The 20 Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020

When college student Heddy Winsome leaves Brooklyn to become a nanny for a wealthy family living in Martha’s Vineyard, she has no idea the journey that lies ahead of her. Adjusting to her new life and admiring the couple who has hired her, she’s thrown for a loop when her scholarship is revoked and she’s unable to return to school. Now determined to make a name for herself on the lavish Massachusetts island, it’s not long before she realizes that despite the wealth and name recognition of those in Martha’s Vineyard, no one is truly happy. 

Release date: May 5, 2020 

To buy: target.com, $27

Growing up in a small community in the South, twin sisters Stella and Desiree always dreamed of getting out and going somewhere else. At 16, the two girls hatch a plan to run away and never return. Over a decade after going their separate ways, the sisters find their lives intertwining again. With one sister doing her best to pass as white and the other embracing her culture and teaching it to her black daughter, the two have changed in major ways, and when they’re brought back together, they’ll learn the true strength of family.

Release date: June 2, 2020

To buy: target.com, $17

A novel for classic literature fans, "The Jane Austen Society" tells the story of a group of people brought together by their love of books. In the small English village of Chawton, which the notable Jane Austen called her final home, a group of unlikely locals put aside their differences to preserve the late novelist’s legacy. On the heels of World War II and with the last of Austen’s legacy at risk, these divergent strangers come together and focus on the single thing they have in common to create the Jane Austen Society, finding hope and healing along the way.

Release date: May 26, 2020

To buy: target.com, $28

During World War II, Eva Traube Abrams did everything in her power to preserve the identities of young Jewish children she helped smuggle out of France. Now, Eva is a semi-retired librarian in Florida who is floored when, one night while watching the news, she sees an image of the book she used to keep those Jewish children's names in, "The Book of Lost Names." The only one able to interpret the code she used on the pages of the book, she’ll have to decide whether or not to come forward about what it all means.

Release date: July 21, 2020

To buy: target.com, $28

Nora, Christina, and Leanne never had much in common except their friendship with Molly. But when Molly passes away, she makes one final request in the hopes of keeping her three best friends together: Have brunch together once a month for a year. Throughout the next year, the three women will come together and learn how to use humor and heart to get through the difficult and confusing moments in life. This fiction novel is an inspiring and fun read for the beach.

Release date: May 5, 2020

To buy: barnesandnoble.com, $17

Moving to L.A. to open her own law firm, Olivia Monroe is not interested in finding a relationship. But then she meets junior senator Max Powell. Embarking on a secret relationship to avoid scrutiny from the press, they spend their time wearing disguises and hiding out from the public. After some time, Olivia and Max decide to take their relationship public, and when they do, all their hopes of avoiding scrutiny go out the window. Caught between this new chance at love and her career, Olivia will have to decide if their relationship is worth the risk.

Release date: June 23, 2020

To buy: target.com, $26

Murphy Shepherd has always dedicated himself to helping anyone who needs him. Living a fairly mundane existence, everything changes when Murphy rescues a woman, Summer, from Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. Quickly, Murphy learns that Summer’s daughter is missing and the two set out to find the girl. With the help of a few new friends and a Labrador, Murphy starts to find the piece of himself that was missing, despite the fact that this dangerous mission will force him to get involved in the dark world of modern-day slavery.  

Release date: May 5, 2020

To buy: target.com, $18

At 18-years-old, the protagonist of "Pizza Girl" finds herself pregnant and delivering pizzas for a living. Doing her best to deal with the recent death of her father and ignoring her mother and supportive boyfriend, she is on a mission to avoid her future and find something to distract herself. She becomes obsessed with Jenny, a stay-at-home mom who she regularly delivers pizza to, and the two women begin to bond and rely on each other in ways they hadn’t expected. 

Release date: June 9, 2020

To buy: target.com, $25

Aspiring actress Vivi is just about to hook the role that will launch her career into stardom when she’s sent back to New York to do a favor for her boss. At the same time, journalist Max finds herself booted from her job at The New York Times and relying on her new position working for the World’s Fair daily paper. While meeting one another was never a part of the plan, it doesn’t take long before Vivi and Max are leaning on one another during a rather turbulent and unexpected chapter of their lives.

Release date: June 16, 2020

To buy: target.com, $17

Having spent almost two decades in New York City, Elisabeth is trying her best to adjust to the small-town life she now leads. Juggling her career and the life of a new mom, she soon hires Sam, a college student, to help her take care of her son. As the two women grow close, they begin to bond over their chaotic lives and the uncertainty of their futures. But all of that comes crashing down when Elisabeth learns of the relationship Sam has formed with her father-in-law, exposing the true differences between them.

