Looking for a great new summer read that is perfect for the beach, a weekend at the cottage or simply a good book that will transport you to Tuscany or the Amalfi Coast during your morning commute? Here are 10 new novels I’m excited to read, by authors Tomi Adeyemi, Anna Yen, Lauren Weisberger, Franchesca Ramsey, Paula McLain (to name a few) that range from best friend fiction, page-turning thrillers, essay anthologies to Afrofuturist fantasy and a little bit of romance, too.

1. Sophia of Silicon Valley by Anna Yen

“The book follows Sophia as she’s fired from an investment bank, rises through the ranks at a top Silicon Valley law firm, and eventually becomes an investor relations guru — first, to an eccentric, passionate CEO with a penchant for jeans and black t-shirts who was famously fired from his own computer company. Later, Sophia works for a younger, genius founder who wants to build electric cars and rocket ships. If any of that sounds familiar, it should: the book’s author, Anna Yen, worked under Steve Jobs at Pixar and Elon Musk at Tesla.” – Business Insider

2. Tangerine by Christine Mangan

“Christine Mangan’s camera-ready first novel, “Tangerine,” opens with three men hauling a corpse — pecked by magpies and missing its eyes — from the sea. Whose body is this, and how did it end up in the water? In alternating chapters, two female narrators provide the long, lurid and psychologically complex answer. Neither woman is necessarily trustworthy, a trait they share with the unreliable female narrators of recent best sellers like “Gone Girl” and “The Girl on the Train.” Like those novels, “Tangerine” is on track to become a film, with Scarlett Johansson tentatively attached to star.” – New York Times

3. Women in Sunlight by Frances Mayes

“In the beginning of “Women in Sunlight,” we meet three middle-aged American women. Two of them are widows; the other recently fled a bad marriage. All share a vague urge to start over. So on a whim and barely knowing each other, they move to Italy for an indefinite period. Everything is delicious, colourful and charming. All the lanes are lined with cypress trees, all the women are fashionable, and everyone is always stopping for a quick espresso at a cute cafe.” – Debra Bruno

4. Love and Ruin by Paula McLain

“For an author so brief with his words, Ernest Hemingway certainly had a tumultuous romantic life. This book chronicles his famously passionate, stormy relationship with Martha Gellhorn, who came to Madrid as a young reporter eager to prove herself. Along the way, she falls in love with a handsome, successful writer, and the rest is history.” – Good Housekeeping

5. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

“The perfect blend of sexy and sweet, the new romance novel is the story of Stella, a brilliant statistician on the autism spectrum who knows everything there is to know about algorithms but doesn’t know anything about romance. In an effort to grow comfortable with the idea of dating and falling in love, she hires a male prostitute to teach her everything there is to know about sex and relationships — but she doesn’t expect that they will find themselves completely entranced by one another. Not only is this book seriously hot, but it also does a brilliant job of showing what it’s like to navigate relationships as a person on the autism spectrum.” – Bustle

6.Well, That Escalated Quickly- Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey

“In this sharp, funny, and timely collection of personal essays, veteran video blogger and star of MTV’s Decoded Franchesca Ramsey explores race, identity, online activism, and the downfall of real communication in the age of social media rants, trolls, and call-out wars.” – Amazon

7. When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger

“If any character deserves their own book, Emily would be among the top on my list! When Life Gives You Lululemons is positively delightful, and introduces two new co-leading ladies who are the perfect complement to Emily. Lauren Weisberger sure knows how to write a trendy book with surprisingly deep social commentary on the insecurity underlying all of the glitz, glamour, and money without being overly critical of anyone who subscribes to that lifestyle. I absolutely had a blast reading this book, and I think other readers—whether new to Weisberger or long-time fans of The Devil Wears Prada—will feel the same way.” –PHDiva

8. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

“The Wife Between Us delivers a whip smart, twisty plot in a taut, pacy narrative. It’s terrific and troubling. This is one scary love triangle where you won’t know who to trust. I loved it.” –Gilly Macmillan, New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew

9. The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth

“From the outside, Essie’s life looks idyllic: a loving husband, a beautiful house in a good neighborhood, and a nearby mother who dotes on her grandchildren. But few of Essie’s friends know her secret shame: that in a moment of maternal despair, she once walked away from her newborn, asleep in her carriage in a park. Disaster was avoided and Essie got better, but she still fears what lurks inside her, even as her daughter gets older and she has a second baby. When a new woman named Isabelle moves in next door to Essie, she is an immediate object of curiosity in the neighborhood. Why single, when everyone else is married with children? Why renting, when everyone else owns? What mysterious job does she have? And why is she so fascinated with Essie? As the two women grow closer and Essie’s friends voice their disapproval, it starts to become clear that Isabelle’s choice of neighborhood was no accident. And that her presence threatens to bring shocking secrets to light.” – Amazon

“Children of Blood and Bone, a debut YA novel from Nigerian-American writer Tomi Adeyemi, is widely expected to be the next great YA franchise. It’s the first in a planned trilogy, and reportedly earned one of the biggest advances in YA history. A movie deal is already in place. Expectations, in other words, are high. Perhaps the best way to describe Children is as an Afrofuturist fantasy epic: think Octavia Butler meets The Hunger Games, with a hefty dose of Avatar: The Last Airbender thrown in.” – Vox 

 

What books are on your summer reading list? Share them in the comments!