July 2026 Book Reviews!
- Christine
- 3 days ago
- 17 min read
If I had to use one word to describe July, that word would be HOT! It seems like no matter where you are in the country (or the world), the temperature has really been up there. We are very lucky to have a community pool in our neighborhood, and a beautiful beach just 30 minutes away. So, I was able to spend some time at both places this month with a good book.
Personally, I'll take the heat any day over the cold, so I still spend my evenings out on our lanai (just with the ceiling fan turned on high) reading. It's still my favorite place to be!
I read a good variety of books in July, so I hope you find a couple from my list that interest you. And remember that if you want to see what I'm reading real time and not wait for my monthly blog, you can follow me on Goodreads or The Story Graph.
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Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt
This book is a very detailed study of the history of Europe (including countries, such as Russia, who are inextricably linked with Europe) from post WWII (1945) to the early 2000's when the book was written. The book covers all the various aspects of European history - from the division of eastern and western Europe after the war, to the reunification of Germany and the split of the USSR, to the formation of the European Union. With so many different countries involved, this covers it all with a ton of history from each country.
This book is extremely dense and challenging. It reads more like a textbook than a non-fiction book. I'm a fast reader and this one took me over a week to get through. It won't be for everyone. If you aren't interested in the history of modern Europe, you won't get through the first few pages. But if that is a topic that interests you, this book is about as comprehensive and well written as you can get. This book is number 43 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Four out of five stars!
The Other Boy: A Psychological Thriller (The Peasedsle Woods Killer Book 1) by Heidi Field
When the police arrive at the door of Scott and Blair to tell them that they believe their son, Jamie, has been killed, there world understandably falls apart. And when it turns out that their son was the last victim of a serial killer that has been killing young boys for years, in addition to their grief, they begin to question why Jamie's murder was different than the other boys. In addition, the other parents begin to question whether Jamie was somehow acting as an accomplice to the serial killer up until the time he himself was killed.
This is a slow burn psychological thriller. While you find out fairly early in the book who the serial killer is, the circumstances around the murders and what involvement Jamie might have had are mysteries until the end. The book also does a good job of conveying the emotional and mental battle Scott and Blair have as they search for answers and deal with their grief.
My only criticism of the book is that it did get a bit muddled up in the plot from time to time, and likely could have been edited a bit to make it move a little faster. Otherwise, this is a solid psychological thriller that is well written.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Indie Darling by Lauren Nossett
Kelly Williams is a Dolly Parton loving private investigator in Nashville, who helps women clients in difficult situations. When she discovers her latest client - Sarah - is really Seraph of the popular indie band The Garden Snakes, Williams finds herself quickly pulled into the world of Seraph's celebrity. Seraph has hired Williams to figure out who has been harassing her and her two bandmates. But when Seraph is shot on stage during a performance at Nash Fest and disappears, Williams finds herself not only looking for whoever was harassing Seraph and the person that shot her, but for Seraph herself.
This book was right up my alley, as it was a mystery and based in the music industry. Nashville was a perfect setting for the book as well. I really loved the characters - especially Williams. The writing was really good and engaging. The pace of the book was just right. And I found myself not wanting to put the book down until I found out what happened to Seraph. I really enjoyed it!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Forged Directive by Charles M. Reskin, D.O.
Michael Carter and his fiancée, Loretta, are starting to ease into retirement and enjoy life. After spending the day at an apple festival in the Ozarks near their lake home, they come home to turn in for the night. But at some point, someone enters their home and hits Michael in the head with an object. By the time Michael regains consciousness, he realizes he's been severely injured. Concerned for Loretta, he goes upstairs to find her bleeding with no pulse. Despite his head injury, Michael is able to call 911 and attempt CPR on Loretta. By the time the ambulance arrives, Loretta is dead and Michael is clinging to life.
Michael is airlifted to a hospital where surgery is performed and he is placed into an induced coma to see if his brain will recover. However, before he is given a chance, his adult daughter - Alice - appears at the hospital with a DNR directive and demands Michael be taken off life support. Who killed Loretta and left Michael for dead? Did his daughter have something to do with it? Why was she so insistent he be taken off life support?
