One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to create reading lists for my friends. I have this distinct memory where I had asked a friend what she wanted for her birthday and she said “A list of your favorite books.” That felt like the ultimate honor. So much so, that it became a core memory. I remember sitting on my bed in my tiny NYC apartment, scribbling down a list of 20 book names on a birthday card. I couldn’t believe that someone found value in my book suggestions. And when I look back on that, it was likely a huge subconscious motivator for wanting to launch the Sunday Reading Book Club.

So this post is dedicated to that memory — and also, the nostalgia of a summer reading list.

Before I dive into the list, here’s what to expect: summer beach reads, historical fiction, a few thrillers, and women’s fic. There will be a mix of new books but also old ones that came out years ago that I don’t want you to miss out on simply because they aren’t buzzy anymore. Lastly, you all know I’m a huge romantasy reader, but since I find most books in that genre end up being series, I’ll skip them on this list and focus on standalones.

Your 2026 Summer Reading List

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie — By far my favorite book I’ve read this year. An aspiring comedy writer and the magnetic heir to a Hollywood family fall into a once-in-a-lifetime connection, only to be separated by fame, timing, and a mysterious disappearance that brings them back together years later.

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan — A hardworking single mom returns to her Rhode Island hometown to save her family home and finds herself in a fake-dating arrangement that may be the one problem she cannot simply solve.

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett — Set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, during the Great Depression, it follows an eclectic group of women — a resourceful young woman, an unadopted orphan, and various outcasts — who bond together and resort to desperate, illegal schemes to survive poverty and save their families.

Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams — Two women, separated by decades and continents but connected by a family heirloom, must confront old secrets, lost loves, and the complicated choices that shape a life.

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren — A second-chance romance about childhood best friends whose once-in-a-lifetime love was shattered by a secret, only to resurface years later with all its old ache intact.

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune — On Prince Edward Island, a woman tries very hard not to fall — again — for her best friend’s irresistible brother, even as one wedding-weekend crisis brings every buried feeling back to the surface.

Happy Place by Emily Henry — A recently broken-up couple pretends they are still together during one last summer trip with their best friends, forcing them to face what went wrong and what might still be worth saving.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans — Told through letters, this warm and quietly profound novel follows a sharp, complicated older woman as her lifelong habit of correspondence reveals the loves, losses, regrets, and connections that made her who she is.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach — A woman arrives alone at a glamorous Newport hotel at her lowest point and is unexpectedly swept into a chaotic wedding party that just might help her begin again.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore — When a teenage girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp, the mystery cracks open old wounds, family secrets, and the haunting legacy of another child who vanished years before.

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson — This comes out on June 30, so I have a pre-order in and can’t wait to read this soon. In a small seaside town on the North Shore of Massachusetts, an ambitious young writer slips into a tight-knit social circle and sends friendships, marriages, and long-held secrets into delicious disarray.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid — Set against the high-stakes world of 1980s NASA, this cinematic love story follows a woman chasing the stars while confronting ambition, identity, danger, and the kind of connection that changes everything.

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand — Inspired by the idea of one weekend every year, this Nantucket love story follows a secret, decades-long romance and the impossible pull of the life not chosen.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall — A haunting, emotionally charged novel of love, grief, and impossible choices, where a quiet rural life is upended when the past comes roaring back with devastating consequences.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt — A grieving widow, a lost young man, and an extraordinarily perceptive octopus form an unlikely web of connection in this tender story about loneliness, healing, and the family we find.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller — A breathtaking retelling of Achilles and Patroclus’s love story, transforming Greek myth into an intimate, devastating portrait of devotion, fate, and glory.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young — A woman from a cursed family of flower farmers follows the mystery of her mother’s disappearance into a time-bending love story full of secrets, fate, and impossible choices.

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston — A magical apartment brings a grieving book publicist face-to-face with a man living seven years in the past, creating a swoony romance about timing, loss, and learning to step into a new chapter.