Is there really anything better than a lazy weekend? Reading the paper in bed, sipping coffee, scrambling an egg or two? If you’ve enjoyed these moments before, they’re about to get even lazier now that it’s summertime.
There’s something about the heat that amplifies relaxation. We’re definitely out sideee all summer, but on those days when the living is particularly steamy, we’d rather swap the sweaty mess of the outdoors for a good book or three.
Two SENS editors have handpicked eight must-reads for the next few months in our eclectic and not-at-all-comprehensive summer book preview. So, if you’re on the hunt for your next read, these titles might be just what you need.
The list spans genres of comedy, drama, light mysteries, and some steamy romance, all capturing the awry ambience of the summer weather. The cosy couch in your house, a beach, or the greeny garden you might find yourself in will reflect these carefully selected reads. Enjoy!
A Comedy of Nobodies – Baron Ryan.
The popular content creator and TikToker known as “American Baron” released his debut story collection in May, described by the filmmaker-turned-author as ‘Seinfeld meets Fleabag in Charlie’s Harvard.’
Synopsis: Charlie knows he’s not the main character in his own story. He’s just another guy trying to get through life in the Ivy League. He plays in a terrible jazz band, falls in love too easily, and generally struggles with being human. With understated hilarity, this collection chronicles Charlie and his friends as they explore the meaning of life through the stories they grew up with, the stories they tell each other, and the stories they tell themselves.
As Charlie tries to find love using the scientific method, babysits a toddler for a chance to loosen those financial aid purse strings, jumps out a window to escape a jealous football player’s wrath, and enrages a packed hockey stadium by replacing the national anthem with a jazztrio rendition of “American Pie,” he discovers that the answers to life’s most pressing questions are almost always just more questions…
Family Meal – Bryan Washington.
With his signature generosity and eye for capturing food, sex, love, and the moments that make us human, Bryan Washington returns with another brilliant novel. Family Meal is an irresistible novel about two young men, once best friends, who reconnect after a loss. It’s a story about how those who know us best can hurt us the most, but also set the standard for love.
Synopsis: Cam is living in Los Angeles and falling apart after the love of his life has died. Kai’s ghost won’t leave Cam alone; his spectral visits are wild, tender, and unexpected. When Cam returns to his hometown of Houston, he crashes back into the orbit of his former best friend, TJ, and TJ’s family bakery. TJ’s not sure how to navigate this changed Cam, who is impenetrably cool and self-destructing, or their charged estrangement. Can they find a way past all that has been said—and left unsaid—to save each other? Could they find a way back to being okay again, or maybe for the first time?
People We Meet on Vacation – Emily Henry
The 2021 best-seller makes our list for its melodic and perfectly timed summer vibe. The book introduces us to loveable characters and offers a fresh take on the well-worn friends-to-lovers trope. With hilarious and fun interactions and dialogue, you’ll find yourself smiling through every page.
Synopsis: Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love. Poppy and Alex have been best friends since college. Even though they are as different as two people can be, they just get each other. As life keeps them apart geographically, their only chance to catch up in person is to take an epic summer trip together every year. But two years ago, they had a falling out and haven’t spoken since. Now, Poppy wants one more trip to fix everything.
The Sex Lives of African Women – by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Drawing on five years of meticulous archival and field research, countless interviews, scholarly works, and her own experiences, Ghanaian author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah lifts the veil on African women’s sexual experiences, desires, and fantasies.
Synopsis: People often use the phrase “sexual liberation” to mean sensationalised sexual antics or as a euphemism for impulsive responses to heartbreak or longing for sexual experience and approval. However, Sekyiamah sets out to show that the struggle for sexual liberty is distinguished by the diversity of experiences presented, the abundance of intimate details, and the complete lack of sensationalism.
The war on women’s autonomy reveals its truest face here: sexual abuse, domestic violence, child marriage, and FGM. Sekyiamah’s book studies how this war impacts every aspect of social life, tearing it apart, and how the impunity of our oppressors perpetuates a never-ending cycle of evil.
The Kiss Quotient – by Helen Hoang
A summer of romance awaits you in this 2018 heartwarming debut novel of the bestselling author Helen Hoang. The Kiss Quotient is quite an unusual romance novel, tackling at its best to portray autism in the romance genre. It’s the perfect blend of sweet and steamy.
Synopsis: Stella Lane thinks maths is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old. It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s, and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by a pilot fish.
Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires an escort, Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than missionary position… Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…
Keisha the Sket – by Jade LB
Originally published online in instalments in the 2000s, this erotic coming-of age novel written by a 13-year-old Black London schoolgirl in text-speak, using London slang, won the British Book Discover Award 2022.
Synopsis: Keisha is a girl from the ends, sharp, feisty and ambitious; she’s been labelled ‘top sket’, but she’s making it work. When childhood crush and long-time admirer, Ricardo, finally wins her over, Keisha has it all: power, a love life and the chance for stability.
But trauma comes knocking, and with it a whirlwind of choices that will define what kind of woman she truly wants to be. Told with the heart and soul of the inner city, with an unforgettable heroine, Keisha the Sket is a revelation of the true, raw, arousing and tender core of British youth culture.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a widely popular historical drama novel by American novelist Taylor Jenkins Reid, published in 2017.
Synopsis: It delves into the glamorous and tumultuous life of the enigmatic Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo. The story is narrated by Monique Grant, a young journalist who is given the exclusive opportunity to interview Evelyn Hugo, now in her late seventies, about her legendary career and her seven marriages and sensational relationships that shaped her career and personal life.
As Monique delves deeper into Evelyn’s story, she uncovers shocking revelations that force her to confront her past and identity. At times compelling, awful, ambitious Evelyn, at times complicated husbands, and a dive into the socio-political heartbreak and brevity, this book stands the test of time.
The Sun is also a Star – by Nicola Yoon
Adding to her contemporary collection of books such as Everything, Everything, Yoon had us fall in love with this 2016 radiant romantic experience – poetic and urgent.
Synopsis: Natasha is a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. She’s not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when her family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be her story. Daniel has always been the good son, the good student, living up to his parents’ high expectations.
Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when he sees her, he forgets about all that. Something about Natasha makes him think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us. Every moment in their lives has brought them to this single moment. A million futures lie before them. Which one will come true?
