JUNE TEXAS BOOK PREVIEW
Preview of Texas-connected books publishing in June, 2026
Elevate your summer reading
Uplift the Texas literary community by exploring one of the new releases we’ve rounded up for June. Let a Texas author empower you to explore a new genre, relax with a guilty pleasure (minus the guilt), or find the perfect book to kickstart your summer. Lone Star Lit is here to help you elevate your summer reading, Texas-style. Read on to explore these highlights.
Two wounded souls. One coastal town. A chance to heal together.
After a stunning betrayal, painter Keaton Maxwell finds solace in Driftwood Bay. Layne Larson loses her job, her boyfriend, and her parents, causing her to return to her hometown. She seeks Keaton’s assistance in renovating her inheritance, the Bay Breeze Inn, determined to breathe new life into the B&B and claim a fresh start for herself.
As the renovation progresses, they discover that love can bloom when it’s least expected.
Will the shadows from their pasts pull them apart, or will Keaton and Layne have the courage to embrace the love they’ve found—and the future that awaits them?
When architect Briar Adler lands in Beaumere, South Carolina, she is not just chasing a dream project. She is running. From a life that unraveled faster than she could fix it and from the version of herself she left behind. The crumbling coastal manor is supposed to be a reset. Temporary. Quiet. No feelings required.
Wystan Hargrave wants nothing to do with any of it. He avoids people, avoids the town, and would very much like everyone to leave him alone. Unfortunately for him, Briar does not know how to be quiet, and she definitely does not know how to mind her own business.
This was always going to be temporary. The problem is, Beaumere and one very reluctant man are starting to feel like something she might not want to run from.
In 1986, the quiet town of Bluesummer, Texas, was shattered by the crimes of an elusive serial killer known as The Songbird Strangler.
Four lifelong friends—Hayes Sheridan, Troy Terrell, Greer Collins, and Chantilly “Tilly” Price—planned one last unforgettable summer before college. Only three survived. Tilly became the killer’s fifth victim, and the evidence pointed to one of their own.
Thirty-five years later, Troy sits on death row while attorney Joaquin Ramos takes on his final appeal. What begins as a search for procedural errors soon uncovers evidence that Troy may be innocent—and that the real killer may still be hiding in plain sight.
As Greer begins investigating the past herself, she starts questioning everything she thought she knew, including her role in Troy’s conviction.
Easy Going gives us Leon Hale where he is most at home, on the road.
In a collection drawn from his longtime column for The Houston Post he takes us with him from the Grand Prairie to the Piney Woods to the Lower Rio Grande Valley to the “quiet, thoughtful” countryside of Washington County. This is Texas at its backroads best, a portrait of people and places that remains fresh and unique despite the passage of time.
When a spectacular meltdown launches college party girl Emily Murray thirty years into the future, she wakes up in a life she doesn’t recognize—and engaged to a stranger.
With no way back and a wedding barreling toward her, Emily must navigate a shaky career as a therapist, a competitor at her doorstep, and the unsettling possibility that this future might be hers for good.
Feels Like the First Time is a witty, heartwarming journey of growing up—no matter when it happens.
Sherry Shindelar, Denise Farnsworth, Susan F. Craft
Three remarkable women find themselves caught between two worlds on the American frontier. A captive of the Comanche must choose between escaping to white society or her growing feelings for a rising war chief in 1850s Texas.
A Georgia judge’s daughter flees an unwanted betrothal during the War of 1812, only to be captured by Creek warriors but protected by a mysterious brave. And in 1754, an English lady traveling the Great Wagon Road to become a music teacher discovers her carefully planned future may not survive her attraction to a protective frontiersman.
Three unforgettable romances prove that God’s greatest blessings often come disguised as our greatest challenges, and that true love can bridge any divide.
Emma Watters, 15, has been running since she watched her little sister die in their front yard six years ago.
But no matter how fast or far she runs, she can’t outdistance what haunts her most—Casey would be alive if it were not for her.
