The streets are closed to cars for a couple of weekends during the summer, especially in Manhattan. People are outside, doing BBQs, crowding the city pools, finding every excuse to be anywhere but inside. The fire hydrant caps come off, and people get creative. Last year, someone filled an inflatable pool near a fire hydrant on TikTok, and it went everywhere, kids and adults making memories right there on a city block. Something you would only see in New York.
Abuela is already set up in her chair on the fire escape, watching the whole neighborhood with those eyes that miss nothing, storing it all up for the chisme she will definitely share later.
Mr. Softee rolls through with that music you hear before you see it. Citibikes weaving up streets with no cars to dodge. This is the best place to be when summer arrives.
And if you are heading to the beach, the pool, or anywhere with a chair and some shade, here are four reads that belong in your bag.
Yes, two of them are mine. The audacity, I know. But if you are heading to the beach this Memorial Day weekend and you have not started The Gift Series yet, this is your sign.
EMMA’S LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS | Book Two of The Gift Series releases June 2, 2026
If you love Ghost Whisperer meets The Sixth Sense, this one was made for you. Good versus evil. Emma had everything she worked for until an accident changed the course of it all. Her divine gifts went silent. Angel, her celestial guide, disappeared. The people closest to her started pulling away. And his ex is back, and she wants him back.
With the darkness closing in, will the one man she loves be enough to bring her back before everything she has is gone?
Emma’s Light In The Darkness: books2read.com/ELITD
SUMMER IN THE CITY | Alex Aster
A screenwriter. A tech CEO she cannot stand. New York City in the summer refuses to let either of them hide from themselves or each other. This one reads like a movie, and it is exactly the energy you want for a hot day anywhere near water. Fast, funny, charged with that specific feeling of a New York summer that makes everything feel possible.
Summer In The City: https://bookshop.org/lists/what-s-in-my-summer-beach-bag
THE WHIMSICAL GIFTS OF EMMA | Book One of The Gift Series
Emma is a psychic medium living in Queens, New York. Her family was bestowed with divine gifts of seeing, healing, and knowing, and more. Think Sally and Gillian Owens, same vibes, same family unity. Then she met Ryan, and fate stepped in.
Emma’s Pink Margarita recipe is in the back of the book. Make it this summer.
The Whimsical Gifts of Emma: books2read.com/TWGOE
PLAYING THE WITCH CARD | K.J. Dell’Antonia
Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic, which tells you everything you need to know. A woman who swore off magic comes home to find it was never done with her. Warm, funny, and witchy in the best possible way. The kind of beach read that makes you miss it when it is over.
Playing The Witchy Card: https://bookshop.org/lists/what-s-in-my-summer-beach-bag
Start with Book One this weekend. Book Two is out next Tuesday, and if you are still looking for a sign, then this is the series for you: Ghost Whisperer meets The Sixth Sense, set in New York City with a family of women who see what others cannot. Grab these today.
Drop your summer TBR in the comments. I want to see what you are reading.
