20 books on my tbr that seem perfect for a summer day

 

As the gloomy weather breaks to let the sun shine through for longer days and nights, and the tulips grow brighter and taller, I’ve had more of an inclination to read. This summer, I plan to lounge around and read however much I can—so much so that, as this hot and sticky season nears, I've been curating a list of books that I think would be  perfect to read on a nice hot, summer day. This list encompasses a combination of genres, ones I'm very excited to get into and others I already adore. Rather than keep it for myself, I thought I’d share it and hope other people find a few potential books to put on their summer to-be-read lists as well.

1. Cat's People by Tanya Guerrero

Núria, is a member of The Meow-Yorkers, a group in Brooklyn who takes care of the neighborhood’s stray cats. On one of her volunteering days, she starts finding Post-It notes from a secret admirer at the spot where her favorite stray lives—a black cat named Cat. Cat is rather curious and sly, so he knows who the notes are from. Núria, however, is clueless. Are the notes from Collin? Are they from Lily? Are they from Omar? Or are they from Bong? When Cat suddenly falls ill, these five strangers find themselves connected in their desire to care for him and discover that chance encounters can lead to the meaningful connections they've been searching for.

Genre:  Contemporary, Found Family

2. Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas 

 

Adrift in the summer after finishing college, a young woman is on holiday with her mother in an isolated Australian coastal town. It’s in the water where she first sees him: a local man almost twenty years her senior. Finding herself pulled to Jude, she begins losing herself in the simple, seductive rhythms of his everyday life. As their relationship deepens, life at Sailors Beach offers her the stability she has been craving as the daughter of two drifters. But the arrival of a woman from Jude’s past, threatens to rock the fragility of their newfound intimacy. Years later, she finds herself drawn back to the events that took place at Sailors Beach and the decisions made there that changed the course of both of their lives.

 

Genre:  Age Gap, Contemporary Romance, Literary Fiction

3. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

At sixty-three, lottery winner PJ Halliday might be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts—if not for the loss of his eldest daughter and the collapse of his marriage that followed. Now, he spends his days and winnings at the bar. But when he sees the obituary of an old romantic rival, PJ learns his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is single again. Hopeful, he sets his sights on driving to Arizona to win her back.

Just as he’s about to leave, PJ becomes guardian to his estranged brother’s grandchildren after a local tragedy. Thinking the kids, and maybe himself, could use a change of scenery, he invites his adult daughter Sophie to help, and brings along Pancakes, a death-predicting ex-therapy cat. It might be PJ’s last shot at love and family, if his heart can take it.

Genre:  Road Trip, Contemporary Romance, Family

4. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

 

Alice never expected to see Charlie Florek again. Good things happen at the lake, or so her grandmother always said. And it was true once. At seventeen, Alice spent one unforgettable summer in Barry’s Bay, where she snapped a photo of three teens in a yellow speedboat, an image that changed her life. Now a photographer, Alice hides behind the lens, capturing everyone but herself. But when her grandmother breaks a hip, Alice proposes a return to the lake, hoping to recapture a bit of that old magic. What she doesn’t expect is the sudden reappearance of Charlie一older, flirtier, and still piloting that same yellow boat.

Long summer days and laughter-filled nights with Charlie stir something in Alice she thought she’d lost. But when he starts looking at her like he really sees her, she wonders if her heart is ready for a second shot at something real.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

 

5. The Poet's House by Jean Thompson

 

In her twenties and working for a landscaper, Carla has been told she’s on the wrong path一by her mom, who wants her at the hospital, and her boyfriend, who thinks she should do something that matters. Then she’s hired by Viridian, a lauded and lovely aging poet, and drawn into her eccentric circle of writers.

At first, Carla is perplexed by their recitations, liaisons, and wine-soaked nights. But soon she’s enamored一with Viridian, with the group, and with the ache and hunger poetry stirs in her. When a fight breaks out over a vital cache of poems written by Viridian’s former lover, Mathias, Carla is drawn in. But how much will she sacrifice for a group that may not see her as one of their own.

Genre: Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction

6. The Group by Sigge Eklund

When Hanna moves to Spain for an internship at Madrid’s prestigious Prado gallery, she spends her days buried in the stifling archives and her nights alone in a tiny flat. Then she sees them一Tom, Samuel, and Leah. Glamorous, elegant, and fabulously wealthy, they live a life that's an endless whirl of creativity and hedonism. Drawn into their world, Hanna discovers an uncatalogued 17th-century etching一and makes a decision that changes everything.

