Janet didn't find more time to read.
She found five minutes and left a book where she couldn't miss it.
That idea stayed with me.
Summer is an opportunity to find small pockets in our days. A quiet morning before the house wakes up. A slower afternoon. Ten unexpected minutes with a fun beverage.
If you're looking for a book to keep close this summer, here some that our team has loved and a few we can't wait to read.
I hope one of them finds its way to your breakfast table.
When your brain needs a vacation
You've spent the last ten months making decisions, solving problems, and carrying a thousand little things in your head. These books are an opportunity to exhale.
Bingsu for Two by Sujin Witherspoon
Between shaved ice, family expectations, and a slow-burn romance, this is a warm, feel-good story that's as comforting as the desserts it celebrates. A fun, lighthearted story with humor, heart, and a little romance.
The Love Simulation by Etta Easton
A romantic story with STEM energy. This is a good one for the nights when you want to enjoy a story without having to work too hard for it.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
If summer could be bottled into a novel, this might be it. Warm, hopeful, and perfect for reading outside. I was late to the party on this one and was so pleasantly surprised by it.
When five minutes turns into fifty
Sit down with your coffee intending to read one chapter and you may look up and wonder where the morning went. You've been warned!
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Set on a remote island at the edge of the world, this is the kind of novel you disappear into. It's not a thriller but mystery elements kept popping up at the perfect times. I read this on a plane and kept flipping pages until my row was exiting and I had to put it down.
The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
When a ghostwriter is hired to tell the story of a famous family still haunted by an unsolved tragedy, the lines between memory, truth, and fiction begin to blur. Every chapter uncovers another piece of the puzzle, making it nearly impossible to stop reading.
The House of Hidden Letters by Izzy Broom
There is something irresistible about a story that begins with something hidden and slowly lets the past come forward. This one has that feeling of following a trail, piece by piece, until the people behind the mystery start to feel real.
Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe
A woman haunted by the past is pulled into a world where old secrets refuse to stay buried. Every answer seems to uncover another question, and the deeper the story goes, the harder it becomes to tell who can be trusted. Go in with as few spoilers as possible and enjoy the ride.
The Canyon's Edge by Dusti Bowling
After surviving a devastating accident, Nora and her father become stranded in a slot canyon during a flash flood. Told in verse, it's a gripping survival story about courage, grief, and finding the strength to keep going when everything feels impossible.
When people surprise you
Hope rarely arrives all at once. It shows up in ordinary people choosing kindness, courage, forgiveness, or simply showing up for one another.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
This story unfolds through letters, and somehow those letters become a whole life. It is about connection, regret, repair, and the surprising ways ordinary words can reach someone at exactly the right moment.
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
A traveling fortune teller who only predicts small, everyday fortunes would rather keep to herself—until an unlikely group of companions joins her journey. What begins as a simple trip slowly becomes a story about friendship, belonging, and discovering that the smallest moments often matter most.
Take Me With You by Steven Rowley
A story about grief, friendship, and the people who help us keep moving after loss. It has the warmth Steven Rowley is known for, with humor and heart working together instead of competing with each other.
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
When dreams pull one family in different directions, each person must decide what they're willing to risk for the life they imagine. Tender and heartfelt, it's a story about love, ambition, and finding your way back to the people who know you best.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
When Mabel finds herself at the center of a murder investigation, she's determined to uncover the truth before everyone else gets it wrong. Funny, sharp, and full of twists, this is the kind of mystery where the characters are every bit as entertaining as the plot.
When you want a story to stay with you
Some books entertain us for a weekend. Others quietly become part of us. These are the stories I found myself thinking about while washing dishes, driving home, or taking a walk days after I'd finished them.
Kin by Tayari Jones
When a long-buried family secret resurfaces, generations are forced to confront the choices that shaped their lives. It's a thoughtful look at how love, loyalty, and the stories we inherit continue to echo long after they're first told.
Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile writes with the same honesty she sings with. It's a story about family, finding your voice, and discovering that the road you didn't plan for can become exactly the one you were meant to travel. She performs the songs on the audiobook if you're looking for an immersive experience.
Inharmonious by Tammye Huf
After Pearl Harbor, three young Black men enlist in the Army, hoping to serve with honor. But in a segregated military and a segregated country, their paths unfold very differently. It’s a love story, a family story, and a look at the impossible choices created by racism and war.
Aku: Journey to Ibra by Micah Johnson
Aku dreams of becoming an astronaut, partly because space feels easier to imagine than the hard things happening at school and at home. When a strange helmet sends him to the planet Ibra, his dream becomes a real adventure.
The Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson
Inspired by true events of the children left behind in postwar Germany, this novel follows the lives of those children and explores what it means to search for home, belonging, and family in the shadow of history.
When you're feeling curious
Summer has always felt like a season for curiosity. Without the usual pace of the school year, there's room to follow a question simply because it interests you.
Sharks Don't Sink by Jasmin Graham
Equal parts memoir and science, this book follows marine biologist Jasmin Graham as she builds a career on curiosity instead of certainty. The sharks are fascinating, but the bigger story is about finding your own path and making room for others along the way.
Making Things by Erin Boyle & Rose Pearlman
This book is filled with practical craft ideas for everyday objects and an invitation to slow down and notice the satisfaction that comes from making something useful yourself. It belongs on the table next to fabric scraps, thread, paper, and a cup of coffee.
The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad
If blank journal pages have ever felt intimidating, this book changes that. Each prompt opens the door to a new idea, memory, or question, making reflection feel less like work and more like a conversation with yourself.
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
This is a story about people whose lives cross through books and conversation. It has warmth, humor, grief, and repair, all centered around the way reading can open something in us at exactly the right time.
The Teaching Life by Kelly Gallagher
A thoughtful reflection on what it means to spend your life teaching alongside children. This is one to dip into when you want to feel seen, laugh a little, and remember how complicated and meaningful this work really is.
When you want to look at things differently
One of my favorite things about reading is that every once in a while a book hands you a completely new lens. You finish it seeing an old story—or even your own life—a little differently.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
I don't even want to tell you much about this one because discovering it is half the experience. It asks you to trust the story before you understand it, and I'm so glad I did. I've never read a book quite like it.
I, Medusa by Ayana Gray
A fresh retelling of a Greek mythology that asks us to reconsider whose voices we've listened to and whose we've overlooked.
How to Listen by Thich Nhat Hanh
A gentle reminder that understanding begins long before we speak. It challenged me to think differently about the conversations I have every day.
What book will you leave on your breakfast table this summer? And have you read any of these?
