Adult Winter Reading: Summer Vibes

From the bohemian surf culture of Australia’s Bondi Beach to the rich white sand and wildlife of Costa Rica’s dreamy Playa Blanca, discover the world’s most breathtaking coastlines, riverbanks, and lakefronts.

A gay fantasy romance novel set in the summer of 1989 on Fire Island. The story follows Joe Agabian’s journey of healing and self-discovery, surrounded by a secret coven of disco-dancing witches who protect their cherished gay paradise.

“Il Dolce Far Niente” is a gorgeous, photographic ode to the magic of southern coastal Italy in the summer by renowned travel, fashion, and lifestyle photographer Lucy Laucht. Throughout these pages, the spirit of summer will come shining through–shimmering blue seas, long summer afternoons walking on the beach, those fearless jumpers diving off cliffs into the sea. There’s a special essence to summer in South Italy–the pleasure of living simple.

Sought-after social media influencer Sara Vance, in recovery from an eating disorder, is coming into her own, with a potential career expansion on the horizon. Despite the good news, her successful siblings (and their perfect spouses) have a way of making her feel like the odd one out. So, when her unreliable boyfriend is a no-show for a Florida family vacation, Sara recruits Luis Navarro—a firefighter paramedic and dive captain willing to play the part of her smitten fiancé.

When music idol Ai is embroiled in scandal, her sisters, ambitious Rei and single mother Kiki, pause their lives and spend the summer with Ai in their childhood home on the Japanese coast so they can rescue their baby sister.

No one in Lily Lennox’s life can understand why each of the past five summers, she has chosen to be paid minimum wage lifeguarding at the exclusive Riovan Wellness Resort on a sun-soaked Caribbean island. Fortunately for her, they also aren’t aware of the mysterious deaths that have occurred on the island every time she’s there. She is determined to make toxic people pay for the damage they do and when your mission is murder, it’s best not to draw suspicious eyes. But this year a very attractive guest and podcaster, Daniel Black, is asking a few too many inconvenient questions. Is he there to hunt her down? And if so, how will she manage her growing attraction towards him at the same time as getting away with murder?

For the last sixteen years, Trinidad Velasquez has done everything right. Raised her twin sons on her own, worked her butt off and created a stable life. But Trinidad is done waiting for a happy ending to show up at her door, and when her current boyfriend proposes, she can’t help but wonder if, at her age, love should be practical, not butterflies and heart-racing chemistry. But then her teenage sons trick her into a Caribbean Carnival vacation. And she finds herself staying with the one guy who’s always revved her engine…even if he’s a decade south of her dating range.

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.

Two estranged sisters reunite to take down the luxury yacht owner who destroyed their childhood home–and might be responsible for the dead body next door.

Set over one summer in the charming seaside resort of Cape May, New Jersey, amid the planning of a lavish wedding three longtime friends find that past secrets, new loves, and hard choices test their bond like never before.

It’s the early 1990s in the small town of Crossmore, Ireland, and Lucy knows what she’s expected to do. Fall in love with the son of the farmer next door, marry him, pray for children, and never, under any circumstances reveal the truth–that she doesn’t think marriage or motherhood or staying in Crossmore is for her. That the reason she knows this, is because of her close friend, Susannah. For years, Lucy buries her obsession, until one summer, right before graduation, when her friendship with Susannah escalates. Now, Lucy will do anything to keep their secret safe.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of Feyi’s life and she’s almost a new person–an artist with her own studio and sharing a brownstone apartment with her best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the overwhelming desire Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits–his father.