I’ll be honest, I had no intention of posting any of the June books. But there were some bangers, and I wanted to give them their due.  And then threw some July into the mix. The rest of my June reviews are on Goodreads, but for these, I made space and time. Also, a lot of them are about space and time, so there you go.

Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein
Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle
All We Have Left by Emily Paxman
The Traveler by Joseph Eckert
The Bird Tribe by Lucinda Roy

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Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein
Published by Ballantine Books on June 23, 2026
Pages: 416
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

An out-of-work actress gets a job as a tour guide for an ultra-luxury time travel company—only to discover her trips to the past could upend her present—in this sharp, speculative debut novel.

When Ash spots an ad for Retro during a depressing Instagram scroll—she’s in debt and unemployed; everyone else is, evidently, thriving—she’s surprised the algorithm sent it her way. She’s heard of recreational time travel, but it’s way out of her budget. Then she sees the Come away with us! We’re hiring.

So begins Ash’s life as a Time Travel Agent, leading wealthy tourists on vacations to historical hotspots. She takes bachelorette parties to live out their cowboy-romance fantasies in the Old West and throws “'20s for your twenties” birthday bashes at speakeasies; she smiles politely as rich Wall Street guys give prospecting a shot in the Gold Rush. It's all thrilling, outrageous, and totally surreal. Bygone America is just a Retro Metro ride away.

Despite Ash’s tendency toward cynicism, she finds herself swept up in her dazzling new job. Sure, Ash isn’t the actress she always dreamed she’d be. But isn’t this so much better? It’s like Ash’s life is a movie, complete with an impossible love triangle. How is she supposed to choose between her mysterious office crush and the handsome private eye pursuing her in 1937?

For the first time in years, Ash’s life feels enviable—so she’d really rather not pay attention to the strange things happening to her memory and relationships outside Retro. But as her trips threaten to unravel her real life, she confronts an unsettling “escaping” into the past was never really an escape at all.

Bottom Line: Please, I need a sequel.

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Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published by Berkley on July 14, 2026
Pages: 400
Format:eARC, Paperback
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley, Purchased

When a former pop star enrolls in college, the last thing she expects is A-plus chemistry with her psychology professor in this sexy and tender romance from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Ramona Wilder has spent her whole life in the spotlight. After a hit kids’ TV show, she transitioned into music, singing in arenas around the world and becoming an icon for millions of teenage girls. Now at age twenty-six, exhausted by the inhumane lack of privacy, she’s done—with all of it. She wants a chance at normal, whatever that might mean for her. And she’s starting with college.

Professor Nick Navarro is recently divorced but determinedly optimistic, allowing himself a very reasonable ten minutes per day to wallow. When his department calls a meeting about a celebrity enrollment, he plans to treat whoever it is like any other student. Except when Ramona blazes into class and causes an uproar, the typically easygoing professor is rattled, maybe for the first time in his career.

Ramona loves the way she flusters him, taking every opportunity to push Nick’s buttons, though what she really wants is to unbutton them completely. When a crisis brings them closer outside of class, they begin a tentative friendship amid an undeniable attraction. But Ramona can’t be so easily finished with her old life, and they’ll both have to confront their pasts if they want a chance at something real.

Like all books written by Rachel Lynn Solomon, Extracurricular has quite a bit going for it! I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the “former pop star” bit because I don’t care a ton about music, but luckily that was not really the focus. I loved the actual focus, which was on Ramona being able to move forward after many years in the spotlight. Trying to figure out who she could trust, who her true friends were, what she actually wanted was really great. I found the romance to be a little quick for my personal taste- not really insta-love necessarily, just… fast. That said, can I please applaud the author for not adding in useless drama? View Spoiler »I kept waiting for some seemingly inevitable “oh no we have to randomly break up for plot fodder” and thankfully that straight up didn’t exist.  « Hide Spoiler I also really liked that the characters focused on themselves too, not just the relationship. I probably would have liked just a bit more of the characters exploring certain topics, but I am glad that we did at least get an appropriate amount of exploration on important subjects in Ramona’s life.

Bottom Line: Another solid romance with good character development from Rachel Lynn Solomon! 

