Traveling Soon? The Perfect Books to Pack for Your Last Summer Getaway

For Larissa, life has come down to a few key choices—namely, which guy drove her home from a concert several years ago. She may secretly wish it was Chris, her best friend with whom she co-parents a Yorkie, but instead it was his best friend, who is now her boyfriend.

Chris just wants Larissa to be happy, but it’s getting harder and harder to sit on the sidelines and watch her fall in love with another guy, even if that guy is his best friend. Can Larissa and Chris find their way back to one another without hurting everyone they love?

Jackson and Delilah may both be reporters, but they’re also polar opposites. While Jackson loves order and routine, Delilah yearns for spontaneity. When they get paired together to cover a historic snowstorm, both reporters have to put their differences aside to complete the assignment—but what if their unlikely partnership blossoms into an easy friendship?

Our editors adore all of B.K Borison’s books!

AJ Graves is an aspiring writer who dreams of working for Saturday Night Live. Right now, though, she’s stuck working the same boring video rental store job. Things are bleak until Noah Drew of the Drew acting dynasty walks in, and the two forge an instant connection. They go from strangers to acting partners to best friends, and then—seemingly out of nowhere—Noah disappears.

Years later, the two reconnect when they’re cast in the same intergalactic TV production in New York City. As the lines between acting and reality blur, AJ and Noah will finally confront what drove them apart all those years ago.

Cassia Park believes in true love. After all, it’s her family’s business—One & Only Matchmaking—to look into their client’s eyes and discover their fated soulmate. Trouble is, Cassia Park can’t seem to find her “fated” true love: Daniel Nam. Frustrated beyond belief, she finally gives in to temptation and has a fling with Ellis, an indecently handsome man who isn’t fated to be her soulmate. It’s all going well… until Ellis introduces Cassia to his boss, Daniel Nam.

Suddenly, Cassia’s stuck in a battle between fate and chance. Should she follow her head, or go where her heart is leading her?

For something swoony and heartfelt with a little more emotional punch to it, consider reading Promise Me Sunshine. The story follows Lenny, a young woman saddled with the grief of losing her best friend. Armed with a “live again” bucket list to distract herself from her pain, Lenny avoids her job and her family by taking on a temporary nanny gig to make ends meet. While there, she meets Miles, her nanny kid’s uncle, who offers her a deal: if Lenny helps him connect with his niece, Miles will help her complete everything on her list.

Yet, as the two grow closer, Lenny begins to wonder if the hole in her heart may be able to heal after all. Because Miles just won’t stop showing up for her, no matter what.

Frankie and George are childhood best friends. But having grown apart in adulthood, Frankie isn’t even sure if George will show up for her wedding. Frankie’s life is a mess when she’s left at the altar by her fiancé, but George swoops in nonetheless with an idea to heal her broken heart—to go on her honeymoon. But surfing and exploring rainforests quickly turn into an emotional rollercoaster, one where long-buried feelings will finally be confronted.

Dolly Brick is a problem solver. Her mom may have left her when she was a kid, but that hasn’t stopped her from being there for her son and her father and brother—who need her now more than ever—so they don’t lose their family home in Whitfield, Rhode Island.

Then, Stewart Whitfield enters the picture: annoyingly perfect and in need of her help. She can’t help being there for him, but when their arrangement turns dangerously real, Dolly will have to decide if she’s ready to rely on someone other than herself.

As a booked and busy casting agent, Sasha knows types. She loves to find the perfect roles for the perfect people—unless of course, that person will have a role in her own life. Relationships, she says, are just too much work. But when she meets a mysterious Italian man on a flight to Paris, all logical thought goes out the window. After failing to exchange contact information, she embarks on a meticulous search to find the man from Seat F.

In the first book of the Off Campus series titled The Deal, Hannah Wells and Garrett Graham strike up a deal to get what they want. Hannah tutors Garret, the obnoxious hockey captain, to make her crush jealous. Garret agrees to help Hannah if she helps him raise his GPA. Except, when a steamy kiss ends in the best sex of their lives, maybe the guy Hannah is really looking for is Garret after all.

