Top 5 Summer Reads I Want to Read

This Top 5 series started back in October and I kind of lost motivation for making it every week. But it’s back! This is a series of books that I want to read that all have a common theme. Previously on the blog I have focused on witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. I am going to try and bring this series back for every Saturday.

The upcoming schedule is:

9/7/19 — Summer Reads

9/14/19 — Set in Space

9/21/19 — Over 500 Pages 

9/28/19 — Books with Maps

Rules!

• Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
• Tag the original post (This one!)
• Tag 5 people

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Summer Reads

I left this topic really open to interpretation and I thought about doing it a bunch of different ways. I thought about going back through the summer and talking about my top 5 books of the season, I thought about sharing the top 5 books that were on my summer TBR that I didn’t get to, or my top 5 books I wanted to read that were set in summer. But then I decided that I would just do my top 5 “summery reads” on my TBR. So since I don’t read a ton of rom-coms I stuck to fluffier books I’m dying to read that are perfect for summertime.

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American Royals by Katharine McGee

What if America had a royal family? If you can’t get enough of Harry and Meghan or Kate and William, meet American princesses Beatrice and Samantha.

Two princesses vying for the ultimate crown.
Two girls vying for the prince’s heart.
This is the story of the American royals.

When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne. Like most royal families, the Washingtons have an heir and a spare. A future monarch and a backup battery. Each child knows exactly what is expected of them. But these aren’t just any royals. They’re American. And their country was born of rebellion.

As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America’s first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling. Nobody cares about the spare except when she’s breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn’t care much about anything, either . . . except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her. And then there’s Samantha’s twin, Prince Jefferson. If he’d been born a generation earlier, he would have stood first in line for the throne, but the new laws of succession make him third. Most of America adores their devastatingly handsome prince . . . but two very different girls are vying to capture his heart.

The duty. The intrigue. The Crown. New York Times bestselling author Katharine McGee imagines an alternate version of the modern world, one where the glittering age of monarchies has not yet faded–and where love is still powerful enough to change the course of history. 

This book is one I’ve been dying to get my hands on and it just so happens that I was able to get a copy at work! I love reading books about royalty and an alternate history of America where there is a monarchy instead sounds so up my alley.

Reputation by Sara Shepard

In this fast-paced new novel from Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars, a tight-knit college town scrambles for answers when an e-mail hack reveals life-changing secrets and scandals.

Aldrich University is rocked to its core when a hacker dumps 40,000 people’s e-mails—the entire faculty, staff, students, alums—onto an easily searchable database. Rumors and affairs immediately leak, but things turn explosive when Kit Manning’s handsome husband, Dr. Greg Strasser, is found murdered. Kit’s sister, Willa, returns for the funeral, setting foot in a hometown she fled fifteen years ago, after a night she wishes she could forget. As an investigative reporter, Willa knows something isn’t right about the night Greg was killed, and she’s determined to find the truth. What she doesn’t expect is that everyone has something to hide. And with a killer on the loose, Willa and Kit must figure out who killed Greg before someone else is murdered.

Told from multiple points of view, Reputation is full of twists, turns, and shocking reveals. It’s a story of intrigue, sabotage, and the secrets we keep—and how far we go to keep them hidden. Number one bestseller Sara Shepard is at the top of her game in this brand-new adult novel.

Sara Shepard’s books are my guilty pleasure reads. Honestly, I could have filled this entire top 5 list with books of hers that I really want to read. Sara Shepard writes great fluff reads that are perfect for summertime and is one of my favorite guilty pleasure authors. But I actually happen to have an eARC of Reputation, so it’s at the top of the list out of all of her books on my TBR.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

Goode girls don’t lie…

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

J.T. Ellison’s pulse-pounding new novel examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to to protect their secrets.

I’ve already raved about this book a ton, but I can’t seem to stop. I am so excited to have a copy of this book because it’s basically everything that I want in a non fantasy book. It’s got a boarding school setting, rich girls and drama. I wish the publication date was sooner because I feel like I’ve been anxious to read this forever now.

Royals by Rachel Hawkins

Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.

While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince’s roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown–and the intriguing Miles–might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.

Rachel Hawkins is another author who I turn to when I’m deep in a reading slump. I loved her Hex Hall series and also enjoyed Rebel Belle. The only issue is that my ebook library hasn’t gotten a copy of this book yet, so I’m still trying to get my hands on this one!

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

NEW YORK CITY AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.

A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough.

WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118.

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose.

LEDA COLE’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

ERIS DODD-RADSON’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

RYLIN MYERS’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one?

WATT BAKRADI is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is AVERY FULLER, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you’re this high up, there’s nowhere to go but down….

This book has been described to me as a sci-fi version of Pretty Little Liars. I’ve heard that it’s full of drama, mystery and also is a sci-fi! This looks like the perfect guilty pleasure read to get myself out of a slump when I am looking for a book that isn’t set in the modern world. I actually didn’t realize that this was also written by Katharine McGee until writing this post, so since I already have a copy of American Royals I will read that first and if I wind up really liking Katharine McGee’s writing I will totally read this soon after!

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Tags!!

Kirstie @ Upside-Down Books

Jody @ I’m All About Books

Steph @ Book Reviews by Steph

Gabby @ Fantastic Reads

Allie @ Alliee Reads

Brittany @ BritReadsBooks

Lili @ Lili’s Blissful Pages

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Check out other book blogger’s top 5!

Roo @ By the 100th Page — Top 5 Summer Reads

Alys @ Alys in Bookland — Top 5 Summer Reads That I Want to Read

Mina @  Stacked Reviews — Top 5 Summer Reads 2019

Dini @ Dinipandareaqds — Top 5 Saturday: Summer Reads on my TBR!

Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads — Top 5 Saturday: Summer Reads

Nen and Jen @ Nen & Jen — Top 5 Saturday — Summer (beach day) reads

Tiffany @ Bookish Tffany — Top 5 Summer Reads 2019

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Let’s Chat!

What are some of your favorite reads of this summer? Do you typically read “summery” reads? What were some books on your summer TBR that you didn’t get to? What are some of your favorite books that are set in summer? Have you read any of these books? Which book out of this list do you think I should read first? Make sure to comment below so we can chat about summer reads!