Debut fiction to read this July
Talking at Night by Claire Daverley
Will and Rosie meet as teenagers.
They're opposites in every way. She overthinks everything; he is her twin brother's wild and unpredictable friend. But over secret walks home and late-night phone calls, they become closer – destined to be one another's great love story. Until, one day, tragedy strikes, and their future together is shattered. But as the years roll on, Will and Rosie can't help but find their way back to each other. Time and again, they come close to rekindling what might have been.
What do you do when the one person you should forget is the one you just can't let go?
Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
Brian, an aimless slacker, works doubles at his shift job, forgets to clean his room and lays about with his friends Nik and Darby. He's been struggling to manage his transition to adulthood almost as much as his monthly transitions to a werewolf. Really, he is not great at the whole werewolf thing, and his recent murderous slip-ups have caught the attention of Tyler, a Millennial were-mentor determined to take the mythological world by storm.
Tyler has got a plan, and weirdly his self-help punditry actually encourages Brian to shape up and to stop accidently marking out guys who ghosted him on Grindr as potential monthly victims. But as Brian gets closer to Tyler's pack, and alienated from Nik and Darby, he realises that Tyler's expansion plans are much more nefarious than a little lupine enlightenment.
Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch
The clock is ticking on Hollywood actress Edie O'Dare's contract with FWM Studios. Her acting career is going nowhere, and she's running out of time to find a new role in the industry – other than providing salacious details of the latest party or premiere to the press. So when an up-and-coming starlet hands her an explosive letter – alleging an assault by an A-list actor – Edie helps get the story into print, and buys herself a new career as Tinseltown's new reigning gossip columnist.
Edie has more power on the page than she ever commanded in front of the camera. But dealing in your former friends' secrets comes at a price – and when her scoop turns into the trial of the decade, Edie's decisions have the potential to ruin more than one life.
The Scope of Permissibility by Zeynab Gamieldien
A stunning debut novel that follows the intertwined lives of three friends as they navigate the complexities of university life, adherence to their faith, and the transition into adulthood.
Bound together by their shared beliefs and alienation from wider Australian society, Sara, Abida and Naeem are drawn to their university's Muslim Students' Association. Within its walls, Sara and Naeem begin a covert relationship, while Abida campaigns for the group's presidency. But Abida's ambitions for leadership threatens both her longstanding friendship with Sara and the increasingly fragile relationship between Sara and Naeem. As tensions rise and loyalties falter, the three must balance the demands of love, faith and ambition.
Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths
The Kindred sisters – Ezra and Cinthy – grew up with an abundance of love. Love from their parents, who let them believe that the stories they tell on stars can come true. Love from their neighbours, the Junketts, the only other Black family in town, whose home is filled with spice-rubbed ribs and ground-shaking hugs. And love for their adopted hometown of Salt Point, a beautiful New England village perched high up on coastal bluffs.
But as the girls hit adolescence, their white neighbours, including Ezra's best friend, Ruby, start to see their maturing bodies and minds in a different way. And as the news from distant parts of the country fills with calls for freedom, equality, and justice for Black Americans, the white villagers of Salt Point begin to view the Kindreds and the Junketts as a threat to their way of life.
Every Rising Sun by Jamila Ahmed
Before she was the legendary Persian queen who spun a thousand tales, Shaherazade was a girl who saw something she shouldn't have. She told the king. She thought she was doing what was right. She couldn't have imagined what was to come.
The Seljuk Empire is on fire and the king is on a rampage after learning of his wife's infidelity. Unsated by her execution, he has gone on to wed and behead a new wife night after night. Fear spreads through the city and Shaherazade must do something, anything, to halt the horror she has set in motion. When the king starts searching for his next bride, Shaherazade steps forward. As the sun sets on her wedding night, she begins to weave a tale that will go down in history.
Mistakes and Other Lovers by Amy Lovat
El O'Reilly is exceptionally good at making mistakes. Mistakes like: falling in love with the charismatic youth pastor, Mace, while engaged to her high school boyfriend; breaking up with her fiancé the night before Valentine's Day; walking out on her family; dropping out of uni with no plan B; ghosting her old friends; kissing her new friends; sleepless nights with beers and bongs and boys and girls.
But when Mace proposes to someone else, El's world finally breaks. Will she go back to the safe love she's always known, will Mace realise that she's the one, or will El forge her own path into the unknown? Mistakes and Other Lovers explores the pressure, pain and freedom of being on the cusp of adulthood and realising things aren't what you thought they'd be.
