Check out the best books about summer romance in this epic list that features characters who fall in love over the course of one summer (or more!).
What is it about summertime that creates the best backdrop to falling in love?
Whether you’re young or old, you can reminisce about your own summer crushes with these books about summer love.
If you want more books about summer romance, be sure not to miss these lists:
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Best Books About Summer Romance
It Happened One Summer
by Tessa Bailey
Piper Bellinger may be a fashionable influencer, but when her wild child reputation goes a bit too far and lands her in the slammer, her stepfather cuts her off.
Hoping to teach her a lesson, he sends her off to Washington to run her late father’s dive bar where she meets a big surly sea captain who instantly knows she doesn’t belong in their small town.
Brendan figures Piper won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills even if there is an undeniable attraction between the two opposites.
Piper is determined to prove everyone wrong and can’t risk any distractions, including the feelings she’s beginning to have for the sailor.
There’s just something about books about summer romance where love is found in the most unexpected places and with the most unexpected person and that’s totally the case with It Happened One Summer.
Piper does not voluntarily leave Beverly Hills for the Pacific Northwest but boy does she blossom in the small town.
She also falls hard for the grumpy captain who at first dismisses her as a ditzy socialite but soon finds her irresistible.
This is the perfect book about summer romance for those who love opposites attract love stories as well as stories about personal growth. It’s a must-read. Check out my review of It Happened One Summer.
Related: Best Summer Reads of 2021
Every Summer After
by Carley Fortune
Persephone Fraser hasn’t been home in a decade but one phone call has her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.
For six summers, Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually, that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.
When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been.
But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.
This is a perfect book about summer romance because you get to follow Percy and Sam over the course of six summers where they slowly move from friends to so much more.
Told with flashbacks to summers past while bringing the former friends together again in the present to finally face what drove them apart made this debut novel a runaway hit.
Related: Best Summer Reads of 2022
The Summer Girl
by Elle Kennedy
College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston.
Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town, excited to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday…and maybe find herself a summer fling.
She’s ready for breathless, heart-pounding passion. And on her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy.
Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good time. But…maybe not this time?
The moment he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with, and the last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart. So, despite his attraction to her, he turns her down.
But that awkward hiccup doesn’t stop a friendship from developing between the two. Tate even helps Cassie find that fling she’s so set on finding.
Only it isn’t long before he’s wondering if he made a huge mistake.
As Cassie and Tate walk the line between friends and lovers, they’re about to discover that their situation is the least complicated part of this equation.
Because Avalon Bay is full of secrets—and their relationship might not survive when one secret in particular comes to light.
Books about young love and summer flings surely make the best books about summer romance to snuggle up with at night or devour at the beach.
Kennedy’s Avalon Bay series follows several characters on the verge of adulthood who finally find love in the small beach town and I think Cassie and Tate’s story will be one of the best.
Related: Best Summer Reads of 2023
Summer Reading
by Jen McKinlay
For Samantha Gale, a summer on Martha’s Vineyard at her family’s tiny cottage was supposed to be about resurrecting her career as a chef, until she’s tasked with chaperoning her half-brother, Tyler.
The teenage brainiac is spending his summer at the local library in a robotics competition, and there’s no place Sam, who has dyslexia, likes less than the library.
And because the universe hates her, the library’s interim director turns out to be the hot-reader guy whose book she accidentally destroyed on the ferry ride to the island.
Bennett Reynolds is on a quest to find his father, whose identity he’s never known. He’s taken the temporary job on the island to research the summer his mother spent there when she got pregnant with him.
Ben tells himself he isn’t interested in a relationship right now. Yet as soon as Sam knocks his book into the ocean, he can’t stop thinking about her.
An irresistible attraction blossoms when Ben inspires Sam to create the cookbook she’s always dreamed about and she jumps all in on helping him find his father, and soon they realize their summer fling may heat up into a happily ever after.
Discover summer love on Martha’s Vineyard along with Ben and Sam in this must-read book about summer romance featuring a chef and a man looking for answers.
I love their initial, awkward meet cute and that by deciding to help each other out that they find themselves falling in love.
Related: Romance Books that Inspire Travel
Same Time Next Summer
by Annabel Monaghan
Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house.
Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt.
But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?
Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split.
Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.
I love books about summer romance that bring the past front and center and force characters to finally act on their true feelings.
