Aside from Christmas, I don’t often revolve the books I read around the season—I don’t really read books that have to do with a specific season at all. But as the weather has gotten warmer, I’ve found myself craving the feeling of summer, and music and books are my only outlet for that.
People We Meet On Vacation and Beach Read by Emily Henry
People We Meet On Vacation was my April Book of the Month, and I chose it mostly because it was described as “for fans of When Harry Met Sally.” I haven’t actually seen that movie, but a lot of people tell me I would like it, and I’m generally a follower of whatever other people tell me, so I had high hopes for it (I also ordered at the same time as my friend, who also gets BOTM, and I always love a partner read, so that encouraged me to choose it).
I had also planned on reading Beach Read before choosing People We Meet On Vacation, and right before I started reading them both I found out that they were by the same author, which was a very exciting moment for me because I very rarely read books by the same author.
Both books follow a similar plotline—not that I’m complaining, as I absolutely adored them both—but they generally go like this: two people from college reconnect (in one story its best friends, in the other rivals), it’s summertime, and from the start, it’s obvious that there’s romantic tension that shows us where the relationship is going from there. Both books are adorable (and somewhat cheesy) romances, and, while they are somewhat cheesy, they’re both VERY fun reads that I enjoyed binging over the past two weeks.
I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
I’ve read I’ll Meet You There at least ten times—I got a free copy before it was released from my local library, and it has definitely been one of my go-to books since then. The book centers around Skylar, who works at a motel and wants nothing more than to escape her small town of Creek View. While at the motel, she reconnects with Josh, an old coworker who left to be in the Marines, only returning after losing a leg.
This book feels a lot more summery than either People We Meet On Vacation or Beach Read, probably because it’s YA and the characters don’t have to work 9-5 jobs (and as I have yet to work a 9-5, it just felt more realistic to me).
I adore this book, although I haven’t read it in at least two years, so my memory isn’t perfect with the details, but (as I’ve mentioned previously), any book that makes me cry is bound to be high on my list, and I’ll Meet You There definitely made me cry, so it made an impact.
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
In a well-ordered universe, I would have been able to read this book at a normal pace. But we are not in one. I read chapter 1 of this book one day, and finished it the next day in a span of like five and a half hours. The story centers around Emily, who is incredibly shy and can’t really function without her best friend Sloane—until Sloane disappears and leaves Emily a list of things to do that would push her outside of her comfort zone.
It definitely wasn’t my favorite book of time, but in terms of books I’ve binged, it’s at the top of my list.
In general, my taste in books is pretty much anything and everything, and I find it hard to criticize something I read, so any summer book has a good chance of being one of my favorites—but that doesn’t detract from the fact that these books were fantastic and I absolutely adored them.