“I’m a romance girl,” says Theresa Arline, assistant manager of Kindred Stories. “And Tia Williams never disappoints.” Williams’s latest hits shelves June 29. In it, Sasha, a type A casting director, develops instant chemistry with her seatmate on a flight, but they go their separate ways without exchanging so much as a phone number. That leads to a worldwide search for her soulmate. “It’s got travel and a strong woman at its center,” Arline says. “I love anything like that.”

Considering author Kennedy Ryan is “a big deal in romance,” Arline also recommends Score. Though it’s the second full novel in Ryan’s Hollywood Renaissance series, this May release can be read as a standalone. The first, Reel, focuses on an actress and a director, while Score is “a second-chance love story” about a screenwriter and a composer. The characters were in the first novel, and Arline “loved seeing them get their own story and learn why they’d never encountered love.”

Houston writer Katherine Center brings the romance closer to home in this novel published in May. The story begins in Houston before moving to Galveston, where the characters board a cruise ship for a destination wedding. Among them: JoJo, who, after calling off her own wedding, is determined to get over her intimacy issues; her long-ago first crush; and her childhood BFF Cooper, for whom JoJo may or may not be secretly pining despite his having broken her heart.

“Warm, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of heart” is how Abby Paige, book buyer for Good on Paper, describes the novel. “It follows characters navigating love, second chances, and the messy surprises life throws their way. Center’s signature blend of humor, emotional depth, and feel-good romance makes it the perfect escape,” she says.

Anna Brown, manager of Katy Budget Books, agrees. “It does such a great job of playing with tropes in ways you wouldn’t expect,” she says. “The heroine is a hot mess I can relate to, and her family drama is hilarious but not unrealistic.”

Center herself is “eagerly awaiting” this new summer romance from fellow Houston writer Naina Kumar. Readers meet Neelu, who heads to  Scotland for her estranged father’s wedding. Things go sideways when she has too much to drink at the rehearsal dinner and says some things she shouldn’t. It spirals from there. Her dad gets jilted at the altar, and Neelu sets off to help him chase down his runaway fiancée. “How can you go wrong with a summer road trip through the Scottish Highlands and a little romantic forced proximity with a grumpy bagpiper?” Center asks. Just a Highland Fling is out July 21.

Randi Null, the general manager of Brazos Bookstore, suggests poet Paige Lewis’s breakout novel, Canon, for which she’s already generating buzz. “It’s a contemporary odyssey and written partially in verse with a lot of other creative formatting, and is wholly unique and stands out in its originality,” Null says. “You have your classic themes of courage and sacrifice paired with a quick-witted voice as our main character, Yara, embarks on a journey to win God’s favor by slaying a Bad Guy. They’re paired with a disillusioned prophet, and the adventure is transformative and hilarious and truly unforgettable.”

Null also shouts out Emma Straub’s American Fantasy, released in April, and Kirsten King’s debut, A Good Person, released in March.

Sci-fi and fantasy fans should check out this eighth book in Matt Dinniman’s popular Dungeon Crawler Carl series. “It’s fast-paced, hilarious, and packed with action,” Null says. “Whether you’re already obsessed with the Dungeon Crawler series or just want a summer page-turner that’s equal parts absurd and thrilling, this is a great choice for all sci-fi and video game lovers.”

“It’s dark, atmospheric, and packed with suspense,” says Null. “The novel delivers the gripping storytelling Jewell is known for, with mounting tension and a mystery that keeps unraveling in unexpected ways. This is the kind of book you’ll race through in one sitting because you just have to know what happens next.”

We’re circling July 14 on our calendar. That’s when Ransom by Daniel Silva hits shelves. The latest in his Gabriel Allon series finds the former spy and art restorer entangled in a swirl of secrets and lies as he searches for a missing British socialite.

Krupa Parikh, deputy director of Inprint, oversees the literary organization’s Cool Brains! series, which brings together middle grade readers and the popular authors they love. Parikh says she’s spending the summer reading works
by Rex Ogle, who will be in Houston for a Cool Brains! appearance on September 13. But she always keeps an eye out for interesting middle grade reads, including Listen to the Girls by Chrystal D. Giles. “I’m always blown away by middle grade authors and their ability to tackle tough and timely subject matter in a heartwarming and inspiring way that speaks to kids,” Parikh says “This novel, which focuses on sexual harassment in a school, seems to do that and much more.”

Brown’s middle grade pick is The Aftermyth by Tracy Wolff, a retelling of several Greek myths with a feminist twist. “It has always bothered me the way the interpretations of myths often vilify women, and as we learn about them in middle school, that’s normalized,” Brown says. “I love having this to hand to those readers now.”

Summer, for me, means excitement and a fast-paced thrill. With nerds, drugs, and an internet cat-and-mouse chase, this nonfiction crime novel kept me on my toes for days. It might not be what people expect of a summer read, but for the grown-ups, American Kingpin was educational, adventurous, and full of twists and turns. (P.S., this is also a great read for hurricane season, when your power is knocked out!) —Erica Cheng

I started Stephen King’s seminal cosmic horror classic in the spring, but at 1,090 pages, it veered toward a summer read, too. A highly recommended beach book for people like me who can’t go to the beach because they roast to a crisp even after a lovely marinade in SPF 100. Derry, Maine, doesn’t sound too bad right about now. —Meredith Nudo

If any self-help book belongs in your beach bag this summer, it’s this one. Burkeman dismantles the toxic, productivity-obsessed advice that often dominates conversations about time management and replaces it with something more honest. How is your time actually most meaningfully spent, according to you? What will you do with what’s remaining of your estimated 4,000 weeks on this earth? In a world that rewards busyness over intention, this book asks you to slow down, sit with some uncomfortable questions, and build a life worth looking back on, which, sometimes, includes doing absolutely nothing at all. —Brittany Britto Garley