Summer is just starting and I wanted to make sure you had fun romance books to enjoy during your summer vacation.
That’s why I made a list with my favorite summer reads that you will end up loving and will definitely devour in a couple of days (or hours if you have the time!).
While most of these romance novels have a summer/vacation theme and vibe; I will also add some books that I have read recently and loved.
As always, you can check my Goodreads profile to check all the books that I have read.
Lastly, if you are in a budget, check this article about how to download books for free. It works for the Kindle app and the Books app on iPhone.
*SOME OF THE LINKS IN THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS AND I WILL RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION IF YOU MAKE A PURCHASE AFTER CLICKING ON MY LINK*
Summer Romance Books
1. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
If you are looking for beach reads, this book comes up. It’s very popular, and with a good reason.
On Goodreads it has more than 325,000 ratings, and it’s rated with a 4.27. In my book, that is an amazing accomplishment. It doesn’t happen often.
I had to read this book because it was the book of the month for my book club. I planned to read this book in a couple of days, but I enjoyed so much, that I ended up reading it all in one day.
They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true.
Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.
Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.
For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable.
Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.
When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been.
But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.
Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.
Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
2. The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland
The first time I met Max Yearwood was on a blind date.
Max was insanely gorgeous, funny, and our chemistry was off the charts. He also had the biggest dimples I’d ever laid eyes on.
Exactly what I needed after my breakup. Or so I thought…
Until my real date arrived.
Turned out, Max wasn’t who I was there to meet. He only pretended to be until my real date showed up. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.
Before he left, he slipped me a ticket to a hockey game a few blocks away, in case things didn’t work out on my actual date.
I tossed the ticket into my purse and went about trying to enjoy the man I was supposed to meet. But my real blind date and I had no connection.
So on my way home, I decided to take a chance and stop by the game. When I arrived, the seat next to me was empty.
Disappointed again, I decided to leave at the end of the period. Just before the buzzer, one of the teams scored, and the entire arena went crazy.
A player’s face flashed up on the Jumbotron. He was wearing a helmet, but I froze when he smiled.
You guessed it: Dimples.
Apparently, my fake blind date hadn’t invited me to watch hockey with him, he’d invited me to watch him play.
And so began my adventure with Max Yearwood.
He was everything I needed at the time—fun, sexy, up for anything, and only around for a few months since he’d signed with a new team three-thousand miles away.
Max proposed we spend the summer helping me forget my ex. It sounded like a good plan. Things couldn’t get too serious when we had an expiration date. Right?
Though, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
3. Toe the Line by Penelope Ward
At first, I thought I’d hate spending the summer with Archie Remington—the conceited son of my parents’ friends.
What I knew about Archie: he was gorgeous, pre-law, and had always treated me like I didn’t exist when we were younger.
When our families bought a house together on an island in Maine, he and I were forced to share a bathroom.
The boy I remembered was now a full-grown man—but with the same attitude.
After a rough start, Archie and I unexpectedly started getting along one day and eventually became friends.
We shared secrets and bonded during our morning jogs. I discovered that Archie had a wild spirit and that he struggled to conform to his father’s expectations.
Things were cool until I had to go and ruin it, getting drunk one night, and blurting out my fantasy—involving him.
I took it back, but it was too late. Archie had heard me loud and clear. After that, we never quite knew how to toe the line.
When that summer came to an abrupt and shocking end, I headed back to college, unsure if anything would ever be the same again.
Across the miles over the years, he and I stayed in touch as friends, but fate and timing always kept us from becoming more.
You know the saying: If two people are meant to be, they’ll find their way back to each other?
Let’s just say Archie came back into my life in a way I would’ve never expected.
And this time, my heart would really be put to the test.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
4. Flow (Grip #0.5) by Kennedy Ryan
This book is the prequel of the Grip series, and a great introduction to Grip and Bristol’s love story.
Definitely a series that you want to read in order.
Flow will make you fall in love with those two characters, and you will be rooting for them to be together.
