The lazy, hazy days of summer are just around the corner and I’m looking forward to sunshine, warm weather and beach reads! Now’s the time to plan summer reading lists – this is my favourite reading season and my TBR list for summer is always soooo long!
My reading recommendations for the best books to read summer 2025 include recently published or soon-to-be-published contemporary fiction, historical fiction, romance, and mysteries that I have already read or that are on my TBR list for this summer.
Most of my summer reading picks are on the lighter side but there are a few that are more serious for when you’re looking for a book with a bit more substance.
Enjoy a fun-filled summer of books!!
Note: I read across a lot of genres and I only choose books that I have already read or plan to read over the coming weeks for my book lists. If I haven’t yet read the book when I publish the book list then I include the blurb provided by the publisher and update the article with my own thoughts after I read it. I also make a conscious effort to try and include diversity in the books I choose to read. Some of the buzziest books of the season are on my lists but I hope I also introduce you to some titles that you might not have heard of otherwise.
You Might Also Enjoy Reading
35 of the Best Books to Read Summer 2024
The Best Books to Read This Summer (2023)
35 of the Best Summer Beach Reads for 2022
This post may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase then we receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
1. My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Setting: Not specified but presumably Sweden
Louisa, an aspiring artist just turned 18, carries around a postcard of one of the most famous paintings in the world – a painting of the sea with three tiny figures that most people don’t even notice sitting at the end of a long pier. After seeing the painting in person at an auction, she meets a man named Ted who was a friend of the artist and, through an unusual turn of events, the priceless painting comes to be in her possession. Determined to find out more about the three enigmatic figures in the painting, Louisa boards a train bound for a distant seaside town and Ted tells her a story about a group of friends and one unforgettable summer.
Twenty-five years earlier in a small town by the sea, a group of 14 year-olds spend their summer days hanging out together at the pier. They are lost souls – kids not quite adults – who have experienced loss and live with an ever present threat of violence. Their friendship is what sustains each of them and provides a refuge from a harsh world. Out of that summer emerges a work of art that will change lives including a stranger’s twenty-five years later.
Fredrik Backman remains one of my favourite authors – his words always make me laugh out loud, cry and think about life and what it means to be human. I’m not sure anything can top the Beartown trilogy for me but My Friends is beautiful – a deeply moving coming-of-age story that demonstrates how masterful Backman is at telling a story that will touch his readers’ hearts.
My Friends is a story about art, love, loss, friendship and found family that is at times heartbreakingly sad yet also funny and hopeful. Backman has once again created a cast of memorable characters and, as with his previous novels, I find myself still thinking about them long after I have turned the last page.
2. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Setting: Houston, Texas
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.
3. The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb
Setting: Connecticut, United States
Corby Ledbetter is a struggling but devoted stay-at-home dad who cares for two year-old twins, Maisie and Nico, while his wife, Emily, works as a teacher to support their family. Their marriage is strained as Corby was laid off from his job as a commercial artist months earlier and is hiding the fact that he has given up on job hunting as well as his mounting addiction to alcohol and the pills he was prescribed for anxiety.
After Emily leaves for work one morning, Corby downs a coffee spiked with rum and pops a couple of Ativan before leaving the house to drive the twins to their grandmother’s so he can spend the day drinking instead of looking for work. Distracted and under the unfluence, Corby causes a devastating accident which leads to him being convicted and sentenced to prison where he struggles to survive the brutality and hold on to hope that Emily will forgive him.
Most of The River is Waiting chronicles Corby’s time in prison dealing with his loss of freedom and his regrets over how his addiction destroyed his family. My feelings about this novel are mixed but it is a worthwhile read – well-written and thought-provoking.
The story gets off to a great start but then drags a bit once Corby is imprisoned. It’s well-intentioned – it’s clear that the author is familiar with the horrors of the prison system and that there’s a lot that he wants readers to understand but it gets in the way of the story a bit and slows it down. I also would have liked Corby to have been a little less self-pitying and a little more regretful about his actions for a true redemption arc.
The novel has a banger of an ending although a bit abrupt so I wasn’t altogether satisfied when I closed the book. My expectations were probably unreasonably high as I loved both She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much is True when I read them years ago and this book didn’t affect me in the same way. I’m clearly an outlier though as it’s rated very high on Goodreads so definitely read and let me know what you think.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
4. The Doorman by Chris Pavone
Setting: New York City
For nearly thirty years, affable ex-Marine Chicky Diaz has worked as as under-appreciated doorman at The Bohemia, an exclusive residence on the Upper West Side in New York City home to celebrities, financiers and New York’s cultural elite. Emily Longworth (penthouse apartment 11 C-D) is obscenely wealthy and seems to have the perfect life but her husband is a villain and the prenup is iron-clad so she can’t leave him – yet. Meanwhile, Julian Sonnenberg (apartment 2A), an art gallerist struggling with middle-age and a stale marriage, has received a call with devastating news.
