15 Books That Scary Mommy Editors Couldn’t Put Down In June 2026

*Releases July 7

I have been an Emily Giffin fan for as long as I can remember, and this one is already one of my most anticipated books of the summer. Billie is a doctor in New York, newly engaged to a wonderful man, when she gets a call from her first love out of nowhere, and everything she built starts to feel a lot more complicated. It's part love triangle, part story about ambition and identity and the pull of home, and readers are already calling it one of her best yet. I cannot wait to crack this one open. — Katie Garrity, News & Social Editor

If you are a romance reader who has ever made a mental list of your favorite tropes (and don't lie, you have), this book was written for you. It follows two childhood neighbors — connected by grief, reconnected by a ghostwriting job — who spend a summer at a reclusive author's Hamptons estate and watch every single romance trope they're writing come to life in real life. It's meta and slow burn and emotionally heavy in ways I did not see coming. Lauren Okie is officially an auto-read author for me after this. — Katie Garrity

This debut novel is a small, precise, gorgeous book about being 15 and best friends with two girls — one of whom you are slowly realizing you might be in love with. Set over one summer in suburban Ohio, it's about the rituals of girlhood (the borrowed clothes, the selfies, the Sims), and how one unexpected kiss can quietly unravel everything. Feldman writes teenage girlhood so accurately, it's weirdly comforting. — Katie Garrity

*Releases Sept. 15

The premise of this book — that a well-respected professor meets a crow she can communicate with telepathically — grabbed my interest immediately. Catherine is isolated and grieving the unexplained disappearance of her daughter five years prior when she meets the crow, who she calls Veronica. Through their relationship, she becomes unstuck in a really beautiful way. I think about being "over water" like once a week and will never forget the beauty of the metaphor. — Katie McPherson, Associate Editor, Lifestyle & Entertainment

I saw this book being recommended everywhere, and THEY WERE ALL RIGHT. If you like a book with yearning, this is hundreds of pages' worth. The story is heartbreaking and life-affirming and totally original. You will be thinking about the implications of this love story long after closing the book. — Katie McPherson

I will read anything Annabel Monaghan writes, but I particularly loved this book. Yes, it's a beach read, but it's also about growing up and relationships with your parents and (bonus) is set in a fictional town I wouldn't mind visiting. It's a great escape of a book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. — Kate Auletta, Editor in Chief

I will also read anything Carley Fortune writes. This book in particular made me want to cancel everything and go on a trip to Canada immediately. Fortune writes with such a clear vision of place, you can't help but be transported there. It's a lovely book; I highly recommend. — Kate Auletta

This one has everything: a centuries-old pirate treasure hunt, a second-chance romance, and a young daughter named Punkin who honestly might be the best character of the summer. Lucy returns to Winthrop Island as a widow to settle her estranged father's affairs and walks right into a mountain of debt and Ben Ressler, the boy she fell for as a teenager, waiting in the caretaker's lodge. The dual timeline weaving in a wounded 1717 pirate adds just enough mystery to keep you hooked between the love story. I was not putting this one down. — Katie Garrity

Do you like a messy, gossipy book about a group of friends in the city? Then you will LOVE this read by one of my favorite working writers, Nikki May. This fast-paced novel follows a group of three close-knit women who all share a history that blends England and Nigeria. When a new woman joins the group, everything starts to go haywire, but no one can quite figure out why. This also has a touch of mystery in it, and I couldn't get enough. — Sarah Aswell, Deputy Editor, News & Social

Are you looking for a really atmospheric, gothic read that explores the mysteries of the natural world? This novel is about a boy who needed a playmate, so his older sister creates him a strange half-girl, half-creature made out of nature. He falls in love with her and then becomes obsessed — and soon things are less cute and more Frankenstein-y. This is both beautiful and creepy. — Sarah Aswell

This book is a literal boatload of fun. It follows several perspectives of people who are all on a boy-band cruise — a divorcee trying to find a new start, the woman in charge of keeping the show together, and one of the boy-band members who badly needs a new direction (see what I did there?). I loved just living in this world — the details are so fun, and the story is the perfect amount of light and breezy for a summer beach read. — Sarah Aswell

What if aliens had contacted us in 1980 from across the universe? That's the premise of this odd book, which is 90% family drama and 10% speculative fiction. The alients take a backseat to the lives of the family we follow, but they also change history in significant ways. I was engaged throughout this book, and the ending is really satisfying. — Sarah Aswell

Mai Nguyen wrote her first book, Sunshine Nails, and then suffered an unthinkable loss. Her first child died just four days after being born due to birth complications. As she mourned this huge loss, she started writing her second book, which is about a mother much like her. For a book about child loss, though, this read is surprisingly funny, warm, and uplifting, even as it goes deep about how grief feels and how long it lasts (spoiler: forever). — Sarah Aswell

This book has such an original voice and story, and I was drawn in immediately. Part Sapphic obsession, part mystery, part family drama, this Irish novel is moody and dark and intriguing from start to finish. A family moves to a new town, but they don't want to talk at all about where they're from or why they left... but the story slowly comes out as each family member struggles with the part they played in the matter. I can't wait to go back and read this author's first book, Sunburn. — Sarah Aswell, Deputy Editor, News & Social

OK, let me fully disclose my local-author bias right up front: Chassity Evans is a Charleston girl, like me, and I’m a total sucker for local authors. Pink Sand Summer is just as dreamy as its cover would have you believe — it drops you onto the famous pink sand beaches of Harbour Island in the Bahamas alongside Lucy, an artist who has inherited her Gran’s island home. While trying to recapture some of her passion for painting, she also stumbles upon another potential passion: a handsome new man. The only hitch? Her first love is also back in Harbour Island, and things are bound to get complicated. — Julie Sprankles, Deputy Editor, Lifestyle & Entertainment