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Here’s a list of 10 new summer reads for book clubs!
Yay, for summer reading! With the rate of book clubs increasing, and just overall people reading more, there are so many new books publishing during the summer months! With longer and warmer days, and more breaks, it’s a great time to pick up a new book.
I put together this handy list of 10 new summer reads that all promise to help jumpstart great discussions at your book club meetings this summer. And if you’re looking for more reads from 2025, check out my list here that covers books published earlier this year.
Let’s get to the summer list!
Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein (May 13)
Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein is promoted as a Parent Trap for adults—I’m already super intrigued! The story follows half-sisters Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster who each spend a month with their father at his lake house — separately. They’ve never met.
When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she’s shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return. Now they are forced to spend the summer together, and to untangle the messy truth about their parents’ pasts.
Stories about family, and sisters generally are great book club picks, and this one adds a bit of an unconventional spin so I think there will be plenty to analyze with this one.
It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (May 27)
Annabel Monaghan has quickly became the go-to for summer romance stories! In It’s A Love Story, we follow Jane Jackson, a former child star-turned-Hollywood executive, who tells a little white lie that sends her on a crash course with her past—and on a weeklong trip to Long Island with the last man on earth who could make her believe in love.
About writing the book, Annabel states, “We are a keeping-up culture, social media makes sure we don’t forget that, and I wanted to write a book about a person who was trying to keep up with what she thought she should be doing relative to her peers. I also wanted to explore what it might be like to grow up on camera being told where to stand and what to say, and what it might feel like to start listening to your own voice.”
Beach House Rules by Kristy Harvey Woodson (May 27)
I recently read Beach House Rules and adored it! This is my first book I’ve read by Kristy Harvey Woodson, and I’m a big fan now. There is just something about books taking place in small coastal towns. Because these kind of stories are so readable and enjoyable, it makes for a perfect combination for a breezy summer day.
This one follows a mother-daughter duo learning to lean on their community of women—and each other—after their world is turned upside down.
Beach House Rules is such a charming and lovely read. Full of colorful and entertaining characters, it showcases how important a community is, and that it’s never too late to reshape one’s own destiny. There’s also the vivid setting with the Southern beach coastal town, that will make you feel like you’re part of the community too. Highly recommend! For book clubs, check out my questions here.
The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (June 3)
Julie Clark is becoming the go-to for suspenseful mysteries. If you haven’t read The Last Flight yet, I highly encourage you add it to your TBR! I could not put that book down and stayed up way too late reading it (which is always sign of a good book).
Her latest, The Ghostwriter, is her first murder mystery. A family is shattered when two teenage siblings are found dead in their home. The only surviving sibling could never shake the accusations that he was involved. Now 50 years later, his only child might be the one to find out the truth about what happened that night, as he’s finally ready to talk.
So intrigued by this one!
The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram (June 3)
The Summer We Ran features a gorgeous cover, and a very intriguing story. Told through multiple perspectives, rich with emotion and immersive dual timelines, The Summer We Ran weaves together a story of lost love, devastating secrets, shocking sabotage, and the painstaking decision two people must make in order to fulfill the futures they each desire.
The publisher says it features lovable tropes like the boy next door, forbidden romance, impossible love, and second chance romance, but that’s not all it is. But it also touches on heavier themes as life does, and is rife with discussion-worthy topics such as the role of family obligations and expectations, class disparity, commitment, ambition, troubled marriages, and life-ending tragedy. It provides an opportunity to discuss sensitive issues in a gracious way, allowing readers the space to listen to and empathize with all perspectives.
The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie (June 11)
The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie is a poignant retelling of The Great Gatsby and set amongst L.A.’s Black elite.
I always find it fascinating where author’s get their story inspirations from, and the publisher said that in this case, it was a segment on KCRW, her local public radio station, that would serve as Davis Lurie’s inspiration. On the program that day was a piece on the history of West Adams Heights, popularly known as “Sugar Hill.” Established in the early 1900s as a home for white elites, by the 1930s and 40s, the mansions that lined its streets were being purchased by some of the wealthiest and most successful African Americans in the nation.
As 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby, Davis Lurie offers a much needed reimagining of this American classic to center the very people America has too often tried to erase.
Really looking forward to this one.
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel (June 17)
Kristin Harmel is a fantastic writer of historical fiction. The Book of Lost Names was such an impactful book. In her latest, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, Kristin follows two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.
This one sounds especially fascinating with the different timelines and trying to solve a long ago murder. I think historical fiction lovers will very much enjoy this one.
Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox (July 1)
This exciting novel takes the classic locked-room whodunnit and infuses it with southern charm and chilling suspense. Set against the backdrop of a Texas-sized Sweet Sixteen gone terribly wrong, Cox, a native Texan herself, expertly crafts a smart thriller around a tale of betrayal, deadly secrets, and haunting twists that will keep you looking around every corner.
There is a lot of buzz with this one, and it sounds so entertaining!
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean (July 8)
Sarah MacLean is known for her historical fiction romances, however, in These Summer Storms, she covers contemporary fiction.
After the death of her larger than life father, Alice Storm returns to her family’s private island off the coast of Nantucket with one goal: leave as soon as possible. But her father had other plans, and the Storm children and their mother are quickly forced into a manipulative game to win his inheritance.
With hidden desires and destructive secrets unearthed at every turn, all under the watchful eye of Jack – her father’s stern, yet sexy second in command – it will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape the week unscathed.
The publisher says this is the ultimate book for your beach bag this summer, full of razor-sharp wit and the sexy intrigue Sarah is known for.
All The Men I Loved Again by Christine Pride (July 8)
I was a big fan of Christine’s novel that she co-wrote with Jo Piazza, We Are Not Like Them. So I’m especially excited for her solo novel, All The Men I Loved Again.
Based on her life, the story follows Cora, who falls in love for the first time when she goes away to college. But when that relationship crumbles, she find herself falling for someone new, only for her first love to say he wants her back. Now, 20 years later, she finds herself torn between the same two men again, but this time she’ll have to make a choice.
Looking forward to it!
Have a wonderful summer, and happy reading!
