Unboxing My Latest Book Haul (July 21, 2025)
Book Mail: A Roundup of the Book Mail I Received Last Week
A week’s worth of book mail in late July feels like a midsummer dream come true. With new book releases arriving just as the season starts to slow down, this book haul brings the perfect mix of escape and inspiration to your TBR pile. Whether you’re soaking up the sun or savoring cozy evenings indoors, each title offers fresh book recommendations to enjoy now or share later. You might even discover a few standout reads destined to be among the best books of 2025. It’s the kind of delivery that turns ordinary days into unforgettable literary moments.
Where to Buy These Books:
I want to note that I do not get paid to do these posts, I just love authors and the book industry. However, they do take time and energy to create. If you want to donate a few dollars to my coffee fund, which keeps this blog going, you can do so here: https://venmo.com/AshleyHasty or here: http://paypal.me/hastybooklist.
What I Wore:
In late July, with the sun high and the breeze warm, wearing a new white linen dress with delicate blue stripe details feels like a scene straight out of a summer novel. Paired with your everyday gold hoop earrings, herringbone necklace, and your newly layered graduated rope necklace, the look captures effortless elegance—main character fashion that speaks softly but confidently. It’s the kind of main character outfit that perfectly balances ease and intention, a go-to for style for confidence and fashion for self-expression. As you flip through your weekly stack of book mail, filled with character-driven novels, books that inspire confidence, and stories of self-discovery, you feel the gentle pull of a main character mindset. This is main character energy books and fashion in harmony: the right story in your hands, the right dress on your shoulders, and the unmistakable feeling that you’re not just reading about transformation—you’re living your main character life, one page and one perfectly chosen outfit at a time.
This Week’s Book Mail Includes:
The Sandy Page Bookshop by Hannah McKinnon - Sometimes the best second chances—and the sweetest love stories—begin in the hometown you thought you’d left behind, in this heartwarming beach read about restoring an old sea captain’s house into a cozy bookstore café.
Playback by Carla Malden - Playback is a witty, heartfelt novel about a woman who time-travels back to 1967 to confront old love, lost dreams, and the chance to finally live fully in the present.
Split by Michael Swartz - Sixteen-year-old Ethan Rivers must confront the fear that his mismatched eyes—and the warring DNA they reveal—mean he's destined to repeat his father's darkest mistakes.
Love is a War Song by Danica Nava - When a disgraced Muscogee pop star retreats to her grandmother’s Oklahoma ranch, she strikes a fiery deal with the brooding cowboy who wants her gone—raising funds to save his home in exchange for learning what it truly means to belong.
Love, Mom by Ilianna Xander - When the daughter of a famous thriller writer begins receiving her mother’s chilling diary pages after her suspicious death, she uncovers a web of dark family secrets that prove there are things far worse than murder.
The Wrong Game by Kandi Steiner - When Gemma's plan to bring a different date to every football game is upended by a charmingly infuriating bartender determined to be her only choice, sparks fly in this irresistible enemies-to-lovers sports romance.
The Right Player by Kandi Steiner - When no-strings-attached Belle meets rule-following, irresistible athlete Makoa, her three-date limit collides with his no-kissing-until-the-third-date rule in this steamy, laugh-out-loud opposites-attract sports romance.
As You Wish by Leesa Cross-Smith - Three au pairs in Seoul make a wish at an enchanted waterfall and suddenly get everything they want—only to discover that true magic might lie in the unexpected bonds of friendship they risk losing.
How to Sell a Romance by Alexa Martin - When a cash-strapped kindergarten teacher and a jaded reporter team up to take down a shady MLM, they discover the riskiest pyramid scheme of all might just be falling for each other.
Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand - When a reclusive caretaker is mistakenly declared dead, he must confront the life he’s wasted—and the people he’s lost—to discover if it’s possible to truly live before attending his own funeral.
Only Between Us by Ellie K. Wilde - A former NFL star and the ex of the league’s golden boy agree to fake a headline-grabbing romance to save their careers and families—only to discover their pretend love is starting to feel dangerously real.
Livewire by Sarah Raughley - When a young woman with the power to control technology learns she might help destroy humanity, she must brave a dangerous digital realm—and her complicated feelings for a time-traveling assassin—to uncover the truth about her own destiny.
Maid for Each Other by Lynn Painter - When a hardworking house cleaner is mistaken for her wealthy client’s fake girlfriend, they strike a deal to keep up the charade—only to discover that mixing business and pleasure might be the real mess.
Who Killed One the Gun? by Gigi Little - In this twisty, time-looping noir, a wisecracking private eye must solve his own murder before he’s doomed to relive it forever.
The Housekeeper's Secret by Sandra Schnakenburg - In this powerful memoir of love, secrets, and survival, Sandy Schnakenburg uncovers decades-old truths about her family's housekeeper—and herself—while honoring a deathbed promise to tell the story she never knew.
Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart - When her new husband vanishes without a trace in the remote North Cascades, Sadie must unravel the haunting secrets of his past—and their marriage—to survive the storm closing in around her.
The AI Incident by J.E. Thomas - When Malcolm, the unluckiest foster kid in Colorado, crosses paths with a rogue AI robot at school, he must outsmart technology—and his own fears—to prove he’s more than just the weird new kid.
The Rebel Girls of Rome by Jordyn Taylor - In this sweeping dual-timeline novel, a grieving college student in modern-day Rome unravels her grandfather’s hidden past as a Holocaust survivor while, in 1943, a young Jewish woman fights for love and freedom in the Italian resistance.
The Final Episode by Lori Roy - When a true crime TV series reopens the case of a childhood friend’s disappearance, Jennifer Jones must confront buried secrets about her father’s conviction and the dark summer that changed everything.
American Sky by James Grady - Set against the backdrop of 1960s Montana, American Sky follows teenager Luc as he navigates high school dramas, national upheaval, and the violent crime that will change his world forever.
All the Men I've Loved Again by Christine Pride - All The Men I’ve Loved Again is a big-hearted, time-spanning novel about Cora Belle, who must choose between the same two loves of her early twenties when fate brings them back into her life as she nears forty.
Lincoln's Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis - Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster tells the thrilling true story of Elizabeth Van Lew, the wealthy Southern belle who risked everything to run a daring Union spy ring in the heart of the Confederacy.
Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell - Love is a dangerous game for Lexie, a matchmaker for psychopaths, when her own clients might be the ones sending her deadly threats and making sure her happily-ever-after ends in murder.
The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani - When dutiful daughter Jess Baratta flees her New Jersey basement for Italy's marble mountains, she discovers secrets, art, and a second chance to carve out the life—and love—she truly wants.
El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott - When three Detroit sisters join a seductive women's "investment club" to reclaim their fortunes, they discover that the price of independence may be betrayal, ruin, and an unthinkable crime.
