Hi book lovers,

Vol. 2 of the Summer Reading Guide is here, and it’s bigger and hotter than last year.

Last year I wrote this guide fully pregnant in my third trimester. This year, while I have less time and am possibly equally exhausted in a completely different way, I do have a glass of wine in hand, which I maintain makes all the difference.

The proof is in the numbers. This year’s guide clocks in at more than 100 book recommendations across eight sections, which is considerably more than last year and entirely the wine’s fault.

In this edition you’ll find:

By the Water for coastal and lake fiction with settings good enough to make you homesick for a place you’ve never been.

Messy in the Hamptons for wealth, secrets, and people behaving badly.

Hot, Humid & Psycho for psychological thrillers and twisted fiction when you want to feel genuinely unsettled.

Wet & Wild for steamy romances and books you’ll finish in one sitting.

Crazy, Stupid, Love for love stories worth losing sleep over, though a happily-ever-after is not always guaranteed.

Summer in Time for when you want to spend summer not only in a different place but in a different era. The books span the 1930s through the 2000s, and no, I am still not over the fact that the ‘90s count as historical fiction.

Read It First is your prep list for the biggest adaptations out now and hitting screens this summer.

And finally, the Book Bucket List is for anyone who’s ever thought, “I wish I had a book recommendation for this exact activity.”

Below you’ll find:

• The flippable magazine, which remains my favorite way to consume the guide.

  Flippable Magazine

• A downloadable PDF if you’d like to print it out and circle books like it’s a 1990s holiday catalog. I will admit the text is easier to read in the PDF, but I am a sucker for the magazine page swoosh.

  Download the PDF

• The bones of the guide: every book and Goodreads link organized by mood (as featured in the magazine), by genre (you traditionalist, you), and by release date so you can get your holds and preorders in ASAP.

• My personal summer TBR.

  Sweet Treats & Book Reads

  The Summer Stack

  Hi Book Lovers…

  Read more

  a month ago · 17 likes · Sweet Treats & Book Reads

Keep the pages turning,

It’s here. Finally.
The Summer Reading Guide I’ve been teasing (read: overthinking) has officially landed. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But if I waited for perfect, you’d be flipping through this in a sweater with a PSL in hand.

Remember those school-issued summer reading lists? The ones that hung over your head all summer while you read literally everything else? Yeah—this is not that.

And I get it. You’re probably thinking, Not another summer reading list. Totally fair—my feed is overflowing too.

But this isn’t a regular guide. It’s a vibe guide.

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Welcome to Shelf Indulgence—a seasonal magazine built for mood readers and vibe chasers. This isn’t about hitting the literary canon. It’s about picking your next read based on how you want to feel—sun-drenched, spooked, swept away, or all of the above.

Inside Volume One, you’ll find:

📚 A featured book for each vibe—favorites I keep thinking about.

🧁 Cupcakes to match (yes, with recipes!)

🎶 Playlists to set the tone.

🕯️Candle recs for the atmosphere

💬 Favorite quotes worth underlining.

📖 My own (highly unrealistic) summer TBR

Most of these books were published in 2024 or earlier, which means you’ll likely find them at your library, on Libby, secondhand, or even on KU.

So go ahead—consider this your unofficial summer syllabus and a completely valid excuse to ignore your to-do list: “Sorry, I have to finish my summer reading” is the new mantra.

You can download it or flip through digitally—both are free. (And if you go digital, the playlists and recipes are just a click away.)

View the Summer Reading Guide

Summer Reading Guide

474MB ∙ PDF file

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Download

Now tell me... which vibe is calling your name?

Happy reading,

P.S. No judgment if you just came for the cupcakes.

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