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THE Summer Reading List for Romance Girlies | Pick Your Escape
75
items 50+ books to read before the sun goes down. From beach houses to big cities, fake dating to real feelings - your summer TBR just got an upgrade.
Sections
7
🏖️ Escape to the Beach House
🏙️ Escape to the City
💗 Escape into a Fake Relationship
🚢 Escape on the Move
🌺 Escape with a POC Heroine
🏡 Escape to a Small Town
🏖️ Escape to the Beach House
Sun, sand, and stories set somewhere you wish you were
Exactly what it sounds like, and executed with so much warmth. Two best friends, one summer, one brave conversation that changes everything.
Sally Blakely | Friends to Lovers
After graduating college, five friends make a pact. Every summer, they’ll meet for one week at the same beach house on the California coast to relive the golden days of college. There’s just one rule: no dating within the group.
Sally Blakely | Summer People
Two people who have very good reasons not to fall in love. They fall in love anyway. Katherine Center makes it feel earned and lovely.
Katherine Center | The Love Haters
Fake dating, only one bed, slow burn, he falls first - all the best tropes in one book
Kristina Forest | The Summer Girlfriend
Mac and Evan. She's from old money, he runs a surf shack. The classic "wrong side of the tracks" story done exactly right.
Elle Kennedy | Good Girl Complex | Avalon Bay Series (Book 1)
Genevieve and Tate. She has a reputation. He's trying to leave his behind. Second chance with real emotional depth underneath all the heat.
Elle Kennedy | Bad Girl Reputation | Avalon Bay Series (Book 2)
Cassie returns to the quaint beach town of Avalon Bay for one last summer before her grandmother sells the family's beloved boardwalk hotel. She's got one mission: find herself a summer fling.
Elle Kennedy | The Summer Girl | Avalon Bay Series (Book 3)
Augustus and January are both writers with block, stuck next door to each other for the summer. They make a bet. It goes exactly how you think, and you will love every second of it.
Emily Henry | Beach Read
Second chance romance with a fake-dating twist inside a friend group vacation house. It's tender and heartbreaking in the best way. Harriet and Wyn will wreck you.
Emily Henry | Happy Place
She inherited half a beach house. So did a complete stranger. One summer, one dog named Dude, and way too much forced proximity to keep things strictly professional. Perfect for fans of Beach Read.
Jenn McKinlay | The Summer Share
Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack, a great job in Manhattan, and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something ...
Annabel Monaghan | Same Time Next Summer
A former child star sets out to reclaim her present and future in the face of a past that left a big shadow. This more-than-a-love-story has the joyful tone of a rom-com but the heart of a meaningful journey to self-discovery.
Annabel Monaghan | It's a Love Story
A Martha's Vineyard wedding week, a massive family game of assassin, and a romance that sneaks up on you. Genuinely fun and secretly emotional.
K.L. Walther | The Summer of Broken Rules
🏙️ Escape to the City
The skyline is stunning. The love interest is more so.
A summer in New York, a meet-cute that shouldn't work, and a love story that feels completely alive. Fresh voice, great energy.
Alex Aster | Summer in the City
Lily Greene is a shy, bookish Black heroine who enlists her charming new neighbor Nick to help her find a date — not knowing he's actually the mysterious author she's been exchanging emails with for months.
Kristina Forest | The Neighbor Favor
Kelsey is convinced her obnoxiously charming coworker JP is her nemesis. JP is convinced they're inevitable. When a work trip forces them into the same San Francisco penthouse, their banter gets sharper, the tension gets thicker, and the line between...
Megan Quinn | So Not Meant To Be
Josie Silver does slow burn better than almost anyone. If you loved One Day in December, this has the same aching, will-they-won't-they energy.
Josie Silver | Slow Burn Summer
Explore the intersection of hate and love in this delightful workplace romcom. It’s the story of two ambitious coworkers, destined to eternal competition for promotions and accolades, who may also fall in love in the process? Maybe?
Sally Thorne | The Hating Game
Inspired by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, this is a whirlwind YA romance about four friends whose love lives are a tangled mess, epic senior skip day included. Grace is secretly in love with Everett, who used to date her best friend Isa. One day. A lot o...
K. L. Walther | While We're Young
💗 Escape into a Fake Relationship
Nobody falls for their fake partner. Nobody except literally everyone in these books.
Puerto Rican leads, fake engagement, their grandparents are basically co-protagonists. Food, family, and chaos.
Natalie Caña | A Proposal They Can't Refuse | Vega Family Love Stories (Book 1)
Puerto Rican telenovela stars fake-date on set. Chaotic, warm, and full of family drama. Perfect if you want loud summer energy.
Alexis Daria | You Had Me at Hola | Primas of Power Series (Book 1)
Fake dating, only one bed, slow burn, he falls first - all the best tropes in one book
Kristina Forest | The Summer Girlfriend
Second chance romance with a fake-dating twist inside a friend group vacation house. It's tender and heartbreaking in the best way. Harriet and Wyn will wreck you.
Emily Henry | Happy Place
Sapphic, Baangladeshi-Irish and Indian-Irish leads fake date to impress their classmates. Sweet, low-angst, and quietly important rep.
