In this post I’ll be sharing some lighthearted contemporary book recommendations from my curated summer reading list.
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Recently I’ve found myself enjoying some major binge reading sessions. And with summer around the corner, I’m craving some fluffy and lighthearted books to add to my collection – you know the ones that are ideal for beach and poolside reading.
After going down a major rabbit hole of book recommendation videos on Youtube and browsing through “BookTok” to see what the summer book buzz was all about, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most talked about titles that transport you to the perfect summery settings – a quaint beach town, tropical islands, lake houses, and steamy city streets.
Most of the books I’ve selected for my 2023 summer reading list fall under the rom-com/chick-lit genres, but I also included a few mystery/suspense options for days when I’m craving something a tiny bit darker. I’m certain that none of these are literary masterpieces, but instead light and effortless reads that will provide just the right amount of casual escapism. Best served with a margarita on the side.
So if you’re looking for some fresh summer reading recs, check out the list below and join me as I dive into these books over the next couple of scorching hot months.
12 books to add to your summer reading list:
Click on a title for the synopsis and purchase links. For even more summer reading suggestions, click here to see my complete list.
- Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
- Beach Read by Emily Henry
- Sunburn by Laura Lippman
- When in Rome by Sarah Adams
- Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
- The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
- The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
- Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
- Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
- Summer on Dune Road by Rachel Cullen
- A Perfect Vintage by Chelsea Fagan
1 / Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship.
But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy’s fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.
The smash-hit debut novel for every woman who has ever had a complicated love-hate friendship.
2 / Beach Read by Emily Henry
A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
Theyโre polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. Sheโll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and heโll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
3 / Sunburn by Laura Lippman
One is playing a long game. But which one?
They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says heโs also passing through. Yet she stays and he staysโdrawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the otherโdangerous, even lethal, secrets.
Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each otherโs lives and lies that neither one knows how to get awayโor even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them?
Somethingโor someoneโhas to give.
Which one will it be?
4 / When in Rome by Sarah Adams
Amelia Rose, known as Rae Rose to her adoring fans, is burned-out from years of maintaining her โprincess of popโ image. Inspired by her favorite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is.
When Noah Walker finds Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he makes it clear he doesnโt have the time or patience for celebrity problems. Heโs too busy running the pie shop his grandmother left him and reminding his nosy but lovable neighbors to mind their own damn business. Despite his better judgment, he lets her stay in his guest roomโbut only until her car is fixedโthen sheโs on her own.
Then Noah starts to see a different side of Rae Roseโsheโs Amelia: kindhearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. He canโt help but get close to her. Soon sheโll have to return to her glamorous life on tour, but until then, Noah will show Amelia all the charming small-town experiences sheโs been missing, and sheโll help him open his heart to more.
Amelia canโt resist falling for the cozy town and her grumpy tour guide, but even Audrey had to leave Rome eventually.
5 / Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabbyโs guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.
Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if sheโs ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?
In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?
Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes sheโs found him.
6 / Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder?
Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether heโs the tennis proโor someone elseโs husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other.
Until a body is discovered, face down, off the side of the boardwalk.
Stylish, subversive, and darkly comedic, this is a story of what’s lurking under the surface of picture-perfect lives in a place where everyone has something to hide.
7 / The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion…she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.
Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who arenโt affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly thereโs a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.
Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is…Olive doesnโt mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.
8 / The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When sheโs named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a once Gilded Age gem turned abandoned eyesore, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can win the favor of their new London billionaire owner, Xavier Darling, as well as that of Shelly Carpenter, the wildly popular Instagram tastemaker who can help put them back on the map. And while the Hotel Nantucket appears to be a blissful paradise, complete with a celebrity chef-run restaurant and an idyllic wellness center, thereโs a lot of drama behind closed doors. The staff (and guests) have complicated pasts, and the hotel canโt seem to overcome the bad reputation it earned in 1922 when a tragic fire killed nineteen-year-old chambermaid Grace Hadley. With Grace gleefully haunting the halls, a staff harboring all kinds of secrets, and Lizbetโs own romantic uncertainty, is the Hotel Nantucket destined for success or doom?
Filled with the emotional depth and multiple points of view that characterize Hilderbrandโs novels (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added dash of Roaring Twenties history, The Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this compelling summer drama.
