July is novella month!

If you've been paying attention to the calendar, you know that we're nearing the end of the month already! Which means you're probably wondering, "Hey, Jessica, where is our poll for next month's book?" and I wouldn't blame you. Don't despair! I've got your answer right here.

I'm officially declaring the month of July to be novella month! I know not everyone has the time to read a whole book, even if it's split up over a month. So, in order to give you a chance to participate, we'll be reading four shorter books in July! I've picked very different books, to entice people from all reading groups. 

Now, I've done a ton of research (seriously, you have no idea how many reviews I've read) and I've chosen four books that I think you'll love! Here's what we'll be reading in July.

Click the books to be taken to Amazon. These are all only available online, but all of them are between $.99 and $2.99 in price.

June 30th - July 6th * John Connolly The Wanderer in Unknown Realms

“Books alter men, and men, in their turn, alter worlds.”

Soter is a man who has been haunted by World War I. But when he’s sent to investigate the disappearance of Lionel Maudling, the owner of a grand country house whose heir may be accused for his death, he encounters a home that will lead him to nightmares he could have never imagined.

Maudling’s estate houses countless books of every sort—histories, dramas, scientific treatises. But none seems to offer Soter any hint to Maudling’s whereabouts, until he’s led to an arcane London bookseller where the reclusive scholar made his last purchase. What Soter finds at the end of a twisted maze of clues is a book like no other, with a legacy that will put everything he knows in danger…

An inventive horror novella from internationally bestselling author John Connolly, this is a story of madness, of obsession, and of books’ power to change the world.

July 7th - July 13th * Julia London The Bridesmaid

Getting her to the wedding on time is the least of his worries...

Kate Preston just moved to New York, but she has to get back to Seattle in time for her best friend's wedding. Joe Firretti is moving to Seattle, and has to get there in time or risk losing his new job. But fate's got a sense of humor.

Kate goes from rubbing elbows on a plane with a gorgeous but irritating strange (doggone armrest hog) to sharing one travel disaster after another with him on four wheels. Joe thought he had his future figured out, but sometimes fates has to knock you over the head pretty hard before you see what opportunity is standing in front of you...in a really god-awful poufy bridesmaid dress.

July 14th - July 20th * Kealan Patrick Burke Jack & Jill

When they were kids, Gillian and John used to visit the local cemetery every Sunday after church. It was a curious place for children to frequent, but they had their reasons. The main attraction was the lofty hill that separated the cemetery from the elementary school, and the act of tumbling down it like Jack and Jill was a ritualistic escape from the abuse they were suffering at their father's hands.

It was an escape that lasted only until John's tragic death.

Now, Gillian is all grown up. Married with two children, she has managed over the years to force the trauma of her nightmarish childhood into the darkest recesses of her mind.

But lately there are dreams, and in them Gillian sees impossibly vivid reenactments of the horrors she endured as a child. Nightly, she sees John die all over again, only not in the way she remembers.

And something else is in those dreams, stalking her, a terrible figure with wire-hanger hands and a plastic bag wrapped around its rotten face. A monster whose reach starts to extend beyond the boundaries of sleep into the waking world, threatening everything Gillian holds dear.

A monster she once called Daddy.

July 21st - July 27th * Frank Tuttle The Mister Trophy

A troll’s missing head could cause Markhat to lose his own.

A Markhat story.

All the finder Markhat wanted was a beer at Eddie’s. Instead he gets a case that will bring him face to fang with crazed, blood-craving halfdead, a trio of vengeful Troll warriors, and Mama Hog’s backstreet magic. Plus, the possible resurgence of the Troll War.

All right in his own none-too-quiet neighborhood.

Through the town of Rannit’s narrow alleys and mean streets, Markhat tries to stay one step ahead of disaster. And ignore Mama Hog’s dire warnings that this time, the head that rolls could be his own.