Release date: June 30, 2020

To buy: target.com, $28

Zoe Fairchild hasn’t been back to the place she grew up in years, but when she learns that her old friend has gone missing, she and her daughter head back to the town, desperate to find her. Forced to reconnect with her mother, grandmother, and an ex-boyfriend who she once betrayed, Zoe will be confronted by numerous ghosts from her past. When another woman in the village suffers a sudden tragic event, the four Fairchild women find themselves facing new dangers that will force them to come together as a family for the first time in years.

Release date: July 14, 2020

To buy: barnesandnoble.com, $11

Twenty-five years ago, Maggie Holt put the horrific family home she grew up in, Baneberry Hall, behind her. After leaving, her father struck literary gold by writing nonfiction books about their haunted house in Vermont, making their experience a well-known ghost story. A skeptic of the events that occurred in the home, Maggie’s not afraid to return to the place when her father dies, determined to fix it up and sell it. But returning to the town means being met with hostility from her neighbors and unexplainable occurrences within the walls of Baneberry Hall. 

Release date: June 30, 2020

To buy: target.com, $25

Tired of being undermined, three talented athletes prepare to show the world how strong women can really be in "Fast Girls," a book inspired by true events. Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens have all faced hardships, but the promise of competing in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin keeps them focused on one thing: being crowned the fastest women in the world. With intensifying politics surrounding the Olympic Games, these three women prepare to defy society’s expectations and unite their country through the love of competition. 

Release date: July 7, 2020

To buy: barnesandnoble.com, $17

Danika Brown has her eye on security guard Zafir Ansari and doesn’t want anything more than a casual fling. But when someone publishes a heroic video of Zaf rescuing Dani, the two decide that there’s not much harm in playing into the world’s love for them and faking a relationship. But things begin to get complicated as Dani finds herself falling for Zaf in ways she never had before. While Zaf tries to convince Dani how powerful love can really be, Dani does her best to chip away at the walls Zaf can’t seem to let down.  

Release date: June 23, 2020

To buy: target.com, $16

Alexandra Van Ness lives a quaint life in the Rocky Mountains with her boyfriend, spending her days working in child protection. But all of that is disrupted when her estranged sister, Ruth, shows up at her front door in need of help. Against her better judgment, Alex decides to help her sister as long as they promise not to talk about the tragic secrets from their past. As much as the sisters want to ignore their former trauma, they’re forced to revisit it all when they find out a local child is in serious danger.

Release date: July 7, 2020

To buy: target.com, $27

Soap opera star Jasmine Lin Rodriguez is just rebounding from a horrible public breakup when she lands the role of a lifetime. Upon going back home to New York City to begin shooting the bilingual romantic comedy, things get chaotic when her first meeting with her co-star Ashton goes awry. Trying to generate chemistry, Jasmine and Ashton begin running lines in private and before long, they find themselves falling for one another. But just when their professional careers take off, Jasmine’s image is threatened once again and Ashton’s darkest secrets are brought to light.

Release date: July 7, 2020

To buy: target.com, $16

When Charlie Besson interviewed for a job working for famous actress Kathi Kannon, he never imagined the ways in which it would change his life. Becoming an essential part of Kathi’s life, Charlie gets swept up into her glamorous Hollywood antics and the perks of being surrounded by such influential people. But as much as Charlie loves his new job, it makes him wonder what his future holds and whether or not he’ll ever be able to find his own stardom and success.

Release date: July 28, 2020

To buy: target.com, $27

Linda has just moved to São Paulo with her husband, due to his new job. But while her husband spends his days working, Linda finds herself struggling to do something worthwhile with her time. It’s not until she bonds with her maid, Marta, that things begin to turn around. While they both try to make sense of the world around them, they find that their friendship is exactly what they both needed. And when Linda decides to run away with a reckless artist, the two women find themselves even more ensnared in each other’s lives than they were before. 

Release date: June 30, 2020

To buy: target.com, $27

Extremely down on her luck, Emily Proudman believes her prayers have been answered when CEO and family man Scott Denny offers her a job as a housekeeper on his remote French estate. Falling into their extravagant lifestyle and becoming an important part of their home life, Emily begins to feel like she has found the perfect new beginning — until it all falls apart. Discovering the couple's darkest secrets, Emily will have to play along with their wicked game or face deadly consequences. 

Release date: July 14, 2020

To buy: barnesandnoble.com, $27

Ryan Francis has the perfect life, spending his carefree days posting on social media about all of his success and happiness. When his friend, Blake, asks him to help him break into a woman’s home to hide evidence of an affair, Ryan is hesitant. But after a vague threat from Blake, he decides to help his friend out. Much to Ryan’s dismay, when he enters the woman’s home, he finds her dead and is forced to question why his friend would set him up for murder. In order to clear his name and keep his life together, Ryan must find the true killer and prove his innocence.

Release date: June 30, 2020

To buy: target.com, $16