If you haven’t already heard or witnessed through recent Toronto weather, we’re expecting an early spring this year! I don’t know about you, but I spend most of the winter months hibernating. With too many assignments and not enough vitamin D, it’s almost like I’m drearily watching paint dry until the sun comes out again.
Between November and March, there isn’t much I want to do except watch TV, procrastinate, and scroll through my camera roll from July. To escape into the throws of summer best, I like to put on my headphones, play “august” by Taylor Swift, and reread one (or all) of these 5 books.
Even if you aren’t much of a reader, these books are worth considering. Without further ado, let’s sink back into summer reading! These books are bound to help you feel a little bit closer to sunny weather.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
“We should always make time for the things we like. If we don’t, we might forget how to be happy.”
I read this book a few years ago, and I think the best way I can describe it is to say that it’s reminiscent of beaches and sunshine. After reading it, I recommended it to my mom, who gave it to her sister, who gave it to her best friend, who gave it to her mother.
They all loved it. Safe to say you will, too.
It follows a rule-abiding middle-aged man in a mundane life and how he finds family and friendship in the strangest place. With a great queer love story, the found family trope, and a good dose of happy tears, this book still remains one of my favourites.
Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings
“Painful things can still be beautiful things, in case you didn’t know.”
One of my favourite winter distractions is reality TV, and this book is giving that energy. Hastings should have been published by Bravo.
With enough drama to rival The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Magnolia Parks is the first in an ongoing series about an aristocratic and petty group of 20-somethings. Think Friends meets Sex and The City meets Gossip Girl.
I have to say, this book isn’t what I usually go for, but somehow, I fell in love with it anyway. The characters are impossibly loveable, and the story itself is very well-written. So, if you love reality TV or just love your entertainment dripping in drama, this is the book for you.
Meet Me At The Lake by Carley Fortune
“It’s not selfish to want something for yourself. It’s human.”
This book will be especially meaningful to you if you spend your summers in Ontario like me. While I didn’t like Carley Fortune’s first book, Every Summer After, this one I really loved. It felt like reading a love letter to summer in both Toronto and Muskoka cottage country.
If you want to read a book that has both a good love story — all the best books do — and some serious nostalgia for summer, grab this one. With references to Sonic Boom and Sneaky Dee’s, reading it felt like walking back through all the summers of my youth.
Even if you aren’t from Toronto or Ontario at all, you will be able to find some summer nostalgia from Meet Me At The Lake. At the very least, it will make you want to book a trip to cottage country with your friends as soon as it’s warm again.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
“For me, it was almost like winter didn’t count. Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers.”
Most people have seen or heard of this show on Prime, which is one of my favourite summer TV shows. But I originally read the books in high school. The series is a young-adult trilogy, each describing one of Isabelle “Belly” Conklin’s many summers with the Fisher brothers-brooding Conrad and happy-go-lucky Jeremiah.
I am usually not the biggest fan of a love triangle, but this is one of my favourite love stories (no spoilers). If you’re looking for good summer vibes with teenagers acting like teenagers, I definitely recommend this book. It’s not a difficult read, so if you aren’t a big reader already, this is a good series for dipping your toes in.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
“My best friends taught me a new kind of quiet, the peaceful stillness of knowing one another so well you don’t need to fill the space.”
Emily Henry’s newest release was my favourite book of 2023 — shocker. I read it in five hours on a plane and loved everything about it.
It deals with some heavier topics than the other books I’ve mentioned, but don’t let that deter you. This book follows a group of friends who vacation every summer to a beach town for a weekend. Two people in the group, Harriet and Wyn, were once engaged but now have broken up and kept it secret from the rest of their friends.
The book follows both the ex-couple and their friends as they figure out how to grow together rather than apart, with the backdrop of sandy beaches and sunshine.
Happy Place can be a very relatable story for those of us who are scared of growing up and trying to take advantage of the experiences of summer. This read is so immersive you’ll feel like if you close your eyes you’ll slip into the pages.
I hope at least one of these books seems like something you would enjoy and lets you stop counting down the days until June. But, if not (and you are still reading), at least you are closer to summer now than you were when you started reading this article.