6 Authors Share Their Summer Reading Plans for 2025
Friends, happy SUMMER!
Is it just me, or is 2025 zipping by? January simultaneously feels like yesterday and forever ago. I was so ready for winter to end, but we had a short-lived spring in New Jersey, so I’m feeling a bit jipped.
That said, I’m very excited for summer. Shocking, right?
If you know me, you know summer is not typically my season; I’m too pale and super sensitive to the sun, and the heat makes me cranky. However, it’s Lauren’s first summer (well, first full summer, she was born September 1st, so she arrived just in time for the tail end of it), and I’m looking forward to experiencing all the seasonal things with her and through her eyes. Pool days, trips down the shore, and more adventures with Mark, BBQs, lazy afternoons with family and friends, tasting summer foods, etc., etc.
I’m also looking forward to summer reading. I have always loved summer reading. As a kid, I looked forward to getting my summer reading assignments from school, dedicating time to a book I likely wouldn’t have picked myself, and writing up my report. I have many fond memories of the titles that captivated me most, like Remember Me To Harold Square by Paula Danzinger and the book that made me fall in love with all things Jane Austen-coded, Pride and Prejudice. In recent years, I’ve spent many an afternoon on vacation, sitting by the pool, and devouring beach reads like Jane Rosen’s Fire Island trilogy, Carley Fortune’s bestsellers, and Emily Henry’s backlist.
The books, the ambience. There’s a vibe attached to summer reading; it’s cozy, but not in the way that fall and winter reading is cozy. It’s curling up on patio furniture with a light blanket on a cool July evening. It’s being waterlogged after a soak in the pool, lying out on a lounger with a cold glass of lemonade. It’s stuffing as many books as you can fit into your carry-on and suitcase before a flight.
It’s just different.
I’ve been thinking about the titles we pile onto our summer TBR lists. Then I started to wonder about the authors who’ve penned them. What do they associate with summer reading? What are their favorite memories tied to the seasonal tradition? What are their summer reading setups and, of course, what are they reading for summer 2025?
So, I asked them.
Up ahead, I ask six authors about their experiences with summer reading, and we cover everything from their favorite summer reading snack and beverage to how many books they pack for vacation on average. You’ll want to add their recs to your pile, and maybe even channel their ideal summer reading arrangements, too.
Ashley Herring Blake
Follow & Subscribe: on Substack, ashleyhblake on Instagram
Author of: Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, Make the Season Bright, and the forthcoming Get Over It, April Evans
Q: What is your favorite summer reading memory?
A: I think each season holds its own reading vibes, and my best reading memories in the summer blend romance, the sun, and the water. I’m a sucker for a beach trip, and one of my favorite things to do on a vacation is simply lie under a beach umbrella, watch the ocean, and read a love story. I’ve read some of my favorite romances on a beach, the pages getting a little waterlogged, but it’s always worth it, and I feel like those reads often stick with me more than any others.
Q: Where do you like to read in the summer?
A: I love reading outside when the weather permits it. I’ve already mentioned the beach, and I live in a very hot climate during the summer, but I’m also a big fan of mountain reading while camping—the coolness of the tree canopy, a nearby stream or creek burbling, that 360-degree green view. It’s definitely a favorite spot.
Q: What is your favorite summer reading snack and/or drink?
A: If I’m on vacation, I love a refreshing cocktail in the late afternoon and evening. A French 75 or a St. Germaine spritz are my most recent faves! Aside from that, I love bubbly water on a hot day.
Q: Where are you vacationing this summer? How many books do you pack for summer vacations on average?
A: I’m heading to a few places, one of my favorites being Cape San Blas, Florida. It’s small and there’s nothing to do whatsoever other than lie on the beach and read. I’m also going to Yosemite for the first time! I tend to go with a Kindle, particularly if I’m flying somewhere, but I have packed as many as ten books for vacations in the past.
Q: What is on your TBR list for summer 2025?
A: I’m very into thrillers right now, and am reading Megan Miranda’s upcoming release. I’m also planning to reread all of Adriana Herrera’s Las Leonas series.
