12 New Summer Books to Add to Your 2023 Reading List

Harriet and Wyn’s friend group has vacationed at the same Maine house for a decade, so when it goes up for sale, they’re determined to soak up one last week of fun. There’s just one problem: Harriet and Wyn haven’t told their crew they’re no longer engaged, so they’re stuck sharing a room to keep up the ruse. But is it all really just for show, or are sparks flying?

Grab yourself a cold one from the garage fridge while you get to know the lovably flawed characters surrounding the Lakeside Supper Club, a quintessentially Midwestern restaurant that has been both the albatross and salvation of proprietress Mariel's family for generations. When a devastating tragedy strikes, Mariel and her husband Ned (himself a restaurant heir of a different kind), they've got tough choices to make — and you'll feel their struggle like it's your own.

Head to the Hamptons if only in your mind with this expertly painted observation on power and access. The beautiful and manipulative Alex has charmed her way into her older (and richer) boyfriend's life in the elite enclave. But when he unceremoniously dumps her a week before his big Labor Day bash, she's determined to somehow hide out on Long Island until confront him at the end-of-summer blowout. Come for the real estate envy, stay for the ~drama~.

Pro-tip: Don't even try to drink anything while working your way through this gut-busting essay collection by the TV writer and essayist who gets real about everything from her QVC habit to her maladjusted pandemic puppy. Life can get messy, and Irby is all for getting down and dirty about it and in that, we all win.

Recently divorced Suresh and Lata are trying to find love again after a 36-year marriage. Suresh keeps striking out on the apps, while Lata relishes her independence until a handsome academic comes calling. Meanwhile, their children have their own romantic struggles that they’d rather keep hidden from their parents. But the truth will out, and when it does, a hilarious comedy of errors ensues.

Former model Bianca Bridge has always wanted to be a writer, so when the notoriously tyrannical Obadiah Cortland hires her to run his makeup magazine, she jumps at the chance. But when a powerful ex-lover threatens everything she’s made of herself, she finds support where she least expects it.

Calling all former horse girls: This is the thriller you've been waiting for. Heather Parker signs her daughters up for show jumping lessons at the tony Rancho Santa Fe Equestrian, where a borderline-abusive head trainer and his broodingly handsome star rider rule over a cast of cliquey teens and their hovering Barn Moms. But there's something darker going on than perfecting their form, and pretty soon, the Parkers find themselves involved in a lot more than competitions.

This beach read will make sure you never want to buy a beach house. When Kathleen Deane's husband Tom decides to leave their 30-year marriage and safe-but-drab Kansas life to find himself, Kathleen does him one better and buys a little beachfront cottage in Whidbey, an artsy seaside community. But when she gets there, she discovers a monstrosity of a McMansion going up next door, and goes on the offensive against its many code violations (and eyesores) with her busybody neighbor Rosemary. In this hilarious farce, we realize that paradise really is anything but when you actually live there.

If parents want their kids to stay away from steep cliffs, just hand them this summer's Sager blockbuster. It's 1983 and in-home caregiver Kit gets assigned to care for the notorious Lenora Hope, who massacred her entire family one bloody night in 1929, as the lore goes. But they were never able to prove it, so Lenora has been cloistered in her cliffside mansion ever since. Rendered mute by a series of strokes, she can only communicate to Kit by painstakingly typing on a typewriter. But when Lenora starts to trust Kit enough to tell her what really happened that night, things take a dark turn toward one of Sager's signature gasp-inducing twists.

Elise, Kara, Z and Patty are four women all working on the same remote archaeological dig site in Greece, but that's about all they have in common. Kara’s a put-together conservator about to call off her wedding, while Patty would do about anything to find love. Z ends up on the dig after getting dumped and fired, and Elise, the best excavator on site, has got no more rhymes-with-ducks left to give. So when they uncover something at the site that could change history forever, they've got to decide whether they can put their differences aside to make a real difference.

You don't have to know The Chicks' song of the same name to love this deliciously devilish tale. It follows best friends Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey from the halcyon high school days of ruling their idyllic small town of Goldie, to a wedding weekend over a decade later when they all reunite to find little has changed — and everything has. This novel is as sweet as Southern tea, and you might find it carries poison just as well.

The residents of Crow Valley take karaoke so seriously that even an escaped murderer on the loose can't derail the championship competition. And no one loved it more than the late Dale, prison guard, firefighter and wizard at the mic. A year after his death, five residents get caught up in more drama than flubbed lyrics and wardrobe malfunctions in a madcap romp that will have you laughing all the way to the last page.