The story unfolds over the course of a single day when the shooting of an unarmed Black man by police draws protesters into the streets and a bad-intentioned group of armed far-right MAGA-type counterprotesters follow suit. As darkness falls, nobody can predict what will happen but Chicky isn’t taking any chances and arrives for his shift and the Bohemia carrying a gun for the first time in his career. The city is a powder keg that’s about to explode and not everyone will survive the night.
The Doorman is not really a thriller until the last few chapters. It’s more slow-burn literary suspense that continues to pick up speed until its dramatic conclusion. I still found it to be a pageturner – loved the foreshadowing and needed to know what was going to happen! There’s sharp satire of both the right and the left and a great deal of social commentary which I enjoyed. Obscene wealth, intrigue, lust, robbery, murder – just a really great story and a fun read – perfect for summer!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
5. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
Setting: Barry’s Bay, Ontario, Canada
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.
Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
6. The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer
Setting: Australia
Publication Date: July 22, 2025
In the aftermath of a tumultuous year, Fiona Winslow finds solace in the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, the rambling family estate she once called home. Intent on restoring it, she discovers the keys to more than just the dilapidated mansion—beneath the crumbling plaster and dust are secrets that have been buried for a generation.
When a curious book, The Midnight Estate, catches her attention in her late uncle’s library, Fiona is plunged into a tale that mirrors her own—a story of love, loss and betrayal. But as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Fiona must ask herself: Is the true mystery the one hidden within the walls of her ancestral home, or is it within the pages of a book that chose her as much as she chose it?
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
7. The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
Setting: Hollywood, Austria, Germany
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann (translated from German by Ross Benjamin) is inspired by the life of Georg Wilhelm (G.W.) Pabst who was one of the best-known directors of the silent movie era before he collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Pabst was filming in France when the Nazis came to power in Germany and fled Europe for Hollywood with his wife and young son. A successful director who had launched the career of Greta Garbo, Pabst is frustrated with his inability to secure backing to make the movies he wants to in the U.S. When informed that his mother’s health is in decline, Pabst and his family return to Europe to settle his mother in a care facility but Germany invades Poland while they are visiting Austria (renamed Ostmark), war is declared and the Pabst family is trapped with the borders closed.
Pabst is summoned to Berlin to meet with Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, who would like to recruit the director to make films in Nazi Germany. Although initially reluctant, Pabst convinces himself that he can keep his art free of Nazi ideology and agrees to Goebbels’ terms so that he can resume making movies. The story in the novel about Pabst’s work in Nazi Germany is framed by chapters set in modern day where his now elderly and memory-impaired assistant is interviewed about his work with Pabst and rumours of a lost film.
The Director is a timely and thought-provoking look at complicity and how ambition might drive an artist to collaborate with fascists/authoritarians rather than resist. Pabst was so driven by his need to make art that he convinced himself that he was making apolitical films and not propaganda even though he was being funded by the Nazi regime. And once he had compromised his moral principles the first time then each subsequent step was easier until he was no longer capable of seeing how compromised he had become.
At the lowest point, his assistant can’t believe what’s transpiring on set but Pabst won’t even acknowledge the horror of what he’s implicitly condoning. Focused to the point of obsession with fully realizing his creative vision, he is willing to make any compromise necessary to create his movie masterpiece. A compelling, memorable read!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
8. A Daughter’s Place by Martha Bátiz
Setting: Spain
Madrid, 1599. Following her mother’s sudden death, fifteen-year-old Isabel goes to live in the family home of her father, the poet and war hero Miguel de Cervantes, a man she has never met. Forced to pose as a maid to conceal her illegitimate status, Isabel must adapt to a new way of life with her jealous cousin and protective aunts while she waits for her father to return from Seville. Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Esquivias, Miguel’s pious and faithful wife Catalina similarly awaits his return, blissfully unaware of Isabel’s existence.
As Miguel works on the manuscript that will become his masterpiece, Don Quixote, the years pass and Isabel grows into womanhood, falling in and out love, uncovering family secrets, and yearning for the legitimacy denied her by a rigid and callous society. Capturing two tumultuous decades of Golden Age Spain in rich historical detail, Martha Bátiz paints a compassionate portrait of a family on the precipice of great change―and the fiercely independent woman at its centre striving to make a life of her own.
