The Ultimate Summer Reading List: 25 Books You'll Want to Read This Sizzling Season
Pull up a lawn chair or grab a spot on the beach. We’ve got 25 new books we're certain you'll love this summer, from a time-bending love story and a chilling academia thriller to new Stephen King, Lisa Taddeo, Jasmine Guillory and a Linda McCartney cookbook.
Related: Our Favorite 25 Books of Spring 2021!
The Best 25 Books of Summer
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz: If you liked HBO’s The Undoing (Hanff Korelitz’s previous novel, You Should Have Known, became the basis for the hit series), then you’ll be happy to know she’s returned with a literary thriller filled with deceit and betrayal set in the publishing world, where a fame-hungry writer steals a book and a vindictive reader uncovers the truth. May 11
The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent: For a hilarious, chaotic rom-com bursting with Scottish charm, The Summer Job follows Birdy Finch to a sleepy resort on a Scottish loch. She’s there for the summer job her best friend gave up. The only problem? She’s not exactly the star sommelier she’s posing as, and the resort isn’t as sleepy as she imagined. May 18
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Author of TV-bound Daisy Jones & the Six, Reid welcomes you to 1980s California, during which four siblings—the offspring of notorious singer/playboy Mick Riva—throw their annual end-of-summer party (even Rob Lowe has attended). But before the ill-fated night goes up in flames (literally), generations of secrets, loves and yearnings will come bubbling to the surface. June 1
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris: In this edgy, satirical thriller, Nella encounters microaggressions and racism daily as her publishing company’s sole Black employee. But when another young Black woman is hired, hostility and menacing events begin. June 1
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin: After meeting in the terminal ward’s art class, two women (one 17 and one 83) bond through life, love and friendship in this uplifting and heartstring-tugging story. June 1
Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford: One of the most talked about memoirs of the year, Ford’s Somebody’s Daughter reflects on her complex childhood with an incarcerated father, her feelings of isolation, an abusive relationship, her search for unconditional love and her journey to “find the threads between who you are and what you were born into.” June 1
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston: Fans of McQuiston’s bestselling Red, White & Royal Blue will want to grab this much-anticipated, time-bending queer romance about a 23-year-old and her subway crush who’s literally displaced from the 1970s. Grab it for the impossible (or is it?) escapism and stay for the big-hearted rom-com. June 1
An Unlikely Spy by Rebecca Starford: Set within WWII London, Evelyn is a young Englishwoman tasked with stopping a network of Nazi sympathizers and their plot to invade Britain. Part espionage thriller part, part historical novel that brings wartime England alive, An Unlikely Spy also looks at the effects secrecy and social hierarchy have on personal relationships. June 1
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon: Is having this big, swoon-worthy love all it’s cracked up to be? And more importantly, is it worth the heartbreak that might come with it? National Book Award finalist Yoon answers those questions and more when we meet Evie and X, two people learning to waltz, foxtrot and fall in love at a local dance studio. June 1
The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton: In their second collaboration, Patterson and Clinton blend matters of national security with every parent’s nightmare when former Navy SEAL and commander in chief Matthew Keating sets out on a one-man special-ops mission to save his abducted teenage daughter. June 7
Animal by Lisa Taddeo: Taddeo’s first novel (a byproduct of reporting on her nonfiction bestseller Three Women), Animal captures female rage that’s so often suppressed when main character Joan transforms from prey to predator. June 8
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides: Michaelides (The Silent Patient) is back with a thriller set among the ancient halls of Cambridge University, where a psychotherapist is certain that charismatic Greek tragedy professor Edward Fosca (beloved by the all-female secret society the Maidens) is a murderer. June 15
Lady Sunshine by Amy Mason Doan: In the summer of 1979, two cousins find an unmistakable bond and infinite freedom at a sprawling bohemian estate—until one disappears. Twenty years later, a piece of the past resurfaces. June 29
Linda McCartney’s Family Kitchen by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Mary McCartney and Stella McCartney: Paul and his daughters Mary and Stella are honoring their late wife and mother’s passion for meat-free meals in a new cookbook with intimate photos, memories and more than 90 plant-based recipes, including Linda’s “American-Style” Pancakes and Chili Non-Carne. “Years ago, before anyone had woken up to the idea of environmental, health and animal welfare issues,” Paul says, “Linda was blazing the trail with vegetarianism.” June 29
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel: Yona was kidnapped from her wealthy German parents as a child, kept in isolation and raised off the land in eastern Europe. After her kidnapper dies in 1941, she finds a group of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution and teaches them to forage, make shelters and hide their tracks. But when she’s betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past, present and search for an identity all collide. July 6
Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch: It’s a dusty state of affairs in Embassy Wife, in which two American women in Namibia—one the wife of a diplomat and the other a trailing spouse—learn the truth about their husbands, corruption, international conflict and their own country. July 13
While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory: Another rom-com addition to the Guillory-verse follows ad-man Ben and movie star Anna, who script a Hollywood romance for the sake of the spotlight. But when will they realize it’s no longer an act? July 13