Has this recent set of days off made you wish for a time where the sun stayed out just a bit longer? As the winter drags on, reminisce on days spent on sunny beaches, ice cream cones, and ocean waves with these book recommendations set during everybody’s favorite season.
Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren
Narrated through timelines titled “Then” and “Now,” Love & Other Words follows Macy Sorensen as her current emotionally tepid routine of work, more work, and work (again) begins to fall apart after she reunites with her first love, Elliot Petropoulos. Years ago, Elliot was everything to Macy. But following an unnamed incident, the pair cut off all contact for a decade. Alternating between their teen summers spent trading books, swimming, and sharing secrets and their adult years rekindling their connection and making sense of the past, this simple yet memorable love story makes for a perfect quick read to transport you straight out of winter. This book felt like talking to a best friend on a warm summer night, as the chemistry between Macy and Elliot is undoubtedly apparent from the very first scene.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Nina Riva is among the world’s most famous models of the 1980s. Her swimsuit ads grace more magazine spreads than she can count, and most girls grow up wishing they looked like her. Who wouldn’t want a life as easy and glamorous? But Nina would rather go back to the days when her mother was still alive and she could let time fly while surfing with her siblings. Told through flashbacks to their early lives on the night of Nina’s big end-of-summer party, the Riva siblings grow up, fall apart, and come back stronger than before. One summer night in California can change anything, and Malibu Rising’s ending is sure to linger in your head long after finishing the last page. Easily bingeable and deeply moving, this is the perfect book to bring on a long car ride or trip—once you open it up, it becomes nearly impossible to put down.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Have you ever broken up with your fiancé and hid the news out of fear of breaking up your friend group? Harriet hasn’t either. But when the breakup actually happens, her and her ex Wes can’t bring themselves to tell their circle of closest mutual friends. The lie works for about six months until their friend Sabrina invites them to her house on the coast of Maine for a week in the summer, and Harriet and Wes must maintain the image of a happy couple still desperately in love for a whole week. The friend group lives out their stay jumping off the dock, biking around town, and having dinners out in the warm air. With all this time together, the pair end up talking out their past and rekindling the relationship they both thought was over for good. This perfect use of the classic fake-dating trope tells a story of friendship, family, and finding your way back to someone, and will leave you longing for your very own summer adventures with the people you love.
Even though the end of the school year may still seem far away, these summer reads are perfect to take your mind back to our beloved months off.