This series have three books, so if you are looking to download a couple of romance books for your summer vacation in advanced, this is a great option.
Grip is one of my favorites series. Kennedy Ryan is an amazing writer and I definitely recommend other books by her.
In 8 years, Marlon James will be one of the brightest rising stars in the music industry.
Bristol Gray will be his tough, no-nonsense manager.
But when they first meet, she’s a college student finding her way in the world, and he’s an artist determined to make his way in it.
From completely different worlds, all the things that should separate them only draw them closer.
It’s a beautiful beginning, but where will the story end?
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
5. A Chance for Us (Willow Creek Valley #4) by Corinne Michaels
While this romance book is the fourth one in the Willow Creek Valley series, it’s not necessary to read in order.
I don’t know about you, but this cover definitely begs me to take it to the beach this summer.
My marriage started as a lie.
But some lies are worth telling.
My father’s dying wish was to walk me down the aisle, and I’d do anything for him.
Even marry a man I don’t love.
So when my fiance jilts me only days before the ceremony, I turn to my college friend, Oliver Parkerson, and convince him to marry me.
My family hasn’t met either man, so I’m confident we can pull this off.
But the feelings, our touches, the way my heart beats for him… none of it feels pretend. The way he holds me at night and carries me through loss tells me he’s not acting either.
I didn’t mean to fall for my fake husband, but real love was the one thing I couldn’t predict.
Except, nothing built on lies can last—I know that better than anyone.
But the truth might tear us apart forever.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
6. The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (The Devils #2) by Elizabeth O’Roark
Like the previous book, the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is also a standalone. So if you like the enemies-to-lovers trope, this is the book for you.
Just by looking at the cover you can tell it’s the perfect beach read!
You don’t really know a guy until you’ve vacationed with him…
When Drew Wilson’s ex-boyfriend Joel “Six” Bailey asks her to go on his family trip to Hawaii with him just as her life is falling apart, she decides it’s the perfect time to give him another chance.
The hitch? The Bailey family includes Six’s rude older brother, Joshua—a hot-nerd doctor who has hated Drew since the moment they met and once suggested she’d steal the family silver.
Drew is determined to win the Baileys over and give this thing with Six a fair shot…but Joshua is making that difficult.
Not simply because he is in her way at every turn, but because—as one tropical adventure leads to the next—she’s beginning to wonder if obnoxious, odious Joshua might be the brother she actually belongs with.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
7. Calmly, Carefully, Completely (The Reed Brothers #3) by Tammy Falkner
While I recommend all the books in this series (especially the first two); Calmly, Carefully, Completely is the one that happens during summer break. So it goes with the theme in this summer reading list.
But if you rather read The Reed Brothers series in order (even though you don’t have to since this one in particular can be read as a standalone), you will enjoy the series more if you start with Tall, Tatted and Tempting.
She’s been locked upeven longer than he has.
Peter Reed is fresh out of jail, fresh out of excuses, and ready for a brand new start.
Reagan Caster needs to thank Pete for an act of kindness, but he wants more than just her thanks.
Reagan knows how to protect her body, but not her heart. And her traitorous body responds to Pete in a way it hasn’t with anyone else.
When Pete’s innocent flirtation becomes more, Reagan’s ready to accept what he has to offer.
Pete assumes Reagan needs to be loved carefully and calmly.
But Reagan knows she needs to be loved completely.
Can he give her what she needs?
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
8. Hurricane Summer by Asha Ashanti Bromfield
Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.
When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.
In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.
Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
9. Broken French (Mediterranean #1) by Natasha Boyd
A widowed, billionaire, single dad romance.
Josie thought she was getting a promotion at her architectural firm, but instead her career implodes.
She impulsively takes up her roommates’ offer to nanny for a little girl on a mega yacht in the South of France.
Even though she can’t stand boats, this seems like fate giving her an opportunity to lick her wounds in a bucket list paradise while she figures out how to get her life back.
