{"id":40730,"date":"2025-08-02T01:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T01:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/40730\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T01:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T01:42:10","slug":"summer-reads-for-various-summer-scenarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/40730\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer reads for various summer scenarios"},"content":{"rendered":"

In college, summer is the season of opportunity. Whether that\u2019s chasing your dreams at an internship or spending much-needed time at home with your family, summer is the perfect time for self-reflection and growth \u2014 and there is no better way to reflect and grow than through reading. To immerse yourself in someone else\u2019s world is in itself a form of growth. No matter how good or bad a book is, by the end of it, you are still left with a new perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With that in mind, here are some of my absolute favorite summer reads for various summer scenarios:\u00a0<\/p>\n

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You\u2019re taking the summer to get over your ex: \u201cHow to Fall Out of Love Madly\u201d by Jana Casale
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Courtesy of Penguin Random House<\/p>\n

I struggle with recommending this book because I do not like it. With not one, but three unlikeable and unreliable narrators, Jana Casale\u2019s \u201cHow to Fall Out of Love Madly\u201d is a hard read. However, after taking time to reflect on this read, I\u2019ve realized that this was the whole point of the novel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The novel follows three women: Joy and Annie, best friends and roommates, and Celine, the girlfriend of Joy and Annie\u2019s third roommate Theo (who Joy has a major crush on). Each woman navigates disappointment in love \u2014 Joy pines for an unavailable man, Annie yearns for a deeper sense of purpose and Celine clings to an image of perfection as her relationship falters. Through their intertwined stories, the novel examines the quiet heartbreaks and small acts of resilience that define modern womanhood.<\/p>\n

What irked me in this novel is how often we saw these three women completely blinded by their devotion to below-average men. This is one of those reads where you find yourself cringing so hard you have to take a break, only to pick it back up because you just have to know what happens next. We witness these women repeatedly make frustrating choices, leaving us screaming at them to see their worth. But with some distance, I realized that\u2019s exactly what makes the novel so effective. These characters are the bad choices we make about men personified \u2014 the ones we rationalize, romanticize and repeat. At some point, you stop judging the characters and start thinking about the version of yourself who would\u2019ve done the same thing.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in your post-breakup era, \u201cHow to Fall Out of Love Madly\u201d might actually be the perfect read. Not because it makes you feel good, but because it helps you understand why you felt so bad \u2014 why you stayed, why you settled, why you thought love was supposed to hurt. And by the end, you might find that the person you\u2019re really getting over isn\u2019t your ex \u2014 it\u2019s who you were with them.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019re trying to get into reading for the 100th time and nothing is working: \u201cCrazy Rich Asians\u201d by Kevin Kwan
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Courtesy of Doubleday<\/p>\n

What better way of getting into reading is there than reading the book that everyone\u2019s favorite plane movie is based on? Kevin Kwan\u2019s novel \u201cCrazy Rich Asians\u201d is the first in a trilogy that is guaranteed to keep you hooked. Primarily set in Singapore, this satirical romantic comedy novel explores a turbulent love story within the tradition-bound world of the Singaporean elite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the film closely follows the relationship between Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young as its main protagonists, the book takes a slightly different approach. While the beloved Chu and Young are still important and prominent characters in the novel, they are just one part of the intricate and complex web that is the Young family. If you watched the movie and were dying to know more about the glamorous Araminta, Astrid or any other Young cousin, \u201cCrazy Rich Asians\u201d the novel dives deeply into every character while still keeping the plot light, humorous and entertaining.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the perfect read to get you out of a slump; not only because of Kwan\u2019s addictive writing style, but also because the plot continues in Kwan\u2019s other novels, \u201cChina Rich Girlfriend\u201d and \u201cRich People Problems.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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You wish \u201cLove Island\u201d was a book (but with slightly more depth): \u201cLies and Weddings\u201d by Kevin Kwan
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Courtesy of Penguin Random House<\/p>\n

Here I am again on the Kwan bandwagon. Following his signature theme of a satirical comedy romance novel, \u201cLies and Weddings\u201d reads like an epic telenovela whose sole purpose is to make fun of other telenovelas (\u201cJane the Virgin\u201d vibes).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLies and Weddings\u201d follows Rufus Leung Gresham, the genetically blessed, Oxford-educated heir to a nearly bankrupt British title. With his family estate hanging by a thread, Gresham\u2019s ambitious mother is on a mission to secretly secure their future by orchestrating a marriage between him and one of several absurdly wealthy, eligible women. The only problem: Gresham is in love with Eden Tong, his brilliant, no-nonsense childhood best friend who refuses to play into his family\u2019s narrative. As Tong drifts further out of reach and Gresham is pushed deeper into a world of dynastic matchmaking, long-buried family secrets surface, threatening to unravel the entire operation. What unfolds is a jet-setting, drama-filled journey through wealth, identity and impossible expectations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of book where every character is either outrageously rich, wildly delusional or both \u2014 like watching a cast of \u201cLove Island\u201d contestants scheme for social dominance, except the villa is a castle in Scotland and the stakes are dynastic power. Everyone is trying to outmaneuver one another with secret bank accounts, fake engagements, dramatic entrances and even more dramatic exits. The love stories are messy, chaotic and deeply unserious \u2014 except for Tong, who somehow manages to stay grounded in a world that makes absolutely no sense.<\/p>\n

