SUMMER BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
The summer vibes are in full effect here in Toronto, and thus I’m on a rom-com, beach read kick! I’ll never say no to a cute romance, but during this time of year, I love embracing some lighter reads that can be enjoyed on my parent’s deck, at the beach, or at the park! If you’re looking for some recommendations to add to your summer reading list, I’ve got you covered because today I’m sharing SEVEN! Let’s dive in :)
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Last year, you may remember me talking about Emily Henry’s debut novel, *Beach Read. I LOVED Beach Read so much that I was a bit nervous going into People We Meet on Vacation but I got to say…I think I enjoyed it even more than Beach Read! *gasp*
The book goes back and forth between the past and the present, and I was so hooked on seeing how Poppy and Alex’s relationship grew over the years from friends to something more. I swooned, I laughed, and needless to say, I think the hype it’s gotten on TikTok is well deserved!
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne
Position Vacant: Two ancient old women residing at Providence Retirement Villa seek male assistant for casual exploitation and good-natured humiliation. Duties include boutique shopping, fast-food fetching, and sincerely rendered flattery. Good looks a bonus—but we aren’t picky.
An advertisement has been placed (again!) by the wealthy and eccentric Parloni Sisters. The salary is generous and the employers are 90 years old, so how hard could the job be? Well, none have lasted longer than a week. Most boys leave in tears.
Ruthie Midona will work in Providence’s front office, and be at the Parloni’s beck and call, forever. That’s sort of her life plan. If Ruthie can run the place in her almost-retired bosses’ absence, with no hijinks/hiccups, she has a shot at becoming the new manager. She might also be able to defend her safe little world from Prescott Development, the new buyer of the prime site. Maybe after all that, she can find a cute guy to date. All she needs to do is stay serious—and that’s what she does best.
Until, one day, someone dazzling blows into town.
Teddy Prescott devotes his life to sleeping, tattooing, and avoiding seriousness. When Teddy needs a place to crash, he makes a deal with his developer dad. Teddy can stay in one of Providence’s on-site maintenance cottages—right next door to an unimpressed Ruthie—but only if he works there and starts to grow up.
Ruthie knows how this sweetly selfish rich boy can earn his keep—and be out of her hair in under a week. After all, there is a position vacant…
*The Hating Game by Sally Thorne continues to be a rom-com favourite for many (I have read it and can confirm it’s a fun one), so I was excited to give her latest release a read. Second First Impressions had a quirky concept— the story is set in a retirement home, how romantic, and follows Ruthie and Teddy, two strangers who don’t get off to the best start.
The characters in this book have such unique personalities and it gives the story an extra warm feeling that I loved existing within throughout the 350 pages. My one big complaint about Second First Impressions was the fact that the ending felt rushed, but I overall enjoyed it!
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
Single mom Jessica Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents—who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno—Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father was never around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard...and lonely.
But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands.
At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98 percent compatibility with another subject in the database: one of GeneticAlly’s founders, Dr. River Peña. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Peña. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess—who is barely making ends meet—is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond Match” that could launch GeneticAlly’s valuation sky-high, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist—and the science behind a soulmate—than she thought.
Christina Lauren books are on my auto-purchase list….their romances are typically fun concepts and The Soulmate Equation was no exception. I enjoyed the fact that Jess and River start off on a rocky start because it made the fact they were genetically the “perfect match” to be all the more intriguing. Their relationship is more of a slow build, but there were some really sweet pockets along the way. I wish perhaps that the big conflict would have been a bit meatier.
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can't imagine working anywhere else. But lately it's been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who's fresh off a journalism master's program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.
When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it's this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it's not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.
As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.
Two co-workers who don’t like each other suddenly have to host a dating advice show where they pretend to be ex-lovers…..what could go wrong? As someone who’s read her fair share of romantic comedies, I feel like I’m rarely met with a book in a new setting but I think this is the first radio show-focused book I’ve read and it was so much fun! I loved reading the transcripts of the episodes.
