A new season means exciting new books to get your hands on! As the weather warms up, I’ll be reaching for these engaging summer 2024 fiction books, from contemporary family dramas to romantic beach reads to emotional mysteries you won’t be able to put down.
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Must-Read New Summer 2024 Novels
While some of these new summer 2024 books aren’t traditional “beach reads”, they would all make engaging stories to enjoy while soaking up some sunshine.
Some are lighter and funnier, while others will take you on a wild, emotional ride as the story unfolds.
Whether you’re looking for a vacation read for yourself or a summer book club pick, these fiction reads releasing in summer 2024 are all great options!
Don’t miss out on these exciting spring 2024 fiction reads, either. And if you’re looking for your next book club pick, check out my list of the best seasonal summer book club books!
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
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If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, get excited, because Kevin Kwan is back with another laugh-out-loud novel filled with outrageous hijinks and juicy drama!
An eligible bachelor – a duke, no less – arrives at a luxury eco-resort for his sister’s wedding. Secretly in debt, he must decide who he wants to marry.
Will it be an heiress whose money can save his family, or the girl next door he’s been crushing on?
Publication date: May 21st, 2024
Swift River by Essie J. Chambers
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Historical Fiction
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This coming-of-age story set in New England in the late 1980s follows a young Black teenager – Diamond Newberry – as she grapples with identity, belonging, and the disappearance of her father.
When she receives a letter from a long-lost relative, it shines a light on hidden parts of her past. But how will it shape her future?
Publication date: June 4th, 2024
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Genre: Literary/Contemporary Fiction
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This humorous story follows a young woman as she grapples with adulthood, becoming a new (single) mother, and keeping herself afloat financially.
At twenty, she’s alone with a baby, doesn’t have a job, and is about to be evicted. Out of desperation, she starts an OnlyFans account, and it actually takes off. But will her success last, or is her newfound online fame too good to be true?
Publication date: June 11th, 2024
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Genre: Literary/Contemporary Fiction
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Every year, Rocky’s family escapes to Cape Cod for a summer vacation full of sun, delicious food, and unexpected messes.
This year, Rocky grapples with menopause and being “sandwiched” between her aging parents and her growing children.
But something happens that forces Rocky to relive the past – including secrets she has kept from her family.
Publication date: June 18th, 2024
Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo
Genre: Literary/Contemporary Fiction
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From the bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had comes a new literary family drama that follows a middle-aged woman as she navigates her marriage, the unexpected messiness of family, and the seduction of the past.
Publication date: June 18th, 2024
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
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I loved Chris Whitaker’s novel We Begin At The End, and I’ve heard exciting early praise about his newest upcoming book! It’s a blend of crime thriller and love story, with a twist.
It’s set during 1975 in a small town in Missouri where girls have been going missing. A young, one-eyed boy named Patch saves a girl from a wealthy family from being abducted. But his act of heroism is intertwined with heartache.
Here are more exciting summer 2024 mystery and thriller novels!
Publication date: June 25th, 2024
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Genre: Mystery/Historical Fiction
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The bestselling author of Long Bright River is back with a new multi-layered family drama/mystery novel.
When a girl goes missing at summer camp in 1975, tensions flare between the rich family that owns the camp and the blue collar community that serves them.
Even stranger, this isn’t the first time one of the family’s children has gone missing – the girl’s older brother disappeared sixteen years ago.
Is it a pattern, or mere coincidence? And who’s to blame?
Release date: July 2nd, 2024
The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella
Genre: Literary/Contemporary Fiction
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Jack Schmidt is struggling to keep his family’s beachfront restaurant afloat, pouring all his time and energy into the place that’s been in his family for three generations.
But when the DelDine group comes along and offers to buy Schmidt’s, Jack must decide what matters most to him: freedom, companionship, and maybe a family – or honoring his family’s legacy.
Release date: July 2nd, 2024
Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Mystery
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If you love books with quirky characters, read this! It’s about a reclusive woman named Lenny Marks who sticks to a very particular schedule, and rarely leaves the house aside from work.
But when something from her past resurfaces, she’s forced to join the community around her and meet new people. Will she finally reclaim her life, or will her past catch up with her first?
Publication date: July 9th, 2024 (in the U.S.)
The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
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This contemporary character-focused novel follows the faculty of a Texas high school as they grapple with the education system and the countless school-related issues of today’s society – while also having lives of their own.
Publication date: July 23rd, 2024
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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Bestselling author Rainbow Rowell‘s newest novel is an ode to love, friendship, and second chances.
As teenagers, best friends Shiloh and Cary promised they would stay friends after high school – but life got in the way.
Now, after years apart, they reunite at an old friend’s wedding. As two adults who both feel lost, can they rediscover the magic they once had?
Publication date: July 23rd, 2024
The Days I Loved You Most by Amy Neff
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance/Historical Fiction
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After over 60 years together, Evelyn and Joseph gather their family to deliver news of a devastating diagnosis.
They decide that over the course of the year they have left, they will retrace their lives – both joyful and sad memories – and reconnect with their children.
This heartfelt and heart-wrenching story is set along the New England coast, spanning decades – from World War II to the early 21st century.
Publication date: July 30th, 2024
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
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After years dreaming of traveling to the Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, Phoebe Stone arrives – but without her husband. And as it turns out, she’s the only guest that isn’t there for a wedding.
Somehow, she and the bride find themselves confiding in each other. Soon, Phoebe realizes that chance encounters can have a huge effect on the paths our lives take.
This has been getting rave reviews, and will definitely be a popular summer read! It would also be a fabulous 2024 book club book.
Publication date: July 30th, 2024
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Historical Fiction
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In Matt Haig’s newest novel (author of The Midnight Library), a retired teacher named Grace receives an unexpected inheritance from a long-lost friend: an old house on a beachy Mediterranean island.
When she arrives, she tries to find out what happened to her friend. But the answers she finds are much stranger than she ever imagined.
Release date: September 3rd, 2024
Are any of these on your summer 2024 reading list? Are there any other summer reads you can’t wait to get your hands on? Feel free to share in the comments below!