My 2025 Summer Reading List
If you are looking for some good books to add to your summer reading list, pop in your email address below and I’ll send a printable of my personal summer reading list right to your inbox!
Once the Summer Reading Guide is out in the world, one of my favorite beginning-of-summer traditions is making a list of the books that I’m planning to read over the summer (2024 list here, 2023 list here, 2022 list here, 2021 list here, 2020 list here, 2019 list here, 2018 list here, 2017 list here, and 2016 list here).
I usually only get to about half of them (for me, summer reading – and really most reading – is all about what catches my eye and feels like the right book for that moment) and that is okay by me!
It gives me a good place to start and helps me if I’m feeling indecisive about what to pick up next!
Here are 12 books on my personal summer reading list this year!
My 2025 Summer Reading List
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
I am not normally drawn to epistolary novels (books written in letters), but this one is getting a lot of buzz lately. Sybil Van Antwerp, writes letters every day – to friends, authors, even people who’ve hurt her – as a way to make sense of life. But when someone from her past reaches out, she’s forced to face painful memories and finally send the one letter she’s kept to herself for years.
The Queen’s Gambit by Beth Brower
Not to be confused with the popular Netflix series…I have been a MAJOR Beth Brower fan since reading the entirety of the Emma M. Lion series and her book Beast of Ten! This one about a bold queen, a brooding, mysterious solider, and a kingdom on the brink of war sounds right up my alley!
No New Things by Ashlee Piper
To say I am excited about reading this book is an understatement! I’ve always been a frugal person – and buying secondhand has always been a truly cost effective and the sustainable way of shopping (you all know my love for ThredUp runs deep!). This is a 30-day guide about how not buying new things will help in finding freedom and fulfillment in our consumerist world.
Count My Lies by Sophie Stava
When Sloane Caraway tells a small lie, she lands a job with a wealthy family hiding dangerous secrets beneath their perfect façade. This one sounds like the kind of twisty, suspense-filled summer thriller I’m into!
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
After Kelsey on the Everyday Reading Team recommended this one on the Printable 2025 Summer Reading Guide, it went straight onto my TBR list. It’s by the same author as Black Cake and sounds gripping! Ebby Freeman’s world shattered the night her brother was killed and a family heirloom was lost. Years later in France, she uncovers secrets tied to the artifact that could rewrite everything
Changeable: How Collaborative Problem Solving Changes Lives at Home, at School, and at Work by J. Stuart Ablon, PhD
This one follows the powerful idea that problem behavior stems from a lack of skills, not a lack of willpower – turning the “tough love” approach on its head. I have a feeling this one will have a ton of take aways that I will be able to use in all facets of my life! My friend Ashley said this was the best non-parenting parenting book she’d read!
A Necessary Lie by Doohyun Kim & Jiyeon Maeng with Heidi Tucker
This is another one from the Printable 2025 Summer Reading Guide from Jen on the Everyday Reading Team. Her recommendation of it had me instantly hooked! In this powerful memoir of love, resilience, and survival, Doohyun and Jiyeon risk everything to escape North Korea and find freedom together.
Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler
I am hoping to read this one aloud to my girls this year – and I think summer will be the perfect opportunity! One of my friends who is a huge reader said she and her boys (who are similar ages to my girls) absolutely loved this WWII book. And then I looked it up on Amazon and the reviews are sky high – a 4.9 with 50 reviews!
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
I love a good memoir, and this one has been sitting at the top of my TBR for months. Careless People follows Sarah Wynn-Williams as she pulls back the curtain on her years inside Facebook, revealing a jaw-dropping blend of private jets, political chaos, and the deep dysfunction of Big Tech. Sharp, personal, and part exposé, this is one insider story I can’t wait to get into!
Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
After recently reading and loving The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, I knew I couldn’t go wrong with another music-themed summer book. This one follows Percy Marks, who meets songwriter Joe Morrow at a Berkeley bar in 2000, sparking a messy, passionate creative partnership that takes them through Brooklyn and San Francisco’s music scenes.
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
After reading her book Destiny of the Republic in February for Everyday Reading Book Club, I knew I wanted MORE! This one follows Theodore Roosevelt, fresh off a political defeat, as he embarks on a harrowing journey to chart an unclaimed tributary of the Amazon alongside his son and a famed Brazilian explorer. Facing deadly rapids, starvation, disease, and even murder, it’s a piece of history I knew nothing about and can’t wait to dive in.
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel
I’ve been in need of a good historical fiction read – and it’s been nearly a decade since I last picked up a Kristin Harmel novel. This one has me instantly intrigued: two jewel thieves in 1940s Paris, a vanished priceless bracelet, and a decades-old murder that’s never been solved. I have a feeling I’m going to be hooked!
Analese
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
My sister loved this one so I immediately put it on my TBR list. A story of two girls in Iran, who become best friends as little girls and then their lives go in separate ways. Years later they unexpectedly reunite and it changes the course of everything.
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
YA fantasy is not my typical genre, but that’s what book clubs are really good for – pushing you out of your comfort zone. All about survival, love and some magic mixed in, I’m really excited to give this one a go!
Kelsey
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
All the women on my husband’s side of the family received this book for Christmas, and we’re bringing it along for a mini book club during our upcoming beach trip. The story follows Eleanor, a socially awkward and isolated woman, whose life begins to change after she and a coworker help an elderly man. It sounds very sweet.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick
I’ve seen this one everywhere lately, and I’m so intrigued by the premise -plus, I’m almost to the top of the library hold list, so it’ll be a perfect way to kick off summer reading! Four 1960s suburban housewives start a book club, dive into The Feminine Mystique, meet a bold new neighbor from NYC, and suddenly their cookie-cutter lives get turned completely upside down…in the best way.
Jennifer
Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself by Lisa Marchiano
I’m reading this book after completing my first year of homeschooling my children in an effort to have a bit of a self-improvement summer before heading into another academic year. In this thoughtful and psychologically rich book, Lisa Marchiano explores how the challenges of motherhood can become powerful opportunities for personal growth. Drawing from Jungian psychology and real-life stories, she invites mothers to reflect on their fears, identity shifts, and inner strength. Rather than offering parenting tips, the book focuses on the inner journey of becoming more whole through the trials and transformations that motherhood brings.
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
As part of my self-improvement summer, I’m reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer to refocus and reset before the next academic season. In this refreshing book, Comer argues that our culture of busyness and distraction is deeply at odds with a life of peace, purpose, and spiritual depth. Drawing from the teachings of Christ and his own personal burnout, he makes a compelling case for slowing down, simplifying, and embracing spiritual practices like silence, Sabbath, and solitude. It’s a timely invitation to trade hustle for wholeness—and to create space for what truly matters.
Kristin
It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan
Annabel Monaghan is one of my favorite current authors and I’ve been literally counting down the days until this one releases. If it’s anything like her previous novels, I know I will love it. This is one of the rare books I will probably buy right away so I don’t have to wait forever in a library hold line!
Highcliffe House by Megan Walker
Highcliffe House came highly recommended by a friend of mine and it’s been on my Libby hold list ever since. It’s an enemies-to-lovers Regency romance so it’s a pretty safe bet I’m going to enjoy it!
And if you’d like a printable copy of this summer reading list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
