Paperback Boyfriends & Unhinged Leading Ladies: Your Summer Reading List
- jennysmithmattfeldt
- Jul 2
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 7
What We’re Reading this Summer While Avoiding Our Problems
By Jenny Smith Mattfeldt | Published July 2, 2025
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We all say we’re going to read more (hi, it’s on my New Year’s resolution list too), but let’s be honest summer is the only time it actually feels fun. The drinks are colder, the days are longer, and suddenly let's “devour a spicy book in one sitting” era.
So if you're in the mood for a smutty little beach read, a juicy mystery, or something that makes you feel like the main character in a coastal grandmother, Nancy Meyers rom-com—this list is for you. Don’t expect any serious self-development here (love her, just… not today). These are the saucy, dramatic, addictive reads that will keep you up at night flipping pages and texting your friends you have to read this.
Categorized for your convenience, curated with love—and yes, I pulled the best recs straight from your comments.
Meet-cutes, hot messes, steamy glances, and the kind of banter that makes you blush in public. Whether he’s always pissed off, a hockey star, tattooed, or British these fictional men are dangerously loveable and impossible to forget. Read responsibly—you might start romanticizing your barista.
A spoiled influencer is banished to a tiny Pacific Northwest fishing town after one scandal too many. Enter Brendan—the broody, set-in-his-ways, flannel-wearing fisherman who has no time for LA girls. Until he absolutely does. This one is flirty, spicy, and wildly charming.
She runs away from her old life and straight into a small town where her estranged twin has left chaos in her wake. He’s a tattooed, emotionally shut-off local with zero patience for her until the slowest of slow burns sets in. This one is steamy, over-the-top in the best way, and gives major “I’ll burn the world down for you” energy.
Ten years ago, a celebrity interview changed her life—and his. Now, the former it-guy actor and the writer who got away are reunited for round two. Told in then-and-now timelines, this one brings all the “he never stopped thinking about her” energy, Hollywood sparkle, and unresolved tension you could want. It’s grown-up romance that still feels giddy.
Olive is a grad student. Adam is a famously grumpy (and predictably hot) science professor. They fake-date to convince the department she’s moved on—and end up in very real feelings territory. Smart, swoony, and full of nerdy tension that turns into legitimate steam.
It’s where the drama simmers instead of explodes, the stakes are emotional not existential, and there’s always a quirky local, a charming café, and maybe a dead body but like…a tasteful one. Cozy, comforting, and just scandalous enough to keep things interesting.
She’s a struggling author, newly single mom, and somehow—accidentally—involved in a murder-for-hire situation. Hilarious with rom-com energy, mom-life chaos, and fast-paced drama that somehow still feels cozy. If Lorelai Gilmore carried pepper spray and got dragged into a hit job, this would be her story.
After a family tragedy, a washed-up gay TV star takes in his niece and nephew for the summer in Palm Springs. Hilarious, heartfelt, and quietly life-affirming. It’s like a beachy sitcom with real depth and fabulous kaftans.
Second chances and lifelong scandals on the tucked-away beaches of Nantucket. Lexi and Clare—inseparable childhood best friends—reunite as adults after Lexi’s marriage to a wealthy but cheating husband comes to an end. Packed with resentment, friendship, coastal charm, and just enough spice to keep things deliciously interesting.
A quiet, anxious bookworm discovers she has an entire extended family she never knew about. It’s quirky, feel-good, and full of bookstore girl energy. Perfect if you like your heroines awkward but clever and your plots heartfelt.
Old money, new secrets. (Or maybe the other way around?) These stories unfold behind gilded gates and polished façades, where everyone’s dressed to impress—but nobody’s life is as flawless as it seems. Think luxury, betrayal, and high-stakes drama wrapped in designer labels and buried scandals.
A warm, witty portrait of a wealthy Brooklyn family told through the eyes of three very different women: the old-money daughter, the outsider daughter-in-law, and the trust-fund sister who’s too self-aware for her own good. Gossip Girl meets Fran Lebowitz (if Fran liked weddings and therapy.)
Alex is a beautiful grifter with nowhere to go. After getting kicked out of her boyfriend’s house in the Hamptons, she drifts through parties, pools, and strangers’ homes, pretending she belongs. It’s eerie, hypnotic, and deeply unsettling—like watching a slow-motion crash in the prettiest setting possible.
Anna is a young opera student in London—broke, ambitious, and a little lost. Enter Max: older, wealthy, mysterious. Their affair spirals into a tense push-pull of power, desire, and identity. A smart, sexy energy that feels like drinking champagne with a splash of existential dread.
When Ruby McTavish—the eccentric, ultra-rich Southern matriarch—dies, her adopted son leaves it all behind. But ten years later, he’s pulled back into the family estate and the twisted secrets money couldn’t keep buried. Think: murder rumors, cryptic letters, and old-money dysfunction with a gothic twist.
These are the books that pull you with a beautiful, immersive world then leave you gagged. They’re emotional, twisty, and just a little unwell—in the way all great storytelling is. Think glamorous women with secrets, psychological suspense, and endings that haunt you (in a hot way).
A struggling writer is hired to finish a famous author’s bestselling series—but what she finds in the author’s hidden manuscript is way darker than fiction. Twisted, erotic, and totally unhinged, it's a psychological mind game disguised as a love story. You'll second-guess everything—especially who to trust, what really happened… and why you're so into it.
After a summer of obsession, secrets, and a dangerously glamorous friendship, one woman ends up with a prison sentence and another with a life full of lies. This one is slow-burn psychological suspense that unravels in haunting, elegant layers with a twist you won't see coming.
Millie takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for a perfect family in a perfect house and discovers very quickly that nothing is as it seems. Fast-paced, addictive, and unhinged in the most delicious way. Read this when you want to feel like you barely survived a book—and immediately want the sequel.
One summer day. A lifetime of secrets. As Elle grapples with a single decision—stay with her safe, loving husband or finally choose the man she’s always loved—the past crashes into the present in lush, emotional waves. Messy, sensual, and quietly shattering.
These memoirs will have you rethinking your standards, your ambition, and your wardrobe. Real women who have led remarkable lives. A little inspiration for just how big your life could be. Hot tip—listen to these ones on audio to feel like you're right there with them.
She reinvented herself more times than most people change phone plans. Men left, fame came and went, but the voice stayed unmatched. This one reads like a masterclass in owning your narrative.
Forget what you think you know. This is lyrical, soft, and fiercely feminist. Pamela reclaims her story with grace, poetry, and total self-awareness. Quiet power and red swimsuits.
Secrets, survival, and the making of a woman you thought had it all figured out. Turns out, she’s just like us—except smarter, cooler, and way better at trench coats.
A thousand pages and not one wasted. She’s a legend with receipts. Every chapter oozes confidence, control, and a little bit of “don’t mess with me” as it should.
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