Ashley Jordan
Follow & Subscribe: on Substack, ashleyjordanwrites on Instagram
Author of: Once Upon A Time In Dollywood
Q: What is your favorite summer reading memory?
A: As a kid, I was lucky enough to spend a lot of summers in the Bahamas, and without fail, I’d stuff my little carry-on with as many Babysitters Club books as it could hold. Some of my earliest summer memories are of sitting poolside or on the beach, totally lost in the adventures of Kristy, Claudia, Jessi, and the rest of the crew. Lots of sun, swimming, and my stories. I was really living my best life back then!
Q: Where do you like to read in the summer?
A: My deck! I live in Atlanta, so yes, summer afternoons can be unbearable, but a nice sunny morning with an iced latte and a chaise is truly perfect for getting some reading in.
Q: What is your favorite summer reading snack and/or drink?
A: Any kind of lemonade works for me (shout out to Beyoncé), but I especially love Publix’s Passion Fruit Basil Lemonade—which I may or may not currently have stockpiled in my refrigerator.
Q: Where are you vacationing this summer? How many books do you pack for summer vacations on average?
A: The plan is to do a writing retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains! I typically try to pack light if I’m flying, so it’s usually just my Kindle. But since it’ll be a road trip, I have a whole section of my suitcase reserved for 3-4 books, and I really love that for me.
Q: What is on your TBR list for summer 2025?
A: Oh, so many things! I’m currently right in the middle of The Education of Kia Greer by Alanna Bennett. After that, I’ve got: Under the Neon Lights by Arriel Vinson, The Summers Between Us by Noreen Nanja, August Lane by Regina Black, When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa, and Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola.
Kate Golden
Follow & Subscribe: on Substack, kategoldenauthor on Instagram
Author of: The Sacred Stones trilogy and the forthcoming If Not For My Baby
Q: What is your favorite summer reading memory?
A: Back in the summer of 2020, I (like many other newly-BookTok-addicted adults who had once loved Twilight) found A Court of Thorns and Roses and became wholly obsessed. I read the entire series in the span of one sunshine-drenched week, and never looked back. I think I consumed more books that summer (all romantasy, of course) than I had any other summer of my life. It's my favorite memory because those months led to me writing A Dawn of Onyx!
Q: Where do you like to read in the summer?
A: This may be unpopular (we listen and we don't judge, right??) but I like to read in water! Lake, ocean, pool, jacuzzi, bathtub-- you name it. I find the experience very peaceful. And, I often look back at the slightly water-logged books on my bookshelf with warmth. Those were the ones that were so fantastic, I couldn't put them down even to swim!
Q: What is your favorite summer reading snack and/or drink?
A: I like Wheat Thins and string cheese because I am apparently seven years old.
Q: Where are you vacationing this summer? How many books do you pack for summer vacations on average?
A: This summer, my husband and I went to Bali, Thailand, and Vietnam! It was for a wedding, but we made an almost-three-week trip out of it. Packing books was genuinely the hardest part because I'm not much of a Kindle girlie and I wanted a lot of options. We ended up bringing five books, and I read three of them, which I felt was a pretty good ratio.
Q: What is on your TBR list for summer 2025?
A: Oh man, what isn't on my TBR! So many great books are coming out this year, and I have books from the past few years I'm way behind on, too. I'd say the top three for me are: Ali Hazlewood's Problematic Summer Romance, Ashley Poston's Sounds Like Love and Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which I still need to read!
Lana Ferguson
Follow & Subscribe: on Substack, lanafergusonwrites on Instagram
Author of: The Nanny, The Fake Mate, The Game Changer, Under Loch and Key, Overruled, and The Mating Game
Q: What is your favorite summer reading memory?
A: When I was a kid, I spent most of my summers in my room consuming every book I could get my hands on. It’s rare that I find the time nowadays to read as voraciously as I did then, and some days I wish I could go back!
Q: Where do you like to read in the summer?
A: I like to curl up like a cat on the end of the couch where the sun shines in through my French doors so I can stay nice and warm.
Q: What is your favorite summer reading snack and/or drink?
A: A good book by the pool with an amaretto sour in hand is the life.
