June Amazon First Reads
Note: This post may contain affiliate links.
I am doing my best to always remember that Amazon First Reads exists, and I want to do my best to also remind you all that Amazon First Reads exists because we love free books in this house.
What is Amazon First Reads?
As a Prime member, you get to redeem a free book every month from a select list. These are books that haven’t been released yet, so you’ll be among the first to read them. They have multiple genres, so you’re sure to find a book you like. Best of all, they change every month!
If you don’t have Prime, no worries! These books are still basically on super sale for only $1.99.
This month, we also get the bonus short story, so make sure you at least claim that one!
Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall
Thriller
She’s a new PI in a beautiful seaside town. It’s dirtier than it looks—and more dangerous too—in a twisting novel of suspense by the Anthony Award–nominated author of These Toxic Things.
After ten years on the force, LAPD cop Sonny Rush relocates with her elderly mother to peaceful Haven, California, to join her godfather’s burgeoning PI business. What crimes could possibly happen in a town nicknamed “Mayberry by the Sea”? Sonny’s first case: find Figgy, a missing goldendoodle last seen sporting a Versace collar. At least scouting out a dognapper gives Sonny a chance to get to know her new neighbors.
Forty-eight hours in town and Figgy’s disappearance entangles Sonny in an unwelcome reunion with her ex, one of Haven’s wealthiest citizens. And when the body of a teenage boy is found along a popular hiking trail, Sonny is drawn into a web of strange beyond anything she ever saw in LA.
Then comes a local’s warning: question everything. Haven hides secrets that could destroy its idyllic facade. Or destroy Sonny first.
Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall
American Sky by Carolyn Dasher
Historical Fiction
Three generations of indomitable women navigate life on their terms in an epic and inspiring historical novel about love and war, family secrets, and mothers and daughters finding the freedom to fly.
It’s 1943. The war rages. The newly launched WASP program is recruiting. And barnstormer fan Georgeanne “George” Ector’s dream is to take to the skies. Grit is what she inherited from her mother, an Oklahoma farm girl at the turn of the century who preferred taking apart an engine to stitching linens for a hope chest. She taught her daughter well. George isn’t the only woman about to follow her calling.
Vivian Shaw, so similar to George they’re like sisters, also longs for a career flying the fastest planes in the American arsenal. For a time, George and Vivian triumph. But at war’s end, the adventurous women are grounded by the expectations of others: to get married, have children, and raise a family. Vivian has other plans. So, eventually, do George’s daughters, Ruth and Ivy, who embark on very different paths of their own.
Three generations of women staring down a vast horizon of possibilities are determined to navigate whatever comes their way—from the hardships of war and home to love and loss, and to the fallout of a long-held secret that could change their lives forever.
American Sky by Carolyn Dasher
Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann
Women’s Fiction
In South Carolina, a woman discovers her aunt’s profound secrets in an emotional novel spanning decades about trauma, survival, and the bonds of female friendship by a USA Today bestselling author.
Since Bailey Rae Rigby’s adoptive aunt Winnie passed, Bent Oak, South Carolina, doesn’t have much of a hold on her anymore. So it seems.
Bailey Rae aims to settle the small estate and, armed with her aunt’s inspiring personal cookbook, buy a food truck with an ocean view in Myrtle Beach. Everything goes awry when a distraught young mother arrives in town clutching a copy of that same cookbook. Embedded inside is a code that promises a safe place in Bent Oak for desperate women on the run. For Bailey Rae it opens up a world of questions. Who really was the beloved aunt she’s known most of her life?
Winnie Ballard’s story reaches back fifty years—one of a Southern debutante’s harrowing marriage, of her escape and reinvention, and the galvanizing friendship of three resilient women who overcame their traumas, created a shelter, and found purpose. But there’s more to Winnie’s deliverance and long-held secrets than Bailey Rae imagines.
With each revelation, Bailey Rae draws on her aunt’s courage to find purpose herself. For now, whatever threats may come, Bailey Rae isn’t going anywhere.
Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann
The Golden Age of Magic by Luanne G. Smith
Historical Fantasy
Against the backdrop of 1920s Hollywood, a young fairy godmother on a mission is embroiled in malicious magic, mystery, and murder in a thrilling historical fantasy by the bestselling author of The Vine Witch.
Celeste is about to become one of the thirteen Fées Gardiennes, a centuries-old sisterhood of fairy godmothers. To be granted full status, she must usher her first protégé onto their path of destiny. Where better to find a starry-eyed ward than in the land of magic and illusion called Hollywood?
