Summer 2024 Publishing Preview
15 new releases to put on your radar for a summer of reading
Summer is right around the corner and publishers are gearing up to release the best books to bring on vacation. This year, however, publishers are also moving up the publication of some literary heavyweights in anticipation of the presidential election in the fall. This means that we get the best of both worlds this summer: buzzy and lighter books in tandem with quieter, literary reads.
Below, I am sharing 15 of my most anticipated summer releases, ordered by publication date. These are a handful of the books that I’m hoping to read in the months ahead. I’m also working on a 2024 summer reading guide with books that I have already read and think are perfect to spread out over the summer.
In the meantime, check out the summer reading guides I’ve released in years past.
May Releases
Wait - Gabriella Burnham - Fiction - Release Date: May 21
After Elise’s mother is deported to São Paulo, Brazil, Elise returns home to Nantucket to care for her younger sister and attempt to bring her mother back. The contrasts between the wealth of Nantucket and her present reality grate against Elise, who must consider if her mother’s sacrifice to come to the United States was worth it.
Lies and Weddings - Kevin Kwan - Fiction - Release Date: May 21
When I think of summer reading, Kevin Kwan instantly comes to mind. Author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, Kwan is known for drama-filled, rich-people-behaving-badly family stories in opulent settings. In Lies and Weddings, Rufus Leung Gresham, the future Earl of Greshambury, is pressured by his mother to find a rich bride to compensate for their depleted coffers. Rufus attends events in Hawaii, Marrakech, Los Angeles, and England interacting with eccentric heiresses, all the while working up the courage to tell his mother that he’s in love with someone else.
Knife River - Justine Champine - Mystery - Release Date: May 28
Jess’ mother disappeared when she was thirteen, leaving her and her older sister Liz grieving, confused, and alone. Fifteen years later, having left her hometown as soon as possible, she gets a call from Liz telling her that remains have been found. Jess returns home hopeful that there will finally be answers to the question of what happened, only to find more answers than she bargained for. This sounds like my kind of mystery; less focused on the action, more focused on the family dynamics and underlying uncertainties.
June Releases
The Rom-Commers - Katherine Center - Romance - Release Date: June 11
Emma wants to be a screenwriter who specializes in… you guessed it… romantic comedies, but her career has been put on hold while she provides full-time care for her father. When she gets the opportunity to write a script with a famous screenwriter, she lines up caretaking and moves to Los Angeles for six weeks hoping that this will be the break she has been waiting for. When she arrives, she discovers that the screenwriter she’s idolized is disenchanted by the rom-com genre and a pain to work with, setting the stage for a classic enemies to lovers romance plot arc. I enjoyed Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard a few years ago and am excited to see what she does in this book.
Ask Me Again - Clare Sestanovich - Fiction - Release Date: June 11
Ask Me Again is the story of an unlikely friendship between Eva and Jamie, who come from profoundly different backgrounds but nonetheless forge an indelible bond when they meet at age sixteen. As they grow older and their lives and priorities diverge, they remain tethered to the same defining questions of identity, values, and faith. Ask Me Again is Clare Sestanovich’s debut novel, and the reviews are already laudatory.
Sandwich - Catherine Newman - Fiction - Release Date: June 18
Any book with this review on the cover from Ann Patchett is automatically going to be added to my need to read list: "Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry." Sandwich is the story of an annual family vacation in Cape Cod narrated by Rocky, a middle-aged woman trying to get the most out of this one week with her children and parents. It’s a story of family and memories, but also change and secrets, which sounds like the perfect summer book to me.
Bear - Julia Phillips - Fiction - Release Date: June 25
Five years ago, while wandering the shelves of the Ocean City Library, I happened to come across Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. Disappearing Earth is the story of the disappearance of two sisters in far-east Russia, told through the perspectives of members of the community. I have since recommended this book continuously because, on top of beautiful writing, how often do you get to read a book set in the Kamchatka Peninsula? Now, as a Guggenheim fellow, Phillips is releasing her sophomore novel Bear, which is set on an island off the coast of Washington and follows one family’s struggle to get by. One night, a bear is spotted swimming in the water, which is interpreted by one sister as a sign to leave and another to stay.