I have a feeling Monaghan’s book is going to have me on the edge of my seat given the love triangle Sam finds herself in.
Neighbors to lovers is such a fun romance book trope and I cannot wait to see what the forced proximity with her past love means for her intended wedding plans.
Related: Best Forced Proximity Books You Must Read
Second Chance Summer
by Jill Shalvis
Lily Danville’s life is crumbling around her. With no money and no home, her only choice is to go back to the one town she swore she’d never see again: Cedar Ridge, Colorado.
Back to the memories of her sister’s tragic passing. Back to the place where, ten years ago, she shared an unforgettable kiss with Aidan Kincaid-the man her sister once loved.
A new job at the town’s hottest resort is just the fresh start Lily has been looking for…until she discovers the resort is owned by none other than the Kincaid family.
How can she possibly see Aidan every day without feeling as if she’s betraying her sister?
But as secrets from the past come to light and Lily starts to realize the truth, she can only hope it’s not too late to find love, family, and forgiveness.
Jill Shalvis is one of my favorite romance authors because she has this way of creating stories where you not only fall in love with the characters but can easily envision yourself in the book setting right along with them.
I know that I’ll want to book a trip to a resort in Colorado after reading this sweet summer romance where love and forgiveness is finally found.
Related: Romance Books That Inspire Travel
Secrets of a Summer Night
by Lisa Kleypas
Proud and beautiful Annabelle Peyton could have her pick of suitors—if only she had a dowry. Her family is on the brink of disaster, and the only way Annabelle can save them is to marry a wealthy man.
Unfortunately, her most persistent admirer is the brash Simon Hunt, a handsome and ambitious entrepreneur who wants her as his mistress.
Annabelle is determined to resist Simon’s wicked propositions, but she can’t deny her attraction to the boldly seductive rogue, any more than he can resist the challenge she presents.
As they try to outmaneuver each other, they find themselves surrendering to a love more powerful than they could have ever imagined.
But fate may have other plans—and it will take all of Annabelle’s courage to face a peril that could destroy everything she holds dear.
This is the perfect book about summer romance to read if you love your historical romances filled with strong heroines, delightful banter, and the most wonderful tension that blossoms into love.
It’s also the perfect introduction to all the wallflowers who eventually find husbands in Kleypas’ must-read Wallflower series. This is a book I could read again and again.
Related: Best Historical Romance Series
Suddenly One Summer
by Julie James
Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever.
That doesn’t mean she’s opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, especially now that she’s agreed to take on his sister’s case.
Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry.
Ford is not a man looking to settle down but he is willing to partner with Victoria, even if there’s a scorching attraction between them.
Yet, the more time he spends with her, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for.
Julie James writes books that you can seriously devour in one sitting they are that good.
All her books are worthy of reading but this one makes the perfect book about summer romance because the more these two characters spend time with each other over the course of a summer, the more they realize that they can’t live without each other.
Neither Victoria nor Ford are interested in love or relationships but that’s what makes this one so wonderful – when they finally realize they can’t fight it anymore!
Six Summers to Fall
by C.W. Farnsworth
Ever since her younger sister’s engagement was announced, Harper Williams has been dreading the wedding.
What should be a joyous, sun-drenched affair is sure to be filled with plenty of awkward moments, thanks to Harper’s strained relationship with her only sibling.
Awkwardness enhanced by the wedding’s location—a lake in Maine, swimming with painful memories of their late father.
Running into Drew Halifax—her childhood crush, who grew up to be the golden boy of hockey—is a surprise. Not nearly as shocking as his offer to be her plus-one is though.
She expects him to back out. He shows up. She’s looking for a distraction from the past. He’s passing time until his season starts and he can chase the championship. She’s guarded yet outgoing. He’s easygoing yet focused.
They hardly know each other. Until one week of sharing secrets, pretending to be in love, and sleeping in the same bed changes everything. Feelings that were supposed to be fake start to feel very real.
Problem is, neither of them is looking for a relationship. At most, they’re meant to be a summer fling. Definitely not a happily ever after.
But when it comes to falling? You have no control. Once you start, it’s impossible to stop. And sometimes…it takes six summers.
I absolutely cannot wait to read this book about summer romance that actually covers SIX summers – gah!
I love a good slow burn romance when it comes to a summer fling turning into more. It doesn’t hurt that this is about a hot hockey player either 😊.
