Anticipated July 2026 Releases

July release are just around the corner, and there are (as ever) a ton of incredible new books about to be released into the wild! I’ve read/am reading a few ARCs and have some reviews lined up and so far it’s looking very promising, so I’m excited to check out everything. As always, I’ve collected a selection of just some of the books coming out next month, so be sure to take a look!

Be sure to let me know which July releases you're most looking forward to (even if it's not listed below) and happy reading, everyone!

The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Not With a Bang by Temi Oh || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Winter Folk by Jen Julian || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mudlark by Mary Helen Specht || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Harbour of Hungry Ghosts by Eliza Chan || July 28th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw || July 7th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

White Elephant by Jeyamohan, trans. Priyamvada Ramkumar || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Band on the Run: Xenophon and the First Great Mercenary Army's Epic Escape from Persia by Robert L. O'Connor || July 28th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Lord of the Wood by E.M. Anderson || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Prince of Swords (Arcana Academy #2) by Elise Kova || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Mortons by Justine Larbalestier & Scott Westerfeld || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

We Were Forbidden by Jacqueline Harpman, trans. Ros Schwartz || July 7th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Country People by Daniel Mason || July 7th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly || July 7th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Hinterlands: The New Cold War Brewing at the Peripheries of the West by Hanna Lucinda Smith || July 21st -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Dragon Has Some Complains by John Wiswell || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Erebus-13 by David Wellington || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Seven by Joann Kavenna || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness by Cal Flyn || July 28th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Our Knives Will Save Us: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef by Nephi Craig || July 14th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli || July 28th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance by Chiara Bullen || July 7th -- Amazon | Bookshop.org

What are your anticipated July releases?

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw, Prince of Swords by Elise Kova, The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly, & The Savage Landscape by Cal Flyn

 

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw

Publication: July 7th, 2026

Atria Books

Hardcover. 304 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"A new adult novel from New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw, in which a woman rediscovers the mythical island she stumbled upon as a child—and the man she once met who apparently hasn’t aged.

The night Clay Lockhart’s wife dies, a violent storm tears their home—and the eight hectares of land beneath it—away from the Scottish coast, sending it adrift into the Atlantic. Thirty years later, twelve-year-old Ellie Mills discovers the fabled floating island off the coast of Nova Scotia and finds Clay still living in the weatherworn farmhouse perched on its highest hill.

When the island vanishes overnight, Ellie is left questioning whether it ever existed at all. But decades later, the island resurfaces—and Ellie, now in her thirties, returns, determined to uncover the truth. What she finds is even stranger: Clay hasn’t aged a single day.

Faced with the impossible, Ellie learns that some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved—and that a life shaped by wonder may hold more promise than one bound by certainty.

With her signature atmospheric, lyrical prose, Shea Ernshaw offers us an original work of folklore with a masterful modern touch. A haunting tale, Habits of the Sea spans centuries and coastlines, journeys through time and memory, and redefines the very meaning of love itself."

I've still yet to read anything by Shea Ernshaw, but I always hear such good things about their work, and this sounds very intriguing!

Prince of Swords (Arcana Academy #2) by Elise Kova

Publication: July 21st, 2026

Del Rey

Hardcover. 560 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"Welcome back to Arcana Academy. Tarot magic, forbidden desire, battle, and betrayal collide for the power to change the world in the thrilling second book of this New York Times bestselling fantasy romance series.

I am terrified. Yet my heart skips a beat. This man might be a monster, but he is my monster.

Clara Graysword is Oricalis’s most wanted. Hunted and cornered, not even her mastery of tarot can save her this time . . . until the mysterious Worldkeepers appear. This secretive order may hold the key to changing Clara’s fate. If she dares to trust them.

But the most dangerous alliance of all is one she’s already deeply ensnared within: Prince Kaelis.

Kaelis, second-born prince of Oricalis and headmaster of Arcana Academy, is the one man she can’t escape—maybe she doesn’t want to escape. Ruthless, dangerous, and bound to Clara by destiny and desire, Kaelis tests her heart as much as her loyalty. Together, they grow closer to the most powerful secrets of the tarot . . . and to the truths they both hide that could destroy the passion that they no longer deny.