July Releases
Ladykiller - Katherine Wood - Thriller - Release Date: July 9
After Gia, a Greek heiress, fails to show up for the all-expenses paid trip to Sweden she planned for her childhood friend Abby, Abby goes back to Gia’s estate in Greece to find it completely deserted. The only clue she finds is a manuscript, in which Gia describes the dark side of her lavish life. The manuscript, however, doesn’t explain everything, including where Gia is, which sends Abby on a mission to find her friend before it becomes too late.
Long Island Compromise - Taffy Brodesser-Akner - Fiction - Release Date: July 9
Long Island Compromise, written by the author of Fleishman is in Trouble, begins with the kidnapping of Carl Fletcher from the driveway of his palatial Long Island home as he’s getting ready to head to work at his polystyrene factory. He is held hostage for a week, unfindable by the FBI, until his wife Ruth comes up with $250,000 ransom payment, dropped on a luggage turnstile at JFK. The kidnapping, which took place in 1980, is only the first chapter of the book; the rest takes place in the present and is told through the lens of Carl’s three dysfunctional adult children. This is the only book on this list I’ve already read and you can find my fuller review here.
Catalina - Karla Cornejo Villavicencio - Fiction - Release Date: July 23
Having left Latin America as a child to be raised by her undocumented grandparents in Queens, Catalina’s Harvard acceptance represented an unmitigated success story. Facing graduation, however, Catalina is acutely aware of the limitations her undocumented status will have on a future career and ability to care for her grandparents. Having read the author’s incredible memoir, The Undocumented Americans, the description of this book sounds somewhat semi-autobiographical. Given her gift for writing I am incredibly eager to read this first foray into fiction.
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia - Juliet Grames - Historical Fiction - Release Date: July 23
When a human skeleton is discovered following a flood in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia, Italy, a new American arrival is roped into helping the local priest’s housekeeper discover if the body is her long-missing son. Francesca, who moved to the village to open a nursery school, quickly finds herself in over her head in this closely-knit, deeply secretive town with potential ties to the mafia. I loved Juliet Grame’s debut, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, and am eager to dive into this 1960s tale of Italian intrigue.
Someone Like Us - Dinaw Mengestu - Fiction - Release Date: July 30
Mamush returns to his close-knit Ethiopian family in Washington, DC from Paris seeking refuge from his disintegrating marriage. His arrival, however, coincides with the unexpected and mysterious death of his father, which forces Mamush to reevaluate his family’s history and dynamics.
August Releases
Burn - Peter Heller - Thriller/Dystopian - Release Date: August 13
At the start of this dystopian novel, Jess and Storey head off to their annual vacation in northern Maine where they camp and hike in solitude. When they emerge from their isolation, however, they discover a scene of destruction marking the start of a modern civil war over the question of secession. The two men begin their trek back home avoiding secessionists and the military as they go, until they find a child hiding in the cabin of a boat who they need to rescue. The description of this book reminds a bit of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, including the descriptions of nature and family found along the way.
Highway Thirteen - Fiona McFarlane - Fiction/Short Stories - Release Date: August 13
Highway Thirteen is a collection of stories, each centered around the varied impact of a series of brutal murders that took place in Australia in 1998. The stories range from the killer’s childhood town, to the families of the victims, to the murders retold on a true crime podcast. Most short story collections are isolated from one another and linked only by a common theme. I’m really excited to read this book, which sounds like a structurally creative collection from the author of The Sun Walks Down.
Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout - Fiction - Release Date: August 13
Elizabeth Strout is back! In Tell Me Everything, Strout returns to Crosby, Maine, home to her Pulitzer Prize winning collection Olive Kitteridge and the follow-up, Olive Again. For the first time ever, Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge, the two heroines that have guided nearly all of Elizabeth Strout’s works thus far, will cross paths as they deal with a crime and contemplate the lives they have lived. Strout is such a beautiful writer, and every line is a joy to read.
I can't wait for the new Elizabeth Strout release!!
Uhhh just what I needed!