Top Books for Your Summer Reading List

Summer is synonymous with traveling, vacations, beach days, poolside afternoons—and more time spent reading. So, we’ve rounded up some good summer reads that go beyond the typical beach book. Bonus: they’re all brand-new, so even the most avid readers probably haven’t had a chance to dig into them yet! 

Fun, romance-focused fiction: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, April 22, 2025

Readers can expect two page-turning stories in one with Emily Henry’s just-released romance novel. Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson are two writers competing for the chance to tell the story of the legendary and elusive Margaret Ives—an heiress and tabloid favorite from a notorious family. Set on the fictional Little Crescent Island, the suspense builds as Margaret reveals different pieces of her mysterious life to each writer, but they can’t compare notes due to confidentiality clauses. To complicate matters even more, as Margaret continues to tell her confusing life story, Alice and Hayden find themselves falling for each other.  

Thought-provoking thriller: King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby, June 10, 2025

In this fast-paced thriller from award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author S.A. Cosby expected out June 10, financial whiz Roman Carruthers is called home to his small town after a car accident leaves his father in a coma. There, Roman finds his younger siblings, Dante and Neveah, in serious trouble. Dante is entangled with dangerous criminals and Neveah is burned out from running the family business, Carruthers Crematorium. As Roman dives deeper, he unearths a series of shocking truths—his father’s car crash was no accident and Dante’s ties to criminal activity are profoundly affecting the whole family. Neveah tries to uncover the mystery of why their mother disappeared, while Roman tries to use his prowess with numbers to get his family out of trouble—but ends up working for the criminals. As Roman gets sucked deeper into the underground, illicit world, he realizes what great lengths he will go to in order to save his family. 

Smart fiction with crossover appeal: The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong, May 13, 2025

This touching tearjerker from poet and novelist Ocean Vuong opens with 19-year-old Hai, who is contemplating taking his life when a mysterious voice makes him think twice. The person who convinces Hai not to jump turns out to be Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia. An unlikely friendship forms between the pair, and Hai takes on the role of Grazina’s caregiver, building a bond that touches on everything from spirituality to heartbreak. Expect a deep read that examines mental health, memory, community, and much more through dark humor and emotional passages that leave a lasting impact. 

Quintessential beach read: One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune, May 6, 2025

This companion novel to Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After features all the ingredients of a typical summer beach read: a lakeside setting, unexpected romance, and witty back-and-forth banter. In the book, main character Alice took the photograph that launched her career—three teenagers in a yellow speed boat—when she was 17 at her Nan’s lake cottage on Barry’s Bay. Years later, Alice is called back to another summer at the lake when her Nan breaks her hip. There, Alice meets the man driving the boat in her breakthrough photograph: Charlie Florek. Charlie was 19 at the time of the photo, but is all grown up now—and a merciless charmer who takes Alice back to that carefree teenage summer. As lighthearted summer days and nights melt into something more serious, Alice starts to worry because she’s never met someone who sees her the way Charlie does. 

Nonfiction with a pop culture deep-dive: Warhol’s Muses: The Artists, Misfits and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine by Laurence Leamer, May 6, 2025

Nonfiction aficionados will want to dive deep into the dark side of Andy Warhol’s world with renowned biographer Laurence Leamer’s new book. Warhol’s Muses follows the stories of the women who starred in and gained fame from Warhol’s underground films in the ’60s. The book examines how Warhol exploited the beauty and talent of 10 intriguing women in the name of art—with no real regard to their safety, until one day in June 1968, when someone entered his famed Factory and shot him. Set against the colorful backdrop of 1960s Manhattan, this book is a captivating must-read. 

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