But this little girl she’s arrived to look after has a daddy.
A widowed, hot, young, billionaire of a daddy. A man who, for all his wealth, is grumpy, conceited, and utterly closed off. But Josie can’t help but be drawn closer to this enigmatic man.
Xavier Pascale is on an emotional island of his own making. It’s just him and his daughter and he likes it that way.
He works hard, his shareholders are happy, his best friends are his bodyguard, and the people who work for him.
What’s wrong with that? But then he meets Josephine Marin. Her arrival in his life is like a deep ocean tremor along a catastrophic emotional fault line.
And now… well, now, he’s very, very aware of his isolation and his very human need. But he can’t be distracted. When he gets distracted terrible things happen.
He should send the nanny home.
He really should.
But what if he just takes what he wants, just this one time …
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
10. Bad Cruz by L.J. Shen
I would say Dr. Cruz Costello is my archenemy.
But that would require acknowledging one another, which we haven’t done in over a decade.
He’s the town’s golden child. The beloved quarterback-turned-physician.
I’m the girl who got knocked up at sixteen and now works at a diner.
He is Fairhope royalty.
I get my monarch dose from tabloid gossip.
He’s well-off.
I’m…well, off.
When our siblings get engaged, Cruz’s parents invite both families to a pre-wedding cruise. Except Cruz and I find ourselves stuck on a different ship from everyone else.
Cue ten horrible, insufferable days at sea with a man I cannot stand (my fault, of course.)
But when the alcohol pours in, the secrets spill out, and I’m left with one question: Can I take another chance on love?
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
11. Wildfire (Men of Inked: Heatwave #3) by Chelle Bliss
I have read a couple of books in this series, but this is by far my favorite one. You will definitely feel the heatwave.
A great romance book for your summer vacation!
Also a standalone so you don’t have to read the previous books.
Can a bossy biker tame the wild child?
Tamara Gallo knew she was missing something in life.
Looking for adventure, she takes off, searching for a hot biker who can deliver more than a good time. But once inside the Disciples Compound, she may get more than she bargained for.
The badass biker thought he had everything he wanted. He had his freedom, the open road, and the brotherhood.
But after being tasked with protecting an innocent, he realizes he’s missing the most important thing of all…the love of a good woman.
But can the bossy biker tame the wild child, or will she be too much for even him to handle?
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
12. Until June (Until Him/Her #3) by Aurora Rose Reynolds
The Until Him/Her is a spinoff series to the Until series. I have read both and I recommend them.
You can read the books as a standalone, but once you read more books in the series, you will start recognizing some of the characters.
While this book is not exactly about summer, the name of the main character is perfect for this list of summer romance books.
You can also read Until July, which is about her sister.
June Mayson and Evan Barrister’s whirlwind courtship resulted in a secret marriage right before he left for boot camp.
Evan knows deep in his gut that June is too good for him, but after getting a taste of the beautiful life they can have together, he’s unwilling to let her go.
June promises to wait for him, knowing neither time or distance will ever change her feelings for Evan—that is until she’s served with divorce papers while he’s overseas and she’s forced to let him go.
Her marriage and divorce a well-kept secret, the last person June expects to run into when she moves back to her hometown is Evan.
Angry over the past, she does everything within her power to ignore the pull she feels whenever he is near.
But how can she ignore the pain she sees every time their eyes meet? How can she fight the need to soothe him even if she knows she’s liable to get hurt once again?
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
13. Enemies Abroad by R.S. Grey
If you are in the mood for a rom-com, then this is a book you will enjoy during the summer.
I have read a couple of R.S. Grey books, and they always make me laugh.
It’s simple: Noah Peterson and I are enemies. Our fellow teachers know it, our friends know it—even the Starbucks drive-through lady knows it since every Monday she scrawls the name A. Holefor me on Noah’s cappuccino when I pick up the weekly group order.
The shrill whine of the school bell announces the start of each day’s no-holds-barred grudge match.