Thank you to NetGalley and House of Anansi Press for providing a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
9. The Famine Orphans by Patricia Falvey
Setting: Ireland, aboard a ship and Australia
Kate Gilvarry is a young teenage girl who ends up in a workhouse in Northern Ireland after her family is evicted from their small farm when potato blight destroys their crops. Barely surviving in the Newry workhouse, she knows there is no future for her in Ireland and along with several other girls reluctantly agrees when offered the opportuntiy to travel to Australia and work as a domestic.
After a harrowing ocean voyage of many weeks, they arrive in the port of Sydney on Christmas Day in 1848 only to discover that they are not wanted due to rising anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment stoked by newspaper columnists. Along with the other girls she met aboard the ship, Kate must adjust to life in a new land first working in Sydney for a demanding employer and then on a farm in the Outback.
The Famine Orphans is an informative historical fiction novel based on the little known story of The Earl Grey Scheme and the thousands of young women (mostly orphans) who were shipped to Australia from crowded workhouses in Ireland from 1848-50. Officially, the scheme was presented as an opportunity to get the young women out of the workhouse and employed as domestic servants, however, there was also an unstated purpose that they would civilize and marry convicts who had served out their terms so that settlements could be built in the colony.
I knew nothing of this chapter in Irish/Australian history before reading the novel so enjoyed learning about these young women and their role in building Australia. The story of their voyage by ship from England to Australia was fascinating, however, I would have liked more depth to the story once they arrived in Australia even if it made the novel significantly longer. Overall, an interesting story of resilience and survival under harsh conditions in 19th century Ireland and Australia.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
10. The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau by Kristin Harmel
Setting: Boston and Paris, France
A dual timeline historical fiction novel that takes place in World War II Paris and in Boston in 2018 about a French woman descended from Robin Hood and a family tradition of stealing from the rich and evil to help the less fortunate.
Colette Marceau’s mother, Annabel, is descended from a long line of jewel thieves who follow a centuries-old code of stealing from the cruel and unkind to give to those in need. The Marceau family stays in Paris after the city falls to the Germans and Annabel joins the French Resistance stealing precious jewels from Nazis to provide funds while also training her teenage daughter, Colette, to do the same. But one night in 1942, everything goes wrong – Colette’s mother is arrested and her 4 year-old sister, Liliane, kidnapped. Liliane’s body is later found floating in the Seine but the priceless bracelet that had been sewn in the hem of her nightgown was nowhere to be found.
In Boston in 2018, 89 year-old Colette has spent her life stealing from Nazis and neo-Nazis to fund noble causes while trying to put her family’s tragedy behind her. When the long-missing bracelet turns up at a museum exhibit in Boston, however, Colette might finally discover what happened to her sister and bring a murderer to justice but first she must confront her past.
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau is well-written and well-researched World War II historical fiction from bestselling author Kristin Harmel. Her novels are always a good recommendation for fans of light historical fiction with a romance element and a happy ending. The plot relies upon some big coincidences but it’s still an enjoyable story perfect for summer reading.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
11. The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay
Setting: London, England
1973 London – Lily, the recently promoted assistant to Diana, the Tate Gallery’s Keeper of Modern Collections, has been integral in the planning of a Picasso exhibit at London’s Tate Gallery to honour the passing of the great artist. On opening night, Lily is basking in her sense of accomplishment when she pauses to admire one of the masterpieces on display and blurts out “it’s a forgery”. The gallery falls silent and Diana and the Tate’s Director attempt damage control but there’s no taking back such an outrageous declaration.
While the owner’s insurance company and Scotland Yard investigate, suspicion and scandal spread across European art circles and both Lily’s and Diana’s jobs are at risk. As it becomes apparent that she is considered the prime suspect in the forgery investigation, Lily finds herself in a race against the clock to uncover the truth with both her career and her freedom on the line.
Inspired by a real case of art forgery, Reay’s latest historical fiction novel is set against the intriguing backdrop of London’s glamorous art world of the 1970s. Alternating point of view between Lily and Diana, this is a well-written, entertaining pageturner that I devoured. I previously enjoyed the author’s books A Shadow in Moscow and The Berlin Letters and loved this one too – she’s a must-read author for me!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for providing a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
12. The Love Haters by Katherine Center
Setting: Key West, Florida
Katie Vaughn, a video producer recovering from a public break-up, is in danger of being laid off so she jumps at the opportunity when her colleague, Cole, offers her an assignment shooting a recruitment video for the US Coast Guard in Key West, Florida. The promo will feature a team of rescue swimmers including Tom ‘Hutch” Hutcherson who became an internet sensation after his heroic rescue of Jennifer Aniston’s dog.