 

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Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle
Published by Tor Nightfire on July 7, 2026
Pages: 240
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

From Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Bury Your Gays, comes Fabulous Bodies, a supernatural joyride where Drive meets Beetlejuice.

Fashion influencer by day and grave-robber by night, Poppy Stringer is on call when Eddie Michaels—a flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar and queer icon—unexpectedly dies. All Poppy has to do is retrieve Eddie’s body from the medical examiner’s office, but what starts as a routine delivery quickly goes off course when Eddie wakes up.

Poppy must fight for her life in a blood-soaked night of carnage and fabulous entertainment all across Palm Springs.

Also by Chuck
Lucky Day
Bury Your Gays
Camp Damascus
Straight

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

“Bodies, huh?” he quips. “Pretty fabulous, pretty gross.”

Well, Fabulous Bodies was certainly a trip! It’s a short thrill ride that is messed up, sure, but honestly pretty heartwarming. Weird to say in a book where people cut each other up because a dead rock star told them to, but here we are. At first, I wasn’t really connected to Poppy a ton, but she grew on me, especially the love she had for her daughter. The whole story is wild, over the top, and exactly what I’d expect from the author. It is gory and gruesome, at points very much so (I’ll admit, I had to skim a scene or two because eye stuff), but it is also entertaining and very readable. I’d probably have preferred a bit more character-driven parts, but that’s a personal preference, and the book was still an absolute hit that I could not put down until I found out what the hell was going on.

Bottom Line:  A gory roller-coaster of a fever dream that somehow still gave me the warm fuzzies? Only Chuck Tingle could deliver that.

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All We Have Left by Emily Paxman
Published by Titan Books on June 30, 2026
Pages: 384
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Cosy, hopeful and uplifting, this heartwarming post-apocalyptic romance is perfect for fans of Fable for the End of the World and Emily Henry.

Thirty years after the end of the world, a young woman enters into a marriage of convenience with a man she hardly knows so she can secure vital medical care for her beloved younger sister.

The world might not have ended all at once. But end it did.

Kayla Hollins is a survivor. Living in the fragmented wasteland of the Canadian Pacific Northwest, she's outlived a colony, a cult, a paramilitary group, and most of her family. So when her younger sister April falls seriously ill, Kayla will do anything to save her. They trek to Salt Spring Island, a beacon of hope in their otherwise brutalized world, which is rumoured to still have a hospital. But Salt Spring's utopia comes with a price. Not just anyone can enter paradise or access their medical care, and Kayla's past is chequered.

Desperate, Kayla makes a deal with Sid Charles, an aspiring politician with whom she had a chance encounter before arriving on Salt Spring. If Kayla and Sid get married, it will boost Sid's chances of election, and grant April automatic access to the medical treatment she desperately needs. And in two years, when Kayla is eligible for citizenship herself, they can get a divorce. Simple, right?

Sid is distant and cranky, but Kayla comes to learn he is also shockingly kind. The more time she spends with him and his ragtag group of rescued boys, the more she comes to admire him. But with April's treatment and Sid's election on the line—and the constant terror of her past being discovered—Kayla isn't sure she can risk trying to change their arrangement.

Trapped together in the closest thing left to paradise, Kayla and Sid both know what it means for the world to end. But as they try to rebuild with the people of Salt Spring Island, there may be time left to save—if not the world—themselves.

Oh, this was such a me book, honestly! I had a feeling I’d love it, and I truly did. I mean. Fake marriage trope in the apocalypse!? Yes please! I loved learning about the world that Kayla and her sister grew up in- basically, societal collapse, cults of terrible men, all the stuff you’d expect at the end of days. The girls have been living on their own for years since their mother died, but as April gets sicker and sicker, Kayla knows she may have to rejoin society, even if briefly. What she doesn’t expect is a cozy farmhouse with Sid and the Lost Boys, and having to figure out who can be trusted, especially when her sister’s life is on the line. Will this group turn out to be just as horrific as those Kayla’s experienced? Or can something be salvaged in this new world? It has all the great stuff I loved, all kinds of morally gray decisions, and Kayla’s story was harrowing. Oh, and the romance part was excellent! 

Bottom Line: I feel like Cozy Apocalypse could easily be my new favorite genre, really.