9 / Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
What would make the perfect man? That’s the delicious topic that heats up the proceedings at a certain table of professional women at their favorite restaurant. What qualities would he have? Would he be tall, dark, and handsome? Caring and warmheartedโor would just muscular do? Jaine Bright and her three girlfriends start off with the basics: he’d be faithful and reliable, the responsible type, and have a great sense of humor.
But as the conversation picks up momentum, so do the quartet’s requirements for Mr. Perfect as and they write down a tongue-in-cheek checklist that’s both funny and racy. The next thing they know, the List, as it has come to be called, becomes an overnight sensation, spreading through their company like wildfire and grabbing the interest of local newspapers and television coverage. No one expected this avalanche of attention for something that began as a joke among friends. But the joke turns deadly serious when one of the four women is murdered…
The prime suspect in the case is the victim’s boyfriend, who was one of a number of men who found the List sexist and offensive. An impenetrable alibi gets him off the hook, but a deadly stalker targets the three remaining friends. Now, with the help of Jaine’s neighbor, an unpredictable police detective, the puzzle must be solved as the dream of Mr. Perfect becomes a chilling nightmare.
10 / Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.
They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.
Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barryโs Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florekโthe man she never thought sheโd have to live without.
For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his familyโs restaurant and curling up together with booksโmedical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for herโPercy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.
When Percy returns to the lake for Samโs motherโs funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years sheโs spent punishing herself for them, theyโll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.
Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic story of love and the people and choices that mark us forever.
11 / Summer on Dune Road by Rachel Cullen
Summer in the Hamptons should be filled with cocktails by the pool, bonfires on the beach, and sunset clam bakes. Instead, Nora, Megan, and Courtney are battling dreadful blind dates, duplicitous roommates, and blackmailing ex-boyfriends.
Nora recently moved into her newly constructed dream home on Dune Road. She sold her company in a legendary eight-figure deal and now has unlimited time and money to spend however she chooses. But sadly, sheโs alienated friends and family on her rise to the top and now finds herself all alone when things may be at their worst.
Megan has let a dangerous situation spiral out of control and needs a chance to clear her head and regroup. Her plans for a post-graduation trip have fallen apart, and the closest thing she has to a family is inconveniently using the summer to relocate. So, when Megan gets a last-minute offer for a guest house in Westhampton Beach, she jumps at the chance, even though her hostess is a stranger, and itโs only a temporary solution to a persistent problem.
Courtney just graduated from college and simultaneously lost the two things that defined her โ collegiate basketball and her best friend turned boyfriend. She desperately needs a change of scenery to recover and mend her broken heart, which is why Courtney takes the leap when the opportunity to spend two months in the Hamptons falls in her lap, even though the classmate who invited her is barely more than an acquaintance.
When a series of disastrous events transpire, Nora, Megan, and Courtney band together and find solace in their unlikely friendship. While itโs a far cry from the respite they each imagined, this improbable trio may not be too late to enjoy an unforgettable summer on Dune Road.
12 / A Perfect Vintage by Chelsea Fagan
Lea Mortimer has everything under control. As a highly sought-after consultant specializing in transforming dilapidated French country estates into boutique hotels, she relishes her freedom as a single, childfree woman. And her life is full, occupied as much by her impeccable historic renovations as by the aristocratic — and often exhausting — French families she works for.
But after the heated divorce of her closest friend and cousin Stephanie Bryce, Lea finds herself taking Stephanie and her college-aged daughter to the Loire Valley in France for the summer. As they tag along for Lea’s latest work assignment, despite their best intentions, they threaten to complicate the tightrope act of launching the hotel on time. And when Lea unexpectedly falls for the much-younger son of her boss, she quickly learns the beauty and danger of losing control.
As affairs bloom in the idyllic chateau, wars of inheritance play out between the family, and betrayals threaten even the most solid relationships. Lea realizes that it’s not just a broken heart she’s risking, but her entire, meticulously-constructed life blowing up in her face.
Hopefully, you found a few recs in this list that sparked your interest! I can’t wait to enjoy some lazy poolside afternoons spent with my nose in a lighthearted contemporary novel that fully embodies the summertime spirit.
Happy Reading!
For more summer book recommendations, check out my complete list here!
Xx Laura
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