18 Paperback Books You Should Read This Summer

A thriller about people who have wandered “off the path” of Orthodox Judiasm by an author whose work Gillian Flynn calls “unputdownable”? Count us in for Run You Down.

Set in the 1950s, A Fireproof Home For the Bride is an engrossing coming-of-age story that touches on issues of race, class, and gender. When a strong-willed farmer's daughter upends her family’s expectations, she unearths dark family secrets that force her to question everything she once knew.

Two women, both touched by war, find each other in Blue Stars, a novel about life on the modern-day home front. A story about unlikely friendship and what war means to women today.

We love everything Jen Weiner writes, and Who Do You Love was no exception. This story of star-crossed lovers whose paths cross repeatedly had us hooked — and laughing and crying.

Luckiest Girl Alive was last Summer's most talked-about novel. It disturbed us, it amazed us, it wowed us with the voice. Meet Ani — she’s got the perfect job, perfect wardrobe, and perfect fiancé. But she’s also got a secret.

“Whom to marry, and when will it happen — these two questions define every woman’s existence.” Spinster, a smart, thoughtful memoir, examines the choice to stay single in today's world and why author Bolick, along with over 100 million American women, have chosen to do so.

We can't get enough of Kate and Will, can we? In The Royal We, American Bex Porter goes to Oxford, where she meets dreamy Nick who is handsome and smart and . . . just happens to be the heir to the British throne. A perfect Summer page-turner AND it includes a bonus chapter: one of the scenes in the book from Freddie's point of view!

Most people have never heard of the artist Sophia Peabody. In The House of Hawthorne, Robuck introduces us to the wife of literary legend Nathaniel Hawthorne, the woman who inspired him. A beautiful story about creating art and creating a life.

It's All About Eve for the digital age. When Imogen Tate comes back to Glossy Magazine after a six month leave for health reasons, she finds that her former assistant, Eve, plans to knock Imogen off her pedestal, with plans to take Imogen’s job and relaunch the magazine as an app. Let the Louboutins fly in The Knockoff, a smart, fun take on the world of fashion magazines.

Dietland is the story of Plum Kettle, who is over 300 pounds and desperately wants to be thin. But when she finds that she's being followed, she discovers the world of Calliope House, a community of women who live life with a different set of rules. An incredibly smart novel that will make you think about the society we live in and how desperately we women want to be thinner, to be smaller, to disappear.

Jane Green always delivers. In Summer Secrets, we meet party girl Cat, whose life changes when she finds out that the father she never knew was living in Nantucket. Emily Giffin called it “gripping and powerful.” Need we say more?

Happily married Rose dreams of the same man every night. But when he appears in real life, it makes her question the life she’s built with the man she loves. Hugo & Rose is a dark, romantic un-put-downable story.

In Everybody Rise, Evelyn Beegan is desperate to carve a path separate from her social climbing mother. But when she gets a job at a social media company aimed at the elite, she finds herself in the exact world she always tried to avoid. A delicious story about class distinction and social climbing.

When Jennifer and her 4-year-old son move in next to 90-year-old Margaret Riley, Margaret thinks she might make a new friend. But Jennifer is running away, hiding out, and doesn’t want to let anyone in. The New Neighbor is a smart page-turner that will make you wonder: how much do you really know about your next-door neighbors?

High school friends Sylvie Furst and Cassandra Puffin believe that their friendship is one for the ages and that life will continue on just as swimmingly as it did when they were students at Bennington College. But then life intervenes. Bennington Girls Are Easy is a witty coming-of-age novel about 20-somethings trying to survive in New York City.

Teddy Tremble used to be a rock star. But those days are far behind him. In Thank You, Goodnight, Teddy gets a phone call from an old friend that raises the question: after everything that’s happened, can he get the band back together?

When Alice Pearce, wife and mother of three, gets offered a dream job at Scroll just as her husband leaves his job, she finds herself as the primary breadwinner and must balance work with her kids' schedules, her father's health, her friendships, and her marriage. A Window Opens is a smart, relatable story about a working mother who is trying to have it all, all at the same time. A perfect Summer read.

We all know the story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the only Americans to be sentenced to death for treason and conspiracy to commit espionage during the Cold War. In The Hours Count, Jillian Cantor imagines a neighbor who befriends them and gets drawn into their world. Even though you know how the story of the Rosenbergs ends, this book still surprises you.