Adiba Jaigirdar | Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating
Olive and Ethan hate each other. They end up on a honeymoon together (long story). The banter is iconic. One of the funniest rom-coms ever written.
Christina Lauren | The Unhoneymooners
A hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion.
Annabel Monaghan | Dolly All the Time
Enter Wilder Wells. More than happy to take on the job, he teaches Scottie the main rule of improv: always say yes. But the rule backfires during the session when Wilder signs them up for an eight-day summer marriage camp with all of Scottie's co-wor...
Meghan Quinn | Till Summer Do Us Part
Indian-American heroine gets matched with her ex on a matrimonial site. Second chance with maximum awkwardness and heart.
Lillie Vale | The Shaadi Set-Up
🚢 Escape on the Move
The journey was supposed to be simple. It wasn't.
Millicent is escorting the ashes of a 90-year-old woman across the country to reunite them with her great love. She gets stuck with a stranger, Hollis, for the road trip. It's funnier and more heartfelt than it has any right to be.
Sarah Adler | Mrs. Nash's Ashes
JoJo does not expect the boy who broke her heart to show up at her sister’s cruise wedding… but with her new crush along for the ride, what could possibly go wrong? While attempting to get over her old flame, JoJo sets sail on a cruise of self-discov...
Katherine Center | The Shippers
If you've ever binged a season of Below Deck and thought this needs a love story, Kandi Steiner just wrote your book. Love Overboard follows Ember, chief stew on a Mediterranean superyacht and cast member of a reality TV show - until her ex walks in ...
Kandi Steiner | Love Overboard
If you love road trips, witty banter, and slow-burn chemistry, Chase Me If You Can is the perfect adventure. Set against the thrilling backdrop of storm chasing, this romance combines heart-pounding action with heartfelt moments, making every mile—an...
Heather Frances | Chase Me If You Can
🌺 Escape with a POC Heroine
Romance reads where the main character looks like you. From Bollywood-inspired fake dating to Black British wit to Latina second chances, these are the love stories that center women of color, unapologetically. Always updating. Always worth reading.
Puerto Rican leads, fake engagement, their grandparents are basically co-protagonists. Food, family, and chaos.
Natalie Caña | A Proposal They Can't Refuse | Vega Family Love Stories (Book 1)
Same Caña family series, enemies-to-lovers with a community center at stake. Steamy and socially conscious.
Natalie Caña | A Dish Best Served Hot | Vega Family Love Stories (Book 2)
More Caña family drama. If you're binge-reading the series by now, you already know.
Natalie Caña | Sleeping with the Frenemy | Vega Family Love Stories (Book 3)
Puerto Rican telenovela stars fake-date on set. Chaotic, warm, and full of family drama. Perfect if you want loud summer energy.
Alexis Daria | You Had Me at Hola | Primas of Power Series (Book 1)
Second chance romance between childhood friends who grew apart. Bittersweet and swoony with strong Latinx family vibes.
Alexis Daria | A Lot Like Adiós | Primas of Power Series (Book 2)
Another Alexis Daria gem. If you loved the first two, same world, same warmth.
Alexis Daria | Along Came Amor | Primas of Power Series (Book 3)
Lily Greene is a shy, bookish Black heroine who enlists her charming new neighbor Nick to help her find a date — not knowing he's actually the mysterious author she's been exchanging emails with for months.
Kristina Forest | The Neighbor Favor
Fake dating, only one bed, slow burn, he falls first - all the best tropes in one book
Kristina Forest | The Summer Girlfriend
The Jasmine Guillory classic. Elevator meet-cute leads to fake dating a doctor. Light, breezy, ideal beach read.
Jasmine Guillory | The Wedding Date
Sapphic, Baangladeshi-Irish and Indian-Irish leads fake date to impress their classmates. Sweet, low-angst, and quietly important rep.
Adiba Jaigirdar | Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating
Chronically ill Black British heroine makes a bucket list and falls for her building's superintendent. Talia Hibbert at her funniest.
Talia Hibbert | Get a Life, Chloe Brown | The Brown Sisters (Book 1)
Middle sister, fake dating after a viral moment. Dani is the most chaotic Brown sister and it's everything.
Talia Hibbert | Take a Hint, Dani Brown | The Brown Sisters (Book 2)
Youngest Brown sister crashes into her grumpy boss's life. The slowest of slow burns, most emotional payoff.
Talia Hibbert | Act Your Age, Eve Brown | The Brown Sisters (Book 3)
Malaysian-Chinese heroine navigating her 30s, family pressure, and an unexpected love interest. Bridget Jones but make it Singapore.
Lauren Ho | Last Tang Standing
Reality TV setting, Chinese-American heroine. Chaotic and fun, great for fans of The Charm Offensive.
Kara Loo & Jennifer Young | Alice Chen's Reality Check
Divorced Latina throws herself a second quinceañera and falls for the event planner. Celebratory, joyful, very summery.
Yamile Saied Méndez | Twice a Quinceañera
Indian princess, enemies-to-lovers at a boarding school. YA but reads like a fairytale. Sandhya Menon is unmatched for lush romance.