Hidden in plain sight within Arcana Academy, Clara walks the dagger’s edge. Revelations about Oricalis threaten everything she thought she knew, and every choice she makes is the difference between salvation and ruin. To change the world, Clara must risk everything—her power, her beliefs, and her heart."

I surprisingly quite enjoyed Arcana Academy, so I've been looking forward to this sequel! I'm currently reading an ARC right now and so far I've been really enjoying it. 

The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly

Publication: July 7th, 2026

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Hardcover. 464 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"One sister offers her life in exchange for the other’s in this dark, Irish lore–inspired romantasy and “sizzling, high-stakes debut launching a series that readers will greedily devour” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

On the mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann, buying magic comes with a price.

But when her beloved older sister is gravely injured, Maeve risks everything to buy the forbidden magic that might save her. In exchange, Maeve trades her life to a ruthless and dangerously alluring rebel leader. Bound to do his bidding, Maeve finds herself thrown into a deadly competition to become the next queen and stand beside a prince rumored to be more brutal than his tyrannical father.

With the isle on the brink of war, trust and survival come at a terrible cost—one that will tear Maeve’s world, and her heart, in two.

What would you sacrifice to survive?"

I don't read a lot of YA these days, but this one popped up on my radar and I'm a bit of a sucker for this cover and I'm always up for some Irish lore-inspired stories!

The Savage Landscape: How We Maade the Wilderness by Cal Flyn

Publication: July 28th, 2026

Viking

Hardcover. 448 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"A lyrical exploration of the world’s wildest, most forbiddingly remote places—and the humans who have always been there, by an award-winning and critically acclaimed writer

From the blacksand beaches of Iceland, to river crossings deep in the Amazon jungle, to the barren beauty of Antarctica, wildernesses make up some of the world's more alluring natural landscapes. But what is a wilderness, really? It is a powerful, ancient concept, lying at the intersection of landscape, philosophy, and ecology. And for thousands of years, people have sought out uncontrolled, unknown, or uncharted nature in search of religious epiphany, self-actualization, and an escape from modern life. More recently these “pristine” places have been seen as the subject of a last effort to repair a planet imperiled by humans.

But as award-winning writer Cal Flyn traverses the most forbidding, untamed and inhospitable wild lands—the supposedly uninhabited wilds of the world—she finds that such truly untouched lands don't exist: Nearly every wilderness has been or is actively inhabited by humans. Here we meet ascetics in search of theophany in the desert; lonely shepherds running off wolves under the stars; missionaries preaching from shacks deep in the jungle; wise lamas meditating under lofty mountain peaks.

The Savage Landscape takes us into these breathtaking wilds—deep into dark forests, to the tops of mountains, and into the hearts of deserts—asking provocative questions about the nature of wilderness, its preservation, and its meaning."

I don't read a lot of "nature"-focused books like this, but I'm really curious about this one and think it sounds really promising!

Review: Trinity Trinity Trinity by Erika Kobayashi

Trinity Trinity Trinity by Erika Kobayashi, trans. Brian Bergrstrom
Astra House

Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Paperback. 240 pages.

About Trinity Trinity Trinity:

""Delicately weaves generations of women to the lasting wounds of nuclear destruction and the hubris of war. A unique and unforgettable novel." —Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light

A literary thriller about the effects of nuclear power on the mind, body, and recorded history of three generations of Japanese women.

Nine years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, Japan is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. An unnamed narrator wakes up in a cold, sterile room, unable to recall her past. Across the country, the elderly begin to hear voices emanating from black stones, compelling them to behave in strange and unpredictable ways. The voices are a symptom of a disease called “Trinity.”

As details about the disease come to light, we encounter a thread of linked histories—Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, the discovery of radiation, the nuclear arms race, the subsequent birth of nuclear energy, and the disaster in Fukushima. The thread linking these events begins to unravel in the lead-up to a terrorist attack at the Japan National Olympic Stadium.

A work of speculative fiction reckoning with the consequences of the past and continued effects of nuclear power, Trinity, Trinity, Trinity follows the lives of three generations of women as they grapple with the legacy of mankind's quest for light and power."