Related: Best Slow Burn Romance Books
The Summer House
by Jenny Hale
Callie Weaver and best friend Olivia Dixon have finally done it: put their life savings into the beach house they admired through childhood summers, on the dazzling white sand of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
They’re going to buff the salt from its windows, paint its sun-bleached sidings, and open it as a bed and breakfast.
Callie’s too busy to think about her love life, but when she catches the attention of local heartthrob Luke Sullivan, his blue eyes and easy smile make it hard to say no.
He’s heir to his father’s property empire, and the papers say he’s just another playboy, but as they laugh in the ocean waves, Callie realizes there’s more to this man than money and good looks.
Just when true happiness seems within reach, Callie and Olivia find a diary full of secrets… secrets that stretch across the island, and have the power to turn lives upside down.
As Callie reads, she unravels a mystery that makes her heart drop through the floor.
Will Callie and Luke be pulled apart by the storm it unleashes, or can true love save them?
Jenny Hale is no stranger to books about summer romance but I love the setup of The Summer House with two besties doing a house renovation and finding a diary of secrets.
I also love that Callie and Olivia are returning to the Outer Banks where they spent childhood summers. It makes me feel nostalgic for summers spent on the beach with my sisters!
Related: Best Beach Reads in Romance
That Summer Feeling
by Bridget Morrissey
Garland Moore used to believe in magic, the power of optimism, and signs from the universe. Then her husband surprised her with divorce papers over Valentine’s Day dinner.
Now Garland isn’t sure what to believe anymore, except that she’s clearly never meant to love again.
When new friends invite her to spend a week at their reopened sleepaway camp, she and her sister decide it’s an opportunity to enjoy the kind of summer getaway they never had as kids.
If Garland still believed in signs, this would sure seem like one. Summer camp is a chance to let go of her past and start fresh.
Nestled into the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, Camp Carl Cove provides the exact escape Garland always dreamed of, until she runs into Mason—the man she had a premonition about after one brief meeting years ago.
No matter how she tries to run, the universe appears determined to bring love back into Garland’s life.
She even ends up rooming with Mason’s sister Stevie, a vibrant former park ranger who is as charming as she is competitive.
The more time Garland spends with Stevie, the more the signs confuse her. The stars are aligning in a way Garland never could have predicted.
Amid camp tournaments and moonlit dances, Garland continues to be pulled toward the beautiful blonde outdoorswoman who makes her laugh and swoon.
Summer camp doesn’t last forever, but if Garland can learn to trust her heart, the love she finds there just might.
Go to summer camp as an adult? – sign me up!
Sure summer camp may be a common setting for summer love to bloom as a young teen but I’ll all for it being the catalyst for these two to find love in this book about summer romance.
Related: Best Lesbian Romance Books
The Summer We Fell
by Elizabeth O’Roarke
He was my boyfriend’s best friend—and the bane of my existence. I wanted to hate Luke Taylor. I did hate him. I just never hated him enough.
Now, a decade later, tragedy has brought us back to the place where it all happened—my best times, and my worst.
Our lives have changed, but that pull between us is just as strong as ever.
Only this time, it’s more dangerous too.
This book is actually told using both present and past scenes along with a whole lot of angst.
Beware of trigger warnings in this one but if you love stories about star-crossed lovers you may want to check it out.
The Summer We Surrendered
by Victoria Denault
No one has ever made me feel the things I feel when I’m with Abbott Barlowe – good and bad.
Since we were kids he’s been perfect. Good at everything, especially knowing exactly where, and how, I want to be touched.
But it turns out I’m better at one thing – coming out.
So, it doesn’t matter that he just got traded, and he’s back in town permanently.
I didn’t leave my wife, and toss my entire family into the Ocean Pines gossip mill so that I could end up in a secret relationship.
But when he shows up on my doorstep, I’m not telling him to leave.
There’s something special about summer in a small town, but throw in a friends to lovers story and it can be pretty magical.
I loved the flashback to scenes of a summer past when these two friends kissed for the first time under fireworks and how it’s a summer many years later that finally bring them back together.
Related: Best Gay Romance Novels
One Hot Italian Summer
by Karina Halle
A writer who’s blocked–I’m a total cliche. Lucky for me, my agent has a cure that’s an even bigger stereotype–a month at her villa in Tuscany, with nothing to do but find my muse.