Recently diagnosed with PTSD, Emma longs to reclaim a life worth living. If she has any hope of recovery, she’ll need to confront long-buried truths surrounding Casey’s death, as well as face their formidable mom, who harbors secrets of her own.
Can Emma muster the courage it will take to reset her course? With help from a tough-talking track coach, her feisty grandma, new friends, and, yes, even her dead sister, she may stand a chance. In the process, Emma also might unearth the other girl who was buried the day Casey died—her truest self.
Distance swimmer, Muriel Quinn longs for the sea, despite her father’s efforts to steer her toward a more respectable life. When she witnesses a boating accident, she dives in to save a man from drowning and awakens her heart in the process.
Zane Erickson has no interest in the marriage his mother wishes to arrange—until the mysterious woman who saved his life reappears as a potential match. However, their reunion is no coincidence. Caught in a dangerous web of blackmail and deceit, Zane and Muriel must risk everything to protect their growing love—and the lives of those they hold dear.
Isabella of France came to England as the bride of King Edward II. She expected the chivalry and grace of her father’s kingdom, but found a court corrupted by greed and a husband more devoted tohis favorites than to his wife or his realm.
Stripped of her lands, wealth and influence but refusing to be a pawn, she is sent to France on a diplomatic mission. There, she finds love, builds an army, and returns to save England for her son, the heir to the throne.
The Queen Among Kings blends high-stakes political intrigue, romance, and medieval drama.
A story of love and science on the eve of the twentieth century.
A Fae scientist and his human mathematician seek to synthesize the Philosopher’s Stone and grant immortality to mortals.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
There are so many Texas-connected books publishing this month that we couldn’t feature all of them. The following books also publish in June:
CHILDREN'S, MIDDLE GRADE, & YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
Just Call Me Uncle Sam by Preston Lewis & Harriet Kocher Lewis
Ly-Lan and the Missing Tooth Fairy by Hà Dinh
That Texas Blood by Chris Condon
There Once was a Cowgirl by Susan K. Holt
The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar by Kristine Rudolph
When Dealing with Dragons by Dana Swift
FANTASY / SCI-FI
Beneath the Sacred Well by Rocio Carranza
Dragons on the Edge by Maria Grace
Exit Survey by Jaxon Reed
Fleet of Ghosts by Taylor Anderson
Hansel and Circe by Eve Pohler
Kneel in the Ashes by Missy S. Castillo
Lured in the Crimson by Mary Dublin & Anne Kendsley
Of Fate and Fury by Amy Woodruff
Rift Slayer by Adrienne Renick
MYSTERY / HORROR
All the Bones Beneath Bayview Bridge by Adam Taylor Barker
Barn Raising to Die For by Jovie Grace
A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery by Kate Khavari
Bows, Brownies and Betrayal by Linda Carroll-Bradd
By the River’s Edge by Gregg Olson
Colts Crossing…Unsolved by Brittany E. Brinegar
Crystal Clear Prophecy by Leanne Leeds
Death and Macarons by Nova Walsh
Fury Over Texas by William W. Johnstone J.A. Johnstone
Headlights by C.J. Leede
A Hill to Die On by L.J. Breedlove
The House of Falling Light by R.J. Ellory
Midas Touch by Gary Grossman
Off the Record by Sara Goodman Confino
Rules for Aging and Larceny by Julia London
The Secret Attic by Chelsea Conradt
Shadow Creek by Sam Baron
Sinister Remnants by Anita Dickason
A Smashing Good Time 2 by Eric Butler
Snow Ghost by Pamela Fagan Hutchins