I'm not entirely sure how to describe this one, and I'm honestly not even sure whether I liked it or not, but let's dive in and see if I can't figure out it out during this review. 

Trinity Trinity Trinity is a speculative fiction story set in Japan in the months leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and still very much in the shadow of the Fukushima disaster that occurred in 2011. A mysterious illness dubbed "Trinity" has begun affecting elderly people, causing dementia-like symptoms alongside stranger behaviors revolving around an obsession with radiated black stones that they seem to believe are speaking to them.

The story follows three generations of women: a grandmother, her middle-aged daughter, and her teenage granddaughter, and all three of their lives become entangled within the climate of fear surrounding Trinity, the excitement surrounding the Olympics, and numerous other cultural and historical threads. Although we spend some time with all three women, we spend the most time with the mother throughout the book. 

This book attempts to explore quite a lot: the aftermath of Fukushima and its impact on Japan, nuclear history and humanity's relationship with nuclear technology, the cultural significance of the Olympics (including previous Olympic bids and visits to Japan), intergenerational issues, motherhood, and even touches of mythology. There's really a lot going on, and given how much the story tries to tackle, I don't know that it really had quite enough space to explore every topic in depth. Instead, we get more of a broad survey of these ideas rather than a deep dive into any one of them--but even as I say that, I still think it did a pretty good job with some of the issues over others.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book, and I think it's very inventive in how it approaches the aforementioned themes. The writing itself is captivating in its own way, and I found it to be poetic in some places, almost dreamlike in others, and generally reflective throughout. At times, however, I found it sometimes a bit muddled and dense in its own right--not exactly difficult to understand, but difficult to follow or connect--and there was an aspect to it that made me feel like I was missing something. I'm not entire sure if it's the translation or how the writing is meant to be, so I'm a little hesitant to say anything definitively, but either way it did affect my reading experience slightly. Perhaps this is meant to simply reflect the overall tone of the story and how it's also the slightest bit confusing and chaotic, in which case it does that very well. 

The "plot," however, almost felt nonexistent in a sense, and I struggled to understand what was happening or what the overall point was supposed to be. I don't mind plotless stories--that wasn't really the main issue for me--but I struggled with how things often felt so fragmented and haphazard that I wasn't always sure what to do with the ideas being presented.

I actually found myself most captivated by the Trinity illness itself and the idea of elderly people essentially becoming "radiation terrorists" of sorts. That concept was fascinating, and I really wanted the novel to spend more time with it. However, if you're going into this book expecting that aspect to make up 90% of the story, you'll probably be disappointed. It is explored, but in a much more literary way than readers who are expecting a straightforward science fiction or dystopian novel might anticipate; it's not really about the illness so much as what it means and represents.

Overall, I think this is a meaningful novel and potentially an important one, but I also suspect its style of storytelling will leave some readers wondering what exactly they just read and struggling to connect with it. This very much feels like a "your mileage may vary" kind of book. If you enjoy translated literary fiction and don't mind ambiguity, I highly recommend giving it a try. If that's not your thing at all, though, this may not be the best fit. That said, I always encourage people to pick up any book whose premise genuinely intrigues them.

*I received a copy of Trinity Trinity Trinity courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating or enjoyment.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Review: The Door in Penrose Forest by Sean David Robinson

The Door in Penrose Forest by Sean David Robinson
Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: June 23rd, 2026
Hardciver. 336 pages.

About The Door in Penrose Forest:

"A man returns to his strange hometown twenty years after his mother climbed a staircase in the wilderness and disappeared in this speculative mystery where We Used to Live Here meets The Midnight Library.

As a boy, Nico once accompanied his mother on a research trip to investigate a stalled migration of monarch butterflies. One night, upon hearing her sneak out of their rented cabin, he followed her to a clearing in the forest where a famed mansion once stood. Paralyzed with fear, he watched his mother climb a staircase and vanish, along with the stairs and the strange glowing door at its peak. No one believed his story, and as he grew older, he too stopped believing it was real.