Tong is the one character who feels like she\u2019s actually living in the real world, and her refusal to be sucked into the spectacle gives the book its emotional weight. Watching her stand her ground while everyone else spirals is deeply satisfying, and it gives the story just enough depth to keep it from becoming pure parody. \u201cLies and Weddings\u201d is for anyone who wants high drama, ridiculous wealth and slightly-too-attractive people making bad decisions \u2014 but also wants one person to root for.<\/p>\n

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You want to quit your internship: \u201cDisorientation\u201d by Elaine Hsieh Chou
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Courtesy of Penguin Random House<\/p>\n

There comes a point in every internship \u2014 or job, or degree \u2014 when you start to wonder if any of it actually means anything. \u201cDisorientation\u201d leans into that exact feeling: the slow unraveling that happens when you start to question the system you\u2019ve spent years trying to succeed in.<\/p>\n

The novel follows Ingrid Yang, a Taiwanese American doctoral student just trying to finish her dissertation on a famous Chinese American poet. When she stumbles on a secret that exposes the lie at the center of her academic work, things unravel fast \u2014 think sabotage, identity crises, microaggressions, performative wokeness and a campus full of people pretending to be experts while knowing absolutely nothing. It\u2019s messy, loud and incredibly cathartic.<\/p>\n

What makes \u201cDisorientation\u201d such a satisfying read is that it understands how it feels to be stuck in a system that seems important on the surface but hollow underneath. It\u2019s a story about letting go of the version of success you thought you were supposed to want \u2014 if you\u2019re questioning why you\u2019re putting up with any of it, this book might not give you answers, but it will absolutely validate the urge to walk away.<\/p>\n

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You want to finish a book in one sitting and be forever changed: \u201cWomen\u201d by Chlo\u00e9 Caldwell
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Courtesy of HarperCollins<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen\u201d is the kind of book you don\u2019t plan to read all at once \u2014 it just happens. One minute you\u2019re a few pages in, and the next you\u2019re staring at the last line, feeling like you just escaped a fever dream.<\/p>\n

Told in sparse, confessional prose, \u201cWomen\u201d follows an unnamed narrator as she falls into a consuming relationship with a woman for the first time. The story unfolds in fragments \u2014 scenes of intimacy, obsession, confusion and longing \u2014 that mirror how memory works when you\u2019re deep in something you can\u2019t fully explain. There\u2019s no big twist or resolution, just a raw, unfiltered look at what it means to want someone so badly that you start to lose track of where you end and they begin.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s short, sharp and emotionally devastating in the quietest way. \u201cWomen\u201d doesn\u2019t try to universalize queerness or heartbreak \u2014 it just sits with it, messy and real. Perfect for when you want to feel everything, all at once, and come out the other side a little bit undone.<\/p>\n

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This is your last summer of college and you\u2019re dreading it: \u201cHappy Place\u201d by Emily Henry
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Courtesy of Penguin Random House<\/p>\n

Emily Henry is the well-known queen of feel-good romance novels. And while \u201cHappy Place\u201d is a romance novel, I believe that at its core, it\u2019s a book about growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Place\u201d follows main characters Harriet and Wyn, a couple who secretly broke up but pretend to be together for their college friend group\u2019s annual vacation. Taking place at a summer cottage in Maine, the book centers around Harriet and Wyn\u2019s complicated dynamic as they navigate their sudden breakup while putting on a strong face to keep the friend group vacation alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What I love about this book is not the will-they-won\u2019t-they dynamic of Harriet and Wyn (although that part is pretty great), but rather the portrayal of the friendship between Harriet and her best friends, Sabrina and Cleo. Best friends since their first year of college (with the book taking place several years after they\u2019ve graduated), \u201cHappy Place\u201d navigates how this trio has grown together and apart throughout the years, still holding their college memories close.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Going into my final year of college, the thing I fear most isn\u2019t graduation \u2014 it\u2019s the slow fade of friendships I\u2019ve come to count on. The idea that one day, group chats go quiet, weekly routines disappear and people you once saw every day become people you only hear from on birthdays. The most striking part of \u201cHappy Place\u201d is how it handles post-college friendship \u2014 not as something that inevitably fades, but as something that changes shape. The dynamic between Harriet, Sabrina and Cleo isn\u2019t preserved in some idealized form; it\u2019s tense, complicated and often uncomfortable. But underneath all of it is care, even if it\u2019s not always easy to express.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book captures the reality that staying close takes more than shared memories \u2014 it takes intention, honesty and the willingness to adapt. As college ends and everything else begins, there\u2019s comfort in the reminder that friendships don\u2019t have to stay the same to still matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In college, summer is the season of opportunity. Whether that\u2019s chasing your dreams at an internship or spending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-40730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}