This is my monthly roundup of books that I added to my shelves in July 2026. Some of the books came directly from authors or publishers; others were purchased or given to me as gifts. You’ll find books from all kinds of genres, including adult and children’s books. I’ll even share a few updates from our family’s life over the last month.

‼️ Starting today through mid-September, I’ll be working at school. So the time I typically dedicate to reading and writing book reviews will be much more limited. ‼️

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Family and Life Update

We had the best getaway to Florida last month. Pat and I spent a few days there before all the kids arrived. Even though it was extremely hot, we spent most of our time in the pool, which made it much more enjoyable.

Spending time with our adult kids is so much fun!

On our annual tour of the state with our friends, we visited the Matchstick Marvels Museum in Gladbrook, Iowa. All the creations are made out of matchsticks and glue. Hundreds of thousands of matchsticks were used to build this replica of the United States Capitol.

Of course we had to end our day with ice cream at Murph’s in Toledo.

I planted this Strawberry Vanilla Hydrangea in our new landscaping, and the blooms have been beautiful. This week, they have started turning that pretty strawberry pink.

I finished 8 books in July, including romance novels, a mystery, historical fiction, and other fiction. I’ve been mixing up my typical reading this summer, and I’ve been enjoying the variety. We’ve also been watching a lot of Modern Family in the evenings and are almost done with Season 6!

My current reads include CLEO DANG WOULD RATHER BE DEAD and LIAR’S DICE for review, and I’m listening to THE SEED KEEPER for book club.

This month’s new book stack includes some new fiction, romance, and historical fiction as well as new and upcoming children’s and middle grade books.

If you have missed any of my recent book reviews, you can see them all by clicking HERE.  Or you can stay up to date with my monthly Quick Lit Roundup.

Clicking the photos of each book will take you to a purchase link. If you choose to purchase through any of the links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.

ADULT FICTION AND NONFICTION

A SERVING OF HOPE
The Kamogawa Food Detectives #4
By: Hisashi Kashiwai
Translated by: Jesse Kirkwood
Published: October 6, 2026
Publisher: G.P Putnam’s Sons
Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

I read the first book in the series, THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES, back in 2024. Even though I haven’t read Books 2 and 3, I’m still looking forward to more stories and connections made by the Food Detectives.

Travel down the alleyways of Kyoto, passing the Higashi Honganji Temple, and you just might be lucky enough to find the Kamogawa Diner, where a father-daughter “food detective” duo help their clientele discover memories lost to time through recreating delicious food from their pasts.

Take your seat and observe the ginger pork reminiscent of unrequited love, the not-too-sour chilled noodles from grandma’s house, and even the macaroni gratin shared between a father and his young son for the final time. There is no dish or memory too complex for Chef Nagare and Detective Koishi, committed to providing the culinary closure their diners so desire.

The Kamogawa Diner won’t just sate your appetite, as the meals on offer can conjur any forgotten memory. A true tonic for the soul, its customers will leave with a warm belly and a full heart.

THE CALAMITY CLUB
By: Kathryn Stockett
Narrated by: Jenna Lamia and January LaVoy
Published: May 5, 2026
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I like to use my Audible credits on books that are likely to be too long for me to listen to in my 14-day Libby Loan. This one is a nearly 29-hour listen. It’s a commitment, but everything I’ve heard is that it is worth your time. Plus I loved THE HELP.

In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, Prohibition is on the wane, and the Great Depression is tightening its grip. Poor and rich folks alike have fallen on hard times, even as the old social order remains. For women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high.

Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury, and grit. When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives. Together, they form an unlikely sisterhood—but in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife, women’s freedom is fragile, and making an enemy can have dire consequences, will the price they pay for their outrageous risk-taking be too high?

DOLLY ALL THE TIME
By: Annabel Monaghan
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Published: May 26, 2026
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Romance
Format: Audiobook through Audible

This book is everywhere, and readers are gushing about it, saying it will be the romance read of the year. I chose it with my Audible credits.

Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.

So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?

YESTERYEAR
By: Caro Claire Burke
Published: April 7, 2026
Publisher: Knopf
Historical Fiction
Format: Hardcover Purchase

Everyone is talking about this book, and they either love it or hate it. But either way, readers definitely want to talk about it. Both my cousin and daughter-in-law have read it, and I’m intrigued. Hoping to read it soon!

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

THE SHAMPOO EFFECT
By: Jenny Jackson
Published: June 30, 2026
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Purchase

I really enjoyed Jackson’s PINEAPPLE STREET. This was a Book of the Month choice this month.

When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a fleece-wearing, litter-collecting, kayak enthusiast with long, floppy hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: His ex-girlfriend, Bailey, a beautiful girl who attracts men like moths to a flame; Augusta, old money, horsey, and snobbish; and Fran, surrounded by brothers and sons, too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one.

Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches, and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats, spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children, and playing games the way they always have. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next—in a potent mix of fury and heartbreak—exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. Dazzlingly funny, sexy, and as juicy as it is astute, The Shampoo Effect is a story of late-night parties, early mornings with small children, the dawn of midlife, and a group of old friends finally growing up despite all their best efforts to the contrary.

CHILDREN’S FICTION AND NONFICTION

KIT AND HER CAT
By: Meredith Walker
Published: September 15, 2026
Publisher: Lucky Rabbit Publishing
Fiction
Format: Boardbook for Review

I love stories with cats!

A sweet celebration of innocence, companionship, and the pure joy of discovering the special bond of a first pet.

When Kit discovers her kitten curled up asleep, she invites it to play with a soft “pat, pat” and a favorite ribbon. Together the two friends run, tumble, and explore in a heartwarming story filled with warmth, imagination, and affection. Perfect for cat lovers, bedtime reading, preschool story time, and young readers building confidence through comforting, playful storytelling.

BUZZ!
Being Brave Around Buzzy, Stinging Insects
By: Toni Buzzeo
Illustrated by: Joe Cepeda
Published: June 16, 2026
Publisher: Holiday House
Format: Hardcover Picture Book for Review

I’ve already reviewed this one, HERE.

ANANSI AND THE TALKING CLOTH
By: Caroline Brewer with Kwasi Asare
Illustrated by: Ekua Holmes
Published: August 25, 2026
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book for Review

A folktale about an African hero.

This rhyming and rhythmic original Anansi fable finds Anansi the Spider needing to save the city. One day the sun stops shining because the kente-cloth making spiders stop weaving in protest against mass-produced cloth. Handmade kente cloth has made Africa famous and the spider city wealthy. Without it, the city is doomed.

Anansi faces the biggest challenge of his spider life, and his clever trickster past, coupled with help from his wife, will restore harmony.

Author Caroline Brewer and master kente-cloth weaver Kwasi Asare worked together to create this fresh take featuring the African trickster Anansi the Spider, a classic hero.

SCHOOL SPIRITS
By: Charlotte Gunnufson
Illustrated by: Rebecca Crane
Published: July 14, 2026
Publisher: Antheneum Books for Young Readers
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book for Review

I love Charlotte’s children’s books and was thrilled that she has a new book, perfect for the new school year.

It’s time to go back to school, but…

What if classes are too tough
with loads of tests and tricky stuff?
The question troubling you the most . . .
What if—yikes!—your school’s got ghosts?

What’s a kid to do when a mischievous crew of ghosts starts hoarding hula hoops and levitating lunches? Be brave! And work with classmates to help the playful spirits understand how school works. As students model manners, they’ll see these spooky newcomers might be just the thing to liven up the learning day. After all, every school needs a little spirit!

HERE’S TO THE SILLY ONES
By: Seth Standley
Illustrated by: Valerie Hamill
Published: August 18, 2026
Publisher: Lucky Rabbit Publishing
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book for Review

A fun book for kids!

A Celebration of those who live life to its silliest. Here’s to the Silly Ones is a sweet book that will appeal to those who want to share poetry, lyricism and a delight in the world with children.

WOULD YOU RATHER? GIRLS EDITION
By: Lindsey Daly
Published:
Publisher: Z Kids
Middle Grade Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

Girls will love this Would You Rather? book written just for them.

What does being a girl mean to you? What are your likes and dislikes? When faced with a silly scenario, which answer would you choose? This laugh-out-loud book of 160+ “Would You Rather?” questions is designed just for girls—everything from fashion to friendships and dreams to self-discovery. Would you rather wear a fancy dress to a pajama party or pajamas to a formal party? Make an ugly, delicious cake or a gorgeous cake that tastes awful? Build a robot that cleans your room or does your laundry? Here’s your chance to say what you think!

NORA T AND THE CHAMPION TREE
By: Mona Martin Batchelor
Illustrated by: Maggie Latimer
Published: September 29, 2026
Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
Middle-Grade Fiction
Format: Paperback for Review

I love nature stories, especially when kids love nature and find ways to preserve it.

“Gran, how did that enormous tree get here?!”

“It grew, child.”

Nora T knew her grandmother was crazy about the trees here on the farm that had turned out to be state champions, the biggest trees of their kind in Tennessee. It really is exciting, if you think about it! Would Gran nominate the tulip poplar that stood before them?

“No, I won’t,” said Gran.

Nora T’s face fell. “Oh, Gran! You must! It’s huge and it’s beautiful, and it’s soooo very big! If you don’t nominate it, who will?!”

“You will, my precious girl. You will.” And she smiled.

Nora T Singleton is eleven years old and curious (in a good way) about everything under the sun. Luckily, her family (mostly) encourages her. So, that summer, when Nora T gets curious about the trees on her grandparents’ property, her Gran helps her to nominate a tree for the Tennessee Champion Tree program. During the process, Nora T learns a lot about trees, the environment, activism—and patience!

Which books are you adding to your reading list?

Click HERE to see all the posts featuring new books on my shelves.

So many books, so little time!