When he walks right in the front door, adorable son in tow, it feels like fate has finally done for me what it does for every other cliche’d girl I’ve seen in the movies.
Except that he’s completely off-limits. In this case, business and pleasure can never mix.
Because Claudio is my agent’s ex.
Still, he’s smart, charming, and wickedly hot, plus a great father to Vanni. He’s fast becoming the cure to all my writing woes. And it’s clear he wants me as much as I want him.
As the hot Italian summer wears on, it becomes harder and harder to resist. Succumbing to the heat even just one time could ruin my career.
Or he could be exactly what I need.
Forbidden romances may make the best books about summer romance, especially the steamy ones!
Honestly, this book had me at Italian villa, but throw in a hottie and a cute kid and I’m all about it.
See all that this muse inspires in this book that will also have you falling in love while in Tuscany.
Related: Romance Books That Inspire Travel
One Summer
by Nora Roberts
There’s no summer getaway for Celebrity magazine photographer Bryan Mitchell this year. Instead, she’ll be spending three months on the road with renowned photojournalist Shade Colby.
Their assignment is a nationwide photo shoot, taking candid snapshots of a summer in America for a beautiful coffee table book.
But Bryan’s family fun in the sun moments contrasts with Shade’s portraits revealing the dark side of touristy vacations.
Unable to agree on whose pictures best represent their project’s ideal, or anything else, Bryan and Shade discover something extraordinary when they come out from behind their cameras to truly see one another—two people longing for truth and beauty, hoping to share their vision of love.
This romance sounds so unique and if Nora Roberts is writing it, I know it will sweep me off my feet.
I love the idea of watching two people fall in love over the course of a summer while documenting what summer in America looks like.
It’s also fun to see two opposites find common ground and love in the process!
The Summer Getaway
by Susan Mallery
Single mom Robyn Caldwell needs a new plan for her future. She has always put her family first. Now, with her kids grown, she yearns for a change.
But what can she do when her daughter has become the most demanding bride ever, her son won’t even consider college, her best friend is on the brink of marital disaster and her ex is making a monumentally bad decision that could ruin everything?
Take a vacation, of course. Press reset. When her great-aunt Lillian invites her to Santa Barbara for the summer, Robyn hops on the first plane to sunny California.
But it’s hard to get away when you’re the heart of the family. One by one, everyone she loves follows her across the country.
Somehow, their baggage doesn’t feel as heavy in the sun-drenched, mishmash mansion.
The more time Robyn spends with free-spirited Lillian, the more possibilities she sees—for dreams, love, family.
She can have everything she ever wanted, if only she can muster the courage to take a chance on herself.
I adore books that focus on a strong heroine and her transformation.
It’s all too easy for mothers, especially single mothers, to put their own needs last but Robyn is finally taking a summer to change that.
Escape into a fantastic book about summer romance that only Susan Mallery can provide!
The Summer Proposal
by Vi Keeland
The first time I met Max Yearwood was on a blind date. Turned out, Max wasn’t who I was there to meet. He only pretended to be until my real date showed up.
Before he left, he slipped me a ticket to a hockey game a few blocks away, in case things didn’t work out on my actual date.
Apparently, my fake blind date hadn’t invited me to watch hockey with him, he’d invited me to watch him play.
And so began my adventure with Max Yearwood. He proposed we spend the summer helping me forget my ex. Though, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
Spend a summer falling in love with a hockey player? Yes please! 😊
Max is one of those romance heroes who’s all in after just one look. He was my favorite.
I also loved their adorable meet cute and how they just took things as they came.
Let Keeland whisk you away for a summer in the city with these two.
Related: Best Hockey Romance Books
Happy Place
by Emily Henry
Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade.
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.
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?
Emily Henry’s books have become my go-to books about summer romance to kick off the season every year.
With Happy Place, you get to travel to the coast of Maine where Harriet and Wyn have vacationed with their college friends since they all met.
But this year tensions are high and every relationship will be re-examined, including the one between Harry and Wyn that fell apart.
So well written with great characters, it’s a must-read. Check out my review of Happy Place.
Related: Best Second Chance Romance Books
Love and Other Words
by Christina Lauren
Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.
But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve.
Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother…only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.
Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs.
As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion.
Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.
