I’ve been ready for summer to come along so that I can finally take some time to unwind after another long year. I am looking forward to lots of lunches, cute dresses, & my favourite espadrilles coming out to play. I am also very much looking forward to spending some time by my sisters pool, and on my couch with a few books that have been my my TBR (To-Be-Read) list for a while.

To get you started on your summer reading list, I have a few books that I read that had me smiling, laughing & feeling all the summer vibes!

Resting Beach Face by Siofan Davies

BUY: Amazon | Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

This offbeat mix of rom com and dark comedy is the perfect escape for anyone who loves laughing at the weirdness of all-inclusive resorts, delusional parents, and frustratingly flirty ex-crushes.

A week in Cancun sounds amazing, right? While she’s not even in the wedding party (score one for dodging a bridesmaid’s dress), Olivia knows there’s no getting out of her sister’s destination wedding. She can’t help but dread every sun-filled minute, which she’s fully aware is ironic because as a celebrity tanning expert she looks like she loves the sun.

Her best friend Pablo encourages her to follow his mantra of “Good hair, don’t care.” But she hasn’t even left New York when things get off to an embarrassing start at the airport with some underwear, a spray gun, and her champagne fog.

And then it gets worse. Like hilariously worse. Try as she might, but the ‘Good hair, don’t care’ attitude proves harder than Olivia thought, especially when it comes to her mother and the bridesmaids.

And that long ago crush? He’s even more charming than she remembers (damn him). Can he help her reset her beachy attitude or, like the best tans, will it take some expert attention from someone who knows her best?

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

BUY: Exclusive Books | Takealot | Loot

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

BUY: Amazon

Catalina Martín, finally, not single. Her family is happy to announce that she will bring her American boyfriend to her sister’s wedding. Everyone is invited to come and witness the most magical event of the year.

That would certainly be tomorrow’s headline in the local newspaper of the small Spanish town I came from. Or the epitaph on my tombstone, seeing the turn my life had taken in the span of a phone call.

Four weeks wasn’t a lot of time to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic–from NYC and all the way to Spain–for a wedding. Let alone, someone eager to play along my charade. But that didn’t mean I was desperate enough to bring the 6’4 blue eyed pain in my ass standing before me.

Aaron Blackford. The man whose main occupation was making my blood boil had just offered himself to be my date. Right after inserting his nose in my business, calling me delusional, and calling himself my best option. See? Outrageous. Aggravating. Blood boiling. And much to my total despair, also right. Which left me with a surly and extra large dilemma in my hands. Was it worth the suffering to bring my colleague and bane of my existence as my fake boyfriend to my sister’s wedding? Or was I better off coming clean and facing the consequences of my panic induced lie?

Like my abuela would say, que dios nos pille confesados.

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

BUY: Exclusive Books | Amazon

Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.

Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.

Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart. 

Bad Cruz by L.J. Shen

BUY: Amazon | Read for free on Kindle Unlimited

I would say Dr. Cruz Costello is my archenemy.
But that would require acknowledging one another, which we haven’t done in over a decade.

He’s the town’s golden child. The beloved quarterback-turned-physician.
I’m the girl who got knocked up at sixteen and now works at a diner.

He is Fairhope royalty.
I get my monarch dose from tabloid gossip.

He’s well-off.
I’m…well, off.

When our siblings get engaged, Cruz’s parents invite both families to a pre-wedding cruise.
Except Cruz and I find ourselves stuck on a different ship from everyone else.
Cue ten horrible, insufferable days at sea with a man I cannot stand.
(My fault, of course.)
But when the alcohol pours in, the secrets spill out, and I’m left with one question:
Can I take another chance on love?