Since neither of us is looking to get fired or thrown in prison, we war with our words and our wits.
We prefer banter that bites. All day, I’m on edge, looking around every corner, expecting him to do his worst.
Just when I think I can’t take the sight of his (regretfully) handsome face for one more minute, the school day is done.
Summer usually offers the sweetest relief—a two-month Noah detox—but not this year.
“We need two volunteers to chaperone a group of eighth graders in Rome” becomes a game of chicken neither one of us is willing to lose. We both want that bonus check.
“Back out,” I tell him.
“Scared?” he taunts.
No one thinks it’s a good idea for us to go to Rome together, least of all me. Taking this battle abroad will only lead to mayhem and misery.
DING. Ladies and gentlemen of flight UA447 with service to Rome, fasten your seatbelts.
We’re bound to have a bumpy ride.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
14. The Summer Girl (Avalon Bay #3) by Elle Kennedy
Even though this is the third book in the Avalon Bay series, The Summer Girl can be read as a standalone. You won’t be missing any key details from the first two books.
College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston.
Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday… and maybe find herself a summer fling.
On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy.
Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good time. But the moment he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with.
Cassie is gorgeous, hilarious, and, frankly, the coolest person he’s ever met. The last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart, and so he reluctantly puts her in the friend-zone… only to realize he made a huge mistake.
Soon, his attraction to Cassie becomes impossible to ignore. He wants that fling now. Big-time.
And maybe even something more.
As Cassie and Tate walk the line between friends and lovers, they’re about to discover that their situation is the least complicated part of this equation.
Because Avalon Bay is full of secrets—and their relationship might not survive when those secrets come to light.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
15. Summer by the Sea by Susan Wiggs
It’s the beginning of another season in the seaside resort town of Winslow, Rhode Island, and Rosa Capoletti is given the chance to rediscover the pleasures of love and laughter, food and wine, friendship and romance …
With a little determination and a lot of charm, Rosa Capoletti took a run-down pizza joint and turned it into an award-winning restaurant that has been voted “best place to propose” three years in a row.
For Rosa, though, there has been no real romance since her love affair with Alexander Montgomery ended suddenly and without explanation a decade ago.
But Rosa’s life takes an unexpected turn when Alexander arrives back in town and asks for her help sorting through his late mother’s affairs.
Reunited at the beach house where they first met and fell in love, Rosa and Alexander discover that the secrets of the past are not what they seem.
Now, with all that she wants right in front of her, Rosa searches for happiness with the man who once broke her heart, and learns that in love, as in life, there are second chances.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
16. Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan
The ultimate summer nostalgia read, about an engaged woman who comes face to face with her first love who she hasn’t seen in fourteen years, but who she spent every summer with from age five to seventeen when he broke her heart, calling into question everything she thought she knew about their love story, and herself.
Beach Rules:
Do take long walks on the sand.
Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.
Do NOT run into your first love.
Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house.
Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?
Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split.
Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.
You can get the audiobook for free with an Audible free trial.
For more reviews, click here.
17. Our Scorching Summer (Perks & Benefits #2) by Kels Stone, Denise Stone
If you are in the mood for a college romance, then you will enjoy this one!
The books in this series can be read as a standalone.
Nico Navarro and I are friends.
His signature grin and playfulness are charming, except when you’re on the receiving end of his self-absorbed personality. The worst part—he’s ridiculously gorgeous and he knows it.
For years, I’ve dealt with Nico’s incessant flirting by keeping my occasional fantasies about him strictly between me, my keyboard, and my vibrator.
We’re both players and not interested in settling down. He’s never been in love, and I refuse to commit to someone again. Besides, Nico is my best friend’s brother-in-law, so he’s strictly off-limits.
Just. Friends.
But when I suddenly lose my job, fail a class, and a man faints inside me—yes, inside me—all rationality falls by the wayside.
One out-of-character decision later, I find myself on an international adventure with the irresponsible playboy.
