Summer Reads: 9 New Books To Read This July

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

What do you do when your mum calls telling you to return home? You return without question. That’s not quite as simple for Vera, whose childhood house is the home of a serial killer – her father. 

Sarah Gailey’s Just Like Home follows Vera as she returns to her family’s home and back into the life where her father buried bodies underneath. To make matters worse, a parasitic artist has just moved into the guest house. Things take a turn for the worse as notes in her father’s handwriting mysteriously appear around the house…

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

If there’s anyone who sways from relationships during her university years, it’s Kiki Banjo, the quick-witted, relationship evader and host of the popular studio radio station show, Brown Sugar. She’s determined to guide her fellow students through college with experience, charm and avoiding any ‘situationships’, but that all changes when she meets her own Mr Handsome. The pair forge a fake relationship to save both of their reputations but it leaves her clutching at straws and head over heels for the type of man she promised herself she’d never end up with.

The Yellow Kitchen by Margaux Vialleron

A love letter to 2019, the last ‘normal’ year as we knew it, The Yellow Kitchen follows three best friends and their lifelong friendship. Their relationship is guided by their passion to strive for success, chase their dreams and date along the way. That’s completely turned on its head when a trip to Lisbon sees two of the friends end up in bed together and the trio’s friendship is compromised.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia

If you’ve always had some apprehensions about delving into the world of science fiction novels, let Silvia Moreno Garcia’s The Daughter of Doctor Moreau guide you on your way to discovering a new world. 

The novel follows Carlota Moreau, a young privileged woman, the daughter of a researcher who is a genius – or perhaps a madman. Montgomery Laughton is an outcast and research assistant who helps Dr. Moreau with his experiments. And then comes the hybrids, the result of Dr. Moreau’s work, a set of beings who are supposed to obey and remain in the shadows. That is until Eduardo Lizalde arrives onto the scene to disrupt and cause imbalance to the static world.

Other Names For Love by Taymour Soomro

Taymour Soomro’s debut novel, Other Names for Love, follows the journey of one boy, his father and his lost dream of London. It’s summertime and instead of being whisked away to the UK for the season, Fahad is on his way to his father’s estate, who is determined to make him into a tough man. This is quickly juxtaposed as Fahad becomes at one with his surroundings, finding the people, the land and the secrets that are lurking within.

The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton

The sequel to Jessie Burton’s epic bestselling The Miniaturist, this latest tome is set surrounding one woman’s promise to control her own path, mixed amongst secrets, dreams and fate.

Cracks start to appear in the Brandt household. Eighteen-year-old Thea might be flooding into her adulthood but at home her aunt and father are constantly arguing and struggling to get by. She must find a husband in order to secure a future she will survive in but her Aunt Nella is determined to help her, until she gets a strange prickling sensation in the back of her neck and the Miniaturist returns…

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

A story of love, Gabrielle Zevin’s tale comes to life through the eyes of two children whose meet cute begins in a hospital gaming room in 1987. The pair bond over their love for games, losing themselves in the worlds that are juxtaposed to their reality right now. 

Years later the pair bump into each other and the butterflies come flooding back and they decide to build a career together, making games that unite gamers. It’s a story of admiration, money and ultimately tragedy.

One Last Secret by Adele Parks

Trouble resurfaces and secrets arise as Dora, an escort, embarks on her last job before retiring from the trade. Arriving at the French chateau, she thought it would be a straightforward act but she’s quickly acquainted with a man from her past and the hidden secrets that could spread like wildfire. 

The Ruins by Phoebe Wynne

A chateau that tells two stories is up for sale on the French Riviera, but it has a troubled past. Fluttering between past and present, The Ruins follows the chateau’s story in summer 1985 that resulted in an unforgettable night and an incident that cannot be forgotten and summer 2010, where one woman from the past returns to the chateau to uncover what really happened that summer…