7 Books to Celebrate the Summer Solstice

There’s something magical about the Summer Solstice. The hope that the longest day of the year brings. I love the cozy, dark months of early Fall and Winter, but after the excitement of the holidays I crave the light. It is my greatest motivator and something I value so much.

One of my favorite plays is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve had the pleasure of doing it four times in my professional career and it continues to be a story I love telling. It’s beautiful and hilarious and romantic. Some of these books are Midsummer retellings! If you have any other summer solstice recommendations, I’d love to know about them!

Please note that a few of these were published in the early 2000’s. I have not read all of them so there could be material that has not aged well.

This Must Be Love by Tui T. Sutherland

A retelling of Midsummer set in high school!

The Summer Solstice: Enchanted by K.A. Allen

“After Katrina Summer’s mother dies a mysterious and tragic death, she is hurtled into life at Apollo Beach where she learns the legends of her Ancient Greek ancestors. Kat’s world unravels as secrets from her heritage are exposed—secrets that her mother purposefully concealed. Leading to her 16th birthday, the day of the Summer Solstice, Kat becomes frightened when enigmatic visions and disturbing dreams haunt her. As her visions become reality fear turns to terror as powerful forces threaten the lives of those around her. Amidst the turmoil, Kat meets the gorgeous boy-next-door, Alec Stone, who becomes her sole solace in an evocative world of mythological enchantment and evil prophecies that lurk around every corner ...” —Amazon

Love in Idleness by Amanda Craig

“When Theo, a workaholic lawyer, his English wife Polly, and their two children rent an idyllic Italian villa, they expect a relaxing summer holiday together. Polly, with her loved ones' romantic interests at heart, has invited an eccentric mix of friends and family along--including three eligible bachelors, a former model, an Indian-British divorcee with a young son, and her own appalling mother-in-law. They soon discover the Casa Luna is a strange, enchanted place where people find their heart's desire--but at a price. Everyone falls in love, though not with the people they expect, and the results are surprising and hilarious.” —Bookshop.org

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

“When Claudia accidentally eavesdrops on the epic breakup of Paige and Iris, the it-couple at her school, she finds herself in hot water with prickly, difficult Iris. Thrown together against their will in the class production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, along with the goofiest, cutest boy Claudia has ever known, Iris and Claudia are in for an eye-opening senior year. 

Smart, funny, and thoroughly, wonderfully flawed, Claudia navigates a world of intense friendships and tentative romance in Foolish Hearts, a young-adult novel about expanding your horizons, allowing yourself to be vulnerable, and accepting - and loving - people for who they really are.” —Amazon

Wondrous Strange by Leslie Livingston

“Kelley Winslow is living her dream. Seventeen years old, she has moved to New York City and started to work with a theatre company. Sure, she’s only an understudy for the Avalon Players, a third-tier repertory company so far off- Broadway it might as well be in Hoboken, but things are looking up—the lead has broken her ankle and Kelley’s about to step into the role of Titania the Faerie Queen in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Faeries are far more real than Kelley thinks, though, and a chance encounter in Central Park with a handsome young man named Sonny Flannery plunges her into an adventure she could never have imagined.
Sonny is a Janus Guard, charged by Auberon, the King of Winter, with watching over the gate into the land of Faerie, which lies within Central Park. For Sonny, the pretty, young actress is an enigma. Strong and willful, she sparks against his senses like a firecracker, and he can’t get her out of his mind. As Hallowe’en approaches and the Samhain Gate opens, Sonny and Kelley find themselves drawn to each other—and into a terrible plot that could spell disaster for both New York and Faerie alike.” —Amazon

The Great Night by Chris Adrian

“On Midsummer Eve 2008, three people, each on the run from a failed relationship, become trapped in San Francisco's Buena Vista Park, the secret home of Titania, Oberon, and their court. On this night, something awful is happening in the faerie kingdom: in a fit of sadness over the end of her marriage, which broke up in the wake of the death of her adopted son, Titania has set loose an ancient menace, and the chaos that ensues will threaten the lives of immortals and mortals alike.” —Amazon

Stolen Midsummer Bride by Tara Grayce

“Basil, a rather scholarly fae, works as an assistant librarian at the Great Library of the Court of Knowledge. Lonely and unwilling to join the yearly Midsummer Revel to find a mate, Basil takes the advice of his talking horse companion and decides to steal a human bride instead.
But Basil never expected to find a human girl waiting for him, wanting to be snatched. Nor had he expected a girl like Meg, an illiterate farmgirl who has no use for books.
With the barrier with the Realm of Monsters wearing thin and the chaos of Midsummer Night about to descend, will this unlikely pair put aside their differences long enough to save the Great Library from destruction? And maybe find a spark of love along the way?” —Amazon

Here’s to summer days!