Our spontaneous vacation is filled with interrogations, a steamy arrangement, and the uncovering of my decade-long secret.
I’m quickly becoming Nico’s new obsession and the rules I’ve kept to protect my heart start to crumble with each new lavish travel destination we visit.
Can I let myself love again or will our summer fling end up in flames?
Available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
18. Hot August Nights: Mountain Ridge Resort by Khloe Summers
Beth
Am I a fraud?
I’ve spent all my life working to become a psychologist, and now the only job that will take me is a camp for rich people and their kids.
When I arrive at Mountain Ridge, I immediately feel overwhelmed by all their screaming faces.
That is until a six-foot three mountain of a man shows me the ropes.
Fraud or not, this experience is about to get a little more rugged than I planned.
Alex
I’m a mountain boy who’s been raised on solitude and classic rock.
I know my family worries that I spend too much time alone but that’s the life of a plow man.
When everyone else is sleeping, I’m out taking care of business.
But when summer comes around, there’s no snow, meaning it’s time for camp.
Like it or not, a man’s got to work.
But this year isn’t like most. They’ve hired the most gorgeous, curvy, therapist.
If she’s not careful, she’ll soon be finding out how hard I can go after dark.
This is a short and steamy, age gap romance. As always, this title comes with Khloe’s ‘Easy Escape Seal’, a no cheating, no cliffhanger, HEA guarantee.
Available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
19. Six Summers to Fall by C.W. Farnsworth
If you love rom-con movies, then you will probably see the similarities between this book and The Wedding Date movie.
Rom-com from the early 2000s are simply the best.
Ever since her younger sister’s engagement was announced, Harper Williams has been dreading the wedding.
What should be a joyous, sun-drenched affair is sure to be filled with plenty of awkward moments, thanks to Harper’s strained relationship with her only sibling.
Awkwardness enhanced by the wedding’s location—a lake in Maine, swimming with painful memories of their late father.
Running into Drew Halifax—her childhood crush, who grew up to be the golden boy of hockey—is a surprise. Not nearly as shocking as his offer to be her plus-one is though.
She expects him to back out. He shows up. She’s looking for a distraction from the past. He’s killing time until his season starts and he can chase the championship. She’s guarded yet outgoing. He’s easygoing yet focused.
They hardly know each other. Until one week of sharing secrets, pretending to be in love, and sleeping in the same bed changes everything. Feelings that were supposed to be fake start to feel very real.
Problem is, neither of them is looking for a relationship. At most, they’re meant to be a summer fling. Definitely not a happily ever after.
But when it comes to falling? You have no control. Once you start, it’s impossible to stop. And sometimes…it takes six summers.
Available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
20. Long Summer Nights (Sultry Summer #1) by Laura John
When the sun goes down, it only gets hotter.
Tessa:
After my less than enjoyable childhood in Summersville, NC, I vowed I would never come back. But plans don’t always go accordingly.
After being kicked out of my own home by a man I thought I loved, Mimi is there to welcome me with open arms.
Not only does she help pick me back up, but offering me a job at the bakery puts me in the direct path of him– Maddox.
I swore I wouldn’t fall, but after one look at his mesmerizing dimples and the brush of his lips against mine, I knew I’d break my own promise.
Only, as much as I want to let him in, how am I supposed to when I’ve been hurt so badly before?
Maddox:
Moving to this small town was supposed to be a fresh start. A way to escape the expectations of my name, be completely anonymous, and build something for myself, but she wasn’t part of the plan.
When Tessa moves in next door, she makes me want things I didn’t even know I craved.
Suddenly, getting to know someone and forming a relationship doesn’t seem all that bad. Only, she has walls built around her heart even higher than mine.
Can we let what we’re building blossom, or will our own defences keep us apart?
If you like small towns, strong and curvy heroines, and books with spice, then you are going to love Long Summer Nights!
Available on Kindle Unlimited
For more reviews, click here.
If you are looking for more book recommendations, click here.
Sincerely,
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