Reading Recommendations: Summertime Reads
Summertime is making its arrival and it’s a great time to read outdoors! Today I’ll be sharing a variety of novels that you can enjoy in the summer sun while you lounge by the beach, on a relaxing picnic, or lounging outdoors. Enjoy!
Isa planned the perfect summer:
Tokyo and the Summer Olympics — check.
Helping her best friend prepare for the marathon — check.
Forgetting she’s in love with Masa — double check.
But when Isa’s mother is hospitalized, she has to abandon her summer plans to run the family’s Tokyo business. Masa’s offer to help makes it impossible for Isa to ignore him — and the firecracker kiss they shared half a world away. Everyone expects the world of her, but the pressure to please them all is as oppressive as the Tokyo summer heat. The simplest answer to all her problems? Run.
This was a really refreshing friend-to-lovers romance with strong enemies to lovers theme. I loved reading about Isa’s journey of reconnecting with her identity in japan, working at her family’s ryokan, and getting to travel to many destinations within Japan. Isa goes through a lot of obstacles figuring out what decisions she needs to make in her life because it’s always been meticulously planned out for her. And the romance was very sweet. I loved how haikus tie into the romance aspect and overall narrative. It was a very sweet and heartwarming story.
Long, long ago, sprites were the caretakers of gardens. Every flower was grown by their hand. But when humans appeared and began growing their own gardens, the sprites’ magical talents soon became a thing of the past. When Wisteria, an ambitious, kind-hearted sprite, starts to ask questions about the way things used to be, she’ll begin to unearth her long-lost talent of gardening. But her newly honed skills might not be the welcome surprise she intends them to be.
This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel about a friendship between Elena, a gardener, and Wisteria, a sprite. Through working together, the two learn more about each other and have a great sense of teamwork as they try to revive the garden to its former glory. It’s a quiet graphic novel with its lush scenery of blooming flowers, sprite magic, and the color and tones used to depict the characters. These aspects combined added to the overall fantasy feeling the story exudes. It transports readers to a serene and fanciful world where nature and magic combine. (Review)
Emma Frazer packs up her job in Dublin and flees to Fuengirola in southern Spain, where she finds refuge in a beautiful little hotel right on the beach – Casa Clara. Here she can escape the mounting pressure from her domineering elder sister Trish who is pushing her into a marriage she herself has grave doubts about.
Emma quickly falls in love with the hotel – her little room overlooking the courtyard with its vivid flowers and soothing fountain, the cast of quirky guests, warm staff and flamboyant owner. When the post of receptionist falls vacant she seizes the bull by the horns and, with little Spanish and no experience, cajoles her way into the job. She soon discovers a talent for management and Casa Clara flourishes in her care.
When Fate brings the man of her dreams to the door, the future looks perfect.
But her scheming sister is still busy tracking her down and eventually Emma must face forces that threaten to destroy the idyllic life she has built for herself.
Reading Casa Clara sparked a sense of wanderlust for me. The novel is set in sunny Spain at a charming hotel which the narrator finds herself at after trying to sort out her life. It’s also set partially in Dublin since that’s where the main cast of characters originates from. It an interesting contemporary fiction story that takes Emma on a self-discovery story in which she tries to figure out where she belongs and what she wants for herself (not what others have told her). Hearing the detailed descriptions of the hotel made it seem like a great location for a relaxing vacation!
When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does.
Ruka’s dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans’ fish.
Children of the Sea one of the most visually stunning manga I have read in quite a while. The artwork is incredibly detailed, especially the way the underwater scenes are displayed and the way sea creatures are drawn. This manga follows the story of a girl named Ruka who constantly feels out-of-place but feels most at ease when she’s in the sea. The story moves at a moderate pace and the story’s unique, mysterious premise draws readers in. I love the backdrop of the sea and the detailed pictures of sea life.
Mia and Jake have known each other their whole lives. They’ve endured summer vacations, Sunday brunches, even dentist visits together. Their mothers, who are best friends, are convinced that Mia and Jake would be the perfect couple, even though they can’t stand to be in the same room together.
After Mia’s mom turns away yet another cute boy, Mia and Jake decide they’ve have had enough. Together, they hatch a plan to get their moms off their backs. Permanently. All they have to do is pretend to date and then stage the worst breakup of all time—and then they’ll be free.
The only problem is, maybe Jake and Mia don’t hate each other as much as they once thought…
I always enjoy a good, fluffy friends-to-lovers romance and this one definitely had some similar aspects that gave me the K-Drama feels. Mia and Jake concoct a fake dating scheme to get their moms to stop their matchmaking antics. What ensues is an adorable blooming romance between two friends that realize they can make a cute couple. Though has many standard romance tropes it’s a lighthearted and fun read. It had me smiling at the cute moments: sneaking a glance when no one’s looking, buying each other’s favorite snacks, and their witty banter. I enjoyed the smooth transition of them realizing their own feelings and how they encourage each other to follow their dreams.
TJ Young has been surrounded by magic his entire life, yet he has never tapped into it… until now.
Fourteen-year-old TJ grew up normal in a secret community of gifted diviners in the heart of modern-day Los Angeles. His powerful sister was ordained to lead his people into a new age of prosperity, but her mysterious death in Nigeria threatens to destroy the very foundations of TJ’s world.
Desperate to pick up where his sister left off and uncover the secrets behind her questionable death, TJ commits himself to unlocking the magical heritage that has always eluded him. So he enrolls in Camp Olosa—a remedial magic school for the divinely less-than-gifted in the humid swamps of New Orleans.
But little does he know, TJ is destined to cross paths with powerful spirits of old thought lost to time: the orishas.
The Gatekeepers Staff follows the story of TJ Young, who is a part of a secret community of diviners. TJ is determined to find the truth of his sister’s death as he comes into the use of his ashe and sets off to Camp Olosa for the summer. Camp Olosa is the place for young students who have not been accepted into Ife academies and need help honing their powers. With this journey, he’ll meet new friends and learn about himself. but things aren’t as easy as it looks and he’ll have to work hard to discover his power within. I liked the tie into the living practice of Ifa and its many branches and West African diaspora mixed with fantasy elements. (Review)
That concludes my reading recommendations for Summer Reading! What books do you recommend or what are your favorites? Comment below!
The Sprite Gardener sounds sweet! In summer, I like to choose a book or series that I loved in childhood to reread. It reminds me of that feeling from being a kid, that there was NOTHING TO DO BUT READ. (And, now, of course there is always something else one “should” be doing, so rereading something that helps me forget that is a bonus.)
That’s a great way to think of summer reading. I’m not the biggest re-reader, but I’ve been thinking that I should revisit some books from my childhood again recently.