As an adult, Nico returns to his hometown to care for his ailing father. But something strange is happening to the town. There are unexplained power fluctuations, people are going missing, and, reportedly, phantoms are roaming the woods. When Nico finds his mother’s field journal from the week she disappeared, including her account of the vanishing staircase, he begins to pick apart the mystery.

All the tangled strings trail back to the same starting point: the Gilded Age family whose mansion burned down under mysterious circumstances in those very same woods where his mother vanished.

Equally a compelling mystery and a moving story of family and destiny, this speculative novel will spellbind readers of Emily St. John Mandel and Susanna Clarke."

I didn't have particularly strong expectations for The Door in Penrose Forest going into it--largely because I'm just not overly familiar with the author and hadn't seen this book mentioned too much at the time--so I ended up being quite happy to enjoy this one as much as I did.  I really tend to enjoy books that explore different realities and dimensions, and all I'll say is that I loved that this book really played with that idea in some really fascinating ways that I didn't expect and that I think a lot of other readers who like those topics will enjoy exploring, as well. And before getting into this review, I just have to say that despite the fact that this book also features a mysterious random staircase in a forest, it does not really have many further similarities to Chuck Wendig's The Staircase in the Woods, but I do love the idea of playing with this concept so I was more than happy to read another book with this idea.

We begin our story following Nico Calloway who is currently journeying back to his hometown due to his father's deteriorating health. His mother disappeared when he was a child while the family of three was on a research trip for her to study some monarch butterflies. Returning home for Nico is difficult, as he's confronted with the early memories of losing his mother, losing his first love, and simply dealing with looking at a life left behind that has many painful memories. While staying at his father's house, Nico discovers his mother's field journals that include her journal entries from the duration of their trip back in 1997 until her disappearance, and it is these journals that give Nico the first glimmer of hope and intrigue about his missing mother in many years--and of course, this is really where our story begins.

The story is told through three main POVs, and this ended up working well for this story's format. We primarily follow Nico's POV, but we also follow a man from the past named Wilfred, who becomes the valet of a character that is quite important to this story, as well as the perspective of Nico's mother as we read through her journals. The latter is the smallest portion of the three, but that certainly does not mean it is lacking in keeping readers engaged, as reading her experiences was definitely page-turning. I found the historical portions involving Wilfred enjoyable, though I found them slightly inconsistent in how engaging they were for me. It always felt like a pretty significant jump from Nico's perspective to Wilfred's, and it was often when I quite engrossed in Nico's story so it made it a bit harder to shift my mind. But fortunately, there were quite a lot of interesting things happening in Wilfred's that helped capture my attention soon enough. Overall, I'm glad that Wilfred's sections didn't occupy more of the narrative than they did, though if they had expanded upon some areas I wouldn't have minded that.

The Door in Penrose Forest is definitely a slower build-up of a story, but it's not a boring one. There's a strong sense of mystery and intrigue from the very beginning, even a sense of slightly haunting and uncertainty. I found the first portion of this book especially eerie, with some strong hints of something uncanny going on that we, as readers, really have no way to predict or expect. I'm a little torn on whether or not I think that the rest of the story really delivered on matching this tone, as there were parts that felt just as intriguing as the start, but other parts that felt like they mellowed out slightly and left me wanting just a little something more than what was delivered. Even so, I very much enjoyed discovering what was happening alongside Nico, and I was captivated by the directions the author took and the ideas he played with throughout. The story has a rather dreamily haunted atmosphere to it (I have no idea how else to describe this, so I hope my meaning is conveyed well enough) that makes it feel a little bit like reading déjà vu, but also not at the same time. I'm sure that doesn't make sense, but I hope it somehow does!

I particularly liked that the novel explores a lot of different themes and ideas without feeling overwhelming. There's grief, family trauma, that feeling that life hasn't worked out the way you hoped it would, historical elements, the mystery surrounding Nico's mother's disappearance, and of course the fantasy aspects--and perhaps a hint of sci-fi in some ways?--and all of these somehow worked together really excellently. I also enjoyed the incorporation of a certain renowned scientist that was an unexpected surprised, but that added a fun layer to the narrative and that I think fit absolutely perfectly with the concept being explored. 

