YA Books with Summer Vibes

It’s the first week of summer! For us, one of the best things to do is read outside while enjoying the warm weather. We love finding YA books that make the season even more enjoyable. Keep reading to see some great books to get you excited for the sun, sand and water and tell us how you are celebrating the new season.

1. Sunkissed by Kasie West

We read Sunkissed last year and had so much fun reading it. A summer away at a lake camp resort with no access to Wi-Fi or cell service came at the perfect time for Avery. Enter Brooks: the charming and off-limits staff member. He wants nothing more than to win a summer music festival prize and prove he’s a good enough guitar player to make it a career. Avery’s desperate to get out of her comfort zone, feeling trapped by always being the predictable good girl. The two come up with a deal: Brooks helps Avery branch out and she helps him write songs for the band. If you’re looking for a summer contemporary with a realistic MC, you’re going to love reading about Avery’s adventure. 

2. Places We’ve Never Been

Another YA contemporary from West. We finished Place We’ve Never Been last month. Norah Simons and Skyler Hutton were best friends. But when Skyler and his family moved from California to Ohio, Noah and Skyler lost touch. Four years later, their moms sprung a road trip on them. The Simons and Huttons are spending a few weeks in two RVs going around the western United States. We loved the friends to hate to love trope and the summer adventure vibes.

3. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

We were thrilled that Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy is getting a TV series. We’ve loved this trilogy long before To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Belly waits all year for summer, where she spends it at the beach house with family friends, including hot brothers Conrad and Jeremiah. But this summer, Belly finally feels like she’s grown up and is ready to start dating. Things are bound to get interesting.

4. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Matson’ writes fun and realistic YA Books. The Unexpected Everything is a favorite of ours. Andy likes to have everything planned and orderly, even her relationship timeline. But when a few unexpected hurdles are thrown her way, Andy has to learn to live in the moment and start enjoying her summer. It’s great to watch Andy relax and enjoy her life more. And the romance is swoonworthy.

5. Love Songs and Other Lies by Jessica Pennington

Vee Miller manages her friend’s band, while secretly writing her own music and posting songs online anonymously. When her best friend’s band gets offered a spot on a TV show for discovering the next great band, he offers Vee a chance to be an intern on the show. There’s only one problem…her friend forgot to tell her that her ex-boyfriend, who left without a word, recently joined the band. Love Songs and Other Lies is about first love, second chances and going after what you want. Anyone interested in the music industry and spending their summer on a tour bus should want to follow Vee’s journey.

6. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Zorie and Lennon used to be best friends, but last year everything changed. After an event called The Great Experiment goes awry, they do not speak for a year. That all changes when the two are forced on a glamping trip together with a group of friends. Friends is a loose term, considering their group gets them kicked out of the glamping sight and ditches Zorie and Lennon in the middle of nowhere. The two are forced to work out their problems in the wilderness alone and make it back to civilization. Starry Eyes is perfect for campers!

7. One Paris Summer by Denise Grover Swank

Having to deal with her parents’ divorce and her dad’s new romance, Sophie Brooks and her brother travel to Paris for the summer to see him get remarried. Sophie starts out as this shy and naïve girl, afraid of being in a foreign country and not willing to experience the culture. Once Sophie starts spending time with a cute guy named Mathieu, her confidence grows and she finds herself loving Paris more than she ever thought possible. One Paris Summer will have you searching the winding cobblestone streets for a Parisian guy like Mathieu to show you the city and teach you French. 

8. That Weekend by Kara Thomas

Not every summer read has to be a cute romance. That Weekend is a dark mystery with major summer vibes. Claire Keough plans to skip the prom and go away with her two best friends Kat Marcotte and Jesse Salpietro. Without telling their parents, the three sneak up to Kat’s parent’s house secluded in the mountains of Upstate New York. But when Claire wakes up days later, she remembers nothing. Even worse, Kat and Jesse are missing. Between the stuck up classmates and the relentless press, everyone has a theory about what happened to Kat and Jesse…many of which include Claire.

9. Girl off the Grid by Jillian Dodd

Camille Caldwell, NYC fashion blogger and college student, gets offered an amazing opportunity at her favorite magazine. Camille gets to all-expenses paid eco-trip to Costa Rica for a week. The only thing she has to is write about her experiences as soon as gets home and give up social media. Adam Lloyd grew up traveling the world with his parents. This wildlife photographer from London can’t wait to explore Central America, even if it is for a fashion magazine. Camille and Adam hate each other from the start. Can these two opposites learn to get along for the sake of the trip? Girl Off the Grid is a love letter to ecotourism. If you want to learn about Costa Rica and the local environment, this book is for you.

10. Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

Mia loves ballet more than anything and has six weeks to prove she can make it in an elite company. Mia travels to Paris for a summer program. At the end of summer, companies assess the final performance and make offers to join. We had a lot of fun reading Kisses and Croissants. First of all, we love anything set in Paris…especially romance. Her love interest, Louis, was charming from the beginning and swept us off our feet. The scenery and the fact that Louis took Mia all over the city on a Vespa left us swooning. 

11. You Have a Match by Emma Lord

Abby Day only signed up for the DNA service to support her friend Leo, who has always wondered about his birth parents. Little did she expect that her results would be more shocking than his. Her life has been normal: two parents and three younger brothers. Then how can her parents explain that she has an older sister? Savannah “Savvy” Tully messages Abby about the fact that they are full siblings. The girls devise a plan: spend the summer together and find out the truth. This means Abby has to go away to the summer camp that Savvy works at. You Have a Match describes what has happened to a lot of people since DNA services started. The summer camp setting and sisterhood bond make this book a perfect beach read.

12. Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch

Liv Varanakis pretends to be something she’s not. She wants people to like her without knowing much about her life. Except, she hasn’t seen her dad since she was eight. The summer before her senior year, Liv gets a postcard from her father inviting her to Santorini for a few weeks to help with his projects. Begrudgingly, a few days later she’s on a plane to help her dad shoot a documentary on Atlantis for National Geographic. We loved the mystery aspect of Love & Olives. As history lovers, it would be so cool being able to do a project for National Geographic and explore Greece to understand one of the world’s most discussed myths.  And, we love any book that inspires our wanderlust.

13. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Samantha Reed can’t help but watch the Garrett family, the crazy loud family next door with eight kids. Her mom, a stuck up Connecticut state senator, won’t allow Samantha to interact with the family. One night when she crosses paths with Jace Garrett, she can’t help but be drawn to him. He turns Samantha’s world upside down in the blink of an eye, so she can finally start living the life she wants. Jace and Samantha’s romance will make you swoon and all the fun activities they do together are perfect for summer.

14. Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

Cricket Thompson cannot wait to spend her summer on Nantucket with her best friend Jules Clayton. The Clayton family spends all summer on the island in their perfect beach house. When a tragedy strikes, Cricket has to find her own way to Nantucket, which now includes working as a maid at an Inn. She also didn’t expect to fall for Jules’s younger brother, Zack. With her best friend ignoring her, Cricket and Zack have to keep their relationship a secret. Nantucket Blue is the perfect summer read with a hilarious group of minor characters.

15. He’s So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott

We have found memories reading the He’s So/She’s So trilogy. The second book in the series, He’s So Not Worth It, finds Allie spending her summer on Long Beach Island in New Jersey with her mom’s boyfriend’s family. Allie’s ex-boyfriend Jake Graydon has to stay home for the summer, but that won’t stop him from trying to win Allie back. This romance is full of drama, but we can’t help but enjoy it. The summer beach setting and crazy escapades make the story that much for fun.