This book about summer romance is definitely one of Christina Lauren’s most popular books and it’s deserving because it’s so good.
I loved looking back at Elliot and Macy’s summers together where their love bloomed and then seeing how they could find their way back to one another in the present despite the hurt they both felt. A must-read!
Related: Spicy #Booktok Books
The Infinity Between Us
by N.S. Perkins
Eighteen years of summers spent in a beach house in Ogunquit, Maine, have brought Violet Mitchell and Will Seaberg together.
For two perfect, beach-filled months every year, they spent every waking minute together. First as friends, until one summer changed everything.
But before the two even had a chance to claim the love they’d spent their entire lives creating, disaster struck, tearing the two lovers—and their families—apart.
Heartbroken and haunted by the memories of that fateful summer, Violet struggles to move on from the past. Still, she promises herself to never contact Will again.
But five years later, when Violet arrives to finalize the sale of the property, she finds Will right where she left him: sun-kissed, loving, and so incredibly sorry.
At first, she wants nothing to do with him, but Violet soon realizes that it’s inevitable and that the past she was running away from might actually hold the key to the love and the happiness she believed was stolen away from her five summers ago.
Is it a plot requirement that books about summer romance have such angst? I think there is an unwritten rule but it works so I’m along for the ride.
I’ve been to Ogunquit, Maine, so this book is extra special as a way to take me back as a child and young teen like Violet and Will.
Related: Best Second Chance Romance Books
Well Met
by Jen DeLuca
Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenage niece?
Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?
The faire is Simon’s family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn’t have time for Emily’s lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up.
Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she’s in her revealing wench’s costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they’re portraying?
This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can’t seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.
Not all books about summer romance have to take place on the beach. Why not escape into the pages and watch two people fall in love while working at a Renaissance Faire?
Such a fun and unique setting and plot for this fun, enemies to lovers romp.
Related: Best Enemies to Lovers Books
Where I Belong
by J. Daniels
When Mia Corelli returns to Alabama for a summer of fun with her childhood best friend, Tessa, there’s only one thing keeping her on edge. One person that she’d do anything to avoid.
Benjamin Kelly.
Mia hates him with a fury and has no desire to ever see him again.
When she decides to start her summer off with a bang and finally give away her v-card, she unknowingly hands it over to the one guy that excelled at making her life miserable, learning a valuable lesson in the process.
Always get the name of the guy you’re going home with.
Ben can’t get the girl he spent one night with out of his head. When she leaves him the next morning, he thinks he’ll never see her again. Until he sees her lounging by the pool with his sister.
Mia is determined to hate Ben, even though she can’t forget him. Ben is determined to prove he’s not the same guy he used to be.
What happens when the one person you wish never existed becomes the one person you can’t imagine being without?
This book about summer love is for those who love the best friend’s brother trope or virgin romance trope.
I’m glad that Mia couldn’t recognize her childhood bully when they first reconnected at the bar because their chemistry was HOT and it made this such a fun book to read.
Related: Brother’s Best Friend Romance Books
Sweet Filthy Boy
by Christina Lauren
One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.
But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.
When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.
I adored the Wild Seasons series by Christina Lauren which kicks off with this book about summer romance found in Vegas and then Paris!
Mia and Ansel do things a bit backward by getting married first and then falling in love after.
Of course, any fan of Christina Lauren will adore this book but so will anyone who has a soft spot for Paris. It’s divine!
Young Adult Books About Summer Romance
The Summer I Turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
Belly measures her life in summers.
Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad.
They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between.
But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
Summer is where the magic happens in this young adult romance and this may make you nostalgic for yours. Read it first and then binge the TV series on Amazon Prime!
Related: Romance Books to TV Shows and Movies Releasing in 2022
The Summer of Broken Rules
by K.L. Walther
When Meredith Fox lost her sister, Claire, eighteen months ago, she shut everyone out. But this summer she’s determined to join the world again.
The annual family vacation to Martha’s Vineyard seems like the perfect place to reconnect.
Her entire extended family is gathering for a big summer wedding, and although Meredith is dateless after being unexpectedly dumped, she’s excited to participate in the traditional Fox family game.
But when Meredith forms an alliance with a cute groomsman, she finds herself getting distracted.
Meredith tries to focus on the game and win it for her sister, but she can’t help falling for him. And as the week progresses, she realizes she’s not only at risk of losing the game, but also her heart.