If you’re a Cat Sebastian fan, you’ll know that readers were excited for his long-awaited foray into contemporary romance—and Star Shipped hits the nail on the head! The story follows two co-stars on a popular sci-fi television series who just can’t seem to get along. As the two face the pressure of being in the public eye together, however, they begin to wonder if maybe they don’t know the other as well as they thought they did.

This moving, speculative novel explores the power of female friendship and platonic love as Remy—a bestselling novelist whose creative well has dried up—and Simone—a kindergarten teacher whose well-paying side hustle has driven her family away—cross paths in a bookstore. It’s not exactly love at first sight, but as they let each other in, the pair discover the other may have just the missing piece they’re looking for.

This was The Everygirl Book Club’s July pick, and they loved it!

Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is fresh off a bad breakup, so when she’s offered a general management position at Hotel Nantucket—a Gilded Age gem—she’s happy to take it. Desperate to put the resort back on the map, she bends over backwards for her staff and celebrity guests. But Hotel Nantucket is hiding secrets beneath its shiny surface. To keep her job, Lizbet will have to face the hotel’s complex history and discover how it intersects with her own.

This is the book my friends still won’t stop talking about! When one young college student meets two star students from her 17th-Century Lit class—Sam and Yash—she finds herself pulled into an intricate and toxic love triangle she can’t escape. After graduation, she’s sure she’s left it all behind, but when her past slams right into the present, she must confront the decisions of her younger self.

When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head over heels for Van Whittaker, a golden boy born and raised in the small coastal village. She spends the summer running wild with him and his friends, until an unexpected positive pregnancy test leaves her cast out of their circle for good. Weighed down with heartbreak, Caroline is forced to decide how to move forward on her own.

Jenny Jackson is a beautiful writer, and you won’t want to miss her latest novel.

Each morning around half past 10, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write a letter. Some of them are to her family and friends, others to people she’s never met. She never intends them to be read, until letters from someone in her past resurface and force her to examine a painful time period in her life. Now, she decides they must be shared. A novel written one letter at a time, will Sybil find it in her heart to heal and forgive?

From the bestselling author of The Help—a fan favorite book for many of our editors—comes a historical fiction title you won’t want to miss! Meg is an orphan in search of a home. Birdie goes to Oxford to try to help her struggling family. And Charlie is a woman with no luck but lots of grit. When these three women converge in 1930s Mississippi, they come up with an audacious plan to take back their lives. But the freedom of a woman is fragile, even in the face of resilience and friendship.

In this moving novel about the aches and pains of growing up, growing apart, and female friendship, three women grapple with the reality of their once unbreakable bond ten years after college. As they converge in Maine for a wedding, they finally decide to open up about the secrets and struggles they’ve hidden from one another for so long.

Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas, offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark, the alcohol will flow, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.

15-year-old Mina’s whole world is her two best friends, but when an unexpected kiss makes everything fall apart, Mina must grapple with a friendship that feels nothing like it once did. Years later, as an adult, Mina reflects on the magic of girlhood and belonging that made her childhood so memorable, and how loving someone—however fleeting—can change us forever.

Phoebe Stone has always dreamed of staying at The Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, with her husband, but now she’s here without him—alone and at rock bottom. When she walks into the lobby of the inn, fitted in a green dress and gold heels, she’s immediately mistaken for a guest at a grand wedding taking place that weekend. Soon, Phoebe (and the bride) will embark on a winding adventure neither saw coming.

Alix Watson knows that the only thing she can rely on in life is books. The characters in her favorite stories are far more predictable than anyone in the outside world. But when she stumbles through a hidden doorway in her favorite library, she discovers a world where she can actually live inside those books… forever.

