The Books That Will Put You in a Summer Mood

You’ve never met a love triangle like this one. Rachel Klein’s crush on her creative writing professor, Zahid Azzam, culminates in a kiss—and more—at the end of the semester. When Zahid’s summer plans fall through, he finds himself moving into Rachel’s Connecticut mansion, with its sparkling pool and eight-dollar boxes of organic strawberries. Despite her recent divorce, Rachel’s mom Becca has an undeniable attraction to her houseguest. This book is bitingly funny and satisfying like a sticky, sweet popsicle.

Passionately in love, Erin and Mark embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water… Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events they won’t soon forget.

Toby Fleishman is screwed—literally. He and his wife Rachel—a talent agent to the stars—are getting divorced, but when she drops the kids off for “his” weekend, she fails to return. Or call. Now, Toby and daughter, Hannah, and son, Solly, are left to fend for themselves in the sticky summer Manhattan heat as Toby tries to balance his career, being a single dad, and the action he’s getting from joining the dating apps. A tongue-in-cheek meditation on marriage and the dissolution thereof.

New York City is filled with opportunities for single girls like Alice Weiss, who leaves her small Midwestern town to chase her big-city dreams and unexpectedly lands a job working for the first female editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown. The magazine staff is up in arms that the woman who wrote the scandalous bestseller Sex and the Single Girl could be captaining the Cosmo ship, but Alice is more determined than ever to help Helen—and the brazen things she stands for—succeed.

Three college friends convene on Martha’s Vineyard, each as different as they were back on campus in the 60s. Lincoln’s a commercial real estate broker, Teddy a tiny-press publisher, and Mickey an aging rocker, but they all continue to wonder about that Memorial Day weekend on the Vineyard in 1971, when Jacy Rockafellow, the woman each of them loved, disappeared. Now, more than forty years later, the past seems to be lurking all around as secrets come to light and the bonds of friendship tighten like a stubborn knot.

In the dazzling follow-up to Chanel Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana, sugar heiress Beatriz Perez resides in Florida after being exiled from her Cuban homeland. When she is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Fidel Castro’s inner circle and is pulled into the dangerous world of espionage, Beatriz is consumed by her quest for revenge and her desire to reclaim the life she lost. Caught between the clash of Cuban American politics and the perils of a forbidden affair with a powerful man driven by ambitions of his own, Beatriz must make a choice between her past and future.

Fans of Netflix rom-com Always Be My Maybe will flip for Jasmine Guillory’s latest. Maddie and Theo share two things: a best friend, Alexa, and a hatred for each other. But then, whoops, they accidentally spend a seriously steamy night together. With Alexa’s wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo’s bridal party duties force them to spend time together and force them to see that beyond the barbs, there’s a simmering attraction that won’t fade. But what happens when their secret rendezvouses become too good to give up?

We love summer’s outdoor concerts and music festivals and this book feels like an all-access backstage pass. Daisy Jones comes of age in the clubs of L.A. in the late sixties, getting noticed for her throaty singing voice and stunning beauty. The Six is a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend and the making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable Behind the Music-like novel.

Evvie, Maggie, and Topher have known one another since college. Their friendship was something they swore would last forever. Now years have passed, the friends have drifted apart, and they never found the lives they wanted—the lives they dreamed of when they were young and everything seemed possible. Together again at their thirtieth reunion, they have a second chance at happiness…until a dark secret is revealed that changes everything.

The daughter of Hollywood royalty, Roxanne Granville forges a career unique for women in the 1950s, becoming an agent for hungry young screenwriters. She struggles to be taken seriously by the men who rule Hollywood and who often assume that sexual favors are just a part of doing business. When she sells a script by a blacklisted writer, more exiled writers seek her help, including Terrence Dexter, a compelling African American journalist unlike anyone she’s ever known. Roxanne defies convention, refusing to let men make all the rules, or let skin color determine whom she can love.

Perfect for the end of summer, this novel will put you in a back-to-school mood, which is to say, you’ll be relieved you’re not back in the halls of high school. When Alexandra Witt joins the faculty at New England prep school, Stonebridge Academy, one of her creative writing assignments generates some disturbing responses from students. Soon, the girls in her class begin to question the school’s “boys will be boys” attitude and rebel. A gender war is ignited—with deadly consequences—in this dark and provocative novel that feels nuanced and timely.