We’ve come full circle to land back on a summer to be read. I can’t lie, last year I didn’t really stick to it because I ran out of time, but I have more time to read these days so I’m feeling hopeful.
I’m actually really looking forward to summer this year because I have a job that allows for more free time as I only work weekdays now. I want to try and spend more time reading on the beach as I’ve actually never done that despite living in Brighton for five years now.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
I’ve been saying I want to read Beach Read for a stupidly long time. I got it late in summer last year, but by the time I had a chance to read it, it was cold and I don’t want to read a book with beach in the title when it isn’t warm.
Synopsis: Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighbouring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
I’ve legit held off from reading this until now because I absolutely want to sit on the beach while I do so. The first book, while not a masterpiece, was so entertaining to listen to. If you haven’t read them yet, or if you’re thinking of re-reading them, you should definitely check out the audiobooks. Lola Tung, who plays Belly in the show, is the narrator and she does an incredible job.
Synopsis: Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?
It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started—at Cousins Beach.
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
I actually started reading this last year, forgot to add it to my Goodreads and then stopped reading it because of ARCs. So, I’m going to start again or continue from where I was because I actually remember the majority of what happened and then finally read this book.
Synopsis: Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.
Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.
Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.
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I hope you enjoy your summer reading!
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