It's time for another seasonal reading list! Summer is undeniably my heaviest reading season, but when you've got a few hundred unread titles sitting on your shelves, both physical and digital, it can get a little overwhelming deciding what to read next.
Two years ago, I decided to try to narrow my focus a bit and put together
my first summer reading list. It featured only ten titles, and I've read all but two of them.
Last year's list was a bit longer with fifteen titles, including the two that I didn't read the previous year:
Beyond the Moonlight Sea and
The Venice Sketchbook. I hate to say it, but those same two titles as well as six others remain on that list. However,
Beyond the Moonlit Sea and
A Lullaby for Witches are both part of this year's
One Woman Book Club, so they're guaranteed reads.
This year I decided to go big and curate a list of 20 books that I would like to read this summer. Four of them are part of my book club, and most of the others have appeared in TBR lists over the years. This list is meant to span the entirety of the summer season (June 21-Sepemenber 21), hence the four book club picks. Also, September is still summer where I live, regardless of if we're back in school or not.
As always, a lot of these books are available via
Kindle Unlimited, which is my most-used app of all time. For $11.99 per month, I have access to thousands of titles and can borrow up to 20 at a time. I'm also a
Prime member, which gives me access to
Amazon First Reads. Each month I get to choose an early-release title to read for free. I don't always take advantage of this program, but three of the books on this year's summer reading list came from there.
Because this is a summer reading guide, I wanted to pick books that felt like summer. Quite a few of these have beach or lake settings or take place during the summer months. There's very little fantasy in this list, which I feel like is becoming more of a norm for me these days as I struggle to find fantasy books that feel new. There's suspense and mystery, true crime, family drama, romance, and even a sci-fi title. So it's a nice mix, I think, with a little something for everyone.
Let me know if you add any of these to your own reading list!
20 Books to Add to Your TBR This Summer
Summer of '69
Author: Elin Hilderbrand
This is my June book club pick, and I've already checked it out from my local library. I can't wait to start it. The summer of 1969 is famous, and not just thanks to that Bryan Adams song. From Senator Ted Kennedy's car accident that killed a campaign worker to man's first lunar landing, it was a summer of many changes, and the Levin family is no exception. Thirteen-year-old Jessie feels like an only child, stuck in her grandmother's historic Nantucket home for the summer for the first time without her siblings. Her oldest sister is pregnant with twins and can't travel, her middle sister is a civil rights activist and has taken a summer job on Martha's Vineyard, and her brother has been deployed to Vietnam.
Beyond the Moonlit Sea
Author: Julianne MacLean
This book has been on many of my reading lists, and this is the year that I'm finally going to cross it off because it's my July book club pick. Olivia has finally given up hope that her husband, who disappeared years ago while flying a private jet over the Bermuda Triangle, is still alive. A shocking discovery connects Olivia with Melanie, a scientist studying the Bermuda Triangle, and sheds new light on her husband's disappearance.
The Housewarming
Author: Kristin Offiler
This is the perfect book for my August pick since it takes place during the month of August. It's been five years since Callie, Meg, Tess, Lindsey, and Zoe took a vacation on Block Island where Zoe disappeared without a trace. Today, the case remains unsolved and the friend group estranged. Callie hopes to change that when she invites the other three to reunite on the anniversary of Zoe's disappearance. But they're not the only ones back on the island. A true crime podcaster who made a name for herself with the original case is back as well and is once again shining a spotlight of suspicion on the group of friends.
Lightning in a Mason Jar
Author: Catherine Mann
This is my book club pick for September. When Bailey Rae's adoptive aunt dies, she plans to settle her estate and move to Myrtle Beach where she'll use her aunt's cookbook to start a food truck business. But Bailey Rae's best laid plans go awry when a distraught young woman shows up on her doorstep holding a copy of her aunt's cookbook with a code inside promising safe haven for women on the run. Bailey Rae has all the questions about who her aunt really was and the deeper she digs, the more she understands her aunt's courage and the more purpose she finds for herself.
The God of the Woods
Author: Liz Moore
This novel is set in a summer camp in 1975, making it a perfect book for summer. Barbara Van Laar goes missing from the camp in August. But she's not just another camper; Barbara is the 13-year-old daughter of the family that owns the camp. She's also not the first child in her family to disappear. Her older brother vanished without a trace fourteen years ago.
Dear Debbie
Author: Freida McFadden
It's official. I have jumped on the Frieda McFadden fan train. I have high hopes for this one since I enjoyed The Teacher so much. This one is about an advice columnist, Debbie Mullen. For years, Debbie has offered advice to the women of New England in her Dear Debbie column. But she's just been fired. Not only that but her teenage daughters are acting strange, and her husband is keeping secrets. So Debbie decides to take her own advice for once and get a little payback.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Author: Matt Dinniman
This is definitely not my usual read, but the blurb on the back cover made me laugh out loud, and I knew I had to give it a shot. Carl is a Coast Guard veteran who's just survived an alien invasion that destroyed all the man-made structures on Earth. He, along with his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, now find themselves contestants on an intergalactic game show set in a fantasy dungeon. This is an ongoing series, but the reviews are fantastic, and from what I'm seeing it's truly meant for everyone.
Love and Ruin
Author: Paula McLain
This is probably my biggest summer reading goal for the year -- to finish this book that I have been reading on and off for what feels like forever. I am determined to make it to the end before I go back to school. It's not that this book is bad, y'all. It's just so serious, and I've not had the mental bandwidth to focus on it. It is a fictionalized account of Martha Gellhorn's life. She is one of the world's first female war correspondents who also happened to have an affair with and then marry Ernest Hemingway.
