As the days are long and you can enjoy the outdoors, we wanted to bring you everything you need if you want to know how to have a bookworm summer. From the best summer books for the season, what to watch and the perfect drink to pair with them. All of that in this 2021 summer reading guide!

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How to Have a Bookworm Summer: Summer Romance Books 2021

A collaboration with some amazing Bookstagrammers

To make this the perfect Summer, you’ll need a few essentials. A good book is just one of them, albeit one of the most important parts if you ask us. But I digress. We want you to set the whole mood and hopefully with this you’ll be able to do that. So let’s dive in, shall we?

Music

Let’s set the mood with the right Summer playlist! We want to thank Malia from Romance Schmomance for putting this together for us.

Malia blogs at Romance Schmomance. She’s a romance reader & blogger. Mother of 3 and trying to figure things out.Ccoffee recommended, Lover of unpopular opinions.

Drinks

Nancy from Ravenous Reader is the Queen of Cocktails and she’s created some amazing ones for us that you should try this Summer!

THE IPB AKA THE ICE PLANET BARBARIAN DRINK

3 ounces Malibu rum
Vodka (2oz)
Blue curaçao (2oz)
Coconut cream (2oz)
1 ounce cream

Mix all these ingredients together in a shaker glass with ice then strain into a cup that has been decorated in sugar (I used purple to complement the series) and filled with big jagged pieces of ice.

I decided on this cocktail due to recent events on TikTok. I believe that one should enjoy their romance books and not feel the need to make fun of themselves or the books they claim to love. READ what you want and revel in that joy. #dontyuckmyyum

TEA & NO SYMPATHY

3 oz strongly brewed tea ( I used Earl grey) hot
2 oz Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey
1 oz Kings Ginger
1 teaspoonful honey
1/2 Lemon
Ice

In a shaker mix the hot tea with the honey. Then add Ice, JD, Kings Ginger, and squeezed lemon. Shake well and strain into a teacup. Garnish with a bit of honeycomb and a slice of lemon.

Enjoy!!

I always like to experiment with my cocktails and I wanted to make a cold version of a hot toddy and this is what I came up with. I think the tea cup makes it fancy and it would pair well with a good historical romance. Pinkies up!!

Nancy is a lover of words, especially ones that make my heart race and thighs clench.

Snacks

Alicia from The Bookish Puff is sharing some excellent Summer snacks you’ll want to try right away!

Lavender Lemonade

You will need:

Lemonade (homemade or store bought)
3 Tablespoons Dried Lavender
2 Fresh Lemons
Purple food coloring (optional)

Directions:

In a pitcher pour lemonade and add in dried lavender, let sit in the fridge for 4-6 hours (or longer for stronger lavender flavor)
Once the lavender has infused, strain the mixture and add it back into the pitcher.
Add purple food coloring and mix until well combined.
Slice the lemons and add the slices into the pitcher along with ice and serve.

Strawberries & Cream Tea Sandwiches

You will need:

2 Slices of Fluffy White Bread
1 Tablespoon Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Tablespoon Whip Cream
1 Teaspoon of Honey
4 to 5 Strawberries

Directions:

In a small bowl add cream cheese then fold in the whip cream.
Cut the crust off of the bread then spread the cream cheese mixture onto either side.
Cut the green stems off of the strawberries and half them.
Place the strawberry halves onto the bread.
Drizzle either side with honey and place the two pieces together, cut the sandwich in half and serve!

Alicia is currently the resident blogger over at The Bookish Puff and an aspiring author. Raised under the southern sun she is a true eternal optimist with a deep love of history, stories, and a shameless addiction to caffeine. When she’s not on the internet writing about books, you can find her baking up a storm in her kitchen, watching true crime documentaries, sipping on coffee while chatting with friends, or getting lost in nature. She currently lives with her boyfriend and two crazy cats in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States.

Dizis

Korrie will have you obsessed with some fun and romantic Turkish soap operas!

Hi there! Korrie here from Korrieskorner ready to kick off my Hot “Dizi” Summer! Yes, I am a Turkish Dizi addict, and I am not ashamed to say it! I’m prepping for a summer of amazing food, binging Dizis, and doing some cool lives with other Dizi friends to dish about our fave characters, and the actors who portray them.

I have accumulated quite the community of Dizi lovers over the past couple years, and that makes me proud. There’s just something special about seeing your fave book tropes rolled into the Dizi you’re watching. For example. I’m watching Sen Çal Kapimi, and it has several tropes in one. Fake relationship, fake engagement, enemies to lovers, and secret baby to name a few. This in my opinion is Chefs kiss perfection 

Among my favorites: Erkenci Kus, Sen Çal Kapimi,Kurt Seyit Ve Sura, Love 101 and Love is in the Air.

One of the services available to stream dizis is https://fn-tv.com/

I hope to see you around the “Korner!” We’ll have so much fun!

Korrie Noelle—Korrieskorner. Selfcare Queen. Plant mama. Diversity/sensitivity editor in romance. Coffee & period drama abuser. Turkish Dizi enthusiast. Lover of all people. Anti racism educator—Culture 101.

