It’s almost the end of summer (can you believe how fast it’s gone by??)...but before you start mourning beach trips and evening barbeques, enjoy the last few weeks of your summer vacation by diving into these summer-coded books and TV shows!
Just to let you know - this recommendation list is based on each book/show’s compatibility with summer vibes. Think islands, summer vacations, swimming, and Fourth of July. Some of these books and TV shows, while not my personal favorite, have a huge fan base, so I’m going to include them anyways.
Let’s get started!
First up, we have one of my favorite summer rom-coms of all time - The Summer of Broken Rules by KL Walther.
If you haven’t read this book, go buy it right now. It’s amazing, checks all the summer-vibe boxes, and has lovable characters. I’ve already written about this book in my other post titled Ranking All of KL Walther’s Books Just Because I Felt Like It, so if you want to read about it there, please go ahead! A lot of the ideas will be similar.
Let’s start with the book’s summer vibes (this is a summer-themed recommendation, is it not?). The Summer of Broken Rules takes place over the course of a week on Martha’s Vineyard. Despite never having stepped foot on the island, KL Walther manages to make the setting feel very realistic and nostalgic as well. Meredith Fox, our main character, comes to the Vineyard with her family for her cousin Sarah’s wedding. The book features bike rides, trips to Secret Beach, explorations of Edgartown, and evening barbecues on outdoor picnic tables. Can it get any more summer-y than that?
But the most fun plot twist? A game of Assassin featuring all of the wedding guests. I had so much fun reading about the wedding guests’ crazy antics and the measures they go to in order to win the game. I literally laughed out loud as characters climbed onto rooftops, stalked their victims, and deceived their friends all just to squirt their designated targets with water.
KL Walther also does an amazing job of making the reader feel like a part of Meredith’s large family. I really got to understand various family members via small details that made the story more heartwarming and memorable. For example, Meredith’s dad and uncle an iconic bromance despite being mentioned only four times throughout the novel. I was really invested in the various dynamics of the side characters, in addition to Meredith’s own romance plot line.
Sarah’s wedding is the first time Meredith and her parents have come to the island since Meredith’s older sister Claire died in a drunk driving accident. Mer’s spent the past two years grieving her best friend, pushing away everyone except for her high school boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend). But as she comes back to Martha’s Vineyard and gets involved in Assassin, she’s determined to win the game in Claire’s honor. As a part of her strategy, she strikes an alliance with a cute groomsman named Wit.
I think that the characters of this novel are well-developed, complex, and relatable. I loved the ways that KL Walther explores not only the budding romance of Meredith and Wit, but also relationships between Mer and her parents, her cousins, her friends, and more. While the book takes place in the span of a week, some aspects of the romance did feel a bit rushed, but it is clear that Mer and Wit have a deep emotional connection rather than just surface-level chemistry, which I appreciated.
KL Walther manages to make a rom-com that’s full of light-hearted summer vibes and teenage romance while also portraying deeper themes of grief, guilt, and family. It’s a definite must read!
Up next is another one of my favorite books - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
If you haven’t read anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid - go buy one of her books right now. She’s an amazing author who does a great job of writing unforgettable characters and narratives. Specifically, I love her four books featuring fictional famous women from the 1900s, which all take place in the same universe - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto is Back. They’re all amazing.
But back to Malibu Rising. The book’s main character is Nina Riva, a famous surfer and model who lives in Malibru. Every summer, she and her three younger siblings host a giant party at Nina’s house on the cliffs near the beach, and this night’s party is going to be unforgettable. Nina’s just been left by her pro-tennis player husband, and the last thing she wants to do is host a party. Her brothers Hud and Jay are both looking for romance, but Hud has a secret he’s been keeping from the brother he’s been inseparable from. And their kid sister Kit has a special guest she’s invited without her sibling’s knowledge.
Yet my favorite part of the book is the fact that it’s a dual timeline narrative. One timeline is told over the span of 24 hours during which Nina and her siblings are preparing for, and hosting, their epic end-of-summer bash. And the other timeline tells the story of the beginning of the Riva family, starting with when a teenage June Costas falls head-over-heels with the rising rockstar Mick Riva. The reader gets to watch as Nina and her siblings grow up, and we also get unique insight into the relationship between June and Mick as well.
I love Nina Riva with all my heart, and the character development of this book is amazing. Taylor Jenkins Reid manages to provide intimate insight into various party guests so that the reader feels as if they’re really a part of the novel and its characters. Each character is incredibly complex, flawed, and relatable - I really felt as if I understood all of them at a deep level.