Q: Where are you vacationing this summer? How many books do you pack for summer vacations on average?
A: I actually just went through a big move, so my staycation this summer will entail many trips to my parent’s pool. When I’m able to leave home, I usually pack at least one physical [book] but spend a lot of time on my ereader.
Q: What is on your TBR list for summer 2025?
A: I’m hoping to devour several books this summer, including, but not limited to: An Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch, Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood, Roll For Romance by Lenora Woods, Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan, and Zomromcom by Olivia Dade!
Olivia Dade
Follow & Subscribe: oliviawrites.bsky.social on BlueSky
Author of: 40-Love, Desire and the Deep Blue Sea, At First Spite, Teach Me, Spoiler Alert, All By My Elf, Second Chance Romance, and ZomRomCom
Q: What is your favorite summer reading memory?
A: When I was a kid and my family would make our annual summertime drive from Virginia to Florida to see my grandparents, we’d visit the local Waldenbooks ahead of time so I could load up on stories to occupy me during the lengthy trip. Unfortunately, however, I always ended up mowing through those books well before we ever buckled in, so my poor mother was eventually forced to take increasingly desperate measures to hide my Waldenbooks haul from me until the actual minute we climbed inside our station wagon. (The usual hiding place in her closet had been compromised long before, as she soon discovered.)
I’d like to tell you that I’m not like this anymore. Sadly, I can’t honestly do so. But at least my mom isn’t in charge of keeping me from my vacation book stash these days?
Q: Where do you like to read in the summer?
A: If it’s not too hot, I love to find a shady spot on our apartment balcony, where I can look out over the water between chapters. If it is hot, though, I’ll retreat to the welcome chill of our air-conditioned living room and the very comfortable armchair and ottoman waiting for me there.
Q: What is your favorite summer reading snack and/or drink?
A: I don’t often have these drinks, because they require some work on my part, but my absolute standout summer beverages have to be passion fruit lemonade and mint-rosewater lemonade. They’re both tart, sweet, and absolutely delicious, and I wish I had a tall, cold glass of either one right now!
Q: Where are you vacationing this summer? How many books do you pack for summer vacations on average?
A: We’re celebrating my mom’s eightieth birthday this year by taking a family cruise together around the Norwegian fjords. I’ve heard they’re spectacular, and I’m very excited about the trip! Since I almost exclusively read e-books these days, my phone contains literally hundreds of romances I could devour during our vacation—although I suspect I’ll spend less time reading on the cruise and more time chatting with my family and gawping at gorgeous scenery.
Q: What is on your TBR list for summer 2025?
A: Two recent releases are at the top of my TBR pile, since I’m in the mood for paranormal romance and adore both these authors: Kimberly Lemming’s I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com and Stephanie Burgis’s Wooing the Witch Queen.
Rachel Lynn Solomon
Follow & Subscribe: on Substack, rlynn_solomon on Instagram
Author of: The ExTalk, Weather Girl, Business or Pleasure, What Happens in Amsterdam, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone, Our Year Of Maybe, We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This, See You Yesterday, Today Tonight Tomorrow, and Past Present Future
Q: What is your favorite summer reading memory?
A: In third grade, I won my school's summer reading contest. I remember coming back from vacation and putting little stickers on a chart to represent how many books I'd read, and feeling such a rush when I had more stickers than anyone else. The grand prize? A trip to McDonald's.
Q: Where do you like to read in the summer?
A: I love going to the park with a book and a picnic blanket, alternating between reading and people-watching.
3. What is your favorite summer reading snack and/or drink?
A: An iced chai
Q: Where are you vacationing this summer? How many books do you pack for summer vacations on average?
A: I'm going to Croatia to visit my husband's family and counting down the days! I usually bring three paperbacks on vacation, but sometimes I have such a book hangover from the first one that I don't even end up cracking the other two.
Q: What is on your TBR list for summer 2025?
A: I'm hoping to make a dent in the unread books on my shelf. At the top of my list are Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou and On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves. Also, finally finishing Intermezzo [by Sally Rooney] 😅
Jules, did you see We Were Liars is coming to Prime as a show?