Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Beach/Beachy Reads, with the prompt: Share books you’d take to the beach OR books that take place at the beach.
I love books with a summer vibe, and all of these take place at or near a beach of some sort… or at least include a brief visit! Here are ten of my favorites:
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List.
It’s impossible to keep up with all the books I have my eyes on! Here are the top 10 I most want to make time for… preferably for reading outdoors, in the sun, with warm breezes and a big iced coffee to go with them!
Writing Mr. Wrong by Kelley Armstrong
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
The Last Wizards’ Ball by Charlaine Harris
Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
The Fair Folk by Su Bristow
What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your TTT links!
Title: One Golden Summer Author: Carley Fortune Narrators: AJ Bridel Publisher: Berkley Publication date: May 6, 2025 Print length: 400 pages Audio length: 11 hours 49 minutes Genre: Contemporary romance Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley (ebook); purchased audiobook Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
A radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune
I never anticipated Charlie Florek.
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.
Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
Good things happen at the lake.
And in the case of One Golden Summer, beautiful books happen at the lake too.
It’s no surprise that I give this book 5 whole-hearted stars. If you saw my post about can’t-miss summer reads last week, you’ll know that Carley Fortune is an author whose books I encountered for the first time just six months ago. Now, having finished One Golden Summer, I’ve read all four of her novels, and I’ll be waiting on pins and needles for another new book!
In One Golden Summer, we get a sequel, of sorts, to the author’s first novel, Every Summer After, which I absolutely adored. That book was a decades-spanning love story about Percy and Sam, teen loves who spend their adult years apart until a family tragedy brings them back together and they get a second chance to find the happiness they deserve.
Sam’s older brother Charlie is an important secondary character in that book. He’s full of himself, always up for a good time, someone who stirs things up… but who can be counted on when it matters.
In One Golden Summer, main character Alice brings her grandmother Nan to spend the summer at a cabin at Barry’s Bay, and almost immediately encounters Charlie Florek, who’s looking after the cabin for the property owner. Alice quickly realizes that he’s one of the boys she noticed fifteen years earlier while spending the summer at the lake as a teen. As a 35-year-old adult, Charlie is still gorgeous — so stunning that Alice actually says “whoa” the first time she sees him up close. But more than his looks, he’s funny and devilish — yet also kind and thoughtful.
Their tense, combative run-ins quickly morph into friendship, not just between Alice and Charlie, but also between Charlie and Nan. There’s a sweetness to their time together. Alice is determined to embrace the joy and freedom she wasn’t quite brave enough to pursue as a teen, and Charlie is eager to help, teaching her to jet ski, encouraging her to jump from a high rock into the water, applauding when she puts on a slinky dress that’s way outside her comfort zone, and setting up a perfect place for her to sleep under the stars.
There’s a strong attraction between the two, but both are clear that they only want friendship… maybe with some benefits thrown in. But what they say they want and what they actually want end up looking like two very different things.
Without delving too far into plot, I’ll just say that the romance elements are beautifully portrayed, but even more so, it’s the careful building of trust, the deep sense of caring and understanding, and the little joys in daily encounters that make this book sing. There are obstacles, of course, and there’s one of those pesky 3rd act breakups/breakdowns… but there’s a good reason for it, and it feels organic to the story, not something forced into the narrative to create a standard story arc.
One of the delights of Carley Fortune’s books is the evocation of summer. Reading this book made me absolutely ache for a lakeside cabin, boat rides, swimming, and all the joys of a quiet, lazy, summertime escape.
Charlie and Alice are wonderful characters, with depth and edges and complexities, who bring out the best in one another and are also just plain fun. As an added bonus, Sam and Percy show up on and off throughout the story, and it’s lovely to see them again and to see how their lives are turning out.
Once again, the audiobook narrator is AJ Bridel, and she’s amazing at bringing the characters to life, from Alice to Charlie to Nan, and giving them all distinct voices and letting their personalities shine. If you’re an audiobook enthusiast, these audiobooks should not be missed!
My only complaint about One Golden Summer is that I couldn’t stop listening, and finished it in practically record time (or so it felt)! I don’t want to be done with these characters or with the beautiful world of the lake at Barry’s Bay.
If you’re new to Carley Fortune’s books, definitely start with Every Summer After, and just keep in mind that you’ll have a terrific second book about the Florek family to look forward to! You really can’t go wrong with any of this author’s books.