This is a debut novel from Rachel Lynn Solomon so I will most definitely be keeping my eye on the lookout for what she does next!
Talk Bookish To Me by Kate Bromley
Kara Sullivan’s life is full of love—albeit fictional. As a bestselling romance novelist and influential bookstagrammer, she’s fine with getting her happily-ever-after fix between the covers of a book.
But right now? Not only is Kara’s best friend getting married next week—which means big wedding stress—but the deadline for her next novel is looming, and she hasn’t written a single word. The last thing she needs is for her infuriating first love, Ryan Thompson, to suddenly appear in the wedding party. But Ryan’s unexpected arrival sparks a creative awakening in Kara that inspires the steamy historical romance she desperately needs to deliver.
With her wedding duties intensifying, her deadline getting closer by the second and her bills not paying themselves, Kara knows there’s only one way for her to finish her book and to give her characters the ever-after they deserve. But can she embrace the unlikely, ruggedly handsome muse—who pushes every one of her buttons—to save the wedding, her career and, just maybe, write her own happy ending?
As someone who is a content creator for a living, it was neat to dive into a character like Kara who operates in the “same” world as I do. Talk Bookish To Me is another enemies-to-lovers novel (my personal fav, as evident by the selection of books I’ve been into lately haha), and Ryan and Kara’s complicated history was addicting to unravel.
The big conflict in this book took me by surprise and was quite intense, to put it kindly, but I think what made the resolution believable was the fact that there was a true distance between the characters afterward….I’m glad things weren’t just brushed under the rug to get to the happy ending faster.
Aside from the main couple, I also just really had fun with the dialogue in this novel; the characters are witty and, at times, amusingly dramatic. Normally I'm not invested in "stories within stories" in books, but I actually really enjoyed getting snippets of the novel Kara was writing throughout the book!
Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey
Teddy Phillips never thought she would still be spending every day surrounded by toys at almost thirty years old. But working at a vintage toy store is pretty much all she has going on in her life after being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend. The one joy that she has kept is her not-so-guilty pleasure: Everett’s Place, a local children’s show hosted by Everett St. James, a man whom Teddy finds very soothing . . . and, okay, cute.
Teddy finds the courage to write to him, feeling slightly like one of the children who write to him on his show. He always gives sound advice and seems like he has everything figured out—and he pretty much does: Everett has a great support system, wonderful friends, and his dream job. But there is still that persistent feeling in the back of his mind that something is missing.
When a woman named Theodora starts writing to Everett, he is drawn to her honesty and vulnerability. They continue writing to each other, all the while living their lives without meeting. When their worlds collide, however, they must both let go of their fears and figure out what they truly want—and if the future they want includes each other.
This was a cute, light read! Anytime a book gives me those “You’ve Got Mail” vibes, I’m on board and Very Sincerely Yours had lots of them because the main characters start their relationship by exchanging emails! Teddy and Everett each had their own personal obstacles to overcome, and their journeys were a comforting reminder on how no one has it all figured out (and that there’s no deadline for figuring it all out— phew lol)! A children’s show host and toy store employee are not typical professions I read about, so that alone made it a unique world to get sucked into :)
To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne
Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.
Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.
But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other.
Okay, so when I said “Sincerely Yours” had You’ve Got Mail vibes, “To Sir, With Love” by Lauren Layne took it to another level because the storyline hits a lot of the same beats of the movie, but in a modern way. I read this book in a day and found myself putting it down and squealing…..I just thought it was a really sweet and heartwarming romantic adventure in NYC.
Lauren Layne also has another romance series set in NYC that follows three women's romantic journey after they all discover they’ve been sleeping with the same man (gasp)! I also really liked those books last year, so you can find the first one linked here.
2021 has been an incredible year for cute rom-com novels…and I’ve still got plenty more on my list to read! So if you want to follow along with the fun, come join me on Goodreads! Until next time, xo —C.
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