‘Whoever You Are, Honey’ Is Sexy as a Skinny Dip Read an Exclusive Excerpt [Video]

Perfect for sweltering summer days that stretch into steamy nights, Olivia Gatwood’s Whoever You Are, Honey (out July 9 from The Dial Press) feels like a fever dream for the AI age. It follows unlikely housemates Mitty and Bethel who have lived together in a ramshackle house on the beach in Santa Cruz, Calif. for a decade. When tech founder Sebastian and his girlfriend Lena move into the hyper-modern monstrosity next door, Mitty’s drawn into their orbit.

But as time goes on, Lena’s unsettlingly unreliable memory and Sebastian’s controlling behavior start to come to light. The closer Lena and Mitty get, the more they’re forced to confront their pasts and the secrets that lurk just beneath the surface.

Below, peek through the curtains into their world, in an exclusive excerpt shared with PEOPLE.

In the middle of the night, the stretch of sparsely occupied beachfront properties lining Potbelly Beach Road resembles a row of …