It has been hot for a longer while now, bloody, sweltering hot even. It started Thursday last week and it looks like it’s finally cooling down on Sunday. This weekend the heat hits its peak, especially today. The weather forecasts gives us temperatures as high as 38º Celsius, which is abnormal for the Netherlands. In the south and east of the country it’s worse than in the north and West, but here in the west we still hit the 36 or 37º mark today. Unfortunately, we can’t escape the heat inside, as our houses are build to let the sun through, and trap the heat within. So, inside my south facing apartment it’s currently 30.5º and I absolutely hope this temperature is not increasing some more. It’s unbearable, agonizing. I would love a thunderstorm right now to be honest. However, the urgent advice is to find shelter and to cool down, but it’s nearly impossible. So, then we have to take some more drastic measurements, finding some cooling down in books. Today I provide plenty of books with summer vibes, lakes, beaches or ice cream!

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Are you thinking about cooling down in summer? Then water probably crosses your mind first thing. Often this can be found at the beach or near the lake. Through this book by bestselling author Carley Fortune, you imagine yourself at a cold, lovely lake in Barry’s Bay, Canada for a moment. At this lake, there is a resort, a family business that has been in Fern’s family for generations. However, this business is struggling. Bookings are declining and The resort itself is hopelessly outdated. Fern wants to take the responsibility on her own, but the charming Will is willing to help her. However, Fern and him have history, as they have spent countless summers at that same lake when they were together. And the breakup wasn’t nice. At all. Fern therefore is hesitant to accept the help of her ex boyfriend. However, Will leaves her no choice and gradually, Fern realizes this mission is too big to accomplish on her own. When they spend more and more time together and the lake, it might happen that they grow closer to one another once again. Are they able to both rekindle their relationship and save the family business from bankruptcy? (Review)

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Okay, okay… I usually tend to add different books from different authors to such lists, but this one is screaming summer as well. We return to Barry’s Bay with Alice, who spent her summer there when she was seventeen. Actually, she spent countless summers there as her grandparents own a holiday residence at the lake’s shore. When her grandma breaks her hip after a nasty fall, Alice decides to take her back to this residence to rehabilitate. She could use a break herself anyway. What she didn’t count on was bumping into Charlie, her crush when she was seventeen. Charlie is a local who does plenty of maintenance on the house and is therefore unavoidable. Alice doesn’t really like him at first, but gradually they spent more an more time together in or at the lake. Is Charlie able to provide Alice this one golden summer she has been craving for so long? This is not just a romance, because this contains depth as well, provided by the characters and themes addressed. (Review)

Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay by Jill Mansell

Let’s move from the Canadian lake in Barry’s Bay to Cornwall at the British coast. Jill Mansell has written loads of books that are perfectly fitting the summer season, but this older one first came to mind. When Clemency meets Sam on a flight, she immediately develops a crush on him. She never saw him again, and thought her crush would be lost for good. When Clem has moved back to her place of birth three years later, her stepsister Belle comes over for a visit. She is more arrogant and more conceited than ever before, but more importantly, not single anymore. And guess who is that man she brings along? Yes, Sam! Although the reunion is pretty awkward to say the least, Clem and Sam spend a lot of time together, mainly on the beach. Is Clemency able to let this crush grow into something more meaningful, or is Belle the one who stays the lucky one?

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Do you say summer? Than you also say ice cream. Or, gelato. This book by author Jenna Evans Welch then would be the perfect fit for its title alone. You come to Italy for love and gelato, right? Not Lina. After her mom’s passing, she spends the summer in Tuscany with her estranged father, as her mom’s last wish is for Lina to get to know him. But why should she spend time with a father who never showed up in any way for the past sixteen years? Lina therefore is eager to go home as soon as possible ahs Tuscany and Italy are not charming her. This changes when she gets her hands on an old diary. In this diary, her mom writes about her time spent in Italy and about her secret love. Lina gets fascinated from the first page and really wants to investigate everything her mom wrote. However, she can’t do it alone, she could use some Italian help. Enter her neighbor Lorenzo… Are they able to uncover the secrets Lina’s mom wrote in the diary or is there more left to uncover? This book is part of a trilogy of companion novels, the second is Love & Luck (set in Ireland) and the third one is Love & Olives (set in Greece). I only read the first book thus far.

Did I Mention I Love You? by Estelle Maskame

An oldie, but not less summery. This book got published in 2015 and meant the rapid rise to fame for a very young author named Estelle Maskame. It has been years since I read this first book in the trilogy, but I still want to read the rest. Sixteen-year old Eden Munro agrees on spending the summer with her estranged father and his new family in Santa Monica, California. However, the bond with her father isn’t that strong after her parents got divorced. Meeting the new family also means meeting a stepsister and three stepbrothers. The eldest one, Tyler, immediately draws her attention. Not only is he handsome, but also quite problematic. He is short-tempered, which brings him into trouble more often than not. However, Eden is intrigued by him and wants to spend every possible minute with him. This involves lots of activities on the beach, and unavoidably growing closer. Are they able to maintain their closeness a secret for the sake of the (step)family or is the attraction to great?

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

I also posted this list on my Dutch blog, but I didn’t include this one. I added a Dutch one instead, so I decided to swap it on this blog for an English one. Well, an overhyped one to be honest, but summery nevertheless. After the umpteenth mishap, her dad cuts Piper off from her bank account and sends her away to a small fishermen’s town that used to be home to an extended family member. She has to spend the entire summer there to reflect on herself and her past behavior. Nobody could predict Piper to run into a hot local whom she spends lots of time together with. After three months Piper is returning to Los Angeles, but is that still the place she fits in best? Or did she secretly create a different home for herself?

Honorable mentions:

• One Summer in Italy by Sue Moorcroft
• People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry
• Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
• The First Guests by Cathy Bramley
• Summer at the Comfort Food Café by Debbie Johnson
• Summer at the Art Café by Sue McDonagh
• The Summer Daughter by Colleen French
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (hello island vibe!)
• Talon by Julie Kagawa (first in a series of 5, only here because the story starts in summer and involves plenty of time spent as the beach and surfing. Dragons aren’t summery creatures with their fire destroying everything)
• Once Upon a Royal Summer by Teri Wilson

What do you do when you want to cool down?