Pick Your Summer Romance Trope | Best of 2026
What’s your perfect summer romance trope? Take the quiz and find your perfect 2026 beach read — fake dating, enemies to lovers, second chance, or grumpy/sunshine.
Summer 2026 romance is looking fantastic for those of us who LOVE a good romance trope. You know, the trope that has that specific FEELING you love in a book: the moment that fake dating turns real, the sparks flying across a room during a rivals to lovers book, the quiet devastation of running into the person you never really got over.
The quiz below will match you to your summer romance trope in five questions. Answer honestly (or answer as your summer romance fantasy self). Then scroll down for the full reading list, sorted by exactly what you’re craving.
Summer Romance Trope Quiz: Let’s Go!
Pick Your Summer Romance Trope
Summer 2026 romance is stacked — no matter what your reading personality looks like. Fake dating on the Jersey Shore. Storm-chasing enemies who can’t stay away from each other. Second chances on New England islands. Reluctant grumpy heroes who don’t stand a chance. The only question is: which trope is calling your name?
Take the quiz to find out — then scroll down for all the reads, sorted by exactly what you’re craving this summer.
What’s Your Summer Romance Trope?
5 questions · find your trope + your perfect summer read
Browse All the Summer Reads by Trope
Not a quiz person? No problem. Find your trope and dive in.
Fake Dating
“Pretending to be in love… until it isn’t pretend.”
Enemies to Lovers
“They can’t stand each other. They can’t stop noticing each other.”
Second Chance
“Love that survived time, distance, and terrible timing.”
Grumpy / Sunshine
“One of them is warm. The other is working very hard not to notice.”
BOOK LISTS BY SUMMER ROMANCE TROPE
💛 Fake Dating Summer Romances 2026
Pretending to be in love. But then it all gets real.
If you're a fake-dating reader, you already know the move: someone says yes to a plan they absolutely should not say yes to, and then the whole summer becomes a very complicated performance with feelings they didn't budget for. These four 2026 summer romances have the best setups of the season.
Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan · May 26
Monaghan (Same Time Next Summer, Nora Goes Off Script) delivers another funny and warm-hearted rom-com. In a Rhode Island beach town, a single mom navigates a fake relationship that gets unexpectedly, beautifully real.
Tropes: Fake dating · Single mom finds love · Rhode Island beach town
The Shippers by Katherine Center · May 19
The Shippers is a friends to lovers meets destination wedding cruise, with a little fake-dating thrown in. I am so on board (#sorrynotsorry for the pun) to read this one.
Tropes: Friends to lovers · Fake dating energy · Destination wedding cruise
The Summer Girlfriend by Kristina Forest · June 9 · Heart Beach #1
A working-class woman is hired to pose as an heir's girlfriend at his family's New Jersey beach house for the summer. Class dynamics, a beautiful beach setting, and fake feelings that refuse to stay fake. Everything you want from a summer fake-dating setup!
Tropes: Fake dating · Class dynamics · NJ beach house · Series opener
Good at Being Alive by Elizabeth O'Roark · June 16
Two colleagues are forced to embark on an entire fake European honeymoon to save a family business. Yes, really. This is the most gloriously high-concept fake-dating premise of the season: gorgeous European backdrops, real stakes, and feelings that are absolutely not going to stay in their lane.
Tropes: Fake dating · Fake European honeymoon · Workplace setup
🔥 Enemies-to-Lovers Summer Romances 2026
They can't stand each other. They can't stay away from each other.
Enemies-to-lovers readers know what they're here for: two people orbiting each other at high friction until something gives. The best ones make the antagonism feel earned, not petty. These four 2026 summer romances deliver ALL the hate-to-love sparks.
Chase Me If You Can by Heather Frances · June 23 · Debut
Two storm-chasing frenemies forced together for a competition across an entire tornado season. Open-road energy, electric chemistry, and a debut already earning Twisters comparisons. The most adrenaline-packed romance on this list — and one of the most exciting debuts of the summer.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers · Forced proximity · Storm chasing road trip · Debut
Love on the Shelf by Sheila Roberts · May 26
A romance bookstore owner vs. a book-bashing shock jock. This is the most delicious enemies-to-lovers setup of the summer — set in a bookish Seattle summer that sounds absolutely ideal. The people who love this book are going to love this book.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers · Bookstore owner vs. shock jock · Summer in Seattle
Crazy Scripted Love by Elizabeth Drummond · June 2
Hate-to-love romance on a Hollywood film set. Creative chaos, sharp banter, and summer in the city for readers who want their romance with a side of glamour and a lot of friction.
