July Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month

The Bossy Bookworm
Aug 1
7 min read

Bossy Favorites of the Month

It's been a solid reading month for me. My favorite reads included several books from some of my very favorite authors: the next in a great historical fiction mystery series with a feminist heroine; a great lakeside summertime romance; a 1980s-set astronaut story with feminism and LGBTQ love; a Maine-set mystery solved by retired CIA operatives; an epic historical fiction fantasy told in several timelines featuring vampires; and historical fiction with a young woman passing as a boy to achieve more freedoms in Shakespeare's London.

What are some of your favorite reads of July?

01 An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn

While Veronica and Stoker stay close to home while entering into danger and solving the mysteries in book six of this series, Raybourn repeatedly evokes images of the fictional European country Alpenwald. Gruff Stoker conveys his adoration of Veronica in a poignant, lovely way.

It's January 1889, and Veronica and her natural historian beau Stoker are working on a memorial exhibition showcasing the achievements of mountain climber Alice Baker-Greene. But evidence indicates to Veronica that Alice may have been murdered. And Princess Gisela of the Alpenwald, a dear friend of Alice's, goes missing just after Veronica shares her suspicion--requiring Veronica to pose as the princess in order to preserve a secret peace treaty that's being brokered.

While Veronica and Stoker stick close to home for their adventures in this installment of the series, there's plenty of intrigue, and Raybourn evokes repeated images of mountain climbing in the Alpenwald, a fictional country sandwiched between Germany and France, as well as extensive forays into the country's traditions, political interests, and its royal family's interpersonal conflicts and loyalties.

The LGBTQ+ love conveyed in the story is lovely, and Veronica's matter-of-fact approach to this relationship as well as cross-class romance is typical of her no-nonsense, pro-love (and, for her, anti-marriage) stance established in earlier books.

The evolution of Stoker and Veronica's own relationship in this book is understated yet beautifully poignant; I teared up at one point when the gruff Stoker conveyed his feelings to Veronica.

Raybourn is the author of A Curious Beginning, as well as the sequels A Perilous Undertaking, A Treacherous Curse, A Dangerous Collaboration, and A Murderous Relation. (There are currently nine books in the series, with a tenth scheduled for publication in 2026.) Raybourn is also the author of the wonderful title about retired middle-aged assassins, Killers of a Certain Age, and its sequel Kills Well with Others.

For my full review of this book please see An Unexpected Peril.

02 One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

The main male protagonist was off-putting to me in his arrogance at first, but Carley Fortune is the best at developing a lakeside romance story with characters I root for and steamy, poignant, friendship-based relationships I love. This is a great summer read.

Alice's career as a photographer really began the summer she spent with her grandmother Nan at family friends' lake house. Shy Alice watched more than she participated in lake life--and she took a photo of three smiling teenagers on a yellow boat, and it seemed to set everything else in motion. Now she's feeling disillusioned with the airbrushing and false scenes she's forced to create in her job rather than capturing something real.

So when Nan falls and breaks her hip and needs a pick-me-up, Alice arranges for them to return to the cabin where she spent that pivotal summer.

But handsome, mischievous Charlie Florek, one of the subjects of that long-ago photo, seems to be everywhere she turns--and she can't hide behind her lens anymore.

Fortune drops some breadcrumbs regarding the Issue Sure to Keep Them Apart, which follows The Desire to Not Ruin the Friendship (a concern that seems heartbreakingly valid).

The steamy scenes didn't invite involuntary squealing or cringing on my part--they couple is really drawn to each other, and there's a tantalizing teasing aspect to their slowing down the physical progression of the friends-with-benefits arrangement.

I loved the eventual relationship between Charlie and Alice, and I loved their love.

For my full review of this book please see One Golden Summer. Carley Fortune is also the author of Meet Me at the Lake and Every Summer After as well as This Summer Will Be Different.

03 Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I love an astronaut story, and while Reid spent far more page time on relationships than on the astronaut or space aspects, there was plenty of each to go around in this novel that was the perfect book at the perfect time for me. I loved it.

Joan has always been fascinated by the stars, and as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, she teaches her passion to college students. On the side, she shows her beloved young niece the sky and serves as a second parent alongside her sometimes-trying single-mother sister.

When she sees an ad seeking for the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program, Joan becomes obsessed with being part of the 1980s training and with becoming one of the first women in space.

The complicated interpersonal situations added wonderful depth to the complexities of astronauts' training, stresses, competition, and life-and-death goals of entering space. The women's fights to fully be part of a traditionally male-dominated field and the various ways in which they navigated this were particularly captivating to me.

