We spend our summers in a trance: under the sweltering sun rays, with sand grazing our skin, the river gliding between our toes, and the crackling of a campfire and chorus of crickets humming in the background, all while our minds wander in a book.
Whether you love love, in all its forms and nuances, or crave something darker and titillating, you’ll find your perfect summer novel in this list.
If you choose love: explore queer, familial, platonic and romantic love, historical loves re-imagined, and our bonds to pets.
If you choose blood: trail along murder mysteries teeming with suspense, and find books that intersect in the middle of love, suffering, loss, and endurance.
Murder, mystery, and troubles
A False and Fatal Claim by Iona Whishaw (Touchwood Editions)
Lane Winslow is known in her idyllic British Columbia laketown of King’s Cove for a bad habit of finding dead bodies. This time, all she’s found is a suspiciously well-made hat abandoned in the brush, but she’s certain there’s a mystery afoot.
Out now
Most Grievous Fault by Meg Todd (Nightwood Editions)
A startling story of a young mother desperate to deny her complicity in intergenerational trauma. Twenty-nine-year-old Crystal Constantine is a single parent who cannot see beyond the piles of bills, the threat of eviction, the weight of her past and the relentless needs of her teenage daughter Becky. Through unflinching and unsentimental prose, Meg Todd delivers a story about being inescapably marginalized and the complexities of the social welfare system.
Out now
Guns Across the River by Sam Wiebe (Harbour Publishing)
Sam Wiebe’s gripping sixth Wakeland novel delivers a taut, atmospheric mystery that dives into corruption, crime and family secrets deeply rooted in Vancouver’s underworld. On a dark night in False Creek, a distraught young woman jumps from the Granville Bridge. PI Dave Wakeland rescues Nicola Havoc from the water. Yet what seems like attempted suicide is even more sinister: Nicola is running away from someone. But who?
Out now
Midnight at the Savoy by Ron Base (Douglas & McIntyre)
The fifth instalment in the Priscilla Tempest mystery series, set in the glamorous world of 1960s London high society. It’s midnight at the Savoy Hotel, and the doorman notices a Rolls-Royce parked in a spot where it shouldn’t be. In the back seat is a man who is, most regrettably, dead—clutching a love note addressed to a woman named… Priscilla. Could this be Miss Tempest, the feisty, trouble-prone Canadian who heads the Savoy’s press office?
Out now
Sugar Crash by Melinda Di Lorenzo (Orca Book Publishers)
When diabetic teen Zoe accepts a ride to a school camp from her former best friend things turn potentially deadly when a crash sends them flying off a remote mountain road. Worse, Zoe’s insulin goes missing in the crash. Now the estranged pair need to band together to find their way to safety.
A realistic portrayal of a determined teen with type 1 diabetes by an author with T1D.
Out now
When the World was Twice as Big by Aaron Cully Drake (Harbour Publishing)
Through witty and heartfelt prose, Drake returns to characters Freddy and Saskia from his novel Do You Think This Is Strange? and explores the trap of false narratives, the complexity of family secrets and the hope found in a world of honed truths.
Out now
Trust No One by Karen Bass (Orca Book Publishers)
Ben unexpectedly becomes an accomplice to a crime when his date, Abigail, robs a store and makes him the getaway driver. Abigail disappears with the money and Ben has to track her down and clear his name before it’s too late.
This fast-paced chase story will leave readers in suspense and appeal to those who enjoy stories about crime and law enforcement.
Age: young adult
Out now
Love
ISAAC by Curtis Garner (Arsenal Pulp Press)
A kaleidoscopic, intimate coming-of-age novel of modern queer life.
Set in London across a single, life-altering summer, Curtis Garner’s debut novel, Isaac, is a queer story for our digital age, offering new perspectives on desire and intimacy, adolescent obsession, and dangerous first love.
Out now
Islanders by Adrick Brock (Harbour Publishing)
Inhabiting the world of Toronto Island in vivid detail, Islanders captures the ache of isolation and belonging amidst the rare backdrop of one of Canada’s most unusual neighbourhoods.
Coming this fall
Sirens by Joseph Kertes (Stonehewer Books)
Hiding in a coffin beneath barn floorboards, a sixteen-year-old Roma boy named Gabriel evades Bulgarian and German marauders in wartime Greece. Phoebe, a Greek girl his age, keeps him alive by bringing him provisions, and the two inevitably fall in love. Their union is opposed by her family—especially by her father, who works in the Greek underground resistance.
Coming this fall
Heartlines: A Love Story by Sarah Waisvisz (Talon Books)
A riveting new play on the extraordinary love, art, and resistance of gender pioneers Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore and a finalist for the 2026 Lambda Award in LGBTQ+ Drama.
Out now
Anarchists in Love by Robert Hough (Douglas & McIntyre)
In this compelling novel, acclaimed author Robert Hough recreates the political violence and revolutionary idealism that flowed through New York City during the Gilded Age of the 1890s. At its centre are real-life revolutionists Emma Goldman and Alexander “Sasha” Berkman, whose passionate love affair fuels their commitment to creating a better world.
Out now
Kat vs. Dogs by Jocelyn Shipley (Orca Book Publishers)
Despite her fear of dogs, Kat takes a job at her aunt’s pet store. When she meets and starts crushing on famous dog influencer Hiro, Kat lies and claims she loves dogs. As Hiro and Kat grow closer, Kat must decide to either own up to her lie or finally overcome her fear.
The lighthearted romance that is sweet and innocent shows a growing romantic relationship that is built through supporting one another and acceptance of faults, and is appropriate for a younger audience.
Out now
A Garden of Berries and Crows by Rosalie Nyce (Orca Book Publishers)
In this poignant picture book, friendship blooms when a young autistic girl shares her grief with a new student who recently lost her father.
Rosalie Nyce is a neurodivergent mother, teacher, school counsellor and writer. The story is based on her own experience of being a neurodivergent kid navigating grief and friendship.
Out now