I lean forward and put my face into the water, open my eyes. The world becomes a soft blur. I lie like this until for as long as my lungs can take it, listening to the sounds of the air. If I could breathe underwater, I would stay here forever.

It’s the time of the year when your clothes are glued to your skin, the sun hangs in the sky until nine every night and swimming seems like the only activity that is worth any movement. I love this season and I love reading about it. There are books that make it easy to transport you into summer in a heartbeat and they are especially attractive when you sit somewhere in a wintercoat sipping a coffee. But even now, when it’s holiday season and you have a trip planned but no books packed, these books will whisk you even deeper into summer:

The Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley Heller

Over the course of a tight 24-hour timeframe, you witness an affair slowly unfolding like a spreading spider’s web. A woman is repeatedly drawn back into her memories of the night ‘before’, and once you start reading the story, you won’t be able to put the book down until you understand how she arrived at this point in her life. I was absolutely smitten with the writing, the various jumps in time and the love story that you somehow don’t want to support, yet find yourself doing so anyway. If you’re looking for something set on a beach, with tension between the characters, a timeline that unravels and yet still contains humour, then this book is just the thing for you. I love it and have already given it as a gift a few times. What’s more, it’s probably not the ending you were expecting – which, in my view, was another plus point.

The God Of The Woods – Liz Moore

A camp setting, probably one of the most “summer-y” things ever. Barbara Van Laar, a teenager, disappears from a summer camp, leading to utter chaos – with a plot that links the fate of her brother, who vanished from the same camp years ago, to the search for the culprit. I read this book in one go, probably in 12 hours, spread over a day. I simply couldn’t put it down – it’s that good. You gain insights into the life stories of the camp counsellors, the family, the friends, the people who work in and around the camp, the sinister serial killer on the loose, and the police investigation. The writing is brilliant, and you become completely absorbed in the urge to ‘just have to know’. You probably shouldn’t take this book with you on a camping trip, but it’s definitely worth your time. By the way: if you’ve already read God of the Woods, you might enjoy In the Middle of the Night by Riley Sager – another camping thriller that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.

Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid

A must-read if you want to bring a touch of summer into your home. This book feels like a time capsule set in 1983, when the famous Riva family are celebrating their annual end-of-summer party. Until their beach house goes up in flames. I think these were some of the best and most human characters I’ve read about in a long time, and the 90s vibe of the summer and the beach hut where the story is set is unbeatable. The book offers everything you could want from a holiday read: a surfing backdrop, celebrities, the Malibu coast, intrigue, a love story spanning generations and a party that gets increasingly out of hand – one you want to stop and enjoy at the same time. A perfect gift for men and women, and really well written. Since then, I’ve bought more books by the author.

The Wedding People – Alison Espach

So far, it’s one of my top five books that I’ve read this year (and I really do read a lot). A woman checks into a hotel that has been booked exclusively by a wedding party – and by that party alone. After she ‘bump[s] into’ the bride in an absurd situation, a connection somehow develops between the two of them that is profound and hilarious, yet always teetering on the brink of an argument. This book simply has it all: the stately-castle-like hotel perched on a cliff with sea views, the tension between the characters and the affair you’re waiting for – all set against the backdrop of an absolutely wild wedding week with the quirkiest guests you can imagine. Plus, the hot tub scene is simply brilliant, if you know what I mean. I hadn’t expected the book to be this good, however much it was hyped, but it’s absolutely worthy of every bit of praise and so much more profound than I’d initially thought.

Problematic Summer Romance – Ali Hazelwood

Yet another wedding on a Sicilian island with your not-quite-ex, who just left you in the lurch like that. A brilliant start to any summer romance, if you ask me! This premise was tailor-made to create tension and stress, and I’m absolutely thrilled by it. Even though it wasn’t as detailed as the books mentioned above in terms of a mystery or ‘unravelling’ things, it was still a very fast-paced story that I loved getting lost in, and the love story developed slowly – which I love. Witty and clever characters, a slightly ‘unusual’ wedding, constantly intertwining timelines and a book that simply puts you in a good mood – all of this really brought that summer vibe to life.

Isola – Isabel Abedi

I don’t think I can say much more about it than this: I’ve loved this book ever since I first picked it up many, many years ago. Twelve teenagers are sent to an island, and each is allowed to take just three things with them. They don’t know each other, they don’t know what the others have brought with them or why they’re there, AND they’re being filmed the whole time. The book is full of suspense, surprising twists, incredibly brilliant main characters, and the setting is mind-blowing – it’s as if you’ve been thrown straight into the TV series ‘Lost’. If you haven’t read it yet, you’re in for a real treat, even though it’s classified as a young adult novel. And the love story feels genuinely authentic, especially compared to all the ‘over-the-top’ stuff out there at the moment.

Let me know which books made you think of summer. Anything that you picked up lately that you loved? Any opinions on the books above?