I love summer break for several reasons. My favorite reason is definitely how much time it gives me to read. I was so happy to find so much more time this summer to catch up on my TBR—to-be-read—pile. This summer I read 16 amazing books.
My top five books from this summer are:
- Happy Place and Book Lovers by Emily Henry
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I decided to combine Happy Place and Book Lovers because I couldn’t pick just one and they were by the same author. I loved these books so much. Emily Henry is an auto-buy author for me because every single one of her books always hits. I love her writing and characters every time. Each one of these books were page turners for me and I read them so quickly to try to find out what happened. Emily Henry has an amazing way of conveying emotions and making the readers feel things. I laughed, cried, smiled, and wanted to scream all because of her amazing writing. I gave both of these books five stars.
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
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This book easily got five stars. If you have read this book or even heard of it then you probably won’t be surprised to hear how much I loved this book. The internet blew this book up so much that it was out of print for weeks and I had to buy it on my Kindle in order to read it. I flew through this book so quickly and I was really surprised because I’m not usually a big fantasy reader. This book though, I absolutely loved every single page. One of my best friends read it before me and convinced me to read it. Every time something happened, I would text her my reactions because of all of the plot twists. This book really kept me on the edge of my seat and I never would have guessed the ending. Also can we unpack that? The ending was insane. I can’t wait for the next book.
- Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
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This book is one of my favorite YA romances to this day. I absolutely love it so much. Lynn Painter’s characters are so funny and witty that it makes them even more lovable. Wes and Liz were some of the best characters I’ve ever seen in a book. This book put me through all of the emotions. I love books with playlists and when I saw that there was a playlist in this one, I was so happy. This book was written so beautifully and Lynn Painter does such an amazing job with how she touches on certain topics. There were several things that hit home in this book. I did give this book four and a half stars only because I felt like the beginning of the book was a little slow but other than that I absolutely enjoyed every second of it.
- The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
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Jennifer Lynn Barnes knows how to write a book. I loved the Inheritance Games series so much, so when I saw she had another series I wanted to give it a try. I’m so glad I did. So far I’ve only read the first two books in the series, but I loved them both so much. This series is like if the characters from Criminal Minds were teenagers instead of adults. These books were so fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat through every minute. I loved the main characters so much and how funny and sarcastic they were. Jennifer Lynn Barnes is so good at writing characters that are sarcastic but so lovable. I gave both of these books five stars and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
- The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
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I have so much that I could say about this book. Ashley Poston is another auto-buy author for me. Last fall I read her debut novel and fell in love with her writing. She does an amazing job with creating a story that feels so real. She writes these beautiful characters with amazing back-stories while also bringing in a plot that completely changes your life. I went through so many emotions with this book: I cried, laughed, and smiled. This book was easily a five-star read for me. Ashley Poston has now written two amazing books where I have felt so seen and understood especially with grief. She talks about grief in a way that I feel like she truly understands me and not many books are good at that.
These were just some of the amazing books I read this summer. I am so glad I was able to spend some time reading and I hope to find time during the semester.