Summer simply begs for truly seasonal reading. It’s the moment we waited for through our cold winters and rainy springs!
While early summer brings with it a plethora of mega reading guides of various sizes, tastes, and themes, one thing that can get lost in the mix is a very tightly curated list of seasonal reads that are actually set in summer, NOT including books that are merely light or unputdownable or work well on a beach for some other reason. Even when you specifically search this term, you’ll find a mix of responses, many of which don’t fully fit.
So, as a Gilmore Girls super fan who adores seasonal anything, I first set out to solve this small but very real reading problem early in my book blogging career (since 2019). One particular summer, I even read 30 (yes, 30!) books set in summer to refine my seasonal reading list for you.
And that’s exactly how I’ve now come to a total of books considered for this list that surprised even me: 125+! (screaming it like Elle Woods getting her LSAT score)
If you’re like me, then you’ll want to catch a summer episode of Gilmore Girls for the umpteenth time this season and open up one of these popular, personally approved books with a tall glass of lemonade.
From camp, beach, and lake settings to romantic flings, weddings, and steamy vacations, ground your reading life firmly in the present moment this June, July, and August.
The Most Popular Summer Books I Loved
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
Recommended For: fans of New England settings and the “same time next year” trope
I’ve read nearly all of Nantucket author Elin Hilderbrand’s ~30+ books (another reason my total summer reading number is so high), and the #1 bestselling 28 Summers is one of mine and many of her fans’ favorites.
Yes, 28 Summers is a cheating novel, but somehow it still works—trust me. Mallory Blessing and Jake McCloud decide to have a “same time next year” meeting that lasts each Labor Day weekend. But this becomes more complicated with age, marriage, and kids. What it shows is that all relationships are both different and complex.
The pop culture rundown at the beginning of each chapter also soothed my millennial, nostalgia-craving soul.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Recommended For: writers and fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope
I’ve also read all of Emily Henry’s adult romance novels, and her best-selling debut in the adult space, Beach Read, is my personal favorite, as well as a fan favorite. And no, it’s not just because it’s quite literally a beach read!
It’s the story of two different writers whose similar yet very different backgrounds create the perfect amount of tension: January is a bestselling romance writer who has stopped believing in love, and Augustus is an acclaimed literary fiction author.
As they spend three summer months at neighboring beachy lake homes, they challenge each other to beat their writer’s block by writing something different. Meanwhile, they must also cope with painful pasts as they fall for each other.
Their creative dates to spark their work really sealed the deal for me. With Henry’s signature banter and real-life issues added in, it’s a win.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Recommended For: lake-goers and nostalgia lovers
The lakeside bestselling debut Every Summer After made Carley Fortune an author to watch every summer after. (he he)
Over six summers in Barry’s Bay, teenagers Persephone and Sam fall in love. Then, one Thanksgiving tears them apart. Years later, Persephone returns to Barry’s Bay, and she must face how she feels about him.
Fortune ever so emotionally taps into the nostalgia of first love and second chances with characters you can’t help but root for in the most charming seasonal setting.
And the adaptation releases June 10, 2026!
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Recommended For: camp and mystery enthusiasts
My book of the year 2024, The God of the Woods, has a whole host of accolades that back me up: it’s also a Tonight Show Book Club pick, a New York Times bestseller, Book of the Month’s Book of the Year, a Barack Obama summer reading list pick, and the book Taylor Swift listened to on her documentary.
13-year-old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from Camp Emerson, which her family owns, in 1975. This disappearance comes after her brother Bear’s mysterious disappearance from the camp 14 years prior and unravels deep secrets and tensions among the camp’s wealthy owners and working-class locals.
When I tell you I devoured this book, I mean it (~500 pages over two sweltering summer days)! While it may sound like horror, it’s really a very nuanced mystery—less gratuitous than a thriller and deeper than crime fiction. At its core, it explores not just what happened to Bear and Barbara but also what those truths reveal about themes such as class, gender, and survival. And the answers are chilling.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Recommended For: classic book readers who want to feel accomplished without too much of a challenge
Since readers taking the Rory Gilmore reading challenge with us to read the books on Gilmore Girls love to pick up classics, I’ve got to recommend at least one here. The Great Gatsby is, in my humble opinion, “The Great American Novel,” and it’s also a short and easy classic read for sunny days.
Fitzgerald transports us to Long Island, New York, where we observe the decadent Jazz Age parties of Jay Gatsby through an outsider. Besides the loose reins surrounding such seasonal events and the fact that this book is so often assigned as summer reading, the tensions at the story’s core also feel like rising steam.
