My Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2023
These are my most anticipated books of summer 2023–add these to your summer reading list!
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Now that it’s officially summer, I’m ready for some true summer reading, and it’s fun to look ahead to the new summer books being published in 2023.
This year for me, summer reading means a mix of true summer vibes and nostalgia (think summer camp and beach towns) mixed with some fast-paced thrills.
A couple on my list veer a bit more literary, but those are slated for the end of summer and will be good transitional books as we head into fall.
These are my most anticipated books of summer 2023–I’d love to know yours!
The Guest House by the Sea
Author: Faith Hogan
Publish Date: June 8, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Faith Hogan wrote The Ladies Midnight Swimming Club, a feel-good book about women’s friendships. I love the coastal Irish settings she writes about. This one is about a guest house in Ballycove and the aging owner who is losing her sight–but is a keen observer of her guests.
She gives them not just a place to stay, but a place to find their next steps in life. I think this is a perfect charming, feel-good novel for summer reading.
How to Kill Men and Get Away with It
Author: Katy Brent
Publish Date: June 13, 2023
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers
With this awful/amazing title, I have to know what’s inside this book! Kitty Collins says it all started with a guy at the nightclub who wouldn’t leave her alone. Then the killing became an addiction.
This is a satirical take on women’s revenge stories, which seem to be having a moment. It feels absurd and macabre and similar to My Sister the Serial Killer–it promises to be an unputdownable summer read.
The Rachel Incident
Author: Caroline O’Donoghue
Publish Date: June 27, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
This is another book set in Ireland–I’m always up for an Irish setting. Rachel and James are friends, young and carefree in Cork. They become entangled with a professor and his wife and things get complicated.
I’m not sure what to expect from this. The description sounds like Sally Rooney (who I’ve had mixed luck with), but the reviews are saying it’s funny and fast-paced contemporary fiction.
Pin this!
The Summer of Songbirds
Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey
Publish Date: July 11, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
The premise of this one is pretty simple: four women come together to save the summer camp that brought them together and changed their lives.
The backstory, of course, is more complicated, but this one had me at old summer camp friends. As someone who met my own best friend decades ago at summer camp, I am all in on the camp nostalgia, lifelong friendships, and summer memories.
The Block Party
Author: Jamie Day
Publish Date: July 18, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
This one is drama in the neighborhood! There’s a murder at the summer block party, and the story takes us back a year when all the neighborhood tensions build.
I’m not sure yet how I feel going into this. Sometimes suburban drama doesn’t work for me–think Liane Moriarty, parent-sniping–I just can’t do it in my reading. But apparently, this is good summer suspense, so I’m ready to go in with an open mind.
Prom Mom
Author: Laura Lippman
Publish Date: July 25, 2023
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers
A woman returns to her hometown where her life was ruined on prom night. She’s known as Prom Mom–the girl who allegedly killed her baby after her prom date left her for another girl. Now she sees her return as a second chance, but she can’t seem to stay away from her old prom date.
I’m not sure what to expect, but I hear this is chilling and surprising–I expect a good summer page-turner.
Happiness Falls
Author: Angie Kim
Publish Date: August 29, 2023
Genres: Literary Fiction
Angie Kim wrote Miracle Creek, which was an amazing literary mystery that I loved. This is also a literary mystery and a complex family story, about a father in a Korean American family who goes missing. His son, who cannot speak, returns home from the park without him, covered in blood.
This will be published toward the end of summer, so I think a more literary mystery will be a good transition into fall reading.
Amazing Grace Adams
Author: Fran Littlewood
Publish Date: September 5, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Grace gave birth, blinked, and suddenly she was a 45-year-old invisible everywoman. One day, Grace stops her car and gets out to walk across London to her 16-year-old daughter. She’s ready to remind everyone that she used to be amazing–because they’ve all forgotten.
I can relate to this feeling, this time of life, so I’m interested in how it’s handled. The early reviews on this seem mixed, so I’ll check it out for myself.
Tom Lake
Author: Ann Patchett
Publish Date: August 8, 2023
Genres: Literary Fiction
Tom Lake is a dual-timeline story of past summer love and present family dynamics. A mother and her daughters return to the family’s orchard, and she tells them about a summer she spent at a theater company with a famous actor. The story forces the kids to reexamine the mother they know.
Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors so I am always up for a new book from her. This is another great end-of-summer, going-into-fall literary novel.