This book is loosely based on a true story. It's narrated by Michael's personal physician in a style that is almost like him conveying the story of the murders and trial at a later date. I'm a bit torn on how to rate this book. I thought the overall mystery and plot was quite good. The book is written in a unique style. It's less telling a story than it almost reads like a story you would see on Dateline. For me personally, that made it so I was a little less invested in the story. Good writing and good plot, but the style was just not for me.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Mistletoe All The Way by Lauren Blakely
Eloise is trying to start up her own PR agency in her small town of Evergreen Falls in northern California. Noah left Evergreen Falls to go to college and veterinary school in Colorado, and only returns to town when he has to. When Noah's grandfather announces he's retiring from the farm and wants to leave the farm to one of his grandsons, Noah returns only to realize that he wants to keep his grandparent's legacy alive.
Eloise loves Christmas and is always trying to create the Christmas joy she didn't have growing up in a home with her two lawyer parents who seem to love their job and country club more than they love her. Noah lost his mother a few days before Christmas when he was a teenager, and struggles to find the Christmas spirit anymore. When the two cross paths, Eloise decides that the best way to win the PR contract for her local town is to turn Noah into "Mr. Holiday".
If you love Hallmark Christmas movies, you'll love this one. The story is sweet and the romance is spicey. Both Eloise and Noah are lovable characters and you want to root for them to work out. Nothing especially out of the ordinary from the typical rom com formula, but a fun read. This book is due to be published on October 6, 2026, so perfect timing for a holiday read.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot by Rebecca Rosenberg
Barbe-Nicole was born with an exceptional ability to smell things much more intensely than others. While this was a challenge for her most of her life, it gives her the ability to blend Champagne and other wines like no one else can. The time period is the late 1700's and early 1800s of France. Napoleon has taken over the country and is trying to take over the world. While her parents are trying to marry her off, Barbe-Nicole is waiting for her childhood sweetheart to return from the battle fields. However, when he does, he isn't the same person that she grew up with.
When the two of them take over his father's vineyards, Barbe-Nicole tries to keep their business alive through all the turmoil caused by Napoleon, as well as her husband's challenges.
This historical fiction book is based on the start of one of the most famous Champagne houses in France. I'm a big wine fan and I enjoyed the wine aspects of this book. However, I struggled to connect with Barbe-Nicole's character, so it was a little hard to get as into the book as I'd have liked. It was written well and nothing really wrong with it, I just didn't find it to be as intriguing as I hoped.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
A Brief History Of Seven Killings by Marlon James
It's December of 1976 in Jamaica. There is a general election coming up and the two political parties are basically at war with each other. The "Singer" (as he is referred to in the book, but is Bob Marley) has returned to Jamaica from the U.S., and is planning on putting on the Smile Jamaica Concert to try and ease political tensions in Kingston. However, before the concert can happen, seven gunmen storm into the Singer's house and start shooting. They injure the Singer, his wife, his manager and several others.
This book tells the story of Jamaica starting from 1976 and the political tensions, violence and corruption that was prevalent in the country. It then moves through the decades as these same Jamaican "posses" make their way into the U.S. - specifically Miami and New York.
While the "Singer" and the attempt on his life are central to the story, this is not a story about the "Singer", but rather a story about the lives of various other characters in Jamaica at the time.
As someone who has visited Jamaica often and has been very interested in the history and life there, this book was extremely interesting. I would say that you do have to have some basic knowledge of Jamaica and its politics to get some of the details of this book. Additionally, the book is written from the various POV's of several characters, some of whom speak in patois, so knowing the dialect is helpful. There are also a lot of characters, and I found myself having to refer back to the very helpful list of the cast of characters the author included at the beginning of the book.
This book is not an easy read. It's long, complex and the dialect can be tough. But it's a very compelling story about Jamaica that is told in a very real way. This book is number 42 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Four out of five stars!
The White Room (The Raven Trilogy) by Chris Cooke
Olivia Reed and her father, Christian, own a high tech security company. When Francis hires them to install a state of the art security system in his home, Olivia and Christian spend several weeks installing the system. Over that time, a spark seems to ignite between Olivia and Francis. But due to her past relationship with her ex, Sam, Olivia is hesitant to get involved too quickly. Christian is also cautious about Olivia and Francis, but mostly due to a strange feeling he gets about Francis and what he might be involved with that they don't know.