The American Dream always feels ever so slightly out of reach, as Gatsby yearns for Daisy, his unrequited love.
Pair it with the Leonardo DiCaprio adaptation! (You know the meme.)
Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Recommended For: fans of the fake dating trope
I’ve also read all of Abby Jimenez’s books, and the #1 bestselling GMA Book Club pick Just For the Summer is mine and many other fans’ favorite.
Every woman Justin dates finds her soulmate just after breaking up with him. Then, he meets Emma, who is similarly “cursed.” Together, they create a plan to date each other as a summer fling, so they can finally go on to live happily ever after with someone else. It’s so simple, it just may work.
They connect deeper than expected over their “mommy” issues, but the chaos left by Emma’s mom may be too complicated for this seasonal romance.
The stars of the show here are the couple themselves: they’re quirky, lovable, have great chemistry, and support each other through difficult life issues. What more can you ask for?!
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Recommended For: women who grew up on Blume
Read with Jenna Book Club pick Summer Sisters is a book I consider a modern classic, retaining my late 1990s copy to this very day. Here, Blume walked from childhood to adulthood alongside the readers who quite literally grew up through her work—and we couldn’t be more grateful.
In 1977, Victoria’s life changed forever when the privileged and reckless Caitlin became her friend. Years later, Caitlin is getting married on Martha’s Vineyard. Vix agrees to be her maid of honor because she wants to finally understand what happened between them.
If I could describe this book in only one word, it would be “saucy.” It does for friendship drama exactly what Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret did for puberty—pushes boundaries.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Recommended For: nostalgia for the summers of your youth
Be still, my coming-of-age heart. The Summer I Turned Pretty is basically a beachy Dawson’s Creek for Gen Z that also appeals to millennials’ nostalgia. Are you with me?! And the three-season-long Taylor Swift-filled adaptation is an absolute chef’s kiss—one of the best I’ve seen.
This particular title begins a trilogy that follows teenage “Belly” as she, her single mom, and her brother visit a shared beach house with her mom’s friend and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.
As the title suggests, it pulls your emotions firmly into that time in a teen’s life when she ever so slightly changes from awkward to noticeable. But, as life in the beach house takes a difficult turn, the course of Belly’s teenage life forever changes.
It’s over-the-top melodramatic and angsty and full of yearning, and we’re here for every minute of it.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Recommended For: a mix of light and heavy
Read with Jenna Book Club pick and bestseller (of one million+ copies) The Wedding People was the book of summer 2024. (It also happens to have one of my favorite book covers of all time. What can I say?! I’m a sucker for bubbly!)
This book brings together two unlikely women at fancy Rhode Island nuptials, blending lightness with darkness. Phoebe, the only hotel guest not attending the wedding, is actually there to end her life after a terrible divorce. The problem is that this imposes on Lila’s perfectly planned day. As Lila (and the other guests) begin to confide in Phoebe, the women are forced to confront their plans more deeply.
Fear not, because deep down, this is a book about what really matters—human connection. It’s filled with so much humor and heart, driven by razor-sharp writing and a loveable cast of characters.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Recommended For: fans of the author’s 2025 hit, Heart the Lover
Read with Jenna Book Club pick (yet another celebrity book club pick!) Writers & Lovers has always been an underrated gem for me, which has picked up steam again after the success of its related hit, Heart the Lover (my book of the year 2025; read them in any order).
Set back in an analog 1990s summer, a twentysomething Bostonian grapples with grief and dating while trying to kick-start her writing career. Can you relate?!
This exact point of view (a quarter-life crisis) is one that so many of us have experienced, but that is often underappreciated, if you ask me. In a very Rory Gilmore way, this book places you directly into the heart and mind of a conflicted new adult who is on the cusp of her future, while not having the slightest clue what it will actually entail.
See also:
Take the 90s Summer Reading Challenge
We’re all in a 90s kind of mood these days, aren’t we?! As a lifelong reader Rory Gilmore’s age and style, I know for sure that these summers were peak reading experiences. (And I think Rory would agree.) Here’s how to recreate them:
Reward yourself for reading with Pizza Hut pizza. (Book It remains alive and kicking!)
Watch Reading Rainbow and classic rom-com adaptations like Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and She’s All That.
Eat popsicles while you turn the pages.
Read outside or on a bean bag chair.
Visit libraries and bookstores.
Read a vintage edition of Goosebumps, The Baby-Sitters Club, or American Girl books. (It’s their 40th anniversary! I grabbed The Making of American Girl, and it is mind-blowingly good.)
Annotate with Lisa Frank stickers and supplies.
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