Summer reads are often lightweight romances that leave you as soon as you as finish the last page. Instead, whether you’re sitting under a beach umbrella or savoring a sunset at the lake, dig into these more substantial love stories, books that range from steamy and hopeful to provocative and heartbreaking. This list includes one of my own!
Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison, February 2024
This instant New York Times bestseller is Jamison’s heartfelt, funny and sometimes painful memoir of how she fell out of love with her husband just as she was falling into love with her brand-new baby and into a new romance. About sex and midnight feedings and the hunger we all have for connection, Splinters is a deeply intimate drill-down into how love doesn’t always turn out to be what we expect it to be and how hope is always available. Impossible to put down.
Good Material by Dolly Alderton, January 2024
This luscious Read with Jenna pick is a smart, sexy romp of a read, focused on love lost and then found. Standup comic Andy loves Jen, who seems to adore him, too. But then her heart abruptly closes up shop. And what’s still-madly-in-love Andy to do? His answer: figure out what went wrong, so then he can adroitly step back into the relationship and make it right. But as readers learn Jen’s side of the story, the answer might not be so clear. Author Alderton has been compared to Nora Ephron because of her witty take on love and her laugh-out-loud dialogue. A snappy and relatable book that’s as delicious as chilled wine by the pool.
Normal People by Sally Rooney, February 2020
Named one of the ten best novels of the decade by Entertainment Weekly, and made into an Emmy-nominated Hulu series, Normal People always seems to touch a nerve and spark emotion. Connell and Marianne meet when they are young and living in a small town. When they both get to university, they become irresistibly drawn to each other. But while the sex is wild and passionate, and their love deep, they cannot make a go of it. While Marianne begins to get self-destructive, Connell begins to question everything he thought he knew. Can they save each other, or is it too late? A terrific, tantalizing read for anyone who ever wondered what might have been.
Leaving by Roxana Robinson, February 2024
What’s more wonderful than a book featuring an older woman in a passionate romance? Robinson’s smart new novel follows Sarah, who recently went through a painful divorce but has a great career. She finds that her passion reignites when she runs into Warren, the man she loved in college — who is on the verge of divorcing his wife, himself. All seems workable this magical second time around, until the adult daughters of both interfere, in particular Warren’s daughter. She gives her dad a “me or her” ultimatum, leading to a devastating conclusion. Searingly passionate and thought-provoking, this is one read that’s impossible to forget. Bring tissues to the beach.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, October 1847