When Olivia visits Francis on her own one night, she overhears Francis on the phone and the conversation makes her fear for her life. And when Olivia never returns home, Christian immediately suspects Francis has something to do with her disappearance.
I thought the basic storyline was really good and interesting in this one. It did start to get a bit "out there" towards the end, but there were lots of twists and turns that kept you interested. I think the main issue with this book is that it could have used more editing. It moves way slower than it should just because there is just too much narrative at times. And the pieces don't fit together and flow as well as they should. Great effort and idea, but just needed a bit more on the execution.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Chelsea Girls by Catherine Lloyd
Mary Quant convinces her parents to allow her to attend art school so she can study to be an art teacher, but she really dreams of designing clothing. This book tells the story of Quant's beginnings and rise to fame as one of Britain's most famous clothing designers of the 1960s and 70, from the perspective of three people in her life. First is Chrissie, who she meets on the first day of art school and becomes her best friend. Second is Daphne, who is a debutante that wants more out of life and begins working in Quant's clothing boutique and later models for her. Third is Fern, who is a teenager living in a difficult home who begins as a model.
There are two bigger issues with this book in my opinion. First, it's not sure what it's identity is. The book is classified as historical fiction, which typical means a story about fictional characters that might be loosely based on someone real, but that live through some sort of real event and/or time period. This book, however, seems like it is trying to be a biography about Quant. I went into this thinking it was historical fiction, but then realized Quant was a real person and most of the characters in the book are real. So that's confusing right from the start.
The second issue is that the book should have focused more on Quant than the three other characters, who frankly, weren't that interesting. While it's supposed to be the story of Quant, she really only pops in and out as a person in the life of the the other three. It seems like Quant was a very interesting person, but you only got touches of that in this book.
This will be a fun read for some people, but it really just missed the mark for me personally.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Unforeseen by Claire Ackroyd
Lara and Hannah are sisters who have traveled to join their mother and their mother's best friend and son at a cottage for a week to celebrate their mother's 50th birthday. As Hannah is traveling to England from Singapore where she's currently living, she gets a phone call from Lara telling her not to come. Lara has had a dream/vision that Hannah will die at some point during the week.
As Lara's past, including her relationship with the father of her daughter, begins to come back and haunt her, the rest of her family wonders whether Lara's fragile mental state is slowly breaking.
This is a slow burn psychological thriller that I think has a really good and surprising twist at the end. While it is a bit of a slow burn, the author does a great job of including the family dynamics in the story as well, which keeps it interesting. I thought the author did an excellent job of connecting lots of little details to pull everything together at the end. I read this in one evening because it really kept my interest!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich In America And How They Got There by Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick
When most of us think of the most wealthy Americans, we think of people associated with huge companies - Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. However, there are thousands of wealthy Americans who got their money from their "small" businesses. These are what are called "pass through" businesses - such as S corporations - that are not public and their profits and income pass through to their owners.
In this book, the authors examine all aspects of these "Main Street Millionaires" - how they started their businesses, how they spend their money, and how they influence local and national politics and policies. Many of these businesses are companies you might come across every day, but you don't know the business name or the person who owns them. They can be anything from car dealerships to law firms to restaurant owners.
This book is extremely enlightening. First, you'll learn a lot about some companies that you may not have known much about. Second, you'll learn how incredibly rich and powerful some of these business owners are. And finally, you'll learn how much they control the policies at the local, state and federal level. In some cases, this is because many of these business owners are also politicians. And in some cases, groups of these small business owners are some of the most powerful lobbyists out there.
The book can get a bit in the weeds on the tax code and the numbers. But that's outweighed by the anecdotes and practical advice given in the book.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
This book will be published September 15, 2026. To pre-order your copy on Amazon, click here: Kindle, audiobook or hardcover.
Statues In The Cloud by Daniel Clausen
A young Japanese girl, Aya, is dying of a mysterious disease. She reaches out to her favorite author - who is an American who happens to be teaching in a nearby city in Japan - and asks him to come see her and help her solve the mystery of a stone that she believes will cure her. What results is a story that "the writer" begins to put together to share the story of seven lost souls that all need to find their pieces of the statue.
