Giving book recs is my love language. A few friends have asked me for summer reads that they can take to the beach, the lake, the back porch, etc. Since I was clearly already going to make a list, I thought I’d ask everyone what kind of summer reading you want to do this summer. Because we’re all reading on a budget, this list is a mix of new releases and paperbacks. Here are your requests and my recommendations!

Summer Reading!

Request: “gimme something steamy to pair with the heat”

• Book Lovers by Emily Henry

• While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

• The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

• The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Request: “fun, mindless entertainment please”

• Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer by Rax King

• Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

• Wow, No Thank You.: Essays by Samantha Irby

• The Advice King Anthology: The Advice King Anthology by Chris Crofton

Request: “lighthearted and easy”

• I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

• Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic

• Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins

Request: “anything that pulls me in from the beginning - doesn’t have to be happy/fun”

• Nobody’s Magic by Destiny O. Birdsong

• Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be by Marissa R. Moss

• How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

Request: “not a romance novel”

• This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

• The Crocodile Bride by Ashleigh Bell Pedersen

• Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Request: “intense female bonding”

• Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

• Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story by Bess Kalb

Request: “something non-stressful so my brain can decompress”

• You Are Here (for Now): A Guide to Finding Your Way by Adam J. Kurtz

• A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl

Request: “true crime”

• Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

• I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Request: “absolute filth with a cheerful ending”

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

• The Rose by Tiffany Reisz

• By a Thread by Lucy Score

Request: “really good nonfiction”

• Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott

• Body Becoming: A Path to Our Liberation by Robyn Henderson-Espinoza

• Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron (CW: cancer)

Request: “novels that capture my attention, but not fluff”

• Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

• All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

• Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

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If nothing on this list scratches your itch, check out this great summer reading list that my friend Erica put together for the Nashville Scene.

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Shop my Bookshop.org Summer Reading list here!