There’s a catch though – Katie isn’t qualified for this job as she can’t swim but is pretending she can and Cole has left out a few important details about why he hasn’t taken the assignment himself.
The Love Haters is a great beach read with the fabulous Key West setting and cast of entertaining secondary characters including a bevy of colourful retirees and a loveable, very large and very funny rescue Great Dane named George Bailey (as in It’s a Wonderful Life).
This was my first time reading this author and I enjoyed the slow burn, non-spicy rom-com featuring a female main character with body image issues facing her fears, learning to practice self-acceptance and finding love. A light, fun (and funny) escape that’s perfect for summertime reading!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
13. Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
Setting: New York City
David Smith, a young queer Black Stanford grad, is arrested for cocaine possession at a nightclub in the Hamptons on the last weekend of summer just a few short weeks after the death of his best friend and roommate, Elle. Smith’s parents hire a local white lawyer to represent him who is able to negotiate possible dismissal of the charges provided that Smith takes steps to establish that he has learned a lesson and can stay clean until his final court appearance expected to take place several months later.
Smith attends AA meetings, takes part in online group therapy for addicts and submits to periodic drug testing while contemplating how his life has spun out of control. Returning to his hometown Atlanta for the Christmas holidays, the expectations of his high-achieving family of doctors, lawyers and academics worsens the downward spiral. When Smith returns to the city, his attempts to make sense of what happened to Elle and to support another friend, Carolyn, who is going off the rails draws him back into the nightlife of NYC jeopardizing his ability to stay clean and get his life back on track.
A coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of New York City’s glitzy party scene – this was a great read! Great Black Hope is introspective character-driven literary fiction (but more plot than a lot of lit fic) about a young man’s downward spiral and his months-long effort to get his life back on track. I appreciated the thought-provoking social commentary on the role that class and race play in interactions with the legal system as well as how both impact the way society views addiction and recovery.
Over the span of the novel, Smith also grapples with the weight of family expectations as he tries to figure out his life and move forward with hope for the future. I loved the author’s poetic writing style in this gripping emotional debut and am looking forward to what he writes next!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
14. The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly
Setting: Martha’s Vineyard
2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.
1942: The Smith girls—nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar—are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island’s shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended.
In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence’s dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore—and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tight-knit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war . . . before it’s too late?
15. The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei
Setting: Singapore
Genevieve Yang is an only child living with her mother, father and grandmother in a small apartment in a working class neighbourhood of Singapore until an unexpected sibling arrives on their doorstep in 1996 when Genevieve is 8 years old. Genevieve’s grandfather believed to be long-dead had actually been living in Malaysia with a secret family and had only recently died. The Malaysian family was destitute so they brought the 7 year-old granddaughter, Arin, to live with his original family in Singapore.
Genevieve takes Arin under her wing and the two girls grow up together relying on each other for everything. As teenagers, however, Arin begins to out-achieve Genevieve academically and Genevieve can’t help but resent her sister’s success. Arin’s launch of a successful career as a YouTube personality puts further strain on their relationship and it eventually leads to a betrayal and total estrangement of the two sisters.
In 2015, Genevieve is working a dead-end job in Singapore while Arin is a famous Hollywood actress who has had no contact with her family for several years but their mother is terminally ill and her last wish is to see her two daughters together again.
This dual timeline story is a moving novel that follows 20 years of the relationship between the two sisters. Told from the point-of-view of Genevieve who is a deeply human narrator plagued by insecurity, ambition and jealousy, it’s a slow-paced and character-driven story about the complicated (and sometimes dysfunctional) nature of sisterhood. The pacing lags a bit in the second half of the novel but overall an ambitious and well-written debut!
16. The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson
Setting: Cornwall, England
Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center, but so far it’s a disaster. The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk.
Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when he disappears and a dead body turns up at his house. But the book club has their own theories. Agatha Christie superfan Phyllis is determined to prove Michael’s been framed, while romance reader Arthur believes there’s a mystery woman involved, and teenage sci-fi fan Ash thinks dark forces are at play.
While trying to locate Michael, solve the murder and recover the stolen money, each of them has their own secrets to protect. But despite the danger closing in, they won’t rest until they’ve cracked the case and gotten everyone safe at home with a book, where they belong.