I struggled getting into this one. It's a fantasy/myth type of story that's a bit hard to put your head around. But as I got to know the characters and see how the author makes them all fit together, I found myself wanting to know how each of their stories end and really got into the book.
This is a long and challenging read that won't be for everyone, but it's really beautifully written. As the book explores the topic of good versus evil in the world and in our lives, it's a look at life and death and everything in between. Definitely worth pushing through and sticking with it!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
To purchase this book on Amazon, click here: Kindle.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
This book takes place in a small town in Ireland in 1985. Bill Furlong is a coal merchant with a wife and several daughters. Growing up, he knew that his mother had gotten pregnant with him and was taken in by a woman in town who allowed Furlong and his mother to live on her property, but he didn't know his father or the circumstances of his birth. Now as an adult, an early morning delivery to the local convent right before Christmas makes Furlong question both his own history and that of the local church.
This book is very short. I took me just about an hour to read it. And while I sometimes like a short book to mix in with some of the long ones I read, I feel there are times that a book is just too short. This is one of those times. I think there was a very good story here, but it just couldn't be developed in such a small number of pages. The book is clearly written to bring attention to The Magdalen Laundries that were run by the Catholic church in Ireland, which confined girls that were considered to be socially or morally corrupt. In many instances, unmarried pregnant teenagers were sent there and they often never saw their babies again. In my opinion, there just wasn't enough here to really tell that story. While it was touching to see how Furlong started to realize what was going on under his own nose - and likely what almost happened to his own mother - his character and his story could have been developed so much more.
Well written and a topic that could have been extremely intriguing, but just not developed enough to make it memorable for me personally. This book is number 41 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Three out of five stars.
License To Thrill: Lily Bollinger (Champagne Widows Book 3) by Rebecca Rosenberg
After Lily Bollinger's husband dies, Lily is left to run the Bollinger family vineyard and continue the family tradition of making Champagne. As one of the main Champagne houses in France, not only does Lily have to continue to honor the family name, but she has to fight to gain the respect of the other Champagne houses that are mostly run by men.
This historical fiction novel is told in a dual timeline. The first timeline is set in the 1940s during WWII as Lily has to not only try and survive the war and Germany's invasion of France, but save the family vineyard - both the vines themselves and the bottles of wine and Champagne. The second timeline is set in the 1970s as Lily is approaching her retirement from the business.
This is the second of the "Champagne Widows" books that I've read and I enjoyed this one a lot more than the last one. I found Lily to be a much more interesting person and the story to be much faster paced. The one critique I have is that in my personal opinion, this book didn't need the dual timeline. I personally think it would have flowed better in one timeline covering Lily's life. I found that as it went back and forth between timelines, there were big gaps of time which made it feel a bit clunky. Otherwise, a very enjoyable book, especially for wine and Champagne lovers!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
To All The Men I've Killed Before (Kitty Collins Book 3) by Katy Brent
Kitty's best friend, Tor, has been brutally beaten by her boyfriend, Aiden. After beating her, Aiden flees from London to Los Angeles to hide. However, Kitty and her half-sister, Antoinette, follow him to make sure they get the ultimate revenge for Tor.
This is the third book in the Kitty Collins series, and I have not read the first two. There are clearly a lot of things that take place in the first two books that lead Kitty to become a vigilante killer of men who do harm to women. But, I didn't feel like I had to read the first two books to understand the basic premise of the series and enjoy this book.
The book is clearly very dark humor. It's unrealistic in a fun way, so you really just have to go into reading the book with that mindset. The book is fast paced and written well. The characters are fun and interesting. And among the dark humor is a strong message about men who disrespect women and treat them badly.
If you are looking for something fun to read and you are prepared to not take the whole premise too seriously, this is for you. I definitely enjoyed it as a little reprieve to just read something totally unrealistic and fun.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars.
This book is due to be published on August 27, 2026. To pre-order your copy on Amazon, click here: Kindle, audiobook or paperback.
Hope everyone is staying cool. Make sure to enjoy what's left of summer with a good book!
What books do you recommend I read next? Let me know! Did you check out any of these books? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or e-mail me at tips2livebywriter@gmail.com.
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