What’s the Buzz: 40 of the Best Summer Reads for 2022

Who doesn’t love a good caper novel? This one is about two Asian American women who decide to go global with their counterfeit handbag operation. Will they succeed or should they — wait for it — knock it off?

Mythology retellings have been so popular the last few years! There have been a ton of great ones, and here’s a new one to add to that list. It’s an epic reimagining of The Illiad, in which Achilles is a trans woman, and the gods are just as fickle and cruel as always.

Crosley, author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and The Clasp, returns with one of the most anticipated books of the year. It’s about a young woman named Lola, her past and current boyfriends, and the mysterious events that tie them all to her former boss, a magazine editor turned guru.

Fajardo-Anstine took the literary world by storm with her first book, the National Book Award finalist, Sabrina & Corina. Now she returns with this multigenerational saga about the Lopez family, an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West.

Han was just named one of the 5 Under 35 honorees by the National Book Foundation. This debut novel is about a Korean family living in Hawai’i in the months leading up to the nuclear missile false alarm in 2018.

Vercher’s first novel, Three-Fifths, was a critically acclaimed hit. His second is about a mixed-race MMA fighter suffering the beginnings of pugilistic dementia, who is offered a chance at a last-minute high-profile comeback fight.

In this YA romance, when a young woman replaces the high school football team’s quarterback after he dies, it shakes up the school. Jack’s teammates are angry about playing with a girl, and the cheerleading squad is upset about the change in tradition. Only cheerleader Amber thinks Jack is brave, and it’s possibly the start of something more.

The true identity of the author is a mystery, but the book is the first in an epic Dickensian fantasy series. It’s starts with a jaded detective who must get two children with special powers to safety in Victorian London as they are hunted by a man made of smoke.

This family saga is getting so much buzz! It’s about a woman named Lore whose secret second marriage is revealed when one husband murders the other. Will a reporter with secrets of her own get Lore to tell her story decades later?

Thirty years later, Tracy Flick of Election is getting a sequel! Life didn’t work out the way the high school overachiever expected. But she’s filled with a renewed purpose when she has a chance to become the principal.

In the fantastic fantasy novella, A Spindle Splintered, professional fairytale fixer, Zinnia Gray, helped Sleeping Beauty. This time around, she’s going to have to decide if she’s up for helping Snow White’s Evil Queen get a better ending to her story.

This is a dark comedy about a producer whose life is shattered in more than one way when a hurricane bears down on her home and she must figure out where to turn to for help.

The author of the critically acclaimed novels, Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation, returns with a historical fantasy about a motherless shepherd boy and a midwife with powers in a medieval fiefdom.

Summer reading isn’t complete without some chills and thrills! Sager’s newest offering is a tale of a widowed actress mourning in seclusion who thinks her neighbor has murdered his wife.

Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist, Ed Yong, returns with his first book since I Contain Multitudes. It’s a rare glimpse into our immense world as it is viewed by animals.

And this is a true crime book about…tree theft? That’s right, it sounds wild, but as you’ll learn in Bourgon’s book, tree theft is a billion dollar industry.

Johnson is one of my favorite writers, so I can’t wait for his new novel! It’s an allegory about a hidden human civilization, an upcoming election, and an invisible force.

Albert is back with her first YA novel since the conclusion of her exciting Hazelwood series! This one is a witchy supernatural thriller about a young woman, her mother, and the past.

This is the highly anticipated new collection by the award-winning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, featuring 12 stories about people on both sides of the law.

From the author of The Cabin at the End of the World and Survivor Song comes a new psychological thriller. It’s about a teen boy who makes friends with the coolest girl in school, only to discover she has a real morbid side. And she doesn’t appreciate him sharing her secrets.

This is one of the most highly anticipated story collections of the year! In 12 incendiary stories set in a Native community in Maine, Talty illustrates what it means to be Native in America in the 21st century.

From the author of the much-beloved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (soon to be a movie!) comes a tale that takes two childhood friends turned creative partners in the world of video game design through highs and lows from coast to coast.

If you loved the humor-horror blend of Kingfisher’s previous novels, The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones, then hold on to your butts, because this delivers more of that in a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher — plus fungi!

The author of the acclaimed novel, Family of Origin, returns with her first nonfiction collection. It’s a brilliant memoir-in-essays, starting with her time studying whooping cranes in Texas after calling off her wedding.

Sorry other books, but this is my favorite book of the summer! It’s a tender and surreal love story about a woman whose wife goes missing on a submarine expedition, and what happens when she returns.

This is the long-awaited follow-up to Okparanta’s debut novel, Under the Udala Trees. The title character grows up with racist parents in a small, racist town and dreams that life in New York City will be different. But when he arrives, he will have to confront his roots.

From the author of the highly acclaimed novel, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, comes a memoir/biography about the author’s family in Colombia and their otherworldly legacy.

Book Riot favorite, Moreno-Garcia, author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night, returns with a reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set in 19th century Mexico.

They’ve covered such fun things as outlaw librarians, clones, magic schools, and hippos! Now, Gailey is back with a scary tale of the daughter of a famous serial killer who returns to the home where he committed his crimes to care for her mother.

Literary champion and writer Fitzgerald shares the many stories of his life — from an unhappy home, to the streets of Boston, to bartending in San Francisco, to smuggling in Burma — as he seeks to find peace within himself.

The author of the marvelous Reese Witherspoon YA book club pick, Furia, is back with her first romance! When Nadia Palacio breaks up with her cheating fiancé just a month before her wedding, she decides to use her nonrefundable venue hall to throw herself a second quinceañera for her 30th birthday!

It has been nine years since Marra’s amazing debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, but it was worth the wait! This is an incredible tale of a woman at a Hollywood studio as America begins its entry into World War II.

Fans of The Feather Thief will be delighted to learn the author is back with more nonfiction. This one is the true story of struggling fishermen, racism and xenophobia, and environmental disaster on the Texas Gulf Coast in the 1970s.

From the acclaimed author of Exit West (soon to be a movie with Riz Ahmed!), comes a gripping reimagining of Kafka’s classic, The Metamorphosis, about a world where people’s skin begins to change color.

In Dopesick (recently released as a movie with Michael Keaton!), Macy covered the growing opioid epidemic in America. In her new book, she delves further into the repercussions of the crisis, but also offers stories of hope and justice.

From The New York Times best-selling author of the runaway hit, The Love Hypothesis, comes another “STEMinist romcom” in which a scientist is forced to work with her nemesis and hijinks ensue!

A dark historical fantasy from the author of The Poppy Wars? About students at Oxford University working in magic and translation? And it’s being compared to The Secret History and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? GIMME GIMME GIMME.

From one of the biggest authors of the last decade — The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six — comes a tale of a phenomenal tennis player looking to make a comeback, even though the world has written her off as past her prime.

Jimenez’s last novel, Vanished Birds, is a Book Riot favorite, so we are eagerly anticipating this new novel! It’s about two warriors and an ancient god who work together to try to bring about the end of a reign of terror from a royal family.

And last but not least: From the author of Rock, Paper, Scissors, comes this locked room mystery about a family reunion on an island cut off from civilization for eight hours that ends in murder. I have read this, and here is my one-word review: BANANAPANTS.