Most Anticipated Books of July 2019

Hello! Today’s post is all about the books I’m most looking forward to being published this upcoming month, July.

My “Most Anticipated Books of (Month/Year)” posts are a monthly post where I basically drool over, and talk a little about the books I’m excited to read that are going to be published very soon.

The covers and synopsis’ for these books will both be from GoodReads.

Enjoy!

July 2nd

• The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu | Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

Remy Tsai used to know how her story would turn out. But now, she doesn’t even know what tomorrow will look like.

She was happy once. Remy had her boyfriend Jack, and Elise, her best friend—her soulmate—who understood her better than anyone else in the world.

But now Jack is dead, shot through the chest—

And it was Elise who pulled the trigger.

Was it self-defense? Or something deeper, darker than anything Remy could have imagined? As the police investigate, Remy does the same, sifting through her own memories, looking for a scrap of truth that could save the friendship that means everything to her.

Told in alternating timelines, Thelma and Louise meets Gone Girl in this twisted psychological thriller about the dark side of obsessive friendship.

I’ll be honest with you in saying that I don’t usually go for psychological thrillers. I don’t like that they mess with my head and frankly, I’m such an idiot that they almost always leave me incredibly confused.

However, with The Best Lies I’m hoping that that won’t be the case. Even though The Best Lies is a psychological thriller, the synopsis is already captivating.

July 9th

• Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1) by Elizabeth Lim | Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings, Romance

Project Runway meets Mulan in this sweeping YA fantasy about a young girl who poses as a boy to compete for the role of imperial tailor and embarks on an impossible journey to sew three magic dresses, from the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

Steeped in Chinese culture, sizzling with forbidden romance, and shimmering with magic, this young adult fantasy is pitch-perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas or Renée Ahdieh.

I’ve been genuinely looking forward to reading Spin the Dawn for such long time now. I’ve heard that Spin the Dawn is actually a loose retelling of Mulan. I wish that Spin the Dawn will be full of magic–which is immensely exciting for me.

• Stealing Home, by Becky Wallace | Young Adult, Contemporary, Sports

Fight for your dreams, even if it means breaking a few rules.

Seventeen-year-old Ryan Russell has life perfectly planned. If she keeps up her hard work, one day she’ll take over the family business: owning the Buckley Beavers, a minor league baseball team, and become one of the only female General Managers in the sport.

But when the newest member of the Beavers, child-phenom Sawyer Campbell, shows up, Ryan’s carefully laid plans are thrown a major curveball. Sawyer is far more charming than the arrogant jocks she usually manages, his ambition rivals her own workaholic nature—and he’s completely out of bounds. Fraternizing is against every rule in the Beaver’s handbook.

Then Ryan’s divorced parents butt heads over the future of the Beavers, and her mom plans to sell her shares to a business group known for relocating teams. If this happens, Ryan’s dreams of becoming GM disappear. In a bid to save her future, she partners with Sawyer to use his star power to draw in sponsors who will keep the team in Buckley. But the more time she spends with him, the more impossible it becomes to play by the Beaver’s rules, and she can’t afford a strikeout on the path to her dreams.

Full count with two outs, Ryan’s one pitch away from losing the whole ball game.

[Published July 9th, 2019]

What had me instantly interested was the fact that Stealing Home is a book that features around sports. I’ve actually found that I really enjoy romance novels that feature some kind of sport.

I expect that Stealing Home is going to be one heck of a slow burn romance.

• The Storm Crow (The Storm Crow, #1) by Kalyn Josephson | Young Adult, Fantasy

In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life…until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.

That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother’s death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.

But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

[Published July 9th, 2019]

Even with reading The Storm Crow‘s synopsis, I legitimately don’t know what to expect. I know we’re pretty much given the entire plot of the story (which is genuinely attention-grabbing), but I cannot pin point anything that might or might not happen. Though I have an….inkling, that The Storm Crow will become predictable upon starting the book.

July 16th

• In the Woods by Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel | Young Adult, Horror

It should have been just another quiet night on the farm when Logan witnessed the attack, but it wasn’t.
Something is in the woods.
Something unexplainable.
Something deadly.
Hundreds of miles away, Chrystal’s plans for summer in Manhattan are abruptly upended when her dad reads tabloid coverage of some kind of grisly incident in Oklahoma. When they arrive to investigate, they find a witness: a surprisingly good-looking farm boy.
As townsfolk start disappearing and the attacks get ever closer, Logan and Chrystal will have to find out the truth about whatever’s hiding in the woods…before they become targets themselves.

In the Woods sparked my interest because of the cover–I don’t know about you but to me it looks like Chrystal is running from something, and is only looking over her shoulder to see if it’s behind her. I also found In the Woods intriguing, because In the Woods is a horror novel, and I don’t read many YA Horror stories.

The YA Horror novels that do end up attracting my attention are usually the ones that I enjoy the most.

By reading the synopsis for In the Woods I realized how the story is genuinely appealing. Which is nice since the few YA Horror novels that do attract my attention usually fall far from my expectations.

Other Titles that I’m interested in:

• The Priest of Lies by Peter McLean (07/02/19)
• Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton (07/02/19)
• Grimoire Noir by Vera Greentea (07/23/19)

All of these covers are particularly pretty, aren’t they? Do you have a favourite? 

Is there a book that you’re interested in particular?

I think my favourite cover would have to be would have to be In the Woods. I’m a sucker for forest covers where the main character is running away from the reader. Does that say something about me? LOL.  I don’t know–covers like In the Woods are just so aesthetically pleasing to me.

Thank you for stopping by!

See you soon, and Happy Reading!
Adele