This book about summer love became a #Booktok sensation, especially for fans of Taylor Swift as it is inspired by her songs!
Weddings are such a great backdrop for summer romances but I’m excited to see how this game brings everyone together too.
Love & Gelato
by Jenna Evans Welch
Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape.
She’s only there because it was her mother’s last wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.
But then Lina is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries.
A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long.
It’s a secret that will change everything Lina knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.
People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.
Escape to Italy in this young adult romance book about finding romance while also finding your found family.
It’s a super cute and fun coming-of-age story that you can also watch on Netflix.
Related: Books With the Found Family Trope
The Matchbreaker Summer
by Annie Rains
Sixteen-year-old Paisley Manning has been attending Camp Starling since she was a little girl, when her parents ran it together.
For the last few years, since her father’s passing, she’s been the one helping her mom run the camp behind the scenes.
This year, however, will be Camp Starling’s last hurrah because Paisley’s mom has met a guy online and they’re getting married.
Enter Hayden Bennett, who is working alongside Paisley. Paisley and Hayden are like oil and water. She follows the rules, and he seems to live to break them all.
But when Hayden catches wind of Paisley’s predicament, he has an idea. If a matchmaker in some computer algorithm caused the issue, a couple of real-life matchbreakers can fix it.
As they work to break up the happy couple, Paisley discovers that maybe Hayden’s not so bad after all. Has she met her own perfect match in her fellow matchbreaker?
I love that this young adult romcom is set at summer camp and brings two opposites together in a task to break up a happy couple.
I’m hoping there will be some crazy shenanigans reminiscent of The Parent Trap that Paisley and Hayden get themselves into.
Along for the Ride
by Sarah Dessen
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started.
Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes.
She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother.
Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town.
Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the loss of a friend.
This book about summer romance is maybe a bit heavier than others because Auden and Eli are both struggling not only with insomnia but with recent changes in their lives.
But it’s one summer that they not only find each other but freedom from the heartaches they’ve carried. Read it first then watch the movie on Netflix!
That Summer
by Jillian Dodd
Devaney Diamond’s summer break was shaping up to be the best one ever. Her longtime crush was finally interested in her, and by the time school rolled around in the fall, she knew he’d be her boyfriend.
Just when their relationship is getting started, she finds out that she’s leaving on a three-week vacation to the Ozarks for some “good old-fashioned fun” with three generations of the Diamond and Mackenzie families.
She’s not thrilled about being gone for that long, but she is looking forward to spending time doing nothing but getting a fantastic tan, finally learning to slalom ski, and hanging out with her best friend.
She and Chase have always been close. He’s cute and sweet. Smart and responsible. He’s always there when she needs him. She loves him dearly, and if it wasn’t for their age, things might be different between them.
But when Chase returns home from football camp with new muscles and a new attitude, she realizes something.
Chase Mackenzie has gotten hot. And he doesn’t look like her little brother’s best friend anymore.
Will this be the summer that Devaney and Chase fall in love, or will it be the summer that everything falls apart?
Either way, it will be the summer that changes everything.
There’s just something about summer being the perfect time for friends to become more and I love the forced proximity situation that Devaney finds herself in with Chase – the younger boy that she just happens to be developing feelings for.
For a different scenery to your books about summer romance, escape into this one and head to the Ozarks!
Related: Best Age Gap Romance Books
Sunkissed
by Kasie West
Avery has always used music as an escape. But after her best friend betrays her, even her perfectly curated playlists can’t help her forget what happened.
To make matters worse, her parents have dragged her and her social-media-obsessed sister to a remote family camp for two months of “fun.”
Just when Avery is ready to give up on the summer altogether, she meets Brooks–mysterious, frustratingly charming Brooks–who just happens to be on staff–which means he’s off-limits.
What starts as a disaster turns into. . . something else. As the outside world falls away, Avery embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
And when Brooks offers her the chance of a lifetime, she must figure out how far is she willing to go to find out what she wants and who she wants to be.
This book about summer romance is totally giving me Dirty Dancing vibes where the whole family is off to family camp.
Plus, you’ve got the annoying older sister and the crush on the off-limits boy who works at the camp. I adore it already!
Did this book list get you in the mood for summer love?
Let me know which of these books made your TBR list and which books about summer romance are your favorites in the comments below!
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