17. It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan
Setting: California and Long Island, New York
As a teenager, Jane Jackson was always the punchline as “Poor Janey Jakes” on a popular American sitcom but now she wants to be taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive. Desperate to get a project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan (who tanked her last screenplay), Jane blurts out that she can get mega popstar Jack Quinlan to write a song for the movie. She shared her first kiss with Jack but it ended badly and she hasn’t spoken to him in 20 years but her boss loves the idea so Jane has to do something.
Now she needs Dan’s help if she’s to have any chance of making this movie and saving her job. Jack is playing a music festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island and Jane’s only hope is that she can bump into him there and sell him on her project.
There are no hotels available so Jane has no choice but to stay with Dan at his childhood home and his large Irish family is thrilled since their visit coincides with the 40th anniversary of Dan’s parents. Due to the upcoming celebration, the Finnegan household is even more chaotic and crowded than usual and Dan and Jane are forced to share a bedroom while they spend the week trying to find Jack and pitch the idea of writing a song for the movie.
It’s a Love Story is a light summer beach read set mostly on Long Island, New York – a charming slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance with some forced proximity thrown in. There’s a journey of self-discovery as well with a female main character in her ’30s who struggles with self-worth as she both falls in love and learns to love herself. Another enjoyable summer read from Annabel Monaghan!
18. My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende
Setting: San Francisco, California and Chile
In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.
To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.
As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny.
19. Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin
Setting: Toronto, Canada
Kausar Khan, a widow of eighteen months, receives a distressing call from her thirty-something daughter, Sana, who is suspected of murdering the unpopular landlord of the desi clothing boutique she owns in a neighbourhood plaza. Determined to help, Kausar leaves North Bay and returns for the first time in 17 years to the east-end Toronto suburb where she raised her family and discovers that the thriving community she remembers has been hit by a wave of local crimes that may be connected to the murder.
Kausar is there to provide support to her daughter and granddaughters but she also plans to use her keen observational skills to investigate the crime, clear her daughter’s name and find the real killer. Because who better to pry the truth from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty?
Detective Aunty is the first installment in a well-written new cozy mystery series (Kausar Khan Investigates) from a Canadian author known for her rom-coms and it’s both a fun read and a great start to the series. Set in a Toronto neighbourhood with a thriving Southeast Asian community, this is a satisfying mystery including a Christie-esque big reveal of the murderer but also a story of self-discovery and family relationships that addresses current social issues in the city – there’s even a hint of romance.
I enjoyed this pageturning whodunnit and am already looking forward to the next in the series – particularly since there was one aspect of the mystery that wasn’t solved which I expect will pick up as a thread in book #2!
20. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
Setting: Connecticut, USA
One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.
21. Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson
Setting: Road trip across the United States
Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, Madeline (Mad) Hill has lived a quiet and mostly content life running an organic farm in Tennessee alongside her mother. Then one afternoon Reuben (Rube) Hill shows up at the farm claiming that he’s her brother. Rube explains that thirty years earlier their father abandoned him and his mother in Boston before starting a new life in Tennessee. He has recently hired a private detective (it’s 2007) to track down his father which led to him finding Mad and at least two additional half-siblings that he knows of from families that their father abandoned after leaving Mad and her mom.
Rube has a file folder of research about their dad’s identities and a madcap proposal for Mad. He wants her to join him on a cross-country road trip in his rented PT Cruiser to confront their long-absent father in California with stops in Oklahoma and Utah to collect their younger siblings – sister Pepper (Pep) who is a college basketball star and 11 year-old brother Theron (Tom) who lives with his newscaster mom.
This was my first time reading anything by this author and I enjoyed the wacky premise and the quirky characters. Run for the Hills didn’t blow me away but it’s an enjoyable family drama about a group of siblings who are strangers getting to know each other under the most unusual of circumstances and becoming a found family of sorts. It’s a quiet read – lighthearted with some touching heartfelt moments.
22. So Far Gone by Jess Walter
Setting: Pacific Northwest U.S. – Washington to Idaho
Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.
Now Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?
With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind.
23. Typewriter Beach by Meg Waite Clayton
Setting: Carmel-by-the-Sea and Hollywood, California
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage, waiting and dreading.
Meanwhile, next door, Léon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. Soon, they’re together in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast.
2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and whether she can live up to his name.
24. The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani
Setting: New Jersey and Italy
Publication Date: July 8, 2025
Jess Capodimonte Baratta is not living the life of her dreams. Not even close.
In blue-collar Lake Como, New Jersey, family comes first. Recently divorced from Bobby Bilancia, “the perfect husband,” Jess moves into her parents’ basement to hide and heal. Jess is the overlooked daughter, who dutifully takes care of her parents, cooks Sunday dinner, and puts herself last. Despite her role as the family handmaiden, Jess is also a talented draftswoman in the marble business run by her dapper uncle Louie, who believes she can do anything (once she invests in a better wardrobe).
