We're both staying very still in front of air conditioners this week, so that means we're very very happy to have a pile of summer reads at the ready! We're teeing up your piles of summer reads this week with our quarterly romance roundup! As a reminder, we haven't read most of these books -- but they're the ones toppling our TBR! As a reminder, preorders mean a lot more than they should these days, so if there's anything on this list that makes you go "oh, yes. that's for me," and you're able to preorder from your local bookstore (or from Pocket Books Bookshop with the code PREORDER) or reserve at your local library. The authors on this list thank you.

As a reminder, Sarah has a new book out on July 8th -- go see her on tour in NYC, Chicago, Winston-Salem, NC, Newport, RI, Cambridge, MA, Decatur, GA, or Franklin, IN. There are a handful of tickets still available for Fated Mates Live in St. Louis, MO on July 8th! Join us!

If you can't make the tour, you can preorder These Summer Storms signed with a special romance dust jacket from The Ripped Bodice.

If you want more Fated Mates in your life, please join our Patreon, which comes with an extremely busy and fun Discord community! Join other magnificent firebirds to hang out, talk romance, and be cool together in a private group full of excellent people. Learn more at patreon.com.

The Books

June

• When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa
• Best Summer Ever by Jessica Cunsolo
• Keeping the Countess by Lille Moore
• An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating by Ceclia Edwards
• Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino
• Party of Three by C. Travis Rice
• Eliza and the Duke by Harper St. George
• Steel Horses & Leather Roads by Cher Terais

July 

• These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
• Enemies with an Earl by Lizzie C. Koz
• The Summer You Were Mine by Jill Francis
• Give Me a Reason by Jayci Lee
• Behind Frenemy Lines by Zen Cho
• How Freaking Romantic by Emily Harding
• One More Time by Emily S. Morris
• Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman
• Love is a War Song by Danica Nava
• August Lane by Regina Black
• Only Lovers in the Building by Nadine Gonzalez
• Sweet Thing by Kate Meader
• Bad Luck Bride by Laura Lee Guhrke
• Scotch on the Rocks by Elliot Fletcher
• Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods
• Not Part of the Plan by Lucy Score
• Soulgazer by Maggie Rapier
• The Great Misfortune of Stella Sedgwick by S. Isabelle
• Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by CB Lee
• A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan 

August 

• Heart Strings by Ivy Fairbanks
• A Promise of Forever by Sheryl Lister
• The Sea Witch by Eva Leigh
• His Forgotten Wife by Tara Pammi
• You’ve Got a Place Here, Too: An Anthology of Black Love Stories Set at HBCUs
• The Fortune Hunter’s Guide to Love by Emma-Claire Sunday
• My Big Fat Vampire Wedding  by Jessica Gadziala
• Zom Romcom by Olivia Dade
• Kiss & Collide by Amanda Weaver
• The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe
• Here For a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War
• The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch
• Love is an Open Book by Chandra Blumberg
• Gabriela and His Grace by Liana De La Rosa
• Once Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley Jordan
• A Waltz on the Wide Side by Erica Ridley
• My Best Friend’s Earl by Bethany Bennett

September

• Time for You by Elizabeth Davis
• By the Horns by Ruby Dixon
• It Had to be Him by Adib Khorram
• Dead Poet Sorority by Sofia Shelley
• The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson 
• The Princess and the P.I. by Nikki Payne 
• Tracing Her Stolen Identity by Katie Mettner
• To Heist and to Hold by Christina Britton
• Honey and Heat by Aurora Palit
• We Met Like This by Kasie West
• Scoundrel, Take Me Away by Louisa Darling
• Charlie Quinn Lets Go by Jamie Varon
• Mourner for Hire by Caitlin Moss
• Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola

Sponsors

• Pocket Books Bookshop, a feminist, antiracist, queer owned bookshop in Lancaster, PA. Preorder any upcoming book from their website and use the code PREORDER for 15% off! Get These Summer Storms signed by Sarah from them.
• Kay K. Denner, author of Again, Scoundrel, available in ebook from Amazon.
• Kara Kentley, author of Another Summer, available in print or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
• Lumi Gummies, THC gummies available nationwide. Go to Lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2025/6/21/0740-hot-summer-reads
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

00:00 Opening the Book Hydrant

11:33 June

21:24 AD: ANOTHER SUMMER

23:38 July

42:34 AD: POCKET BOOKS

44:41 More July!

55:31 AD: AGAIN SCOUNDREL

57:36 August

1:20:03 AD: LUMI GUMMIES

1:22:08 More August!

1:32:07 September

1:58:16 undefined