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Carol at Reading Ladies hosts an annual collaboration of book bloggers, in which bloggers from around the world offer recommendations for great books to read this summer. I feel honored to participate, and I’m delighted to share the link:
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books on My Summer 2024 to-Read List.
There are so many new releases coming this summer, and I want to read them ALL. I’d like to say that my reading plans also include books from my shelves… but that’s looking kind of iffy at the moment.
Here are ten new releases I can’t wait to read:
Close Knit by Jenny Colgan
Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs (just released today!)
The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey
Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your links!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books on My Summer 2023 to-Read List.
I’m hoping to get to a LOT of books already on my shelves… but I also have a bunch of new releases coming up that I’m really looking forward to, so the key will be finding the right balance of old and new!
For this list, I’ll just focus on some upcoming (and recent) new releases that I’m excited for:
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
The Summer Skies by Jenny Colgan
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
With Love From Cold Word by Alicia Thompson
Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey
Ravensong by TJ Klune
The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
Sleep No More (October Daye, #17) by Seanan McGuire
All the Dead Shall Weep (Gunnie Rose, #5) by Charlaine Harris
Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria
What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your links!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week is a freebie week, where we each pick our own topic. I guess I was feeling nostalgic — I decided to write about the best books I read in July of each of the past 10 years.
In some cases, it was hard to pick just one — but I whittled down my choices by looking for books I’d rated 5 stars, and where there was more than one, just went with the one I have the best memories of!
Here are my favorite books read in July, 2012 – 2021:
2021: Flash Fire by TJ Klune
2020: Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald
2019: Ellie and the Harp Maker by Hazel Prior
2018: Scythe by Neal Shusterman
2017: Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
2016: Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
2015: Alex + Ada (3 volumes) by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn
2014: The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan
2013: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
2012: Fables (volumes 1 – 10) by Bill Willingham
Looks like my July reading is really all over the place, although I notice that for two of these years, I was immersed in graphic novels over the summer (and really, that could have been three — there was one year where I read tons of Walking Dead volumes in July, but had other books that ranked higher for me).
Putting together a retrospective of the last 10 years was actually quite fun. Do you have any stand-out July books in your reading past?
If you wrote a TTT post this week, please let me know your freebie topic and share your link!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books Covers That Feel Like Summer.
I did a similar theme for a Top 5 Tuesday post not too long ago… but summer-flavored books always make me happy, so why not put together another batch?
Beaches, seashells, palm trees, fireworks… the joys of summer!
Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.
Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!
Title: Don’t You Forget About Me Author: Mhairi McFarlane Published: 2019 Length: 433 pages
What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):
If there’s one thing worse than being fired from the grottiest restaurant in town, it’s coming home early to find your boyfriend in bed with someone else.
Reeling from the indignity of a double dumping on the same day, Georgina snatches at the next job that she’s offered—barmaid in a newly opened pub, which just so happens to run by the boy she fell in love with at school: Lucas McCarthy. And whereas Georgina (voted Most Likely to Succeed in her school yearbook) has done nothing but dead-end jobs in the last twelve years, Lucas has not only grown into a broodingly handsome man, but also has turned into an actual grown-up along the way, with a business and a dog.
Meeting Lucas again not only throws Georgina’s rackety present into sharp relief, but also brings a dark secret from her past bubbling to the surface. Only she knows the truth about what happened on the last day of school, and why she’s allowed it to chase her all these years…
How and when I got it:
I bought the Kindle edition in early 2020.
Why I want to read it:
Summer is the perfect time for reading light romances, and this one seems ideal to pick up while lounging on a patio chair or with my feet in the sand…
I don’t specifically remember buying it, but it’s in my Kindle library, so I suppose I grabbed it on a day when there was a price break. I’ve been seeing recommendations for this author for a while now, and have been wanting to try her books. The synopsis sounds like fun, even though the title is giving me an irritating ear worm.
This sounds like the kind of book I’d want to read on vacation or on a plane — not that there’s anything wrong with that! I just tend to go for upbeat, enjoyable books during the summer months — nothing demanding or heavy, just pure entertainment to leave me in a happy mood.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books On My Summer 2022 To-Read List.
I have SO MANY books to get to this summer! Some are new releases I’ve already bought, and some are ARCs for upcoming releases (July and August publication dates) — and half of these are books in series I’m invested in. I’m excited for all of these!
A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Flash Fire by TJ Klune
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Upgrade by Blake Crouch
Thank You For Listening by Julie Whelan
Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs
What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your links!
Bookshelf Fantasies 