Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s theme is:
June 19: Books to Read By the Pool/At the Beach (This can also serve as your summer TBR)
Since I haven’t got any pool or beach holidays planned for this summer year, my take on this week’s theme is books to read over summer (no matter where you are).
Running With Lions // A queer sports romance about a high school football team who spend their summer at a camp, getting ready for the new season. (And falling in love a tiny bit.)
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue // LGBTQIA+ historical fiction and one of my favourite books of last year. Young aristocrat Monty, his best friend Percy, and his sister Felicity go travelling through Europe for the summer on Monty’s ‘Grand Tour’ before he must settle down and learn to run the family estate. Pirates, highwaymen, and shenanigans ensue.
When Dimple Met Rishi // Cute summer romance between two Indian American teens who go to a tech summer school and try and win the top prize for designing an app.
You Know Me Well // Lovely queer story about friendship and romance during Pride in San Francisco. Super uplifting ending.
Queens of Geek // I’ve not read this yet, but it has such a summer vibe to it. Maybe it’s because it’s set during a convention, and a lot of those happen during summer, or maybe it’s the bright colours of the front cover. Either way, I’m hoping to pick this up as a summer read.
Since You’ve Been Gone // Summer break mystery story about a girl who vanishes just before summer, leaving her best friend with a lot of questions and a to-do list of tasks she’d never normally dare to try.
Wanderlost // This is a summer-adventure-gone-wrong tale, about a girl who’s meant to be leading a tour group through Europe, but gets hopelessly lost when things go wrong. It doesn’t help that she’s begins falling for a guy, while pretending to be her sister.
The Language of Thorns // There’s something about this collection that makes it feel inherently summery. It could be because one of the story is written about the sea, or it could be that because they’re all uplifting fairy tale-type stories with an essence of summer. Either way it’s a good book to read when it’s warm and light.
The Upside of Unrequited // This isn’t set during summer, but there’s something about the diverse, LGBTQIA-positive tone that makes me want to read it then. It’s a sweet, uplifting romance story that brings a smile to my face, and if I was going to re-read it, I’d definitely want to do so in the sun, while sitting outside with a smoothie.
Two Boys Kissing // Cute romance between two boys where they spend their time being soft and getting to know each other? Check. Outdoorsy summery vibes for the warm months? Check.
Which books do you associate with summer? Are there any books that you’ve specifically chosen to read in the coming months because they have summer vibes?
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Since You’ve Been Gone is such a great pick. I kind of associate everything Morgan Matson with summer though haha
Yeah, I think everyone thinks of Morgan Matson as the prototypical ‘summer book’ author! 😀
I have just finished Queens of Geek last weekend and it’s lovely, like a summery slice of life that has me so excited for YALC!
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Ooh yay, I’m glad you’ve confirmed that it’s super summery! I’ll have to try even harder to get to it now 😀
Running With Lions sounds like a really fun read! I always recommend Morgan Matson as summertime reading. Her books just encompass everything I love about the Summer haha.
Sadly, I actually didn’t end up liking Running With Lions all that much. I found the writing style too stilted, and dialogue often didn’t flow very well. Morgan Matson is the epitome of summer haha! 🙂
OH I love your list, such great picks! I have heard great things about Running With Lions so far, I can’t wait to read it at some point. I loved Queens of Geek and all of Morgan Matson’s books just scream “summer”, for me, haha 🙂
Thanks Marie ❤ Sadly, I didn't end up loving Running With Lions, as I found the writing style too jarring, but I'm hoping to read Queens of Geek this summer, which is why it made the list! 🙂
Oh I’m sorry to hear that! I hope you’ll love Queens of Geek better 🙂
I hope so too, as I really wanted to love Running With Lions!
These are brilliant picks Kate, and some of these ended up on my list as well. There’s nothing better than a YA contemporary for summer reading right and Morgan Matson is an incredible author, one of my favourites.
I’m hoping to get around to Queens of Geek this summer, it’s been on my TBR list for so long that I need to get around to it soon and this summer seems like the perfect change. Also I feel like any book that features travel makes for a great travel read, and The Gentleman’s Guide is one of the very best in my opinion.
Again great picks. 🙂 ❤
Aww thanks Beth! Morgan Matson is the epitome of ‘summer reading’. I think you could probably close your eyes, pick one of her books at random, and it would still be a good summer read. Yessss, the reason Queens of Geek made this list is that I’m going to try and read it this summer, too. Clearly we had the same (excellent) idea 😀
She really is. Now I’ve read all her books out at the moment so I need to hope she releases another one before summer next year (or I’ll just re-read the books she’s already released.)
Nice tips! I love contemporaries ❤ I really liked Running With Lions, The Upside of Unrequited, Queens of Geek and When Dimple Met Rishi. I hadn't heard of You Know Me Well before, but it sounds really good. Wanderlost sounds perfect for the summer as well. I associate cute, fluffy stories with summer, books from Morgan Matson for example.
I like contemporaries too, but fantasy is still my favourite genre 😉 I loved When Dimple Met Rishi and Upside but I didn’t enjoy Running With Lions as much because I found the writing style quite stilted. 😦 Still can’t wait to read Queens of Geek though! Oh yeah you’re definitely right about Morgan Matson, her books are the epitome of summer 🙂