7 Must-Read Books for Summer 2026

Contemporary Romance / Beach Read

Carley Fortune is back, and if you’ve loved her previous summer novels, this one might be her best yet. Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old — passionate, headstrong, and constantly clashing their way back together. When Frankie’s fiancé walks out the morning after their wedding weekend, she does the only logical thing: takes George on her honeymoon to Tofino, British Columbia, instead.

What unfolds over one week in paradise is a story about friendship that bends under the weight of something bigger, about a woman reckoning with who she is at thirty, and about the terrifying moment when “just friends” stops being enough. Fortune writes settings that feel like their own characters, and Tofino is no exception — you’ll practically taste the salt air. Kirkus gave it a starred review, calling it a powerfully strong romance for readers who like love stories full of torment and passion.

For fans of: Emily Henry, the friends-to-lovers trope, and crying happy tears on a beach towel.

Contemporary Romance / Beach Read

Here’s your sleeper hit of the summer. Chassity Evans is a lifestyle creative who splits her time between Charleston and Harbour Island in the Bahamas, and her debut novel reads exactly like what happens when someone writes about a place they know in their bones. Lucy, a Charleston-based artist, inherits her grandmother’s beloved island house and heads to Harbour Island for a summer of sorting through what comes next. What she doesn’t expect: running into the man who once broke her heart, and meeting a handsome new songwriter who complicates everything.

This is transportive, sun-drenched, and deeply personal — the kind of book where you can feel the author writing about real establishments and corners of the island she loves. It’s been described as effervescent and cozy, and honestly, it’s the beach read equivalent of that first sip of something cold after a long, hot afternoon.

For fans of: Elin Hilderbrand’s island settings, second-chance romance, and books that make you immediately search for flights.

Thriller / Mystery

Tana French closes out her beloved Cal Hooper trilogy with the kind of quiet devastation that stays with you for weeks. In the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a young woman is found dead in the river. What looks like a tragedy quickly exposes generations-old grudges, land disputes, and the kind of small-town power plays where everyone knows who did what — and no one talks about it.

Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has built a life here now. He has people he cares about. But the cost of seeking truth in Ardnakelty is rising, and this time it threatens everything he’s come to love. NPR called this a contemporary classic. The New York Times said French is at the height of her powers. The Wall Street Journal described it as an elegy to both a lost girl and a vanishing way of life. If you loved God of the Woods by Liz Moore, this atmospheric, slow-burn mystery is your next obsession.

For fans of: Liz Moore, atmospheric literary mysteries, and books where the setting is as much a character as the people.

Thriller / Mystery

If you’re the kind of reader who devoured The Husband’s Secret or anything by Liane Moriarty, Sally Hepworth has been writing for you all along — and Mad Mabel might be her finest yet.

Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and hiding a past she’s kept buried for sixty years. Because once upon a headline, she was “Mad Mabel” — Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. When a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start again, Elsie’s carefully guarded life threatens to unravel. Enter seven-year-old Persephone from across the road, armed with stickers and absolutely no concept of personal boundaries, who might be the unlikely friend Elsie never knew she needed.

Hepworth weaves past and present timelines with her signature dark humor and emotional gut punches. Readers are calling it heartbreaking, funny, and impossible to put down. Booklist gave it a starred review.

For fans of: Liane Moriarty, A Man Called Ove, unreliable narrators, and twists you don’t see coming.

Contemporary Fiction / Sports Novel

This one’s for the person in your house who’d rather be on the back nine. A recently laid-off golf reporter. A down-on-his-luck caddie. A magical set of clubs that once belonged to Jack Nicklaus. Gene Wojciechowski’s debut novel is a feel-good fable that’s been described as a cross between Tin Cup, The Natural, and Like Mike — and John Grisham called it wonderful.

Joe is a middle-aged golf reporter whose relationship with his son has been fractured for years. When his son gives him a set of garage-sale golf clubs as an olive branch, Joe discovers something unbelievable: he’s hitting 400 yards. Nobody hits 400 yards. What follows is a wild, heartfelt ride to the Masters, fueled by unlikely friendship, redemption, and the kind of insider golf knowledge that only comes from forty years on the tour.

Golf Digest called it an entertaining read. Publishers Weekly praised its colorful characters and hilarious one-liners. You don’t need to love golf to love this book — you just need to love a good underdog story.

For fans of: The Boys in the Boat, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and feel-good fiction with heart.

Historical Fiction / Beach Read

Coastal setting, 1950s glamour, three women with secrets, female friendship at the center — and it’s been compared to both Carrie Soto is Back and Big Little Lies. It fills the historical fiction gap on the list and fits the SOBAR aesthetic perfectly. The author also wrote Hotel Laguna and Montauk, so she knows how to write a place.

Here’s the quick pitch: It’s 1956 on Balboa Island, California. Milly’s marriage is falling apart. Sylvia’s husband is gambling away their life savings. And Adele is hiding a decades-old scandal that could destroy her. They meet through tennis and build a friendship that becomes the thing holding all three of them together. NYT bestselling authors Fiona Davis, Kristin Harmel, and Kristy Woodson Harvey all blurbed it. Steven Rowley said “no beach bag will be complete without this.”

For fans of: Elin Hilderbrand, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and 1950s coastal nostalgia.

Nonfiction / Memoir

Every reading list needs the one book that makes you sit up straighter and pay attention. This is it.

In March 2020, Belle Burden was on Martha’s Vineyard with her family, navigating the early days of the pandemic the way so many of us did — making roast chicken, building fires, drinking whisky sours. Then her husband of twenty years announced, with no warning, that he was leaving. Overnight, her steady partner became a stranger.

What follows is Burden’s unflinching examination of her marriage, her own family history, and the expectations placed on women to be discreet and compliant in the face of betrayal. People magazine called it searing and probing. The Washington Post called it a hypnotic nail-biter. Graydon Carter said it’s gripping, heartbreaking, and a must-read for every wife and husband. If you’ve ever looked at someone you thought you knew and wondered what else you missed, this memoir will haunt you in the best possible way.

For fans of: Crying in H Mart, Wild, and memoirs that read like page-turning fiction.