15 brilliant books to lose yourself in this summer
Sunglasses - check. Sun cream - check. Picnic blanket - check. Water bottle - check. If a brilliant book is up next on your packing list for the perfect summer’s afternoon, then you’re going to want to read on…
We’ve teamed up with Rare Birds Books - the Edinburgh-based bookstore and online book club - to match you with your next summer love affair.
Whether you’re looking to escape into a seaside summer romance, get lost in a thriller or luxuriate in literature’s more sophisticated offerings, there’s something for everyone in this tantalising summer reading guide.
Summer flings
Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan
Growing up, Sam and Wyatt spent every summer together on Long Island. Now successful and engaged to someone else, Sam’s seemingly perfect life is threatened when Wyatt returns one summer.
Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
Armenian-American Nar’s mum has had enough, and sends her daughter back to her roots to find a suitable Armenian man. But Nar has other ideas - and ends up falling for her distinctly not male tour guide.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
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.
Poolside thrillers
The Club by Ellery Lloyd
The Home Group is a collection of glamorous celebrity members’ clubs dotted across the globe. At their annual summer party, secrets emerge and tempers fray - leaving the bodies to pile up and members to wish they had never made the guest list.
Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose
Behind the white picket fences, these women are struggling to keep it together. Ciara, the subject of envy, has it all. But when she is found murdered in her home, the mirage of idyllic suburban life is shattered.
Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
Every summer, the Manhattan elite flees the city to enjoy the spoils of Fire Island. Two best friends hold court as their husbands bear grudges. Their lone single friend is looking to find her match - whether they’re in a relationship or not. And when a body is found on the beach, they start to point the finger at one another…
Raising the temperature…
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
15 years ago, Eva and Shane spent one frenzied week madly in love, only for it to end in heartbreak. A chance encounter brings them back together - and over the next seven days, during a steamy Brooklyn summer, they begin to reconnect.
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
A sticky, sultry tale of grief and desire. A young artist, working through the ultimate heartbreak, finds herself falling for the one man she absolutely can’t have.
Weak Teeth by Lynsey May
Over one hot Edinburgh summer, Ellis’s life falls apart in every possible way. Now she has to move back in with her mum - and reckon with her teeth and their penchant for falling out.
Summer adventures
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Ballia Kaur Jaswal
Three sisters with little in common embark upon a final pilgrimage to fulfil their dying mother’s wish. After a series of unlikely adventures, they start to realise that they might need each other now more than ever before.
Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
Isa and Gala live in NYC, where they try to make ends meet at their flea market during the week and pursue all of life’s pleasures as young twenty-somethings on weekends. This is a novel about getting by and having fun in a world which wants you to do neither.
Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton
Gala, a young trans woman, works at a hostel in New Mexico and is obsessed with the ‘60s band, Get Happies. Why did they break up, and what happened to their unreleased album, Summer Fun?
Cocktail hour
The Guest by Emma Cline
A misstep at a dinner party ends in a young woman being kicked out by the older man she’s been staying with - leaving her free to wreak havoc on the wealthy island he brought her to.
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
A mother and daughter arrive in a town on the Spanish coast. Intoxicated by the thick heat and locals who move through it, both women begin to see their lives clearly for the first time in years.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
This trailblazing novel follows best friends Elena and Lila as they grow up in hardship in 1950s Naples. As Italy undergoes tremendous change, their friendship remains a shining light.
Named “one of the coolest new bookshops in 2022” by The Sunday Times, Rare Bird Books’ mission is to champion female writers and help people fall in love with reading again.
The Edinburgh-based bookshop and online book club empowers readers to find their next favourite read, discovering brilliant, pacy stories with gripping plotlines and amazing heroines.