Genre: Swedish Literature, Literary Fiction 

7. My Friends by Fredrick Backman

 

Most people don’t notice them—three tiny figures at the end of a long pier in one of the world’s most famous paintings. But Louisa, nearly eighteen and an aspiring artist, is determined to uncover their story. More than two decades earlier, a group of teenagers found refuge on a seaside pier—telling jokes, sharing secrets, and dreaming of something more. From that summer, a transcendent work of art was born.

When the painting unexpectedly comes into Louisa’s care, she sets off on a surprise-filled journey to trace its origins. But the closer she gets, the more she wonders what truths—and choices—await her. Because happy endings are real… they just don’t always look the way we expect them to.

Genre: Coming of Age, Literary Fiction 

8. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

 

Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer who’s feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, award-winning novelist who, to everyone’s surprise, shows up in New York. When Eva and Shane meet at a literary event, sparks fly—raising eyebrows and buried traumas. 

 

What no one knows is that fifteen years ago, teenage Eva and Shane spent one week madly in love. While they pretend not to know each other, they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since. Over seven steamy days in Brooklyn, they reconnect. But Eva’s wary of the man who broke her heart, and before Shane disappears again, she needs answers.

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Adult Fiction 

9. The Wedding People by Alison Espach

 

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Everyone assumes she’s one of the wedding people—but she’s the only guest at the Cornwall Inn not there for the big event. Phoebe had dreamed of coming here with her husband. Now divorced and depressed, she spends her days drinking gin and tonics and listening to the refrigerator make ice. When the bride realizes her perfect destination wedding might be derailed by this sad stranger, she’s furious一Phoebe was the one disaster she didn’t plan for. But as their lives collide, both women find their best-laid plans unraveling and an unexpected confidante in each other.

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction 

10. Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand

Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It’s 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year, the children look forward to summer at their grandmother’s historic home in downtown Nantucket. But this year, nothing is the same.

Blair, the oldest, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins. Kirby is caught up in civil rights protests and takes a summer job on Martha’s Vineyard. Tiger, the only son, is deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie feels like an only child, stuck with her worried mother and out-of-touch grandmother, all while they each hide a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man lands on the moon, and the Levins experience upheavals of their own.

Genre: Historical Fiction 

11. The Girls by Emma Cline

Evie Boyd is desperate to be noticed. In the summer of 1969, the days stretch out under the California sun. Until she sees them. The girls: cold laughter, tangled hair, dirty dresses, cheap rings. At their center is Russell, and the ranch tucked deep in the hills—incense, music, rumors of sex and teen runaways. Was there a warning? Or is Evie already too enthralled to see her life is about to change forever?

Genre: Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Literary Fiction 

12. Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados

Isa Epley is all of twenty-one years old, and already wise enough to understand that the purpose of life is the pursuit of pleasure. After a sojourn across the pond, she arrives in New York City for a summer of adventure with her best friend, newly blond Gala Novak. They have little money, but that’s hardly going to stop them from having a good time.

By day, the girls sell clothes in a market stall, pinching pennies for their Bed-Stuy sublet and bodega lunches. By night, they weave from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side to the Hamptons among celebrities, artists, Internet entrepreneurs, and bad-mannered grifters. Money runs tight, and the strain tests their friendship as they try to convert social capital into something more lasting. Through it all, Isa’s beguiling voice captures the thrill of cultivating a life of glamour while juggling paying dues with skipping out on the bill.

Genre: Coming of Age, Literary Fiction

13. Welcome to Beach Town by Susan Wiggs

In idyllic Alara Cove, graduation day at elite Thornton Academy takes a shocking turn when valedictorian Nikki Graziola, a surfer’s daughter on scholarship, veers off script and reveals a secret that shatters the community. Her accusation pits her against the powerful family who runs the town, sending her into exile as a competition surfer abroad. Years later, a personal tragedy brings Nikki home—where old friendships, rivalries, and a surprising romance pull her back into the beach town she’s never fully left behind.

Genre: Romance, Contemporary 

 

14. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

When Siddalee Walker is interviewed in the New York Times about a hit play she's directed, her mother, Vivi Abbott Walker, gets described as a "tap-dancing child abuser." Enraged, Vivi disowns Sidda. Devastated, Sidda postpones her wedding and begs forgiveness. Then the Ya-Yas step in, sending Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. As Sidda struggles to analyze her mother, she comes face to face with the tangled beauty of imperfect love, and the fact that forgiveness, more than understanding, is often what the heart longs for.

