Summer is finally here! The sun is shining and the jumpers are packed away for another season. There's nothing better than enjoying a moment to yourself with a brilliant Summer read, except knowing that your books are giving back while you kick back. 25% of your orders can be donated to UK schools, all you need to do is relax. 

Books for Summer 2026

If your Summer holiday is your only chance to rest and relax with a book, in which case we highly recommend our Star Books. Constructed over the year, these are our best books of the year and these are our first port of call when recommending books to readers only able to pick up a few titles a year. 

In our collection we have fantastic books, both fact and fiction, that we think will make the perfect Summer reading recommendation. It wouldn't be Summer without fun and frivolity and there's plenty of that here from feel-good fiction titles, relationship stories that will set your heart soaring and humorous fiction that will have you laughing out loud. 

For those who seek it, our Summer reads also include some brilliant books that are more serious in nature. From that page-turning mystery that will keep you gripped to your seat; the thriller that will send a shiver down your spine regardless of the temperature outside; or the literary fiction that could leave you with a lump in your throat.

Our Summer reading recommendations are full of books for every reader. It’s the perfect opportunity for casual readers to pick up that book they’ve heard so much about. It’s the perfect time to embrace the heady joy of the season by picking up a particularly sunny read. Recharge in the longer days and discover those books that may have passed you by. Your holiday haul equals classroom gold with 25% of your order going to UK schools. When you shop with LoveReading you can read guilt free all summer long knowing you've changed lives with your order. 

Summer 2026 Non-Fiction Book Recommendations

If you're planning to get out in the great outdoors, Walk Britain offers inspirational Great British walks fuelled by adventure. With 90 walks spread across England, Wales and Scotland, spend the summer and beyond seeing what our beautiful island has to offer.

Great British Journeys by Richard Madden is part of the National Trust series and a Liz Robinson Pick of the Month for 2026. "Fascinating journeys are the subject of this guide to Great Britain, different modes of transportation entice, the scenery sings through photos, and the suggestions inspire."

The Generosity of Plants by Rosemary Gladstar is an inspiring, colourful, and graceful collection of images and quotes highlighting our wonderful world of plants. This book would make a gorgeous present for those who love plants of all varieties, who is invested in our environment and nature, or those who are actively interested or involved in herbalism. Rich and fresh and colourful, The Generosity of Plants is a book full of positivity and love. Highly recommended.

With Dip! master the art of putting together the perfect smorsgabord of Summer plates for sunny days. Dips provide an endless array of easy options for your Summer of fun from international favourites like hummus, guacamole and baba ghanoush, to classics such as spinach and artichoke dip, cheese and chive dip and whipped feta. With 75 recipes as well as pairing and serving suggestions, Dip! is the low-effort way to impress your family and friends.

A lyrical blend of memoir and literary travelogue, Laura Coffey’s Enchanted Islands recounts the author’s voyage of self-discovery around myth-infused Mediterranean islands in the wake of heartbreak, after becoming immersed in a new translation of The Odyssey. Beautifully bittersweet as it balances personal experiences with sweeping, big-picture mythological scope, and intertwines raw realities with poetry and legend, Enchanted Islands is, fittingly, an enchanting memoir of love, loss and finding new directions through tumultuous seas.

Shitty Breaks is a celebration of the underdog; a love letter to the wrong direction; and evidence that there's no such thing as a shitty break. What's more, by spreading its affection beyond the usual suspects (which are often overdone and overpriced), Shitty Breaks promotes a less expensive and more sustainable brand of travel. Cheeky weekend in Milton Keynes anyone?

If you're looking for more titles to get you outdoors check out our Nature section, and our nature focused collections:

Green Reads: Books to Celebrate Nature, Our Planet and Sustainable Living

40+ Books Celebrating Nature and Our Natural World

60+ Novels to Bring You Back to Nature

Books to celebrate the Outdoors, with the London Mountain Film Festival

Summer 2026 Fiction Book Recommendations

For rom-com fans, Summer is our season, with a plethora of sunny romances to enjoy. The Name Game is the brand new love story from the multi-million copy bestselling author of The Flatshare and Swept Away, about second chances, new beginnings and about love finding us in the most secluded of places. 

Want some fun? Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is a "blisteringly brilliant page-turner about ambition, pressure, and the Asian-American experience of cutthroat academic culture and social inequities", according to LoveReading reviewer Joanne Owen.

According to LoveReading's Liz Robinson, Holy F*ck by Joseph Incardona is "stuffed full of deeply dark humour and a high body-count, this smartly provocative and stylish crime novel about a miracle-worker prostitute on the run from assassins, is beautifully observed."

If fantasy is more your thing, check out The Bone Door by Frances White. "Wonderfully creative while deeply dark and chilling, this beautifully unique novel bubbles with hope as a group of companions attempt impossible tasks in order to escape a labyrinth, " shares Liz Robinson.

Thriller? Then do check out The Book Game by Frances Wise. According to Joanne Owen it's "a thrilling and dryly amusing novel of middle-class midlife ambition, regret, competitiveness and envy." Sizzling with suspense and an escalating sense that anything might happen in this tinderbox situation, it is a sharply astute and deliciously thrilling story, best read while lounging in the sun.

The ferociously funny Kathy Lette of  The Revenge Club and Till Death, or a Little Light Maiming, Do Us Part fame delivers another stonker. The Sisterhood Rules is "a beautifully entertaining, funny, and engaging novel about a thoroughly modern family, sisterhood, second chances and forgiveness."

So, grab your refreshing beverage of choice and prepare to enjoy these Summer reading recommendations knowing your beach reads are helping to build futures.

If you’re looking for recommendations for younger readers, do check out our Summer Reading collection on LoveReading4Kids, where you can find fiction, fact and activity books from toddlers to teens.