Tropes: Hate-to-love · Workplace romance · Film set
🌊 Second Chance Summer Romances 2026
Love that fell apart because ... reasons. But true love always finds a way!
Second chance romance is a long game. There's always something that almost happened, or did happen and then ended, or was never quite said. The best second chance reads earn the reunion. These four 2026 books make you feel every year in between.
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune · May 5
A best-friends-forced-to-face-their-feelings story set in a paradise getaway with a heartbreaking deadline. If you loved Every Summer After, this is your book of the season. It releases May 5 — get it immediately.
Tropes: Childhood friends to lovers · Forced proximity · Paradise getaway with a deadline
Score by Kennedy Ryan : May 19
Talented screenwriter Verity Hall never got over the passionate college romance she had with Wright "Monk" Bellamy. But that was a decade ago, and now the two of them have been hired to work together on a Harlem Renaissance-era biopic. Verity is writing, while Monk is composing the score.
Tropes: Second chance : Hollywood setting : Book two in the Hollywood Renaissance series.
Have a Great Summer by Francesca Cocchi · May 26 · Debut
Jersey Shore nostalgia, millennial throwbacks, and a dual-timeline reunion with the one that got away. Comped to Annabel Monaghan, Carley Fortune, and Emily Henry — and this debut earns every one of those comparisons. Practically drips with sunscreen and summer feeling.
Tropes: Second chance · Dual timeline · Jersey Shore boardwalk nostalgia · Debut
When You Loved Me by Beatriz Williams · June 23
A treasure hunt and a second chance on a New England island estate, woven through with pirate history, sandy atmosphere, and genuine emotional depth. Beatriz Williams at her most sweeping — for readers who want their summer romance to feel a little like an adventure and a lot like a love story.
Tropes: Second chance · Dual timeline · Treasure hunt · New England island estate
Star Crossed Summer by Devon Daniels · July 7
A celebrity reunion in the beachside town where it all began. Hollywood nostalgia, sizzling second-chance energy, and a summer setting that makes everything feel like it was always going to happen this way. Perfect for late July when you want something you can finish in one beach afternoon.
Tropes: Second chance · Celebrity romance · Beachside filming location
☀️ Grumpy/Sunshine Summer Romances 2026
One of them is warm, fuzzy, ridiculously cheerful. The other is annoyed but working very hard not to melt.
Grumpy/sunshine romance is all about the moment when someone who has built walls realizes those walls are crumbling before their eyes. The best versions make you root for the grumpy one harder than you expected (unless you are the grumpy one in real life!)
Fever Dream by Elsie Silver · May 19 · Emerald Lake #1
Elsie Silver launches a new series with a bull rider on a reality dating show and a rivals-to-lovers slow burn that promises all the grumpy/sunshine chaos her fans love. Chestnut Springs readers are going to be very, very happy. This is the series opener — get in early.
Tropes: Rivals to lovers · Reality TV romance · Grumpy/sunshine · Series opener
Book Club Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday · July 28
A grumpy writer, a sunny producer, a California pool house, and a second-act romance for protagonists who've earned everything that's coming to them. Warm, witty, and deeply satisfying — for readers who want their grumpy/sunshine with older protagonists and a Hollywood setting.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers · Grumpy writer/sunny producer · Forced proximity · Pool house
Rules for the Summer by Meghan Quinn · May 5
Practical meets posh in a quaint seaside candy shop. Neighbors, forced proximity, and the kind of rom-com chaos that makes you grin at your book on the beach. Sun-drenched small-town grumpy/sunshine at its most fun.
Tropes: Neighbors · Opposites attract · Grumpy/sunshine · Seaside small town
Which trope did you get? Tell me in the comments. If there's a 2026 summer romance I missed that belongs on this list, drop it there too.
More summer romance reading:
- My Master Summer Romance 2026 Post - all the summer books in one place!
- My Find Your Summer Adventure quiz!
- Grab My Summer Romance Reading Guide with a checklist of ALL the summer romances I could find, plus a bingo card, a coloring reading tracker and more!