The carelessness that partially leads to the crisis in space felt unrealistic to me, and the high drama and gasping reveal regarding the pivotal space scene toward the end could have felt over the top, but as usual, I was putty in Taylor Jenkins Reid's hands, ready to embrace every bit of it.

This was exactly the right story for me at the right time, and I hugged it to my chest when I finished, then immediately began telling everyone how much I loved it.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is also the author of Carrie Soto Is Back, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, and Daisy Jones & the Six. You might also want to check out these other Bossy reviews of books about astronauts and space.

04 The Summer Guests (Martini Club #2) by Tess Gerritsen

In the second installment of the series, retired CIA agents build stronger bonds with each other in rural Maine while assisting (and sometimes running over) the local police chief to try to find a missing teen and untangle past unsolved mysteries.

In book two of the Martini Club, the mystery at hand--a missing teen--draws in local citizens as well as the wealthy summer residents, their murky pasts (which are uncomfortably, distantly related to the aging former agents' own histories), and unsolved disappearances from decades earlier. Multiple suspects capture the attention of the police as well as the Martini Club, and the former agents' unorthodox investigations are both intriguing to witness and lead to some valuable discoveries.

The progression of the meal-focused relationship between Jo and the Club is fun, as are Jo's growing respect for the Club's hunches (which keep things interesting, as they aren't always correct), her growing confidence in her own instincts, and her ability to attempt to corral the Club into an appropriate lane for assisting behind the scenes without crossing quite so may procedural lines.

A growing affection between two members of the ex-CIA crowd is a secondary element but is sweet to see.

I liked this installment even more than the first book in the series. It was a fast read that kept me guessing.

Please click here for my full review of The Summer Guests. This is the second book in Tess Gerritsen's Martini Club series. The first is The Spy Coast.

If you're interested in stories set in Maine, you might like the titles on my Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Books Set in Maine.

05 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

This wonderfully creepy lesbian vampire story is largely about female empowerment, but also about love, discovery, reinvention, and revenge. I loved each time period and the evolution of each strong female character.

Schwab's vampire tale spans centuries, beginning in 1532 Santo Domingo de la Calzada as a young woman named Maria makes choices to shield her from being a man's pawn and vessel for children until her death--then enters into a future she never could have imagined.

In 1827 London, naive young Charlotte lives a sheltered, lovely pastoral life, until an indiscretion results in her banishment to London society. There she encounters an intriguing widow with promises of freedom with deep repercussions.

And in 2019 Boston, Alice is trying to break out of her shell at college, and a one-night stand feels like a daring start. But the evening leaves her forever changed, and she's bent on finding answers--and revenge.

I enjoyed spending time in each time period. The storyline threading the three timelines together is deliciously intriguing, and a character that was initially a wilting flower finds her strength, her purpose, and her desire for vengeance, all of which is satisfying to witness.

Click here for my full review of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

Schwab is also the author of The Fragile Threads of Power, Vengeful, and the wonderful Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, as well as the Shades of Magic series. (The first two books in that series are A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows, each of which I gave four Bossy stars. You can check out my review of book 3, A Conjuring of Light, here.)

06 Boy by Nicole Galland

Galland offers a detailed peek into the London of Shakespeare's company and the life of starring "boy player" Alexander Cooke, his best girl Joan, who dresses as a boy to explore scientific pursuits, and the palace intrigue that occurs when their allies conflict with Queen Elizabeth.

In Nicole Galland's historical fiction tale Boy, Alexander "Sander" Cooke is a famed, sought-after "boy player" in Shakespeare's company, and his roles skillfully playing lovely women have led highbrow ladies and gentlemen alike to seduce him with favors and attention. His apprenticeship is nearly over, and he has neither an assurance of steady work as a young man playing male roles with his company, nor a sponsor to support him.

Joan Buckler is Sander's best friend. She's curious about everything and is the smartest person Sander knows. But her female sex holds her back from being able to find the knowledge she seeks, and she dresses as a boy to gain access to medical lectures and more.

I wished for more behind-the-scenes peeks at Shakespeare's shows, and I was least interested in the political conflicts and drama, although they were essential to the conflict of the book. I loved the romantic connection between Joan and Sander, Joan's scientific pursuits--particularly the botany-related efforts she enters into with her eccentric friends, and how Galland deftly places the reader in the story's place and time with rich details.

For my full review of Boy, please check out this link.