FYI: This post contains affiliate links for the Book of the Month YA subscription box. If you sign up for a subcription using any of the links in this post I will make a small commission, at absolutely no cost to you. This commission helps support this blog. All thoughts expressed in this post are not influenced by my affiliate position. I was a fan of the BOTM service before I became an affiliate.

Happy Saturday, my dear bookish people! I’m here today to bring you the Book of the Month YA July Book Selections! There are some awesome books this month and I’m excited to break them down for you. But first, some info on the service.

When you sign up for BOTM: YA, you get to choose one hardback book from the monthly selection of five new release books for $14.99 a month. For the month of July, if you use the code WHOA, your first month is only $9.99. You can also add on books from past month selections for only $9.99 per book. There is also the option to cancel at any time or skip a month. More info and FAQS can be found at the BOTM YA website.

So, let’s breakdown this month’s selections:

Wick Fox by Kat Cho
This one is from a debut author and has romance, supernatural elements, and is first in a series. This was the book I selected for my affiliate box and I am so excited to read it. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it! Check out the synopsis:

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret—she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead—her gumiho soul—in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl—he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He’s drawn to her anyway.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous … forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.

The Boy and Girl Who Broke the World by Amy Reed
Now this one is going to be the book for my non-affiliate box. I hadn’t heard of this book until I saw the July picks and let me just say I am stoked to read this one. It’s described as a quirky, magic realism novel that explores loneliness and also has dragons and unicorns. SIGN ME UP! Here’s the synopsis:

Billy Sloat and Lydia Lemon don’t have much in common, unless you count growing up on the same (wrong) side of the tracks, the lack of a mother, and a persistent loneliness that has inspired creative coping mechanisms.

When the lives of these two loners are thrust together, Lydia’s cynicism is met with Billy’s sincere optimism, and both begin to question their own outlook on life. On top of that, weird happenings including an impossible tornado and an all-consuming fog are cropping up around them—maybe even because of them. And as the two grow closer and confront bigger truths about their pasts, they must also deal with such inconveniences as a narcissistic rock star, a war between unicorns and dragons, and eventually, of course, the apocalypse.

All of Us with Wings by Michelle Ruiz Keil
This is another debut author novel AND it’s magic realism, so maybe I’m seeing my add on book for the month with this one. Wings definitely sounds a bit dark (there is graphic violence and sexual content warnings), but concept is very intriguing and it is marked as LGBTQ+ friendly. Check out the synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Xochi is alone in San Francisco, running from her painful past: the mother who abandoned her, the man who betrayed her. Then one day, she meets Pallas, a precocious twelve-year-old who lives with her rockstar family in one of the city’s storybook Victorians. Xochi accepts a position as Pallas’s live-in governess and quickly finds her place in their household, which is relaxed and happy despite the band’s larger-than-life fame.

But on the night of the Vernal Equinox, as a concert afterparty rages in the house below, Xochi and Pallas accidentally summon a pair of ancient creatures devoted to avenging the wrongs of Xochi’s adolescence. She would do anything to preserve her new life, but with the creatures determined to exact vengeance on those who’ve hurt her, no one is safe—not the family she’s chosen, nor the one she left behind.

Symptoms of a Heartbreak by Sona Charaipotra
Now this just sounds like the perfect summer, contemporary read. Heartbreak is marked as inspirational, LOL, romance, and light-read. What more could you want for a summer book? This synopsis definitely makes me want to pick up more contemporaries:

Fresh from med school, sixteen-year-old medical prodigy Saira arrives for her first day at her new job: treating children with cancer. She’s always had to balance family and friendships with her celebrity as the Girl Genius―but she’s never had to prove herself to skeptical adult co-workers while adjusting to real life-and-death stakes. And working in the same hospital as her mother certainly isn’t making things any easier.

But life gets complicated when Saira finds herself falling in love with a patient: a cute teen boy who’s been diagnosed with cancer. And when she risks her brand new career to try to improve his chances, it could cost her everything.

It turns out “heartbreak” is the one thing she still doesn’t know how to treat.

Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg
Past Perfect Life sounds like an addictive drama that I didn’t know I needed! Small town girl finds out she’s not who she thinks she is via a college application? Yes, please! I’ve seen Eulberg’s name tossed around before in the contemporary side of the book blogging community and it sounds like she knows how to write one heck of a story. Check out the synopsis:

Small-town Wisconsin high school senior Allison Smith loves her life the way it is—spending quality time with her widowed father and her tight-knit circle of friends, including best friend Marian and maybe-more-than-friends Neil. Sure she is stressed out about college applications . . . who wouldn’t be? In a few short months, everything’s going to change, big time.

But when Ally files her applications, they send up a red flag . . . because she’s not Allison Smith. And Ally’s—make that Amanda’s—ordinary life is suddenly blown apart. Was everything before a lie? Who will she be after? And what will she do as now comes crashing down around her?

So the only question that remains is: what book will be your pick for your book of the month?