Spicy Summer Reading Recommendations

The heat is turning up, and I am not talking about the temperature.  I am talking about turning this season into HOT GIRL SUMMER with the constant page turners of “spicy novels”.

In this blog – I’m revealing my favorite authors, books, and series just in time for your summer vacation (or your nightly escape).

I started reading romance novels when I was a young girl.  The first series I remember reading was the Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal.  These books were about the twin teens with the opposite personalities and all the normal high school drama.  Special note: I read these back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

After I outgrew those books – I started reading my mom’s Danielle Steel novels.  I continued this trend until college and then I was too busy with school and partying LOL.

I picked up fictional reading again after college. I dabbled in other genres and steered away from romance.  But that all changed in 2008, when I was introduced to the naughty books known as 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James.  OMG -these books were so spicy – I even had to Google some of the “toys” used in these books.  It was quite an eye opener for me.  Now I will tell you this – I really did like these books – there really was a plot line and not just hot sex scenes.  But the movies were tragically horrible and not recommended (but that’s typical).

After this series I jumped back into drama, suspense and even YM (young audience) books.

When I was introduced to reading with a Kindle – I joined Kindle Unlimited and then I started to read romance novels that were recommended to me via the app.  And this is where I fell back in love with romance novels.

Here is a list of current romance authors and the books/series I would recommend to anyone wanting to get lost in a good love story.

Meghan Quinn  

I LOVE her writing.  She has great banter with her characters – and lots of funny scenes.  I have literally laughed out loud at some of her clumsy situations.  Some books are sexier than others but all have humor, romance and happy endings. Here are my top series from Meghan Quinn:

Brentwood Boys series  –  She writes about a successful college baseball program and the professional players’ roads to success.  Each book follows a different player from their younger days to their professional dilemmas.

Dating by Numbers series – These books are basically stand alone but some of the characters make appearances in each other’s books.

The Bromance Club series – These are about three best friends and each book highlights one main character and while stand alone – they are designed to follow the series.  

Colleen Hoover

OMG is all I can say about these books.  Colleen Hoover has been my quiet obsession since all my friends were reading her books last summer – the first book I was told to read was Verity.  This book can be described as a romance thriller… but “holy ending batman”.  Every book I have read is written with a mixture of passion and pain.  I think I have cried with all of these books (and swooned).

I am going to rank the books I have read (some were audio books) but know that ALL of them were good and I recommend them all.

1. Ugly Love
2. It Ends with Us
3. November 9
4. Verity
5. Regretting You
6. Layla
7. Reminder of Him
8. Heart Bones    

Lauren Landish

These books tend to have some spicier scenes and some of her series actually have an element of suspense to them – like kidnapping/rescue elements.  Here are my top series from Lauren Landish.

A Dirty Fairy Tale series – This series has a “princess and beast” vibe – like badboy billionaires and even an assassin character.

The Big Fat Fake series  – This series was just too cute – but also very hot.

These are just a few of the books that I have read and loved.  Each of these authors have dozens more for your reading enjoyment.   If/when you read these books – I’d love to hear your opinions.  Let’s chat!

Happy, spicy reading.