Summer is right around the corner, and you know what that means… relaxing, unwinding, and diving into a good book! Whether you’re lounging by the pool, tanning at the beach, or just enjoying a peaceful afternoon at home, having a good book on hand can be a great way to utilize your time while sparking your imagination.
Teenagers usually don’t choose to spend their summer breaks reading, but doing so can be incredibly beneficial. Reading helps improve vocabulary, language skills, enhances concentration, and critical thinking abilities. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for teenagers to explore different worlds, cultures, and perspectives from the comfort of their own home.
To get teenagers excited about reading, Patriot High School’s librarian Jennifer Knight suggests joining PWCS summer reading programs. “We have summer reading programs at PWCS libraries for K-12th graders, and they give out prizes, too. This motivates students to read, and it’s how we usually promote reading for students over the summer. Doing so helps them enjoy literature and continue improving their reading skills,” Knight states. “I myself like reading adult books during the summertime, and my favorite is Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham.” Whether it’s a thrilling mystery, a thought-provoking memoir, or an inspiring self-help book, summer reading can open new horizons and foster a lifelong love of learning.
Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into a list of 10 books that you should add to your TBR list for this summer!
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Notorious for her romcom novels, Emily Henry has yet another summer romance book on the way, perfect for this upcoming summer. In her newest novel, Funny Story, she tells the story of the main character Daphne, who loved her fiancé Peter and the way he told people the story of how they met… until she realized he was in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Now, Daphne decides to begin a new story for herself in Waning Bay, Michigan. While she’s alone with no friends or family, she works as a children’s librarian, until she finds herself a roommate: none other than Petra’s ex, Miles. They usually avoid each other and focus on their own sorrows, but they can’t be roommates and live like this together, so they form an unusual friendship and a plan to post pictures of their summer adventures together, misleading both of their exes. What Daphne doesn’t calculate in the plan is whether she’d fall in love with Miles during this plan of theirs or not.
Mistakes We Never Made by Emily Henry
In her brand-new novel, Mistakes We Never Made, New York Times bestselling author Hannah Brown writes the tale of Emma and Finn, two former debate team champions who were on the brink of falling in love years ago. Now, the two have reunited unexpectedly at a wedding, where they have been given the roles of groomsman and bridesmaid, and this coincidental reunion reminds Emma of everything that happened all those years ago. But when the bride runs away right before her wedding, it’s fate that brings Emma and Finn back together when they’re the ones tasked with finding her and bringing her back in time for her big day.
Her Last Summer by Emily Freud
In this chilling mystery novel, filmmaker Cassidy Chambers ventures out to find the truth about what happened twenty years ago when a young girl named Mari disappeared when backpacking through Thailand with her boyfriend Luke. Luke was accused of murder, though he persisted on his innocence and the fact that the body hadn’t been found. Now, twenty years later, Luke is ready to speak about what happened, and Cassidy wants to be the one to uncover everything. But as she continues her investigation, she starts to pick up on all the secrets that were sealed up along the way.
The Inmate by Freida McFadden
There are three rules at the men’s maximum security: 1. Treat all prisoners with respect, 2. Never reveal any private information, and 3. Never EVER become too friendly with the inmates, and as a new nurse practitioner at the jail, Brooke Sullivan must abide by these rules to get by. What the staff at the jail don’t know is that Brooke has already broken all three of these rules. What they didn’t know was that Shane Nelson, one of the most notorious and dangerous inmates at the jail, was Brooke’s high school sweetheart, and they also didn’t know that while Brooke shared an intimate connection with Shane, her testimony was what put him away in jail for life. Although the staff or other inmates don’t know about this, Shane knows, and he won’t forget about it, and he certainly won’t let Brooke forget it.
The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner
It’s 1873, and Lenna Wickes is at an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris along with Vaudeline D’Allaire, an acclaimed spiritualist, who is about to lead a dark séance. Vaudeline D’Allaire is known worldwide for being able to conjure the spirits of murder victims to learn who killed them, and Lenna has come to her to find answers about the death of her sister. So when Vaudeline is sent to England to solve a murder, Lenna goes along with her, and as the two women join forces with the influential men that make up London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the crime, they slowly start to realize that rather than solving the crime, they might be getting caught up in a crime themselves…
Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
You’re either a “Saint” or an “Ain’t,” that’s how it worked at St. Cecelia, and Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders who were considered an “Ain’t.” Her parents weren’t rich enough to vacation here and weren’t connected to anyone who lived here. So instead, Traci decided to work here, and the odds worked out in her favor as she married her boss’s son. But now, she’s the widowed owner of St. Cecelia, and she’s determined to see it go back to the success it was back then, although staff shortages and financial instability were key factors in ruining the hotel completely. To make matters even worse, her brother-in-law prays for her downfall and makes sure she fails at what she’s doing. But Traci remains steadfast, and she only has one summer to do it. So, by hiring some help, she starts the work to turn things around. However, right as she begins, new information about a drowning that happened at the hotel a long time ago comes into life, and leaves poor Traci in despair, not knowing how to continue.
Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
When siblings Beth, Nicole, and Michael are reunited again years later after their mom passes, it’s nothing like what they expected. Beth, being the oldest, stayed at home taking care of her mom until her last breath, while middle child Nicole has been kept away from the family due to her drug addiction, and the youngest, Michael, had been living out of state without ever returning since their father abandoned them seven years ago. While the three siblings go through their parent’s belongings, they find a collection of home videos, and decide to rewatch them to feel happier after the passing of their mother. But the happiness and nostalgia they are hit with is suddenly cut short when one of the home videos from 1999 contains footage of their father covered in blood, followed by a dead body, then a pact made between their parents to get rid of the body, and the video then cuts off. Now, the siblings are faced with either leaving the past in the past or uncovering the secret their mother took to the grave with her.
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
What happens when you have a crush on your best friend’s younger brother, but you don’t KNOW he’s your best friend’s younger brother? Well, Lucy would know. While she’s vacationing at Prince Edward Island, Felix, one of the locals, shows her around and gives her a good time. Lucy and Felix have unbelievable chemistry, but their morals get in the way, and they decide that they need to stay away from each other. But this is hard to do when Lucy goes on vacation to Prince Edward Island every year to escape and have a good time with her best friend Bridget. But every time she visits, she has to promise herself she won’t end right back up in Felix’s bed. Lucy’s crush on Felix is no joke, but no matter how much she likes him, she’s always tried her best to push it away. When Bridget flees Toronto a week before her wedding and goes to the island, Lucy follows her to help Bridget through this crisis while also resisting the man she’s always wanted but never had.
Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington
Desperate to reclaim her Ivy League acceptance, Adina Walker enters a competition, only to discover that the stakes are deadly. Adina has always understood that she must work twice as hard to get half as much, and as a scholarship student at a prestigious academy, she’s aware that even one small mistake can ruin everything she’s worked so hard for. And it does. She loses control for one second, and one single fight causes her to be blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League and any other for that matter. Her only chance to get it back is by entering the Finish, a contest hosted by her academy’s founding family. In this contest, 12 young women are selected to compete in three events: the Ride, the Raid, and the Royale. But when she arrives at the competition, Adina quickly understands that something isn’t right, and her gut feeling ends up being right, because it soon becomes clear that this prize can cost you your life. So, what will she choose?
All Fours by Miranda July
When a semi-famous artist announces her plans to drive across the country from LA to NY, she has no idea that 30 minutes into the road trip she would exit the freeway, check into a random motel, and immerse herself in a temporary reinvention. She has no idea that this, unexpectedly, becomes the beginning of a completely different journey for her.