When the Capodimonte and Baratta families endure an unexpected loss, the shock unearths long-buried secrets that will force Jess to question her loyalty to those she trusted. Fueled by her lost dreams, Jess takes fate into her own hands and escapes to her ancestral home, Carrara, Italy.
From the shadows of the majestic marble-capped mountains of Tuscany, to the glittering streets of Milan, and on the shores of enchanting Lake Como (the other one), Jess begins to carve a place in this new/old world. When she meets Angelo Strazza, a passionate artist who works in gold, she discovers her own skills are priceless. But as Jess uncovers the truth about her family history, it will change the course of her life and those she loves the most forever. In love and work, in art and soul, Jess will need every tool she has mastered to reinvent her life.
25. Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis
Setting: Upstate New York
43 year-old Abe Jacobs, a bookseller in Miami, is seriously ill suffering from an apparent autoimmune disorder that his doctors have yet to identify. Awaiting a diagnosis, Abe leaves his wife, Alex, behind in Miami and returns home to Ahkwesáhsne (also known as the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation) in upstate New York on the US/Canada border. Abe is out of options and, although skeptical, agrees to undergo a traditional healing from his Uncle Budge Billings.
While at home, Abe spends time with friends and family, confronts his fears and reconnects with his Mohawk heritage finally coming to terms with how leaving the reservation at the age of 18 has impacted his life. The story is narrated by Abe’s alter ego Dominick Deer Woods who shares snippets of Abe’s poetry as well as sidebars about the lives of Indigenous peoples in the US.
This is a compelling and thought-provoking story about a man dealing with a rare life-threatening illness who is afraid that he has run out of time without having accomplished anything which also provides fascinating insight with respect to the contemporary Indigenous experience in the U.S. Old School Indian is well-written, emotional as well as witty and the snarky Dominick Deer Woods is such a distinct voice. I loved this exceptional debut novel!
Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
26. Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
Setting: United States
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Lizzie and Bex were best friends in college. After graduation, Bex vanished, leaving Lizzie confused and devastated.
Fifteen years later, Bex is now Rebecca Sommers, a “traditional” Instagram influencer with millions of followers who salivate over her perfect life on her ranch with her five children and handsome husband, Gray. Lizzie is a struggling magazine writer, watching reels while her young children demand her attention.
One night out of the blue, Bex calls Lizzie with a career-making proposition—an exclusive interview with her about her multimillion-dollar business venture and an invitation to MomBomb, the high-profile influencing conference.
At the conference, Bex goes missing and Gray is found brutally murdered on their ranch. Lizzie finds herself plunged into the dark side of the cutthroat world of social media that includes jealousy, sordid affairs, swingers, and backstabbing. She must learn who her old friend has become and who she has double-crossed to try to find her, clear her name, and maybe even save her life.
27. Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver
Setting: England
Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour.
Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. Kate is still recovering from her own divorce and Charlie’s job offer is a lifeline. She agrees to the pretense for all interviews, signings, and appearances surrounding the novel’s publication. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story—the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again.
When Kate and Charlie meet they’re all friction and sparks—the one thing they have in common is they’re determined to play their respective parts. But as the summer heat ups and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines . . . or will they go off-script?
28. The Letter Carrier by Francesca Giannone
Setting: Italy
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
Salento, Italy, June 1934: A coach stops in the main square of Lizzanello, a tight-knit village where everyone knows each other. A couple gets off: The man, Carlo, a child of the South, is happy to be back home after a long time away; the woman, Anna—his wife—is a stranger from the North. Carlo’s brother is there to meet them, and he and everyone else can’t help but notice that Anna is as beautiful as a Greek statue.
But Anna is not like the other wives. She doesn’t gossip or attend church. She reads books no one else has ever heard of, exploring ideas that some find threatening. She even wears pants, just like a man, and thinks a woman should have rights, just like a man.
There aren’t many options for a woman with Anna’s sensibilities, so when she learns that the post office is hiring, she leaps at the opportunity. A female letter carrier? It is unthinkable! But Anna passes the postal exam and soon becomes the invisible thread connecting the town as she delivers letters between clandestine lovers, families waiting to hear news of loves ones away at war, and even helping those who can’t read.
Letters connect people, and they convey information and emotion. But for some in Lizzanello, letters are too little and too late.
29. The Names by Florence Knapp
Setting: England
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son’s birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she’d like to call the child, Cora hesitates…
Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora’s and her young son’s lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.
