Best New Book Releases By Genre: July 2025
Discover which books you should add to your reading list that are being published in July 2025! Summer reading is heating up with plenty of great options for your vacation TBRs.
I sorted my list by genre so you can easily find a new book you’ll love. There are options in romance, mysteries/thrillers, and fantasy this month.
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July Romance New Releases
Roll For Romance by Lenora Woods
I know a Dungeons & Dragons themed romance may not be for everyone, but I just started reading this and I’m loving it. The cover is so cute and whimsical too! It is a cute contemporary romance, but includes the fantasy element that sets it apart.
After Sadie loses her job in New York City, she escapes to Texas to spend the summer with her best friend Liam. Looking for something to lift her spirits, she reluctantly joins his Dungeons & Dragons group and steps into the role of Jaylie, a human cleric with divine luck. When a new player joins their game, Jaylie is swept away by the bard’s charms. And in real life, Sadie seems to be falling under the bard’s player, Noah’s, spell. As their in‑game chemistry mirrors their real-world connection, Sadie begins to hope her luck has finally turned around.
This summer romance has an end point, though. Noah is a restless soul who may be moving on once again and Sadie has a chance to get her career back…in NYC. They’ll have to decide if this relationship they’ve found is worth taking a chance on, or if it’s safer to return to the lives they’ve always known. | Buy From Amazon | Buy From Target
Two high profile divorce attorneys are secretly conducting a no strings attached relationship outside of work, but end up on opposite sides of the same case. Danica surprised ever herself when she agreed to a purely physical arrangement with the most well known playboy among her fellow lawyers, the “Heartbreak Prince” Ezra. She can’t deny he’s incredibly attractive but she’s always been married to her work so she knows she’s safe.
Until her biggest case yet, the one that could truly launch her career, pits her in a fight against Ezra himself. Now these two are battling it out in court and trying to address whatever’s going on between them. Dani’s built walls around herself from her own parent’s divorce, while Ezra struggles with pressure from his own family and trying to prove he’s not just charismatic but reliable and devoted. Ezra knows that Dani is worth the fight, if they can figure out how to navigate this trial and build enough trust between them. | Buy From Amazon | Buy From Target
Maid For Each Other by Lynn Painter
I can’t resist a new Lynn Painter romance! She’s a go-to author for me since I can always count on unique romance plots and plenty of great banter. Her newest sounds like a little play on Pretty Woman, with a rich man and a working girl. I adore a good rom-com retelling, so this sounds right up my alley.
Abi is juggling grad school and her cleaning job when a pest problem forces her out of her apartment. With nowhere to go, she secretly spends the night at the luxe penthouse of one of her wealthiest clients, Declan Powell—a swoony tech heir with his own messy schedule and zero idea she’s crashing at his place. When Declan’s parents arrive unexpectedly and assume Abi is his girlfriend, the two are thrown into a fake-dating scheme to maintain the lie.
As Abi and Declan play the part of a couple, sparks begin to fly despite their different worlds—hers full of struggle, his built on privilege. What starts as a convenient arrangement soon morphs into something more complicated and heartfelt, forcing both of them to question what they want from life and each other. | Buy From Amazon | Buy From Target
Mystery/Thriller New Releases
She Didn’t See It Coming By Shari Lapena
Isn’t the cover of this incredible!? It’s so dark and moody – showcasing the setting for this twisty thriller. I was a huge fan of The Couple Next Door and think Shari does an incredible job writing close relationships, like friends and neighbors. We get a taste of that with this missing person case that opens up secrets among family and the fellow tenants of a luxury apartment building.
Bryden and Sam Frost appear to have the perfect suburban life—successful careers, a sweet toddler, and a stylish condo. But one day, Sam receives a call that his daughter hasn’t been picked up from daycare and returns home to find Bryden missing: her keys, phone, and laptop are all in their apartment. As Detective Salter begins investigating, Sam becomes the primary suspect, though layers of secrets quickly unravel, revealing possible motives tied to Bryden’s past relationships, her sister’s obsession with true-crime, and even their shady neighbors.
As the investigation deepens, the idyllic facade of their lives starts to crack. Every character—from best friends to co-workers—carries hidden motives, and each revelation twists the plot further. With its rapid pacing, relentless red herrings, and psychological tension, Lapena crafts a suspenseful domestic thriller that shows even the people closest to you can hide secrets. | Buy From Amazon | Buy From Target
Guess Again by Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea is an author that keeps popping up on my radar but I still haven’t read one of his books! He constantly shows up on best thriller lists and I’ve had his books recommended to me from friends on social media too! His newest focuses on a cold case from ten years ago that is reopened, causing rifts in a small lake town.
A decade ago, 17-year-old volleyball star Callie Jones vanished from her tranquil Wisconsin lake town. Her disappearance becoming one of the community’s most chilling cold cases. Now, on the ten-year anniversary, the detective that worked her case, Pete, is begging his ex-colleague, Ethan, to take one final look. Ethan traded in his badge long ago to try to escape the horrors of investigating crimes against kids, but Pete is deathly ill and he can’t turn him down. An intense heat wave matches the renewed frenzy around this case as Ethan reexamines evidence and even turns to a maximum-security inmate for leads.
This lead comes at a cost, though. The prisoner is revealing cryptic clues and bizarre links to Ethan’s own past, turning this into a psychological nightmare. With tension mounting across multiple timelines and perspectives—Ethan’s inner conflict, the town’s simmering secrets, and the federal inmate’s menacing presence—the narrative hurtles toward a jaw-dropping twist. In a story brimming with red herrings, Donlea delivers a pulse‑pounding thriller that keeps you second‑guessing until the final, explosive revelation. | Buy From Amazon | Buy From Target
Fantasy New Releases
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst
Sarah Beth Durst’s first cozy fantasy was in my Top 5 books of 2024, so I’ve been waiting very impatiently for her next book! Plus, we get a bit of a backstory for the creator of one of the best side characters in The Spellshop, Kaz the talking spider plant.
Terlu Perna broke the law to create a magically sentient spider plant simply because she was lonely. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet years later, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on an island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and food―at least until she’s ready to sail home.
But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to―the greenhouses are a dream come true. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing, Terlu knows she must help. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island―and have a fresh chance at happiness and love.
Guided by Yarrow, a sentient rose, and occasional magical critters, Terlu deciphers the secrets of a long‑dead sorcerer’s spells to revive the fragile ecosystem, while slowly mending her own broken spirit. Along the way, she and Yarrow forge a gentle, heartfelt bond as they navigate new beginnings, forgiveness, and what it means to truly belong. | Buy From Amazon | Buy From Target
A Witch’s Guide To Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
Sangu wrote one of my all time favorite fantasy books about witches – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, so I’m hoping this will have all the same heartwarming vibes!
Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from, lost most of her magic, befriended a talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she’s helping her aunt run an enchanted inn but mostly longs to get her power back. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring what she’s lost.
Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and might just 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.
Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone…and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all. | Buy From Amazon
Rose in Chains by Julie Soto
This romantasy sounds like it’s got all the elements we love from this genre – enemies to lovers, a strong heroine, and magic! I’ve also heard it’s loosely based on Hermione / Draco fanfic where those two end up together! In Rose in Chains, our main female character is Briony, who’s just survived a horrific war but is facing the end of life as she knew it. Evil has won this time and now Briony and the other survivors are being captured and sold off.
She’s been stripped of her magic and her title and was bought by Toven Hearst, who’s part of a family known for their cruelty. Are you seeing where the Malfoy family vibes are coming in?? | Buy From Amazon | Buy The Deluxe Edition From Target
Let me know in the comments which one you’re most looking forward to reading!