Genre: Family, Contemporary

15. The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Emma Saylor doesn’t remember much about her mother, who died when she was twelve. But she does remember the stories about a big lake with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges. Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is predictable...until she’s sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family at North Lake, a place she hasn’t been since she was little.

There, she learns about the two communities which is working-class North Lake, where her mom grew up, and wealthier Lake North, where her dad spent summers. The more time she spends there, the more she feels divided. To her dad, she’s Emma. But to her new family, she’s Saylor. As she reconnects with Roo, her childhood best friend, he helps her piece together the past and Emma finds herself caught up in the magic of North Lake. But when it’s time to leave, which side of her一Emma or Saylor一will win out?

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance 

16. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Sandwiched between two exceptional siblings, Taylor Edwards never felt like she stood out一except for running away when things got complicated. But when her dad gets terrible news, the family decides to spend one last summer together at their old lake house. Back at the lake, Taylor faces people she thought she left behind like Lucy, her old best friend, and Henry Crosby, her first crush. Surrounded by memories, Taylor realizes she can’t run away this time.

As summer days pass into starry nights, Taylor gets a second chance一with friends, with family, and maybe with love. But once summer ends, she knows she can’t hold on to everything.

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

 

17. The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

World-famous artist Vic Kemp has relied on his four children ever since their mother died. Netta, the oldest, is a litigator who often acts as a co-parent; Susan cooks and cleans for both her husband and her father; Goose works in Vic’s studio, his own ambitions on hold; and Iris, the baby, drops everything when her father calls. When Vic summons them with the promise of big news, they hope it’s about the masterpiece he’s long claimed will be the capstone to his career. Instead, he announces he’s getting remarried to Bella-Mae, a fellow artist who is twenty-seven to his seventy-six. When the children dare to express concern, Vic leaves for Italy with her. Six weeks later, he’s dead. There’s no sign of his will or his final painting.

The siblings gather at his summer house on Lake Orta to piece together what happened. They playing the waiting game, living under the same roof as Bella-Mae. As the summer unfolds, they're forced to confront their father’s legacy, each other, and the question: who is Bella-Mae really and what does she mean for what’s left of their family?

Genre: Mystery, Adult Fiction, Family Drama

18. Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

 

Come heck or high water, Gracie Snow is determined to drag the legendary ex-jock Bobby Tom Denton back home to Heaven, Texas, to begin shooting his first motion picture. Despite his dazzling good looks and killer charm, Bobby Tom has reservations about being a movie star — and no plans to cooperate with a prim and bossy Ohio wallflower whom he can’t get off his mind or out of his life. Instead, the hell-raising playboy decides to make her over from plain Jane to Texas wildcat.

But nothing’s more dangerous than a wildcat with an angel’s heart in a town too small for a bad boy to hide. And all hell breaks loose when two unforgettable people discover love, laughter, passion — and a match that can only be made in Heaven.

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Adult Fiction

19. Pink Glass Houses by Asha Elias

 

Welcome to Sunset Academy, the most coveted elementary school in Miami Beach, where families fall into three categories: rich, wealthy, and ultra-wealthy. Charlotte Giordani, perfectly tanned and always smiling, is Sunset’s alpha mom. With her sleek blowout and relentless charm, she’s riding high—running for PTA president and fresh off securing a massive donation from billionaire Don Walker and his socialite wife, Patricia, owners of the flashy new Villa Rosé. 

Enter Melody Howard, a wide-eyed transplant from Wichita. Initially skeptical of Miami Beach’s endlessly hashtaggable social scene, Melody quickly finds herself sucked in. Her nonprofit background and easygoing manner make her an asset to the PTA and a rival to Charlotte. But when an investigation into white-collar crime一triggered by the formidable Jamaican-American Judge Carol Lawson一threatens to take down the whole institution, even the most powerful players prove vulnerable and no amount of rosé can soothe what’s coming.

Genre: Mystery Thriller, Adult Fiction

20. The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She runs the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon, all until a heated argument ends with Matthew leaving for the airport and killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life一her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter一grow deeper. So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”一a gathering of her best friends from each phase of her life一she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t unfold like a joyful Hallmark movie. 

Old feelings resurface when Tatum, her childhood friend’s husband invites Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill, a sports agent in hot water over a viral scandal. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from her thirties, is reeling from her husband’s latest betrayal. And Gigi, a stranger who reached out to Hollis through her blog, arrives with secrets of her own.

Genre: Mystery Thriller, Adult Fiction, Romance