But let’s get into the specifics of the summer vibes. Nina and her siblings grow up on the beaches of Malibu, and watching them discover their love for surfing is incredibly heartwarming and totally fits in with the beach narrative. Their end-of-summer party is the epitome of all end-of-summer parties too. This book may have less of a happy-sunshine vibe as most cutesy summer reads, but it’s an incredible book that I highly recommend.
Now let’s talk about We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.
This novel took the world by storm when it first came out, and it was made into a TV show last summer which was amazing. If you haven’t watched the show, it’s an absolute must-see. After you read the book, of course.
I wrote a whole article about the book and it’s TV adaptation if you want to check it out, but in this article, I’ll just explain what the book’s about and how it fits into this summer rec list.
We Were Liars is narrated by Cadence Sinclair Eastman, who suffered a tragic accident at her family’s private island two summers ago where she nearly drowned. She’s currently suffering from crippling migraines and selective amnesia, meaning that she can’t remember what happened to her on that fateful evening two years ago. So this summer, Cadence decides to return to the island to discover the truth behind her accident.
The book contains deep messages about wealth, privilege, family, and friendship, as it tells the story of how wealth and privilege break the seemingly perfect Sinclair family.
Sinclair patriarch Harris Sinclair and his wife Tipper have three daughters - Carrie, Penny, and Bess. The Sinclair sisters each have their own kids - our narrator Cadence is the daughter of Penny, Bess has four kids including her eldest daughter Mirren, and Carrie has two sons - Johnny and Will. Cadence, Mirren, and Johnny are all very close in age, yet Cadence is the favored eldest grandchild. Along with Carrie’s boyfriend’s nephew Gat Patel, the four of them are collectively known as The Liars. Together, the Liars love spending idyllic summers on Beechwood Island. Yet one summer when The Liars are teenagers, tensions rise as the Sinclair sisters let their privilege and desire for wealth break their family bonds.
I loved the setting of Beechwood Island, which is a fictional island located in the Martha’s Vineyard Sound. The book, and especially the TV show, do an amazing job of immersing the reader/viewer in the gorgeous island full of fancy houses where the family members live during the summer. The Liars get into a lot of teenage mischief throughout the island as they take the boat around the Sound, drive off the docks and swim in the ocean, and play games outside. The book has really powerful messages and it’s definitely worth reading. The TV show is also incredible, and I actually might prefer the TV show to the book for reasons that I explain in my previously mentioned article. Similar to Malibu Rising, it isn’t as light and fun as some other cutesy summer reads, but it fits the summer vibes well and is a really good book.
Now let’s get back into some lighthearted summer rom-coms. Next up - People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.
One of the ultimate best friends-to-lovers rom coms, People We Meet on Vacation is full of summer trips and slow burn romance. It also recently got turned into a movie, which wasn’t bad.
The book follows characters Poppy and Alex, who first meet in college. Despite an awkward first meeting and very opposite personalities, they soon become best friends - sharing everything with each other, hanging out constantly, and their favorite - going on trips together. When they leave college and move apart from each other, Poppy and Alex make a pact - each year, they’ll meet up for an epic summer vacation. But a couple of years ago, one vacation changed everything, and Alex and Poppy haven’t spoken since. That is, until Poppy calls Alex with a proposition to take one last vacation together.
The book is told in dual timelines, so the reader gets to follow Poppy and Alex as they take their last vacation together and also gets to learn about their first meeting and the many vacations they’ve taken together in the past.
I really enjoyed getting to read about their experiences in all these different cities all over the world. The book perfectly hits the summer vacation vibes as Poppy and Alex go to new places, experience many travel mishaps, and make lots of memories together.
The only thing I didn’t really like about this is the characters (sometimes characters were a bit annoying) and I felt that the best friends-to-lovers was almost a bit extreme at times. But People We Meet on Vacation is full of summer vacation vibes perfect for this time of year!
Speaking of Emily Henry, the next two books are going to be by her as well (she’s amazing at writing summer rom-coms). First, let’s discuss Great Big Beautiful Life.
This book is one of the more recently Emily Henry releases, coming out just about a year ago. This book follows two authors, Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson, as they comepte against each other to write the memoir of Margaret Ives - a former icon and star, daughter of one of the most storied families in history, and hidden from public sight for years.
