My Summer is Totes Booked: Best Books for Book Lovers

I can’t say I’m surprised that Emily Henry’s newest release has been flying off the shelves. I mean, book lovers recognize books that are meant for them, and the title quite literally spells it out for us. With a summer of travel, self-discovery, sisterhood, and fellow publishing professionals surprisingly connecting after a rocky start, this romance will provide all the swoons to enjoy during the summer heat.   

I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give you at least one book that you absolutely have to have on your TBR, and this one is particularly exciting. Releasing at the end of June, you’ll want to pick this up for your July reading (you can even gift it to your future self by pre-ordering it 😉). Featuring a ghostwriter, literal ghosts, and unchanging small towns, this enchanting read about love stories will haunt you in the best of ways! 

Many book lovers grow up watching Beauty and the Beast and dream, not of the beast, but of the ginormous library, so what if I told you that THE Jasmine Guillory has retold the fairy tale for those who dream of working with books every day. An overworked publishing employee travels to Santa Barbara to give a beastly high-profile author a pep talk that results in the two finding out they had more in common than they thought, and there might just be something there that wasn’t there before. 

I’m a sucker for a good book pun, and Booked on a Feeling definitely has me hooked! This is another book to add to your TBR list and gift your future self! This best friends-to-lovers romance releases July 26^th and features a small town, a high-powered attorney recovering from burnout, and her childhood best friend who helps her revamp the local bookstore during her time off. As the two spend time together working on the bookstore, they realize that there might be more to their story than just friendship. 

This one goes out to all my book lovers who also adore Shakespeare. This rom-com will have you giggling and swooning. A literary agent returning to her Shakespeare-obsessed hometown gets cornered into directing Twelfth Night while also trying to scramble to finish her YA novel and avoid the guy who broke her heart in high school. If this second-chance romance sounds right up your alley, then go ahead and pre-order because this journey does, in fact, end in lovers meeting.  

We all know that when characters vow to stay in the friend zone, there’s no way they will still be “just friends” by the end of the book, and All Fired Up, proves this to once again be true. With a book publicist spending the summer with her grandmother as she recovers from surgery, the man who she had a one-night stand with a year ago, and a deal between the two of them to fix up her grandmother’s house as long as they stay in the friend zone, this delightful romance will have you swooning the entire time! (P.S. Dylan Newton’s first book, How Sweet It Is, is also delightfully bookish!) 

If you like any of the Brontë sisters, small towns, and second-chance (or really third-chance) romances, then you’ll want to pick up this lovely romance. When Athena Murphy, an authority on the novels of the Brontë sisters, wants to write a biography of C.L. Garland, an author whose books have been the buzz due to their spicy retellings of classic literature, she has to return to her small hometown that also happens to be where her ex lives. The two have to see each other every day as she searches for Garland, and they manage to become friends again despite all their bickering. Will they be able to rekindle their relationship? 

A bookseller, trivia, and the sudden gain of a large family Nina never knew existed makes The Bookish Life of Nina Hill a delight. I adored this read, both as Nina gets to know her large family and as she falls in love with the persistent suitor she finds in her trivia nemesis. From one bookish introvert to another, this quirky romance is the perfect addition to your beach tote or simply just to escape into from the comfort of your couch.  

A romance writer and bookstagrammer, a second-chance romance, and the stress of a best friend’s wedding all collide in this delightful, page-turning romance that will leave you swooning the entire time. With a case of writer’s block and a looming deadline, Kara’s stress levels are off the page, so the unexpected arrival of her infuriating first love isn’t what she wants, but it does spark the creativity she needs to write again. As he acts as her muse, she juggles her deadline, bills, and the intensification of wedding duties, she must figure out if she is also able to write her own happy ending.

If you like main characters who make mistakes, cinnamon roll love interests, and publishing, then Must Love Books is simply a must read! This book follows Nora, an editorial assistant at Parsons Press, who is overworked and underpaid. When she makes the decision to freelance for a rival publisher without telling anyone she’s working for both publishers, she finds herself immediately drawn to Andrew Santos (the bestselling Parsons author everyone wants) and must figure out where her loyalties lie. This real look into a life of passion, mistakes, and consequences will keep you entertained and captivated throughout the whole book! 

Have you ever dreamed of meeting your favorite author? What about working for them? That’s exactly what Liv does in order to make ends meet—she works as a maid for her personal hero, bestselling author Essie Starling. When Essie passes away suddenly, Liv discovers that Essie’s dying wish was for her to complete her final novel, and as Liv steps into Essie’s shoes, she discovers a surprising connection between the two of them. This is the perfectly charming June read to include in your beach tote! 

When an impulsive decision results in Evangeline spending a holiday in a quiet English village, she ends up running the small village bookstore located beneath the place she’s renting for the vacation. She’s swept away in running the bookstore and the lives of the friendly villagers as soon as she gets there, including the ever-charming Roane who tempts her with daily flirtations despite her reluctance for a holiday romance. This book was an utter delight that I can’t recommend enough! 

An undercover romance writer who is a literary editor by day almost exposes herself to her romance-hating CEO and the new publisher (and son of the CEO) when she drops her manuscript during a staff-meeting. In her embarrassment, she hides it in the secret turret room of the old Victorian office. When she returns, she finds notes scribbled into the margins, and after an esteemed editor gives her the same feedback, she teams up with this mystery editor to improve the manuscript. Swoony and perfect for fans of You’ve Got Mail, this romance is an absolute delight full of romance, surprises, and second chances.  

Sally Thorne’s romances will fill you with swoons while crafting tension that leaps off the page and right into your heart. In this book (recently made into a movie), you enter into the lives of Lucy and Joshua, publishing professionals who hate each other. Beware, this book is full of passive aggressive actions as these opposites battle for the same promotion. 

A co-author couple written by a real-life co-author couple?! Sign me up! Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley have ventured from their traditional YA novels to write a swoony adult romance about two co-authors who ended their partnership on bad terms and have to team up once again to finish their final book due on contract. This second-chance romance will capture your heart and heat up your summer as Katrina and Nathan work on the rough draft of their book and their relationship.