I can't really say too much more about the story itself without giving things way, as this really feels like a story that is best discovered and explored from your own experience. I will note that I am the slightest bit mixed on the ending, however. It's actually pretty ideal, but also not quite what I expected or what I'd typically expect to see from a story like this, so it actually caught me by surprised--which I appreciated--and I'm still thinking about it and its ramifications. And to be honest, any book that leaves me thinking about its ending after I've finished it is a good sign to me, so take from that what you will.

Overall, The Door in Penrose Forest is a really intriguing read that covers some difficult and relatable topics, but also some really exciting ones that play with some really interesting questions and ideas about identity and how we live our lives. I definitely recommend this one to pretty much anyone who likes to explore something new with thoughtfulness and a steady pace. I will certainly be keeping an eye out for more from Sean David Robinson in the future!

*I received a copy of The Door in Penrose Forest courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating or enjoyment.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry, Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden, & Hinterlands by Hannah Lucinda Smith

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!

The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry

Publication: July 21st, 2026

Orbit

Paperback. 480 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"From the author of The Magician's Daughter comes a historical fantasy where dreams come to life and Arthurian legends are reborn, perfect for fans of The Everlasting and The Once and Future King.

Wales, 1941. As the second world war ravages the globe and bombs fall from the sky, people all over the world begin to dream of King Arthur. The dreams spread like a fantastical plague, flooding people's sleep night after night. Whispers arise of wonders and unexplained sights―dragons in the London Underground, and strange lights over Stonehenge. Self-proclaimed prophets claim they are miracles, heralding Arthur's return at the time of Britain's greatest need.

Elaine Ambrose has never dreamed of Arthur, and she doesn't believe in miracles. A librarian at the British Museum, she wants only to protect the museum's collection from the London Blitz, and is frustrated to be sent instead to catalogue a reclusive professor's private library on the coast of North Wales. But all is not as it seems. Soon Ellie must confront what she's tried to ignore: she dreams not of Arthur, but of Nimue―the Lady of the Lake. And her dreams promise not salvation, but a return to the darkness of the last days of Camelot."

I think I've liked (and loved!) every book I've read from H.G. Parry so far, so I'm very excited for this new release (even though I typically find myself not a huge fan of World War II settings these days, I believe Parry will make this work)!

Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden

Publication: July 21st, 2026

St. Martin's Press

Hardcover. 336 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"From New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden comes a high concept horror novel about a man trying to protect his dead mother's body from the evil that is hunting them.

Maggie Wise will take your eyes.

When Malcolm was growing up, the local kids made up that chant about his mother, claiming she was a witch. He and his siblings did their best to ignore it. Now, Maggie is dying, and those same siblings have left Malcolm and his sister-in-law Violet to hold a vigil at her bedside.

But they’re not as alone as they think they are. A dark figure waits and watches from beneath the willow tree across the street. Hundreds of miles away, an ancient evil stirs in its burrow under a farmer’s cornfield. Across the country, other buried things begin to dream in anticipation of Maggie’s demise. On her deathbed, the old woman elicits a promise from Malcolm, her youngest child―when she dies, he and Violet must return her body to her birthplace in Shediak, Maine.

From the moment she takes her last breath, before her remains are even loaded aboard the baggage car of the Imperial Limited, there are forces trying to stop Malcolm from fulfilling that promise. Violence erupts on the train, evil preys on its passengers, and once the sun goes down, those long-buried things are coming to make Maggie Wise pay for her past. God help anyone who stands in their way."

Christopher Golden's premises always sound quite odd and intriguing, and this one is no different--I'm certainly intrigued.

Hinterlands: The New Cold War Brewing at the Peripheries of the West by Hannah Lucinda Smith

Publication: July 21st, 2026

Liveright

Hardcover. 288 pages.

Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"A Pulitzer grantee’s timely work of reportage from the borderlands of Europe, Russia, and Turkey, where brewing conflicts mark a significant fault line in shifting geopolitics.