As Alice and Hayden spend a few weeks of the summer getting to know Margaret via separate meetings, they keep running into each other on the small island where Margaret lives. I loved watching them go from rivals to friends, and slowly, to more than friends. I also enjoyed the setting of Little Crescent Island - it totally fits the summer vacation vibes, full of cute and quirky shops and restaurants, humidty, and the beach! The mystery of the story of Margaret Ives was also a cool aspect of the book as well. I’d highly recommend this book, it’s perfect for summer.
And the last Emily Henry book here - Beach Read.
This book follows two authors, January Andrews and Augustus Everett, who are living in neighboring beach houses during the summer. January writes rom-coms, while Augustus is an acclaimed literary fiction author. Yet both of them are burned out and experiencing writer’s block, and despite being polar opposites, they strike a deal in the hopes of sparking their creativity. January will write a broody literary fiction novel during the summer, while Augustus writes a romance with a happily ever after.
The book perfectly matches the summer vibes as these two authors spend their summers at the beach. It also matches well with the cutesy idyllic summer romance vibes. To be honest, I read this book once years ago so I don’t remember too many details about it, but I remember enjoying it. So I’d recommend if you enjoy a light rom-com vibe!
Soo…the next three books I’m grouping together into one section because they all follow the exact same trope/plot line. We have… Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, The Infinity Between Us by NS Perkins, and Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren.
So you may be wondering…what is the trope/plot line that these three books share? Let me sum it up briefly: A young Girl comes to a beach house each summer with her parents. Girl and local Boy become best friends when they’re young. When they’re teenagers, Boy and Girl admit feelings for each other and fall in love. But a Sudden Tragic Event occurs one summer that drives them apart. Now, ten years later, Girl and Boy suddenly get thrust into each other’s worlds again and are forced to confront the events of their past.
If you couldn’t already tell, this is one of my least favorite plot lines of all time. But I will admit, these books perfectly fit the summer vibe. They’re full of beach trips, barbecues, and fireworks. I also enjoy the entire “escape from my usual life” scenario where the main character finds herself in a completely different world removed from her usual friends, worries, and expectations of her life while in school and at home. There’s also a classic feeling where the two characters of the main couple struggle as they wonder if what they have will ever survive the world outside of their magical summer bubble.
So yeah…not my favorite trope, and I’m sorry I couldn’t do it more justice here. But I know a ton of people who love these stories so much, and if you’re one of them, you should definitely check out these books. Or if you’re like me and you just want something to hate read, these are good too (oops, sorry not sorry).
Speaking of books I don’t like…next up is The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han!
If anyone were to ask me for my thoughts on The Summer I Turned Pretty, I would immediately respond that I couldn’t stand it, and then proceed to rant about it for at least ten minutes. But I will admit that I did read the entire series in the span of a weekend and watched the TV show, so this series has some weird sort of hold on me. Not sure why, to be honest. But one thing is undeniable - this book absolutely suits the summer vibes.
The series’s main character, Belly, spends every summer at Cousins Beach, where her mother’s best friend Susannah has a beach house right next to the water. Belly and her brother Steven are very close with Susannah’s sons Conrad and Jeremiah, and the four of them hang out together at the beach, swimming pool, and the town throughout the whole summer. Belly’s had a crush on Conrad for as long as she can remember…could this be the summer where Conrad finally sees her as more than a girl akin to his annoying little sister? But just when sparks seem to fly between Belly and Conrad, Jeremiah and Belly also grow closer.
There are two things that I don’t like about this book. Firstly - the sibling love triangle. Don’t even get me started. I’m planning on making a whole rant post about how much I hate this trope. Secondly - the main character. I’m sorry, but I find Belly really annoying and she doesn’t really show that much character growth over the series. I don’t get how Jenny Han can write one of my favorite book characters of all time (Lara Jean Song Covey from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) and also write someone as annoying as Belly Conklin.
But, this book fits the summer vibes to a T. Since the main characters spend the summer at the beach, the book is full of late night swims at the pool, running into the waves of the ocean, eating ice cream in Cousins, barbecues, and Fourth of July fireworks. The setting of Cousins Beach is super idyllic and its one of the few things I really enjoyed about the book.
Honestly, TSITP has become so popular recently that it’s basically a modern classic - its kind of inevitable that you’re gonna end up reading or watching it at some point. Take it from me - I spent years adamantly refusing to watch the TV show because I didn’t like the book series only to binge the TV show in like a week. I swear Jenny Han has put something into these books that makes me keep coming back, no matter how much I know I don’t like it.
And…that’s it! I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing my thoughts about these summer-coded books, and enjoy the last few weeks of beach, vacation, sunshine vibes before the summer is over.