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The Traveler by Joseph Eckert
Published by Tor Books on June 9, 2026
Pages: 384
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Meet an extraordinary father and son in this captivating, heart-wrenching speculative debut.

It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling head-long down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell.
7:51am. Monday, April 13th.
A blink of an eye.
7:52am. Tuesday, April 14th.
An entire 24 hours, gone.
This one moment—this first spontaneous slip—marks a change in the course not only of Scott’s future, but that of the world. From this point on, at precisely 7:52am every morning, Scott inexplicably travels forward in time in ever-doubling intervals. First one day lost in a blink, then two, then four, until weeks, even years, are passing him by in an instant.
Meanwhile, his wife is left to pick up the pieces of the life they once shared together alone, and, before long, Lyle, Scott’s genius seven-year-old son, will surpass him in age.
Because while his dad is rocketing forward in time, Lyle is growing up – graduating early, studying at Berkeley, becoming the foremost scholar of quantum physics, all in an attempt to bring his father back.
The Traveler is the story of a reluctant time-traveler and his son, and the bond between them that even millennia cannot break. An adventure full of heartbreak, hope, and futures beyond imagination.

Phew, Traveler packed a punch! This book had me whole-ass sobbing by 10% in, and kept the feels coming throughout. I don’t want to give too much away, because I think this is one you’ll definitely want to experience firsthand, but the basic premise is that every morning, MC Scott travels forward in doubling intervals of time. So at first, it’s just a day or two, frustrating (and confusing and upsetting) him and his wife and son. But if you know anything about math, the doubling is going to get bonkers, and fast.

The whole story was incredibly heartfelt, and so very thought provoking. There are moments of levity to keep it from being too devastating, but make no mistake, it will tug at your heartstrings over and over. There is a lot to appreciate in this story, from the bonds between father and son, the difficulty Scott has coming to terms with his plight, the implications for humanity, and the imagined futures the author posits. Truly, worth the read.

Bottom Line: See above.

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The Bird Tribe by Lucinda Roy
Series: The Dreambird Chronicles #3
Published by Tor Books on July 7, 2026
Pages: 512
Format:eARC, Hardcover
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley, Purchased

Lucinda Roy concludes her explosive speculative fiction trilogy, The Dreambird Chronicles, with the triumphant The Bird Tribe.
Yearning is the only compass you need to fly a way home.
Two years after Ji-ji’s miraculous flight on her own impossible wings, the Dream of Freedom has stalled. The Rising promised by Prophet Dreg has not occurred. Ji-ji’s fellow seeds, living in bondage on plantings, had started to believe the legend of Flying Africans was more than just a myth enslaved people told themselves.
But in a polarized nation, torn apart by a Civil War Sequel, faith is slippery.
Ji-ji’s quest to discover the truth behind her people’s origin story will send her, Afarra, and the men they love on a perilous transatlantic pilgrimage to find answers to questions that haunt Were Wingchildren engineered by those who experimented on imported humans? Or is she part of an improbable myth? An ancient tribe of Flying Africans from the Cradle, who etched their own remarkable story into the stuff of dreams.
Book three of The Dreambird ChroniclesThe Dreambird ChroniclesThe Freedom RaceFlying the CoopThe Bird Tribe

I don’t know what to say about this finale without giving too much away about the previous books, so instead, I am going to just implore you to pick up The Dreambird Chronicles. This series is so woefully under the radar, and it should be on everyone’s radar. Having just finished, I can tell you that the ending is satisfying while still being realistic, and I was just next level impressed with this series from start to finish. It’s relevant (sadly, even more than when it began, but that is a topic for another time) and heartbreaking and beautiful and just a damn good story. I have no negatives to report. I own all the books because I need them on my shelves. The characters are wonderful, and I will certainly miss them, but I am so glad I was able to take this harrowing yet hopeful journey with them.

Bottom Line: This series is gorgeously written, will pull at all your emotions, make you think, and leave you fully satisfied. An absolute gem from start to finish.

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!  

ALSO! Friends with WP Blogs: Does your UBB not work when transferring reviews to Goodreads anymore? Mine does not send them, I get an error code, and it is such a hassle copying them all over. Thanks for any input!