Spelled for Choice by Sarah Noffke
The Summer Fun Massacre by Craig DiLouie
Whisper Creek by Allison Brennan
Wisteria Winter by Ann Swann
NONFICTION
Anchored in Hope by Jen Geigle Johnson
Autoimmunity and the Good Girls by Sara Hirsh Bordo
Committee of One by Opal Lee
Denton Women’s Interracial Fellowship by Annetta Ramsey
The Hill We Climbed edited by Will Guzmán and William T. Hoston
J.T. Canales and the Texas Rangers by Richard Ribb
Los Llaneros: The Mexican Southern Plains, 1500-1900 by Joel Zapata, Andrew Reynolds, Alex Hunt and John Beusterien
Memoirs: A Blessed Life by Ken Aldridge
Monster of a Land by Lauren Hough
Morbid: Debunking Modern Longevity Science by Saul Justin Newman
Rowdy Girl: Confessions of a Vegan Cattle Rancher by Renee King-Sonnen
Spies in Saigon by James P. Bevill
Stepping Outside by Jason P. Julian
Teaching the Texas Story by Donald S. Frazier and Richard Bruce Winders
Texan Crucible by Marian J. Barber
The Texas Fencing Riposte by John Lee Baird
Veracruz All Natural: Fresh Mexican Recipes from Our American Home by Reyna Vazquez & Maritza Vazquez
OTHER FICTION
Amos Flagg Has His Day by Clay Randall and Clifton Adams
BANTA: Where the Frontier Shapes the Man by Michelle Ballard & James Jordon
Blue Copper by Diane M. Dresback
By the Way of Texas by Brisco Woods
The Family Speaks by Kirk Ward Robinson
Forgotten Summer: In the Spotlight, Every Secret Casts a Shadow by Timothy Gene Sojka
Gallery of Death by William Xavier Chandler
Home Beneath the Star by Donald L. Robertson
The Knights of the Golden Circle by Sidney St. James
The Laboratory Assistant by Natalia Loya
More To Do by Heather J. Bennett
The Pretense of Memory by C.F. Yetmen
Rasputin Swims the Potomac by Ben Fountain
Sam Houston’s Republic by Lynn Tagawa
Watercolor by Stephen W. Reid
We Are Gathered Here Today by Bobby Finger
POETRY
Birds of America by Chera Hammons
ROMANCE
13 Little Love Stories: An anthology inspired by Taylor Swift songs by Julie Murphy, J. Elle, Katharine McGee
Barreled Over by Katrina Marie
Blaze of Glory by Diana Palmer
Broken Pride by Kindle Alexander
Bullied Mate of Four Alphas by Mia Wolf
Century Trails by BA Tortuga
A Certain Kind of Man by Jen FitzGerald
Chase Me If You Can by Heather Frances
Colton by LaQuette
Counting on a Maverick by Makenna Lee
The Cowboy’s Forever by Matilda Martel
The Cruel Duke’s Practical Duchess by Dorothy Sheldon
Daybreak by Sharon Sala
Depraved Desires by Morgan Bridges
Determined Catherine by Jen Geigle Johnson
Dreco: From Street Corners to CEO by Lady Lissa
Finish Lines by Sarah Broyles
Fortune’s Surprise Reunion by Teri Wilson
The Great Outdoors by Kayla Olson
Her Texas Plus-One by Carol Ross
June’s Cowboy Jace by Eve London
Kiss Me Forever by Carrie Ann Ryan
Last Man Standing by Jill Sorenson
The Lawyer on the Texas Ranch by Marisa Masterson
Like Romeo Loves Juliet by Kalyn Gensic
The Monster’s Captive by C.C. Woods
My Grumpy Boss by Shaw Hart
Off the Mound by Nicole Lenz
Out of Bounds by Laura Carter
Petals & Portals by Michelle Miles
The Raven at the Ash Door by K.A. Linde
Rejected Alpha Mate by Mia Wolf
Roped in Danger by Jenna Brandt
Saving Hell by S.E. Dymek
SEAL of Courage by Jessica Ashley
The Second Coming by Stephanie Pass
Seth by Casey Dawes
A Shop Girl’s Guide to Wooing a Lord by Shana Galen
Stone by Nat Logan
Stormbroken by Janalyn Knight
A Sweet Promise by Ginny Sterling
Taming I Do by Dylann Crush
Texas Pride by Kindle Alexander
Texas Promise by Irene Lawless
Under His Influence by Stephanie Morris
Until I Found You by Erika Kelly
A Very Grumpy Sheriff by Shaw Hart
West of Forever by Jules Woods
When the Candles Go Out by S.B. Roth