whether you're sunbathing, café-hopping, or curled up in front of a fan, these are the books to read this summer. From flirty rom-coms to coming-of-age journeys, each one is breezy, brilliant, or bittersweet in all the right ways.
Sections
5
classics
coming-of-age
mysterious and haunting
literary fiction
booktok romances
classics
Old souls, eternal reads.
scandalous french riviera novella with existential teen girl drama
Bonjour Tristesse and A Certain Smile a book by Francoise Sagan and Heather Lloyd.
rich people ruining their lives on the côte d'azur
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sam Taylor-Wood | Waterstones
lyrical, nostalgic, beach-house melancholy
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Hermione Lee | Waterstones
italy, repression, romantic awakenings, and george standing in a field with flowers
A Room with a View a book by E.M. Forster.
coming-of-age
Sunsets, self-discovery, and maybe a little heartbreak.
memoir-meets-millennial-girlhood, honest and hilarious
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton | Waterstones
intimacy, communication breakdowns, growing up, dublin to Italy
Normal People by Sally Rooney | Waterstones
heat, peaches, first love in a golden italian summer
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman | Waterstones
a YA beach love triangle, messy but addictive
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han | Waterstones
linguistics, awkward emails, and coming of age at Harvard (she goes to Hungary in the summer!)
The Idiot by Elif Batuman - 9781594205613
mysterious and haunting
If your summer includes thunderstorms and existential dread.
mean girls meets heathers meets academic horror, wrapped in a pink bow
Bunny by Mona Awad | Waterstones
grotesque, grim, and sun-scorched medieval village weirdness
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh | Waterstones
a manson-inspired cult in 1960s california - seductive and eerie
The Girls by Emma Cline | Waterstones
an unreliable narrator, an island estate, a huge twist
We Were Liars
deception, murder, and a mediterranean summer
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith | Waterstones
literary fiction
Warm, smart, bittersweet, and beautiful.
love, art, and chaos in new york; messy relationships and gorgeous writing
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors | Waterstones
set over one summer day but spamming a lifetime of choices, secrets, and desire
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller | Waterstones
a lie told on a hot summer's day in 1935 ruins everything - tragic, sweeping, unforgettable
Atonement by Ian McEwan | Waterstones
the most deadpan hot girl summer ever (if she never left her flat)
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh | Waterstones
emails, ireland, longing, millennials being millennials
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
booktok romances
For flirtation, fake dating, and big feelings on holiday.
grumpy x sunshine, fake dating, and big feelings on holiday
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | Waterstones
bitter enemies turned lovers writing books in a beach town = sparks and sadness
Beach Read by Emily Henry
a woman with autism hires an escort to help her learn dating - sweet, sexy, and full of heart
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang | Waterstones
write interviews hot actor, ten years later they meet again - hollywood, heartbreak, and hope
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman | Waterstones
exes pretend they're still together on a group holiday - ouch! but also cute!
