Read Harder This Summer

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It’s mid-August, which means it’s last call for summer reading. This isn’t the biggest publishing season, but there were some great titles that came out this summer, so now is a good time to catch up on them. I’ve highlighted seven books that came out in June, July, and August that complete 2026 Read Harder Challenge tasks.

These new summer releases include queer romantasy, nonfiction about resistance, a modern gothic, a Japanese murder mystery, and much more. Fall is coming, and with it, an avalanche of new releases, so don’t let these new books of the summer pass you by!

Task #4: Read a novel with a main character who uses they/them pronouns, and Task #9: Read a romantasy book with a queer and/or BIPOC main character

The Feywild Job by C. L. Polk

C. L. Polk’s first full-length romantasy in several years, The Feywild Job, is technically Dungeons & Dragons IP, and according to some, it offers the same vibes as the most recent movie. We’ve got a grifter who has sworn a literal magical oath never to fall in love, and their ex-partner, with whom things ended pretty terribly. Both have been recruited onto a team to steal a gem, and everything just goes wrong from there. Or right, depending on how you look at it. —Jessica Pryde

Task #5: Read a nonfiction book about resistance

Sex and Dissent: Stories of Feminist Resistance in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain by Meaghan Beatley

There are feminist movements all over the world, each on the frontlines fighting for women’s rights. In Sex and Dissent, Meaghan Beatley takes us to Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain and shows the advances feminism has made over the course of the last decade. While other countries in the world have seen women’s rights rolled back, Beatley gives us some hope with these wins across Latin America and Spain. —Kendra Winchester

All Access members, read on for five more new books out this summer and the Read Harder Challenge tasks they complete.

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