Sandhya Menon | Of Curses and Kisses
A 73-year-old Chinese-Indonesian grandmother walks into her family's Chinese New Year dinner with a woman on her arm and changes everything for her secretly queer granddaughter Izzy.
Jesse Q. Sutanto | Next Time Will Be Our Turn
Indonesian-Australian heroine, enemies-to-lovers with a fake relationship twist. Jesse Q. Sutanto writes with so much humor.
Jesse Q. Sutanto | Well, That Was Unexpected
Indian-American heroine gets matched with her ex on a matrimonial site. Second chance with maximum awkwardness and heart.
Lillie Vale | The Shaadi Set-Up
Chinese-American girl gets sent to a "cultural program" in Taiwan and finds herself instead. The most literally summery book on this list.
Abigail Hing Wen | Loveboat, Taipei
🏡 Escape to a Small Town
Population: small. Drama: enormous. Love interest: suspiciously attractive.
Two estranged best friends find that their long-abandoned treasure hunt might be the key to a fresh start, for both their futures and their feelings.
Sarah Adler | Finders Keepers
Piper Bellinger, rich party girl, gets sent to a small fishing town in Washington as punishment. She meets a grumpy, serious captain named Brendan. He does not find her chaos amusing. At first.
Tessa Bailey | It Happened One Summer
Fox, Brendan's best friend, helps Piper's sister Hannah get the job of her dreams, and slowly falls apart trying to convince himself he's just being a good friend. Friends-to-lovers at its finest.
Tessa Bailey | Hook, Line, and Sinker
Second chance romance with real weight behind it. These characters have history and hurt and you feel every bit of it on the page
Tarah DeWitt | Left of Forever
A deal is struck. Sage will improve Fisher’s image in the eyes of the town and remove the roadblocks he is facing with the restaurant, and Fisher will be Sage’s partner for the competition. But as their pact quickly turns into steamy rendezvous, emot...
Tarah DeWitt | Savor It
Percy and Sam. Six summers at a lake house. One mistake. Years apart. This book haunts people. It will haunt you too.
Carley Fortune | Every Summer After
A chance encounter on a spontaneous day in the city, then a decade of silence, then fate stepping in. The tension in this one is immaculate.
Carley Fortune | Meet Me at the Lake
Carley's latest. A summer that changes everything. Read this on a porch with something cold to drink.
Carley Fortune | One Golden Summer
For the girlies who think they'd be the villain in a rom-com. Nora Stephens is a literary agent. Charlie Lastra is the grumpy editor she keeps running into in a small town. Enemies to something more.
Emily Henry | Book Lovers
Two people, one apartment, two exes who are now dating each other. The premise alone. Daphne and Miles have no business being this charming together.
Emily Henry | Funny Story
Nora writes scripts for Hallmark-style movies. Her husband leaves. A famous actor shows up to film on her property and refuses to leave. Cozy, warm, and surprisingly moving.
Annabel Monaghan | Nora Goes Off Script
Secret romance and mistaken identity are some of our favorite romance tropes, and they come to life in this perfect addition to any beach bag.
Annabel Monaghan | Summer Romance
A hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion.
Annabel Monaghan | Dolly All the Time
Six summers to fall in love. One summer to change it all. Paige Toon's emotionally devastating multi-timeline romance. Read it and immediately recommend it to everyone you know.
Paige Toon | Seven Summers
If you're craving a feel-good summer romance packed with laugh-out-loud banter, irresistible chemistry, and small-town charm, Rules for the Summer delivers it all. With a lovable cast, a cozy candy shop, forced proximity, and a swoony British hero…
Meghan Quinn | Rules for the Summer
If you're looking for a steamy small-town romance with emotional depth, unforgettable chemistry, and plenty of cowboy charm, Fever Dream is a must-read.
Elsie Silver | Fever Dream
✈️ Escape on a Vacation
Passport optional. Falling in love? Apparently mandatory.
Lucy goes to PEI every summer to buy oysters for her flower shop. Then she meets the oyster farmer's brother. Lush and sensory and so romantic.
Carley Fortune | This Summer Will Be Different
Another new one that lives in that same emotional, slow-build world Fortune does so well. Already a must-read.
Carley Fortune | Our Perfect Storm
For anyone who's ever needed a summer to rediscover themselves. Our Secret Summer follows Isabel, a buttoned-up corporate girl who drops everything and flies to Ibiza to complete her late sister's bucket list. Surf the waves, get a tattoo, fall in lo...
R.S. Grey | Our Secret Summer
Alex and Poppy. Best friends. One ruined trip. Years of unresolved tension. This book invented the "I've been in love with my best friend and never said a word" genre.
Emily Henry | People We Meet on Vacation
Olive and Ethan hate each other. They end up on a honeymoon together (long story). The banter is iconic. One of the funniest rom-coms ever written.
Christina Lauren | The Unhoneymooners
Not your typical romance. Katy travels to Italy after losing her mother and encounters something unexpected. Magical realism meets love story. It will make you cry.
Rebecca Serle | One Italian Summer