8 Girly Books to Read This Summer

At the end of the school year, I had a few friends ask me for recommendations for what to read this summer.  So, I started brainstorming a list. But after I started writing up all the good books I’ve read in recent years and my boyfriend, Collin, started adding his input, the list grew and grew to two full pages in Microsoft Word.  I decided the best way to share all of these books was to split them up by category into different posts.  This first post contains, as you might imagine, some fun girly books to read (there was no help from Collin on this one.)

1. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.  This was the best book I read last summer.  It’s about a girl named Rachel who always does the “right thing” and can never say no to her blonde bombshell best friend, Darcy.  The problem is that Darcy only ever thinks of herself and Rachel never gets what she wants…that is until she drunkenly has sex with Darcy’s fiance and her whole world turns upside down as she starts to fall in love with him.  This is a really satisfying book and a good movie, too.

 

2. Something Blue by Emily Giffin.  OK so if you liked Something Borrowed, you’ll be dying to read this follow-up book whose narration is actually from Darcy’s point of view.  At first, you hate Darcy from the first book, but you really grow to feel attached with Darcy’s story and tribulations following the events of Something Borrowed.

 

 

3. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  I got this book for Christmas and haven’t read it yet, but it’s supposed to be about a man who has “Chrono Displacement Disorder” who disappears suddenly into the past or future at important times in his life or his wife’s life.  Then I guess the book deals with his and his wife’s relationship.  It’s a National Bestseller and is supposed to be romantic.

 

4. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.  If you like the fantasy genre, this book could be for you.  The book is about Gemma Doyle, a girl living in the late 19th century.  She has to move from India to a boarding school in England.  There she starts having visions about her mother’s death and discovers that they are connected to a secret, other-worldly realm.  It’s kind of a dark novel but I remember really liking it.

 

5. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen.  If you’re in the mood for romance, this is for you. It’s about a girl who is a compulsive dater and is about to go to college and continue on her same chaotic path.  That is, until one artsy boy named Dexter pushes himself into her life and won’t stop hanging on.  It’s the classic unexpected-first-true-love kind of story if you’re into that.  (And come on, you know you all are.)

 

6. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.  OK, I just had to throw this book on the list because even though I probably read it for the first time in 6th grade, it is still my favorite book ever and I’ve read it many more times after that.  Ella Enchanted is a twist on the old fairytale of Cinderella–sort of the background of how Cinderella (or Ella) got to where she ended up.  In the story, Ella has a spell cast on her that makes her obey anything anyone orders her.  It’s mostly a nuisance until she starts falling in love with the prince of the kingdom and she realizes that her obedience could be a death threat to him.  The novel follows all of her adventures around the kingdom and her love story with the prince.  REALLY recommend this book!

7. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  I haven’t read this yet (although I own it now so I plan on reading it this summer) but I’ve heard a lot of good things about the book (my roommate Corie says not to watch the movie, though).  My Sister’s Keeper is the story of one girl who has cancer, and her younger sister who was genetically engineered to be the perfect match for her sister in order to donate blood, bone marrow, etc.  Now at age 13, Anna’s parents want her to donate a kidney, and she hires a lawyer to try to prevent them from having control over her body.  It sounds like it will be a tear-jerker, but a good book.

8. Books by Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, or Nora Roberts.  Have you watched The Notebook?  Unsurprisingly, it was originally a book by Nicholas Sparks, and he writes tons of soppy romantic books.  Jodi Picoult has also written a ton of books (recommended by Corie), and Nora Roberts writes a lot of romance books that are more action/mystery based.  So if you are hungry for more, these could be good authors to turn to.

Get ready to get your romantic fill this summer!