Rainy March is a third-generation Book Witch, sworn to defend and protect the fictional from foes of all kinds. Day in and day out, she swoops in and out of romance novels and thrillers, fighting evil and defending honor. She lives by one rule: the fictional is fictional, and no matter how enticing a book may seem, she must return to the real world where she belongs. That’s why she’s sworn to stay away from the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective from her favorite mystery series who almost swayed her from her path.

But then, Rainy’s grandfather goes missing, along with a priceless book. The only one who can help her solve the case is the Duke of Chicago, meaning she must put her feelings aside and focus on finding out the truth. But is that possible?

B.K Borison is an editor-favorite author. Borison’s And Now, Back to You romance novel was even an Everygirl Book Club pick! Grim Tidings is a perfect entry-level read for someone just trying out fantasy. The story follows Darcy Moore, a Grim Reaper who is sick of death. When she receives an assignment to drag her next target to the Underworld, she decides to ignore it, seeking refuge in a bar. Just one complication—Guardian Angel Gabriel Aetos, who doesn’t tolerate the Grim Reaper showing up at his bar and freaking out his customers. Soon, the pair grows closer, and Aetos will have to decide if he should squash his doubts and trust Darcy once and for all. Read Good Spirits, the first book of the series, while you wait for this anticipated release.

Releasing September 15, 2026

You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. The mysterious train only reveals itself to lost souls searching for their purpose. One day, a young woman named Raya lounges on the subway, lost in a sea of regrets and what-ifs. When she’s swept away to the Elsewhere Express, she finds a train full of wonders and magic—and Q, a lost artist also looking for his place in the world. As the pair explore the train together, they discover a darkness lurking on the tracks, one they must face before they can choose their paths and head back home.

Kiela isn’t a people person, which is why she chose a life as a magical librarian, holed up with books and her trusty assistant. But when a revolution sends her library (and entire world) up in flames, she flees to the one place she never expected to return to: her childhood home. There, she discovers a handsome and can’t-take-a-hint neighbor, secrets long-buried, and a community desperately in need of some magic. Even though she knows the risk of unsanctioned spells, Kiela throws caution to the wind and opens up a spellshop. But that may not be the only source of magic that awaits her.

In this hilarious and heartwarming read, a pop-culture obsessive uses her reality TV experience to investigate a disappearance on a cruise ship. All the while, she’s falling for a deckhand and struggling to confront the loss of a loved one. Soon, she’ll find that in order to understand what happened on the ship, she first needs to face what has happened to her.

Eden Fox heads off for a run before her first art exhibition, but when she returns home, her key doesn’t fit in her door. A strange woman answers, claiming to live there, and then her husband appears, claiming the strange woman is his wife. One house. Two women. Someone is lying.

Lillian and Henry have been enjoying each other’s company, but to Henry, their relationship is nothing but casual. Luckily, Lillian has a plan—lure him in with her kindness and good looks, and lock him down as her boyfriend. Everything is going just as she planned, until Henry blindsides Lillian with a breakup. Heartbroken, Lillian hopes and hopes that Henry will come back to her. What she doesn’t expect is to find out Henry has been murdered—and that she’s the prime suspect. Now, she must clear her name and find a way forward.

Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the world’s most beloved podcasts together. There, they make a living telling other people’s near-death survival stories. Neither expects to become the subject of their next episode. But when Benny arrives at Joy’s house to find shattered glass and his co-host (and his husband) missing, he thrusts himself into the investigation—even as the police name him the #1 suspect. As the hours tick by, Benny and his listeners begin to lose hope of ever seeing or hearing from Joy alive.

This is a whodunit mystery wrapped up in a rom-com, where a luxury cruise ship housing seven bestselling authors takes center stage. When murder happens right under the staff’s noses, it’s up to Penelope Dupont, personal assistant and true crime master, to keep everyone on the ship safe. To do it, she’ll need the help of Nash, author and ally. Together, the pair navigate a ship lurking with secrets—and find each other along the way.