2021 Best Books of the Summer

These books are guaranteed to be the perfect Summer read to enjoy sitting poolside or beachside this Summer – UTC Approved

Cozy Mystery

Spencer is bringing you a slew of cozy mysteries that are guaranteed to keep you entertained. 

Cozy mysteries make the perfect summer read! With so many themes to choose from, you’re guaranteed to find something to toss in your beach bag, take on vacation, or just read while on staycation.

LIVE AND LET CHAI screams summertime, with its iced tea theme and beachside Carolina setting. The series starts with Everly getting tangled up in a murder while gearing up for her iced tea shop’s grand opening. Refreshing tea recipes included so you can sip and follow along with the main character!

If you love cruises, Ellie Alexander’s A CRIME OF PASSIONFRUIT is for you! In book 6 of the Bakeshop mystery series we follow Juliet as she leaves small town Ashland for a Caribbean cruise where she pinch hits as the head pastry chef. Lots of fun cruise ship descriptions to get you in vacation mode. 

If summertime means dusting off the bike in your garage the check out GEARED FOR THE GRAVE, a bike themed cozy set on a small town island where bicycling is the main form of transportation. And, if you’re feeling cheeky, you can listen to the audiobook while on your next cycling adventure! 

Are you the outdoorsy type? Kate Dyer-Seeley’s SCENE OF THE CLIMB is for you. It follows an amateur sleuth who lands a job at an outdoor magazine, which leads her to a lot of outdoor adventures… and murders! 

For many, summer is synonymous with camping. If that’s you, then definitely pick up the CAMPER AND CRIMINALS series. While the main character lives in a camper, the series still gives all the tiny house and camping vibes, which makes it the perfect read to take along your next camping trip!

Don’t forget to pair these summer reads with snacks and sunscreen!

Hi, I’m Spencer! I run a booktube channel called Intentionally Bookish where I post book-related videos, from reviews to reading vlogs to general bookish rambling.
I love chatting books, especially cozies, and have a series on my channel called COZY UP TO, where I spotlight different cozy mystery themes.
You can find me on both YouTube and Instagram at @intentionallybookish. Don’t be surprised to see dog cameos in either place—books, coffee & dogs are basically my happy place!

Category Romance

Bree from the Categorically Romance Podcast is sharing with us some amazing romances to battle the heat wave

Hello babes, Bree Hill here with some category romances I think would be great additions to your summer tbr! Part of Entangled Publishing’s Lovestruck series, a favorite of mine in 2020 was The Anti-Honeymoon by Bethany Michaels; it has a runaway bride who goes on her honeymoon with her getaway driver and does the opposite of everything on her honeymoon to-do list. Instead of romantic dinners, the two enjoy pizza on the beach; instead of couple’s yoga they take a kickboxing class. It was a lot of fun, set on an island paradise and such a fun summer read.

My next pick releases at the end of July, and I can’t recommend enough that you keep it on your radar; Surprise Reunion with His Cinderella by Rachael Stewart which is part of Harlequin’s Romance series. I am unapologetically going to put this out into the universe: Rachael Stewart is one of my all-time favorite authors! She is an incredible writer, and this is her first book with Harlequin’s Romance series. The book is a second-chance romance between star-crossed lovers whose paths cross after they are deemed perfect matches via an online dating site that gears to the wealthy. The two are unaware of the identity of their perfect match until they’ve reached their island getaway and the rest is romance novel perfection! 

Scandal in the VIP Suite by Nadine Gonzalez is my next pick and it’s the romance between a writer and an actor, set in beautiful Miami. The really great thing is, you can read this one and prepare for Nadine’s next book, What Happens In Miami. You can thank me later, she’s incredible; both titles are part of Harlequin’s Desire series!

Paranormal romance has been my sweet spot, my go-to that never fails this year. Keeper of the Shadows by Alexandra Sokoloff is part of Harlequin’s Nocturne series, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I finished. It’s set amidst the other side of Los Angeles and follows a crime beat journalist by day, and Keeper for LA’s paranormal world by night. I was hooked! We had the murder of a shifter who could shift into deceased old Hollywood stars, suspicious directors-so many elements that spoke to my love of old Hollywood!

I have to have a Harlequin Blaze on this list and went with Anne Marsh’s Teasing Her Seal. Sometimes the fantasy is for a girl who is constantly the person in control of things (in the heroine’s case, being a surgeon in charge of operation rooms!) to escape for a vacation to literally a place called Fantasy Island, meet a hot SEAL and relinquish all control to him for a bit. Can’t just be me, right? Happy Reading Babes!

Bree Hill is an unapologetic romance reader who goes nowhere without a book in her purse and can be typically found reading in one of her local coffee shops. She’s a retired Air Force police officer turned stay at home mom, graduate student, member of The Reading Women team and co-hosts The Categorically Romance podcast where she gets to fish over category romances with her best friend.

Read More

• Download our latest Summer Insider guide
• Queer Summer book recommendations
• Even more Summer recommendations

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