10 New Books You Don't Want to Miss This Summer

📚📝 I hope you have your Goodreads account open and your TBR list ready...

As a thank-you to paying subscribers whose financial support keeps the lights on here, so that both free and paid content can go out every month, the summer seasonal book list is shared in part or in full based on your subscription. You know I looooove books (understatement of the year), and there’s a 500% chance I’ll share additional titles in Thursday Things + on IG between now and the Fall list… but no matter your subscription, I wanted to send several good reads your way as you build out your Summer TBR stack. 💛 I’m truly so thankful you’re here. It’s no small thing to me and I don’t take it lightly. Ready for new reads? Lets. Go. 📚

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Don’t be fooled, my friends, don’t be fooled. Coming in at 10 titles, this is my shortest seasonal book round-up in 8 years of preparing these… but I’m pre-asking you to remember this in the Fall when I send eleventy-billion your way. Okay, obviously not that many… but my Fall list as of this moment has 37 titles for consideration so, umm, JUST A FEW. This is my attempt to average it out between Summer/Fall. (I’ll edit it down but wow.)

Still, Summer has so many good reads in store. (It never fails to amaze me even though it happens every season, but as per usual, there’s totally a theme in the 10 below!) Open your Notes app or Goodreads list and get read to mark “want to read”. I’ve read an early copy of almost every title below, but for those still on my To Be Read list, they come highly recommended from trusted friends or are written by authors I’ve read and loved before. Over the last few weeks, I received a couple books and so postponed sending this out while reading (some you’ll see below, others came off the list). Thank you for your patience, friends. I don’t take it lightly, that you might spend hard-earned money on a recommendation here. I hope the words within each title below prove to be helpful, truth-filled, and encouraging!

Due to the word count of so many book descriptions, this post may only partially show in your inbox. Look for “view entire message” at the top and click for the full post!

P.s. I edited the blurbs down from what’s listed on Bookshop, but you can click straight through to read the rest. (BTW, all Bookshop orders now through Memorial Day are automatically entered into a giveaway—five orders will be fully reimbursed. If you plan to purchase one of the books, now might be a good time!¹)

Say Good: Speaking across Hot Topics, Complex Relationships, and Tense Situations :: Ashlee Eiland

We know what it means to do good. But in today’s tense and complex world, when topics like political issues, theology, and current events so often divide us, how do we say good? God calls us to speak truth into our communities and relationships, but we all struggle to know when to speak up. How can we know what to say―and when? In Say Good, Ashlee Eiland equips you to find your voice in complex conversations, engage with diverse perspectives and bring about positive change, embrace authenticity and accountability, and foster meaningful relationships. Say Good is a timely, thought-provoking book that contains practical insights, empowering action steps, and a solid framework for using your voice with purpose and impact.

I Shouldn’t Feel This Way: Name What’s Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabotage into Brave Action :: Dr. Alison Cook

When you're tangled up inside, it’s hard to find clarity. Yet so many of us guilt-trip or gaslight ourselves instead of working our way through complicated feelings. You should be a good friend, even though you feel hurt by past betrayals. You should be content, even though you feel lonely or unfulfilled. You should just have faith, even though you feel discouraged by unanswered prayers. This jumbled-up knot is a cry for gentle care and patient attention, but most of us haven’t been given the tools required to unravel it. Drawing from over twenty years of research and clinical practice, I Shouldn't Feel This Way guides you through a groundbreaking 3-step process that has helped tens of thousands of people find emotional freedom and surprisingly simple breakthroughs. Dr. Alison shows you how to trade feeling stuck in your head for clarity, move from comfortable numbing to courageous conversations, and make decisions that break cycles of defeat.

It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping: Interpreting the Language of Our Fathers Without Repeating Their Stories :: Lisa-Jo Baker

Born White in the heart of Zululand during the racial apartheid, Lisa-Jo Baker longed to write a new future for her children—a longing that set her on a journey to understand where she fit into a story of violence and faith, history and race. Baker was a teenager when her mother died of cancer, leaving her with her father. Though they shared a language of faith and justice, she often feared him, unaware that his fierce temper had deep roots in a family’s and a nation’s pain. Decades later, old wounds reopened when she found herself spiraling into a terrifying version of her father, screaming herself hoarse at her son. Only then did Baker realize that to go forward—to refuse to repeat the sins of our fathers—we must first go back. With a story that stretches from South Africa’s outback to Washington, D.C., It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping is a courageous look at inherited hurts and prejudices, and a hope-filled example for all who feel lost in life or worried that they’re too off course to make the necessary corrections. Baker’s story shows that it’s never too late to be free.

I Want to Move On: Break Free from Bitterness and Discover Freedom in Forgiveness :: Lauren Vander Linden

You know you should move on―so why can’t you? Regardless of how long ago you were hurt, feelings of betrayal, bitterness, and confusion still repeat in your mind. You find unwanted thoughts creeping in: I would never do to them what they did to me… How can they be a Christian and act this way?… God, why did you allow this?… My bitterness isn’t as bad as what they did to me… But I didn’t do anything wrong… If I don’t fight for myself, no one will… Each chapter addresses a different unwanted thought and combats them with biblical truths to give you the practical tools to beat bitterness once and for all.

Brown Faces, White Spaces: Confronting Systemic Racism to Bring Healing and Restoration :: Latasha Morrison

Many of us feel overwhelmed by the problem, unsure how we can make a difference. Yet God calls the church to stand firmly committed to racial reconciliation—and for each one of us to make choices that lead to healing. In Brown Faces, White Spaces, Latasha Morrison explores nine aspects of American life where systemic racism still flourishes, including education, healthcare, the justice system, entertainment, and the church. Through story, historical context, and present realities, Morrison looks at what it means to recognize and confess the truth about inequities in the system (preparation), commit ourselves to changing the system (dedication), and move into true freedom as a society (liberation). Morrison asks “How does Jesus’s divine act of reconciliation on the cross lead to human liberation from oppression, and how might we create systems for all to flourish?” This honest, hope-filled book shows us how we can reform historically white spaces and create systems that work for the good of all. Join the bridge-building movement that is listening, learning, and working together for equity in every aspect of our lives.