The Wedding People
Author: Alison Espach
Phoebe Stone has somehow managed to crash a wedding party at the grand Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. She looks the part, certainly, and no one questions her presence, but she's not there for the wedding. No. She's come because she's always wanted to, though she's not with the husband she thought she'd be traveling with and is at rock bottom. The bride, meanwhile, has accounted for every possible problem...except Phoebe and her plan.
The Three Lives of Cate Kay
Author: Kate Fagan
Cate Kay is a famous author with a bestselling trilogy that turned into box office gold as a film series. But she never attends author events and has never done an interview. Because Cate Kay doesn't really exist. It's a pseudonym cleverly crafted to hide her real identity. The real Cate has been running from her past, assuming different names as she goes to chart a new future. Now, a shocking revelation has her returning home to rediscover who she really is.
The Amalfi Curse
Author: Sarah Penner
I have not been disappointed by this author yet, so I'm really excited about this one. Haven is a nautical archaeologist investigating shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. She's hoping to locate the priceless gemstones seen by her late father on his last dive, but not long after she arrives in the village of Positano, strange storms and misfortunes start befalling the town. As she searches for this sunken treasure, Haven uncovers a centuries-old tale of sorcery and one woman's quest to save her lover and village by harnessing the ocean.
The Sirens
Author: Emilia Hart
In the 1800s, twin girls sail from Ireland to Australia after their mother drowns. The further out to sea they get, the more the water calls to them. In the late 90s, teenage Jess feels isolated from her peers thanks to a rare water allergy until she's noticed by the charming young art teacher. Now, in the present day, Jess's younger sister Lucy seeks her help after waking up with her hands around her ex's throat. Lucy's search for answers lead to rumors of men missing at sea, a baby discovered in a cave, and voices heard on the waves.
Life, & Death, & Giants
Author: Ron Rindo
No one knows what to make of Gabriel Fisher. When he was born, he weighed 18 pounds and was 27-inches long. He walked at 8 months, can communicate with animals, and is athletically gifted. When his caregiver dies, his Amish grandparents take him in. Disapproving of the attention aimed his way, they hide Gabriel away from the world. But it's hard to hide a teenager whose nearly 8 feet tall. At the age of 17, the local football coach sees Gabriel working in a field, and what happens next changes everything.
Bright Young Women
Author: Jessica Knoll
This is a true crime type story that is based on the Ted Bundy serial murders in the late 1970s. Except it doesn't focus on the killer so much as on the victims and survivors. Like Pamela Schumacher, the president of the Florida sorority that the "All-American Sex Killer" targeted in 1978. Pamela teams up with Tina Cannon who's convinced her missing friend is one of his victims. Their goal? To catch him before he kills again.
Land of Dreams
Author: Gian Sardar
Frankie Donnelly is a "fixer" at RCO Studios in 1933. Her latest assignment revolves around the upcoming marriage of Jack Sawyer and June Finney. Millions of fans can't wait to see the silver-screen lovers tie the knot, but Frankie knows the marriage is just a cover for the actors' secrets. A shocking murder leads to fractured allegiances, tabloid craziness, and a reeling public. Frankie, meanwhile, uncovers even more layers of scandal and deception and has to choose which Hollywood player to protect and which to destroy.
The Starfish Sisters
Author: Barbara O'Neal
Phoebe and Suze were best friends who shared everything, until they didn't, and those secrets they couldn't share eventually drove them apart. Now, Phoebe is a successful artist who doesn't let anyone except her granddaughter get close. Suze, meanwhile, is a famous actress who's come back to town after a brutal attack seeking safe haven. Phoebe, however, doesn't know how to face her old friend and all the things they never said.
Daughter of the Pirate King
Author: Tricia Levenseller
This is the start of a three-book series, which I don't typically include on reading guides, but pirate stories are perfect for summer, right? On a mission to find an ancient map leading to a legendary treasure trove, Alosa, daughter of the Pirate King, allows herself to be capture by her enemies so that she can search their ship. The only thing standing between her and the map is her captor, first mate Riden.
The Sky Beneath Her
Author: Mary Ellen Taylor
Tula Cassidy's mother died in a diving accident, leaving Tula terrified of the ocean she once loved. Seven years later, Tula is clearing out an old beach house in the Outer Banks when she receives a mysterious manuscript about a passenger ship that sunk in 1942. As Tula digs into the history of the Oceanus, she discovers an unexpected family connection and a story of survival that helps her on her own healing journey.
Where the Sea Lavender Grows
Author: Kitty Johnson
In 1939, Lilias Carter-Brown and her sister turned Marsh House into a sanctuary for a mother and son evacuating from London. Unexpectedly, Lilias formed an intimate bond with Harry, the child's father. When Harry vanishes without a trace, Lilias's life changes forever. In the present day, Elise is working to restore Marsh House to its former glory. She learns of Lilias's story when she finds an old photograph and sets out to solve the mystery of Harry's disappearance.
Wake-Up Calls
Author: Mariah Stewart
Kit Porterfield has just inherited a rustic campground in Maine from an aunt she didn't know existed. When she gets there, she find the lakeside camp in need of restoration and a long-buried family secret. One that her mother took great pains to hide from Kit her entire life. Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery that defined not only her mother's life but also her own, Kit sets out on a journey to uncover the truth of what tore the two sisters apart. She finds clues in old photographs and in the story of a tragic, enduring love story.
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