Hannah Lucinda Smith, a Pulitzer grantee and acclaimed foreign correspondent, has devoted well over a decade to intrepid, on-the-ground reporting where few dare travel: the small, often disputed territories at the edges of Europe and Russia. There, Smith finds, the influence of Vladimir Putin and his favored strongmen―along with Turkish president and regional lynchpin Recep Tayyip Erdogan―fan territorial disputes and destabilize already fragile democracies.

Hinterlands offers a rare glimpse into the ghost towns of Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, the cryptocurrency farms of Transnistria, the brittle border communities of Bosnia and its Republika Srpska, and the enclaves of Northern Cyprus that Russian oligarchs call home. In rarely seen places in Crimea and the Caucasus, frontiers have shifted and new countries have been made. Informed by her encounters with politicians, combatants, and the ordinary people caught in the crosshairs, Smith paints a vivid portrait of the places where geopolitical alliances are forged and broken, where the violent ambitions of dictators are most keenly felt.

This indispensable account of events in the gray zones of Eurasia gives vital context to our rapidly changing world and sounds a clear-eyed, urgent warning: We ignore the hinterlands at our own peril. What happens inside them has the power to redraw the fault lines of a new Cold War and shape the future of the West."

This sounds really fascinating and I'm so curious to check it out!

Review: Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer
Tordotcom

Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Hardcover. 208 pages.

About Obstetrix:

"From the Hugo award-winning author Naomi Kritzer comes a tense portrait of a future we desperately hope to escape. 

O Lord, deliver us.

Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she's kidnapped.

They're not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN.

Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped.

She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it's the last thing she does."

I've been going back and forth on feeling I both do and don't have a lot to say about this one, which is a little surprising given how many topics it tackles. At its core, Obstetrix feels like a fairly straightforward thriller, but it also encompasses an exploration of present-day concerns surrounding abortion, healthcare, bodily autonomy, and the increasingly complex realities facing medical providers. And fortunately, I think it highlighted these issues clearly and effectively and didn't stray too far from it's overarching theme. 

I'm not usually the biggest fan of storylines centered around pregnancy--and I'm honestly getting a bit burnt out on cults as well!--but I was intrigued enough to pick this one up, and I'm glad I did. It felt like much more than that and I think gave some thoughtful commentary on a number of compelling ethical and social questions.

The story follows Dr. Liz, an OB/GYN who was recently acquitted after being charged for performing what was deemed an illegal abortion, but that she performed under severe medical circumstances surrounding the mother's health. Although the entire ordeal upended her career and damaged her professional reputation, she really just wants to mov eon with her life and find a new job following her passion of providing medical care for women. Of course, that's the case until she ends up at a job interview that ends in her being kidnapped and transported to a religious cult compound where she is expected to serve as their new OB/GYN. You know, just usual job interview shenanigans.

I really appreciated how Liz handled the many different challenges that were thrown at her. She's surprisingly calm in her own way, thoughtful about her circumstances, and is exceedingly practical at so many different points. I was genuinely relived to see her avoid making reckless decisions that often drive me crazy by characters in thrillers or similar situations. She often considers taking more rash actions at times, but usually ends up talking herself through potential consequences and recognizes where those choices could either backfire on her or place innocent people at risk, such as children who have no say in their circumstance in being placed at this compound.

And with this idea, I really liked seeing how Liz wrestled with her position. She doesn't want to cooperate with the people who are holding her captive against her will, but she also recognizes her own responsibilities as both a physician and a human being who is compelled by her moral and ethical standards. The cult specifically wanted her because one of the women on the compound had a high-risk pregnancy that would likely required a C-section, and thus they wanted a qualified, competent doctor. But as one might expect, Liz is incredibly uncomfortable with this idea of performing such a procedure outside of a hospital, and thus we get to follow along with her experience and thought process of how she navigates this particularly difficult issue.

This is a fairly short book, and although the pacing is not particularly breakneck or anything, I finished it before I knew it. It moves very steadily and is one of those that just makes it exceedingly easy to want to just keep reading and seeing where things would go next. I struggle to really feel overly excited about this book because I left it feeling a bit average, and it almost felt like a book that has a good story and premise, but lacks a little something to make it feel really meaningful to me. I think this could just be a personal preference, but thought it was worth noting nonetheless. 

