10 Most Recommended Books for Summer 2024

Do you love reading what everyone else is talking about? Honestly, I don’t always jump on the bandwagon right away. Sometimes, I wait until the hype on Bookstagram and BookTok dies down before I pick up a trending book. But summer feels different. Whenever there are hot summer reads, I get curious and want to grab them right away. I want to see if these trending books are really worth it. That’s why I put together this list of the most recommended books for summer 2024.

I’ve already read most of these books, and I can promise they’re 100 percent worth your time. Whether you’re into fast-paced thrillers or small-town rom coms, there are great novels to choose from. I’ve kept the list short so you don’t have to spend too much time deciding which book to pick up.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Justin has an unusual curse: every woman he dates meets their true love right after they break up. This peculiar situation gains him viral fame online. Enter Emma, a traveling nurse who ends up in Minnesota. She agrees to the plan and rents a cozy cottage with Justin for the summer, aiming for a carefree fling. But things get complicated when Emma’s toxic mom and Justin’s siblings arrive on the scene.With everything going on, Justin and Emma start to develop genuine feelings for each other. Emma begins to question if their meeting was truly a coincidence or if fate had a hand in bringing them together.

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

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Funny Story by Emily Henry

Daphne thought her fiancé, Peter, was perfect until he fell for his best friend, Petra. Now, she’s alone in Waning Bay, Michigan, working as a librarian and sharing a house with Miles, Petra’s ex. Miles is messy and loves sad love songs, while Daphne is super organized. They avoid each other at first but start to bond over their shared heartbreak. They come up with a plan to post fake happy photos together, but Daphne begins to wonder if she’s actually falling for him.

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?

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Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood follows biotech engineer Rue Siebert, whose stable life gets disrupted by a hostile takeover led by Eli Killgore.  Despite the professional conflict, Rue and Eli are irresistibly attracted to each other and start a secret affair. As their relationship progresses, the looming business conflict sets a deadline for their romance. Rue begins to question whether her heart wants more than just a fleeting relationship.

A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science.

Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.

Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through – and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who’s off-limits to him.

Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business – one that plays for keeps.

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This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

Lucy visits Prince Edward Island every year and always ends up reconnecting with Felix, her best friend’s brother. Despite their attempts to stay away from each other, they are constantly drawn back together. When her friend Bridget needs help before her wedding, Lucy returns to the island, determined to support Bridget and avoid Felix. However, as she spends more time there, Lucy begins to question if she can truly keep her heart out of it.

Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only problem: Lucy doesn’t know he’s her best friend’s younger brother. Lucy and Felix’s chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.

It’s easier said than done.

Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI for a big breath of coastal air, fresh oysters and crisp vinho verde with her best friend, Bridget. Every visit begins with a long walk on the beach, beneath soaring red cliffs and a golden sun. And every visit, Lucy promises herself she won’t wind up in Felix’s bed. Again.

If Lucy can’t help being drawn to Felix, at least she’s always kept her heart out of it.

When Bridget suddenly flees Toronto a week before her wedding, Lucy drops everything to follow her to the island. Her mission is to help Bridget through her crisis and resist the one man she’s never been able to. But Felix’s sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy’s beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.

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Happy Place by Emily Henry

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since college, but they broke up six months ago and haven’t told their friends. During their annual vacation at a Maine cottage,which turns out to be the last trip,  they pretend to still be together. As they try to pretend  like a couple while grappling with their true feelings.

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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Never Lie by Freida McFadden

Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for their dream home. They visit a remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier. A violent winter storm traps them at the estate, leaving them with no chance of escape until the blizzard ends.

While looking for a book to pass the time, Tricia discovers a secret room filled with audio transcripts of Dr. Hale’s patient interviews. As she listens to the tapes, Tricia uncovers a series of terrifying events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.

But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.

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Beach Read by Emily Henry

Beach Read follows January, a romance writer and , and Augustus, who writes serious fiction. When they both are struggling with writer’ block, they accidentally end up as neighbors at beach houses. So they decide to challenge each other to write in the other’s genre. Throughout the summer, they go exploring together  to find inspiration and gradually start to fall for each other.

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really.

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Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creaturesby Shelby Van Pelt is a feel -good novel that explores the themes of  friendship, reckoning, and hope, centering on a widow’s unlikely bond with a giant Pacific octopus. After the death of her husband, Tova Sullivan begins working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, where she mops floors and tidies up. Keeping busy helps her cope with the mysterious disappearance of her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, who vanished over thirty years ago on a boat in Puget Sound.

At the aquarium, Tova befriends Marcellus, a curmudgeonly giant Pacific octopus. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but is reluctant to help his human captors—until he forms a special bond with Tova.

Marcellus, ever the detective, figures out what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. Using every trick his old invertebrate body can muster, he endeavors to unearth the truth for Tova before it’s too late.

Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors–until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

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Powerless by Lauren Roberts

In Powerless by Lauren Roberts, Paedyn is an ordinary person pretending to be an Elite in a kingdom that exiles non-Elites. After saving a prince, she finds herself in a high-stakes competition meant for Elites. Without any powers, Paedyn must conceal her true identity while navigating the dangers of the competition. As she develops feelings for the prince, the risk of exposure grows, and Paedyn questions if she can keep her secret and survive.

She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.

He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.

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None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

None of This Is True  by Lisa Jewell follows podcaster Alix, who meets Josie, a woman who shares her birthday. Josie suggests that Alix create a podcast about her life. As Alix delves deeper, she uncovers Josie’s dark secrets. Josie ingratiates herself into Alix’s life, only to vanish suddenly, putting Alix in danger and turning her into the subject of her own true crime podcast. Alix is left questioning Josie’s true identity and past actions.

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

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