30. The Bombshell by Darrow Farr
Setting: Corsica
Corsica, 1993. As a sun-drenched Mediterranean summer heads into full swing, beautiful and brash seventeen-year-old Séverine Guimard is counting down the days until graduation, dreaming of stardom while smoking cigarettes, and seducing boys in her class to pass the time. The pampered French American daughter of a politician, Séverine knows she’s destined for bigger things.
That is, until one night, Séverine is snatched off her bike by a militant trio fighting for Corsican independence and held for a large ransom. When the men fumble negotiating her release, the four become unlikely housemates deep in the island’s remote interior. Eager to gain the upper hand, Séverine sets out to charm her captors, and soon the handsome, intellectual leader, Bruno, the gentle university student, Tittu, and even the gruff, unflappable Petru grow to enjoy the company of their headstrong hostage.
As Séverine is exposed to the group’s politics, they ignite something unexpected within her, and their ideas begin to take root. With her flair for the spotlight and newfound beliefs, Séverine becomes the face of a radical movement for a global TV audience. What follows is a summer of passion and terror, careening toward an inevitable, explosive conclusion, as Séverine steps into the biggest role of her life.
31. The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
Setting: Italy
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
There is a heatwave across Europe, and four siblings have gathered at their family’s lake house to seek answers about their father, a famous artist, who recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his long-awaited masterpiece.
Now he is dead. And there is no sign of his final painting.
As the siblings try to piece together what happened, they spend the summer in a state of lawlessness: living under the same roof for the first time in decades, forced to confront the buried wounds they incurred as his children, and waiting for answers. Though they have always been close, the things they learn that summer—about themselves—and their father—will drive them apart before they can truly understand his legacy. Meanwhile, their stepmother’s enigmatic presence looms over the house. Is she the force that will finally destroy the family for good?
32. The Satisfaction Cafe by Kathy Wang
Setting: California
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
Joan Liang’s life is a series of surprising developments: she never thought she would leave Taiwan for California, nor did she expect her first marriage to implode—especially as quickly and spectacularly as it did. She definitely did not expect to fall in love with an older, wealthy American and become his fourth wife and mother to his youngest children. Through all this she wrestles with one persistent question: Will she ever truly feel satisfied?
As Joan and her children grow older and their circumstances evolve, she makes a drastic change: she opens the Satisfaction Café, a place where people can visit for a bit of conversation and to be heard and understood. Through this radical yet pragmatic business, Joan constructs a lasting legacy.
33. Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive
Setting: A retirement resort in Florida
In 2067, much of the state of Florida is under water due to the devastating impact of climate change but that isn’t stopping the residents at the Palm Meridian, a retirement resort for queer women, from living their best lives in their twilight years.
Septuagenarian Hannah Cardin has been enjoying her life at the Palm Meridian for 10 years but has recently received a terminal cancer diagnosis and is opting for a medically assisted death. On the last night of her life, Hannah and her raucous band of friends are throwing an all-night end-of-life party at the resort to celebrate her life before her appointment at the hospital the following morning.
In addition to the residents of the resort, Hannah has also invited some important people from her past including her childhood best friend and business partner, Luke, and the love of her life, Sophie, who she hasn’t spoken to since their devastating break-up more than 40 years earlier. As the day progesses, Hannah can’t help but think back about her life and her lost love and chapters alternate between that last day and her past growing up in Montreal, starting a successful business with Luke and falling in love with Sophie.
Palm Meridian starts slow but, as the story progressed, I grew to care about Hannah and her friends and by the end it destroyed me. I loved this book but it’s not the light read that the cover would indicate so be prepared! A moving reflection on the complexities of aging, end of life and saying goodbye to loved ones on one’s own terms that is funny, thought-provoking, heartwrenching and even life-affirming.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
34. The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
Setting: The Florida Panhandle
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
Adela Woods is sixteen years old and pregnant. Her parents banish her from her comfortable upbringing in Indiana to her grandmother’s home in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida. When she arrives, Adela meets Emory, who brings her newborn to high school, determined to graduate despite the odds; Simone, mother of four-year-old twins, who weighs her options when she finds herself pregnant again; and the rest of the Girls, a group of outcast young moms who raise their growing brood in the back of Simone’s red truck.
The town thinks the Girls have lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, and navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood.
35. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
Setting: New York state
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
It’s an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host’s fifty-second birthday.
Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over thirty years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games, and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them.
This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt.
36. Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor
Setting: Chicago and a small town in Kansas
Chicago, 1924: Emily and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago for the promise of their own American dream among the harsh beauty of the prairie. But leaving the city means leaving Emily’s beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world.
Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have established their new home among the warmth of the farming community in Kansas. Aligned to the fickle fortunes of nature, their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep.
The wide-eyed child isn’t the only thing to disrupt Emily’s world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and her much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy.
37. When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin
Setting: Hong Kong
1941. Following the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, the wealthy Tang family has settled in Hong Kong, believing it to be protected under British occupation. As the First Wife of the family, Mingzhu leads a glamorous, if at times lonely, existence—mothering the son of her husband’s concubine, overseeing her daughter Qiang’s education, and directing their household of servants, including her long-time confidante, Biyu.
But when the Japanese invade Hong Kong, the paths of Mingzhu, Qiang, and Biyu wildly diverge. Although Mingzhu’s affinity for languages spares her from physical labor, she finds herself coerced to either work for the enemy or face certain death. Qiang and Biyu scrape through days of factory work and meager food supplies, constantly on the run from newly unfolding dangers until an encounter with the East River Column resistance fighters separates them.
The longer these women become embroiled in the brutal occupation that engulfs the region, the more determined they are to fight back—but can they support the resistance and still find their way back to one another?
38. Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh
Setting: New York City and international locations
Jia Song has always been destined for greatness. As the daughter of Korean bodega owners, she promised herself that she would have every Fifth Avenue luxury when she grew up, and it is all finally within reach. She has just made junior partner at her prestigious Manhattan law firm, she can count on her two best friends to have her back, and she is about to score the ultraluxe gold-on-gold Birkin bag of her dreams. So when her boss asks her to sit in on the hush-hush family implosion of a high-level client, she accepts without hesitation―only to find out that it is one of the most famous Korean families in the world.
The Park family’s net worth is estimated at a billion dollars, and their megasuccessful Korean beauty brand has shaped the culture for the past two decades. But the patriarch is filing for divorce while his wife is dying, and their three children can’t stop snapping at one another. With both the family fortune and legacy under threat from the worst kind of scandal, it’s up to Jia to set things right―and she only has a month to do it.
As Jia sorts through the lies and subterfuge, chasing the truth across the globe on private jets, she finds herself falling for this broken, badly-behaving family in ways she can’t quite explain. But it is also becoming clear that the Parks are hiding dark secrets. Can she find the truth in time to protect the Parks’ fortune and secure her success at the firm? And can she hold on to what’s most important, even if it means admitting that what she’s always wanted isn’t what she actually needs?
39. Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami
Setting: Japan
Rei, Kiki, and Ai are three sisters divided by distance and circumstance. Ambitious Rei works in finance in London; Kiki is the single mother of a young son, working in a retirement home in Tokyo; and Ai, the youngest, is a peripatetic Japanese music idol. Having lost both parents, one way or another, the sisters rely on each other as family, far-flung as they are.
When Ai is embroiled in a scandal, Rei and Kiki pause their own lives to rescue their baby sister. Over the course of a summer spent in their childhood home on the Japanese coast, the sisters will reunite with their sharp-edged grandmother, care for Kiki’s irrepressible son, and silently worry about Ai, all while carefully not talking about the circumstances of their mother’s death fifteen years before. But silence between sisters can only last for so long…
40. Daikon by Samuel Hawley
Setting: Japan
Publication Date: July 8, 2025
War has taken everything from physicist Keizo Kan. His young daughter was killed in the Great Tokyo Air Raid, and now his Japanese American wife, Noriko, has been imprisoned by the brutal Thought Police. An American bomber, downed over Japan on the first day of August 1945, offers the scientist a surprising chance at salvation. The Imperial Army dispatches him to examine an unusual device recovered from the plane’s wreckage—a bomb containing uranium—and tells him that if he can unlock its mysteries, his wife will be released.
Working in secrecy under crushing pressure, Kan begins to disassemble the bomb and study its components. One of his assistants falls ill after mishandling the uranium, but his alarming deterioration, and Kan’s own symptoms, are ignored by the commanding officer demanding results. Desperate to stave off Japan’s surrender to the Allies, the army will stop at nothing to harness the weapon’s unimaginable power. They order Kan to prepare the bomb for manual detonation over a target—a suicide mission that will strike a devastating blow against the Americans. Kan is soon confronted with a series of agonizing decisions that will test his courage, his loyalty, and his very humanity.
Related Reading
29 of the Best Summer Beach Reads in 2021
50 Books Set in London: A Literary Escape
Travel Inspired Books for Your Summer 2020 Reading List
36 Books Set in Paris for a Literary Escape to the City of Light
Pin This For Later
Leave a Reply