with a wrongful death suit for a resident of Dynasty ranch, she discovers exactly why the lives and marriages in Dynasty Ranch are different from her own — and what it takes to get there.
The Turnout by Megan Abbott
Publishing Date: August 3
I loved Dare Me (the book was great, the show was iffy), and always enjoy a dance school drama, so I am excited about this new book from Megan Abbot about two sisters, Dara and Marie Durant, who run the prestigious Durant School of Dance along with Dara’s husband Charlie. The school’s annual Nutcracker performance is the backdrop for a strange accident that turns their world upside down.
Made In China by Anna qu
Publishing Date: August 3
This memoir sounds fascinating, as Anna Qu dives into life as a Chinese immigrant in Queens, when her own mother put her to work in a sweatshop. She calls child services on her family, which dramatically changes the course of her life. Two decades later, estranged from her mother and working at a Manhattan start-up, she requests her OCFS report, only to see a number of errors within it. She unpacks this trauma-filled and complicated history, along with the realities of the immigrant experience.
The show girl by nicola harrison
Publishing Date: August 10
I love a roaring 20’s New York story, especially as we enter our own version of the roaring 2020’s! Olive moves across the country to pursue her dream to sing and dance professionally, with her heart set on the Ziegfeld Follies, and to forge a path as a more modern woman. Of course she falls in love, but grapples with the sacrifices that come along with being a woman in love and achieving her own goals.