7 Easy Reading Prompts and Recs To Float You Through Summer

Summer reading can be daunting. Read on to find low stakes reading prompts and recs to get you started!

Fiction Recommendations
A book surrounded by a lake with plants and birds, a sun, mountains, and a beach umbrella on an ombre blue to yellow background.

Reading can be hard to start during the summer. Hopefully, you have fewer responsibilities and more free time to read, but picking a book can be difficult (at least for me). Whether you’ve already started your summer reading or need help reaching for just the right book from the shelf, keep scrolling to find a few inspo ideas and maybe a rec or seven.

A Book That’s Set Near the Beach 🏖️

Whether you’re on the beach yourself or want to manifest warmth and relaxation from home, reading about the beach always invites summer vibes.

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum, book cover depicting an illustration of a woman sitting on a beach with her feet in the ocean.
IMAGE VIA BOOKSHOP

I recommend Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum. This mystery novel involves women who spend much of their time on the beach. Two of them have husbands, and the third is trying to find one, until a body turns up next to the boardwalk. There are so many secrets to be uncovered.

A Book With Summer in the Title

Get in that summer mindset, literally. A recent favorite of mine is Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan. The story is about a woman planning a wedding and thinking she has it all until she sees the boy who broke her heart over 10 years ago playing guitar on the beach while she tours wedding venues.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan, book cover depicting an illustration of a woman in a yellow dress on a beach.
IMAGE VIA BOOKSHOP

A Book With Water on the Cover 💧

Cooling off after a long day with a book is the best medicine.

a girl laying in blue water-like art. Book cover for Swift River by Essie Chambers.
IMAGE VIA BOOKSHOP

I recommend Swift River by Essie Chambers is set in 1987 and follows Diamond Newberry as the only black person in her small northeastern town. When a mysterious letter arrives that gives her clues about her father’s disappearance, she uncovers many things about her family and past that help her understand her place in the world.

A Poem With Sun in the Title 🌞

An artistic “warm” up for those who love poetry or need a boost from their reading slump. One of my favorites is Stay Till the Dawn, You Might Get the Sun by Fatima Abdullahi.

A Book That Takes Place in a Jungle 🦚

It’s always summertime in the jungle, but what’s really going on in there?

Woman standing in a door with the words The Daughter Of Doctor Moreau across her, the wall, and the door.
IMAGE VIA BOOKSHOP

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau deserves everyone’s attention. Carlota lives with her father on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, while she discovers details of her life and her father’s research she works to keep Dr. Moreau’s hybrid experiments safe. I cannot recommend this book enough.

An Article on Maintaining Ecosystems While Hiking/Camping 🏕️

If you’re outdoorsy or plan on spending some time in nature this summer, ensure the land is left better than how you found it. Learn more about nature and taking care of it here from Leave No Trace.

Something Hot 🥵

However you choose to interpret this topic, I hope it excites you! But for any romance readers, I offer Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. Great chemistry with a vulnerability that tugs on your heartstrings and is set in Minnesota. Also, here is a small fun fact about Abby Jimenez — she won the Rose Bowl episode of Cupcake Wars season 4 and still has her bakery, Nadia Cakes, in Maple Grove, Minnesota.

Two people and a dog run through a lake in fron of mountains and a sunset. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez across the cover.
IMAGE VIA BOOKSHOP

We hope some books come to mind as you read through this list. Let us know on our social media what you’re reading this summer!


Where are you reading this summer? Click here for some ideas.

See what Bookstr is reading and loving here!

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