Prime members shouldn’t miss access to this FREE Amazon First Reads program. Learn about this Kindle reading program and how this Prime perk works! 

I am starting a Amazon First Reads monthly post to help you as you make those reading selections each month. I thought it would be fun to take you on my journey on selection process.

If you aren’t familiar with how this program works, head to this post that shares everything you wanted to know about the Amazon First Reads program (formerly the Kindle First program).

This explains the benefits, how Amazon selects these books, and what you need to get started reading.

These posts share the names of each selection, what type of literature it is, where it was published, a small blurb, and the reviews on each book (so far).

I will also tell you which book I chose at the end!

Make sure that when you add these to your cart, it shows the BUY IT NOW FOR FREE! If it does not, you are not signed into your family’s Prime account.

If you have a moment, leave a comment and let me know what you picked or if you have read any of these!

This month, Amazon is offering TWO books for free with your Prime membership. Don’t miss this deal! Here is what you need to know for this month!

Amazon First Reads For July (Get 2 Free Books)

PICK TWO HERE OR ON THE LANDING PAGE

She’s Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino

This Women’s Humorous Fiction pick was published by Lake Union Publishing.

Blurb:

“For two women generations apart, going home will change their lives in this funny, poignant, and life-affirming novel about family, secrets, and broken hearts by the author of For the Love of Friends.

Four years into her marriage, Jenna is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce. With time on her hands and her life in flux, she agrees to accompany her eccentric grandmother Evelyn on a road trip to the seaside Massachusetts town where much of their family history was shaped.”

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.5 with 78 Reviews. One reviewer had read over 170 books and had only given a dozen books five stars. This book, she said, deserved all of them.

A Feather on the Water by Lindsay Jayne Ashford

This historical fiction literary selection is from Lake Union Publishing.

Blurb:

“For three women in postwar Germany, 1945 is a time of hope—lost and found—in this powerful novel by the bestselling author of The Woman on the Orient Express.

Just weeks after World War II ends, three women from different corners of the world arrive in Germany to run a Displaced Persons camp. They long to help rebuild shattered lives—including their own…”

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.5 stars with 12 reviews. Although feedback is limited in this initial stage, one Vine reviewer shared that this story is full of hope & healing, characters that learn & grow. They also praised it for being a little different than the typical books from this era.

The Last Lie Told by Debra Webb

This is first in a new private investigator mystery series from Thomas & Mercer. This is the Mystery selection for July.

Blurb:

“From USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb comes the thrilling first installment in the Finley O’Sullivan series, featuring a legal investigator haunted by her past and obsessed with the truth.

Legal investigator Finley O’Sullivan searches for evidence the police overlooked, wading through secrets, lies, and betrayal to find answers. With the unsolved murder of her husband still very much on her mind, Finley must confront her own personal trauma on a daily basis. Lies are part of her livelihood, but they’re also the reason she can’t get justice for the man she loved.”

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

5 stars with 21 Reviews. This has HIGH praise with reviewers raving about the smart twists that made it a true page-turner. If you love private investigation stories, this looks like a promising start in a new series.

Kismet by Amina Akhtar

This psychological thriller is from Thomas & Mercer. A notable detail on the cover is the blurb from Caroline Kepnes (a featured author on my site) who described it as “Wicked and smart…Read it Now.”

Blurb:

Lifelong New Yorker Ronnie Khan never thought she’d leave Queens. She’s not an “aim high, dream big” person—until she meets socialite wellness guru Marley Dewhurst.

Marley isn’t just a visionary; she’s a revelation. Seduced by the fever dream of finding her best self, Ronnie makes for the desert mountains of Sedona, Arizona.

Healing yoga, transcendent hikes, epic juice cleanses…Ronnie consumes her new bougie existence like a fine wine. But is it, really? Or is this whole self-care business a little sour?

When the glam gurus around town start turning up gruesomely murdered, Ronnie has her answer: all is not well in wellness town. As Marley’s blind ambition veers into madness, Ronnie fears for her life.

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.48 with 42 Reviews. Readers describe it as darkly funny, disturbing, and wickedly entertaining. Overall, lots of high praise for this one!

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

This short story is categorized under time travel fiction and is published by Amazon Orginal Stories. Kate Quinn is a big name in historical fiction so fans will be excited about this short story offering.

Blurb:

“Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption.

One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.

An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s…2023.

Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link.”

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.55 with 106 Reviews. One reviewer said it was a solid short story that should take about 40 minutes to read. If you are short on a reading goal, this would be a great option.

All The Lies They Did Not Tell: The True Story of Satanic Panic in an Italian Community by Pablo Trincia

This translated memoir is officially cataloged under “biographies of hoaxes and deceptions” and published by Amazon Crossing.

Blurb:

In 1997 a six-year-old boy questioned by authorities relayed disturbing stories of abuse. The more he talked, the more people were implicated in his shocking revelations. And he was only the first child to come forward.