It’s 1927. The moviemaking business is booming when Celeste befriends a young studio seamstress whose dreams outshine everyone else’s. Rose is talented and underappreciated and could use some enchanted intervention in her life. Plans proceed swimmingly, and Celeste even catches the eye of a handsome producer. But after a series of unexplained accidents on the studio lot stir up rumors of a curse, Celeste fears the trouble is more personal—the spiteful meddling of a fellow Gardienne out to thwart Celeste’s success.
But the sabotage turns sinister when a starlet is murdered and it’s Rose who stands accused. As vengeance, dark magic, and betrayal wreak havoc, Celeste must come into her full power to save her innocent protégé and secure her own future in a cherished, ancient, and now threatened sisterhood.
The Golden Age of Magic by Luanne G. Smith
Woman on the Verge by Kim Hooper
Domestic Drama
A sexy, propulsive meditation on modern motherhood, tracking the lives of three women as they struggle to define themselves in the face of new obligations and heightened expectations.
Some women, with their perfect children and pricey athleisure, make motherhood look easy. But not Nicole. She never wanted to be a stay-at-home parent—losing her job left her no choice. Now, between her toddlers’ demands, husband’s distance, and father’s deteriorating health, she’s pulled in every direction except her own.
Something has to give.
Katrina’s in the same dissatisfied boat. After flirting with a handsome stranger at a bar, she’s ready to choose pleasure over responsibility. But when her impulse goes surprisingly awry, she must reconcile her reawakened desires with the realities of home.
Housewife Rose battles the constraints of motherhood in the ’80s. Venting her growing restlessness into a diary of secret ambitions, she wonders whether it’s all worth it. Is an unhappy mother really better than a selfish one?
In a shocking twist, the women find their lives intertwined. But as they face their longings head-on, it’s unclear whether they’re destined for a breakthrough…or breakdown.
Woman on the Verge by Kim Hooper
Reckoning Hour by Peter O’Mahoney
Legal Thriller
Murder. Arson. Secrets. Justice is about to come home.
Big-city defense lawyer Dean Lincoln left his picturesque hometown of Beaufort years ago. But now, the lure of small-town life and a family matter have drawn him back.
Amidst the sultry heat and the Spanish moss, and beneath the facade of Southern small-town charm, Lincoln begins work again and is immediately thrown into two cases: a rich kid charged with murder and a poor kid accused of arson. Both swear they are innocent. Both feel the system is trying to crush them. And in this corner of the South, guilt is rarely decided in the courtroom…
Lincoln’s return has stirred a long-standing grudge, and it could cost him everything—his career, his clients, even his life. As the clock runs out on the truth, trouble is closing in fast.
Reckoning Hour by Peter O’Mahoney
Tiny Daggers by Caroline Corcoran
Psychological Thriller
The most dangerous predators in Miami don’t bite. They brunch.
Expat Holly Jones has built the perfect life for herself in an exclusive area of Miami: the beautiful house, the enviable family. So the last person she expects to bump into one morning is a ghost from her old life in London, someone she hasn’t seen in over twenty years: the other Holly, Holly Wild.
Single, sexy, and a world away from the frumpy sidekick she was at school, Holly Wild quickly becomes an unavoidable part of Holly Jones’s life. She is everywhere—in her home, in her marriage, and especially in her head. Is this really just a chance reunion or is there something more sinister lurking behind her seemingly flawless facade?
As the oppressive heat intensifies, Holly Jones is haunted by memories she’s spent decades trying to bury. Is she being paranoid or is Holly Wild really out to steal her life? At school they were known as Good Holly and Bad Holly…but as their twisted game of cat and mouse escalates, it’s no longer clear which one is which…
Tiny Daggers by Caroline Corcoran
The Invitation by Jodi Ellen Malpas
Sexy Romance
An ambitious career woman. An enigmatic billionaire. There’s more to their affair than meets the eye in this scalding romance by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the This Man series.
Amelia Lazenby deserves a breather—from work and from the stress of a recent breakup. Courtesy of her best friends, she gets a day of pampering at a posh country spa called Arlington Hall. Instead of finding calm, she finds her pulse racing when she sees flawlessly rugged Jude Harrison. Hand on heart, she’s never laid eyes on such a stunner. And an unexpected steam room meet takes their instant attraction to a whole new level.
Amelia wasn’t looking for an intense new affair. But the passion Jude ignites is off the charts. Even if he is a little possessive. Even if his temper can be as formidable as the influence he has on her body. He becomes all the more intriguing when Amelia discovers that Jude not only owns Arlington Hall but that their meeting was no accident. It was planned. But to what end?
That’s a mystery as irresistible as Jude himself. Is he worth the risk? Or is this the man who could break her?
The Invitation by Jodi Ellen Malpas
This month is going to be hard to choose! Find all the reads here.
I am leaning toward Luanne G. Smith’s The Golden Age of Magic just because of how much I loved The Vine Witch.