I wouldn't call Obstetrix exceptional or groundbreaking, but as I've said before, a book doesn't need to be groundbreaking to be good, and this is a solid thriller with some dystopian undertones and strong social commentary. It tackles some important topics, asks complex, interesting questions, and presents it all in a premise that is undeniably intriguing. I can easily see many people enjoying this one, whether they are strictly thriller fans or more fans of books with social commentary and relevance. It's well-written and adequately compelling, so be sure to check it out if it's something that interests you!

*I received a copy of Obstetrix courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating or enjoyment.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick, Not With a Bang by Temi Oh, & White Elephant by Jeyamohan

  

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!

The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick

Publication date: July 14th, 2026

Orbit

Paperback. 512 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"From the author of The Mask of Mirrors comes a sweeping adventure set in a world where fae secretly walk amongst those who seek to persecute them.

★ 'An intricately developed alternate history. Offer Carrick’s excellent duology starter to fans of Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar or anyone looking for a new historical fantasy series.' –Library Journal (Starred Review)

In an alternate Spanish Golden Age, the Council of the Sea Beyond has risen to unrivaled power, exploiting the Otherworld’s most precious resources for their own gain. Estevan seeks to uncover their secrets, but he risks the exposure of his own: that he is a faerie, masquerading as a mortal.

The Hungry Girl is the human whose place he took. Lost among the fae and desperate to find some purpose for her existence, she leaps at the chance to help a group of Spanish explorers in the Sea Beyond … only to be horrified at the atrocities they commit.

A faerie pact has separated them—but only together can they bring down Spain’s worlds-spanning empire and save the homes they have both come to love."

I loved M.A. Carrick's previous series, so this has easily become one of my most anticipated releases. I can't wait to see what they've come up with this time!

Not With a Bang by Temi Oh

Publication date: July 14th, 2026

S&S/Saga Press

Paperback. 352 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"Station Eleven meets Leave the World Behind in this family drama at the end of the world about a crumbling household’s attempts to find their way back to each other amidst a cataclysmic event.

"Our father had imagined the end of the world so often that, for a while, he believed that he summoned it."

The Minton family is in crisis. After losing his job, Marcus begins stockpiling cans, running evacuation drills and digging a doomsday bunker in the back garden. At the same time, his daughters are unravelling in their own ways – Chantale is being haunted by dreams of disaster, and Briar’s obsession with a missing classmate draws her deeper into the seductive world of a UFO cult. Meanwhile, no one is aware of the diagnosis their mother has been trying to keep hidden. When, on the morning of the eldest daughter’s wedding, an extinction-level event tears the world apart, the Mintons must fight their way through a devastated city—back to safety, survival, and each other."

I'm on board for everything about this book!

White Elephant by Jeyamohan, trans. Priyamvada Ramkumar

Publication: July 21st, 2026

FSG Originals

Hardcover. 336 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:

"A dazzling postcolonial inversion of Heart of Darkness set during the Great Indian Famine of 1878 that recounts its devastating cost to both life and human dignity.

It is 1878, and Aiden Byrne, an Irish police officer in Madrasapatnam, loyal servant to the crown and Queen Victoria, knows that there is no danger that he ought to fear in this heatblasted and famine-devastated land.

But when he discovers two laborers from Tudor Ice Company being brutally whipped in the countryside, he is dragged into a world whose surface he has only skimmed before. He sees the horrific conditions under which the local workers, members of the lowest rung of the caste system, process the mammoth blocks of ice that are carved out of frozen New England lakes and transported to India for use in the drinks and iceboxes of the colonial forces.

When the two workers disappear―presumably killed―Byrne is approached by Kathavarayan, a charismatic young activist belonging to a lower caste, who is looking to put things right. He sets Byrne off on a journey that brings him face-to-face with the bloody toll of the famine raging through the country―one that would kill more than eight million people before it was done―and forces him to grapple with his own precarious and complicated role in the machinery of the British empire.

In White Elephant, Jeyamohan uses surreal prose and vivid imagery to deliver a searing account of a crucial moment in the history of a nation, a city, and a people."

This cover absolutely caught my attention, and I think the premise also sounds fascinating!