Within a year, fifteen more children with similar tales were transferred out of the Bassa region of Italy to protected locations. Their parents were accused of belonging to a satanic sect that performed sex rituals under the aegis of beloved local priest Don Giorgio Govoni. With each child’s confession, the network of monsters grew. Families were torn apart. Lives were forever destroyed—and some ended—as allegations of kidnapping, torture, sacrifice, and murder escalated beyond comprehension.

But what was really happening in the Bassa Modenese?

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.31 with 669 Reviews. This is the highest amount of feedback on the offerings this month because it is a translated work.

No Ordinary Thursday by Anoop Judge

This book club cultural heritage fiction selection is published by Lake Union Publishing.

Blurb:

A family, broken by the shattering turns of a single day, will do anything to find their way back to one another.

Lena Sharma is a successful San Francisco restaurateur. An immigrant, she’s cultivated an image of conservatism and tradition in her close-knit Indian community. But when Lena’s carefully constructed world begins to crumble, her ties to her daughter, Maya, and son, Sameer—both raised in thoroughly modern California—slip further away.

Maya, divorced once, becomes engaged to a man twelve years her junior: Veer Kapoor, the son of Lena’s longtime friend. Immediately Maya feels her mother’s disgrace and the judgment of an insular society she was born into but never chose, while Lena’s cherished friendship frays. Meanwhile, Maya’s younger brother, Sameer, struggles with an addiction that reaches a devastating and very public turning point, upending his already tenuous future.

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

2 With Only 1 Rating. The author has two other books (with favorable reviews) and describes herself as a recovering litigator, former TV presenter, and blogger.

War and Me by Faleeha Hassan

This is a translated work on Iraq History from Amazon Crossing. Kirkus Reviews gave this a starred rating stating this, “Hassan renders her harrowing experiences in an authentic, heartfelt manner, offering important testimony of personal and national courage. A beautifully wrought memoir from a pioneering Iraqi author.” ‘

Oprah also called her as “The Maya Angelou of Iraq!”

Blurb:

An intimate memoir about coming of age in a tight-knit working-class family during Iraq’s seemingly endless series of wars.

Faleeha Hassan became intimately acquainted with loss and fear while growing up in Najaf, Iraq. Now, in a deeply personal account of her life, she remembers those she has loved and lost.

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

5 stars With Only 1 rating, but the praise is SO HIGH with notable reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Oprah, and Publishers Weekly. I am going to go with my gut and say that this will be a memorable selection.

Embers on the Wind by Lisa Williams Rosenberg

This Literary Fiction pick is categorized under Occult Horror and published by Little A.

Blurb:

The past and the present converge in this enthralling, serpentine tale of women connected by motherhood, slavery’s legacy, and histories that span centuries.

In 1850 in Massachusetts, Whittaker House stood as a stop on the Underground Railroad. It’s where two freedom seekers, Little Annie and Clementine, hid and perished. Whittaker House still stands, and Little Annie and Clementine still linger, their dreams of freedom unfulfilled.

Now a fashionably distressed vacation rental in the Berkshires, Whittaker House draws seekers of another kind: Black women who only appear to be free. Among them are Dominique, a single mother following her grand-mère’s stories to Whittaker House in search of an ancestor; Michelle, Dominique’s lover, who has journeyed to the Berkshire Mountains to heal her own traumas; and Kaye, Michelle’s sister, a seer whose visions reveal the past and future secrets of the former safehouse—along with her own.

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.29 With 7 Reviews. Reviewers praised it as cinematic in scope, hanting, and read like interconnected short stories.

Mother of All Secrets by Kathellen M Willett

This is categorized under mystery, thriller, & suspense literary fiction and was published by Lake Union Publishing.

Amanda Eyre Ward offered this notable review- “Mother of All Secrets is a thrilling page-turner and a fierce manifesto about motherhood, powerful women, and what we must be willing to do to protect our children. The plot twists are breathtaking and I loved staying up late reading this fabulous novel.”

Blurb:

Her freedom, her sanity, her life. How much will a young mother sacrifice to protect her secrets?

Sleep deprived and overwhelmed, first-time mom Jenn is struggling to adapt to her new role. Frustrated with her loving but preoccupied husband and still grieving the death of her own mother, she feels isolated and depressed. It’s only when she joins a new-moms’ group that she starts to think she’s finally getting back on track.

Until Isabel, the group’s leader, suddenly disappears.

Now Jenn’s baby isn’t the only reason she can’t sleep. Consumed with worry over Isabel, Jenn is teetering on the edge of obsession. Concern turns to paranoia when Jenn finds clues that force her to look at herself, her marriage, and the women in her support group, who have more in common than Jenn realized. Much more.

GoodReads Rating (So Far):

4.06 with 78 Reviews. Readers described it as compulsively readable, engrossing, and a rollercoaster of emotions that reminded them of those early days with their infants.

VERDICT: WHAT I PICKED

This month was SO HARD because they all sounded so interesting this month. Ultimately, I settled on Kismet because I love dark nods to wellness culture.

I also selected War and Me because of the incredible praise it got. I need to learn more about Iraq and this memoir sounds phenomenal.

SOUND OFF: Have you read any of this month’s selections? Tell me what you plan to pick this month!

READ BETTER THIS YEAR WITH THESE ARTICLES