Summer Reading List

June 1, 2026

If you know me, you know I am not a huge summer gal, but this year I am going to do my best to make sure I am appreciating summer to the fullest. This includes planning fun trips for myself, going to all the festivals Des Moines has to offer and reading all the summer books I can muster. I will get to the other things in another post, but here are the books I am wanting to read over the next three months:

• Happy Place by Emily Henry

• Book Lovers by Emily Henry

• Persuasion by Jane Austen ( I swear this makes it on my summer list every year and every year I neglect to read it )

• Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein

• The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore

• Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

• The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram

• The Names by Florence Knapp

• Before we Forget Kindness by Kawaguchi

• Spells for forgetting by Adrianne Young

• Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

• More Abby Jimenez books

• Maybe try an Ali Hazelwood

• Some books on gardening

Also, it has come to my attention that I neglected to renew my email account and it has lapsed, so I deeply apologize for any missed messages. I will now be accepting emails at my Gmail address- Aly.m.devine@gmail.com - so if you have any books you’d like me to read or have any suggestions for me, please reach out to me there! Thank you for reading and I look forward to reading with you this summer!