Time to pull out the lightweight hijabs and sunblock and think about ways to optimize the warm weather and longer daylight hours, because summer is here!. Summertime is when many of us try to have a little fun and relax, enjoying ourselves with friends and families. We may also want to engage in activities that foster personal development and spiritual fulfillment as we grow more love for ourselves.

I recently wrote about how more mature Muslim women can have a “Haute Woman Summer,” where they spend the season loving themselves in ways that allow them to cut loose while not compromising their deen or where they are in life. Gathering a collection of summer reads is a great way to add entertainment and inspiration, giving us chances to relax and find enjoyment and personal gratification in their pages.

Alhamdulillah, Muslim authors continue to release fiction and nonfiction books in different genres and highlight a range of themes and topics. The books below include stories tapping into Muslim life and books promoting mental, emotional and spiritual growth. I am excited to add these to my To Be Read (TBR) list of summer reads, and I can’t wait to crack them open! I have included the books’ Amazon blurbs, edited and adapted for publication.

Please note: This list of books is not exhaustive and does not include all of the books published by Muslim authors in the past year (that would be a BIG list). Feel free to use my suggestions as a jumping-off point to creating your summer reading list, and add some books that pique your interest.

Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.

Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed, and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.

Lahore, Pakistan. Then.

Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.

Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until the fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: Working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him – and Juniper – forever.

When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth – and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

In 1978, when Jamiyla was two years old, her mother, Ummi, quit her job, converted to Islam with her husband and moved into an exclusive Muslim society in Brooklyn. Once inside the Community, the family was separated by its powerful and charismatic leader, Dwight York, who was hiding behind the name Imam Isa. Instead of the devotional refuge they’d imagined, the Community was a nightmare of controlled abuse and unspeakable secrets.

Forty years later, Jamiyla was ready to excavate and understand a past buried in bad dreams, disturbing memories and inexplicable rage. It was a place Ummi never wanted to return to, but Jamiyla had to.

Jamiyla’s emotional memoir tells her family’s story of life inside and outside the cult, and of escaping into new challenges as conservative Muslims in the secular Brooklyn they left behind. A harrowing and deeply personal history fraught with racial tension and devastating personal betrayals, The Community is also a hopeful story brimming with Black pride, justice, and the long-overdue healing between a daughter and mother.

Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly. Long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena – a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man – Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past.

While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves.

The whispers that have been casting doubts inside you while you are performing wudu and salah, thus ruining the contentment of your ibadah? The whispers that have been draining your energy and make you hate even thinking about doing wudu and performing salah as a result?

That's what Shaytan wants from you. Don't fall victim to his ultimate plans; making you abandon salah and your soul. It's time to wage a war against Shaytan and grow strong enough to fight his temptations and the compulsions that have been overpowering you.

In Black Pearl, Sojhaila Muhammad puts a much-needed spotlight on the important roles Black Muslim women played to shape Islam. In addition, she shares historical knowledge of Blacks in general who helped spread and influence Islam as we know it today.

It’s critical to shed light on some of the accomplishments of Muslim Black Woman (Black Pearls). We have been discriminated against because of our gender, race and religious beliefs. In many ways, there has been a shadow cast on Black Muslim women, and it’s time to remove it. Our contributions to both the past and present are immeasurable.

From poetry, personal narrative and history, this book gives you a rare glimpse into the difficult day-to-day challenges Black Muslim women face, and how they prevail.

The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said that one of the supplications of Prophet Dawud (sa) was, “O Allah I ask You for Your love and the love of those that love You and all of those actions that would bring me closer to being loved by you.”

Looking at our actions, characteristics and beliefs, this book will help us become better people, citizens and believers that are deserving of Allah's endless, infinite and everlasting love.

Made up of 30 short and spiritually enriching chapters, this book is a reminder that throughout our lives, the Creator's love is always there, increasing through everyday actions such as showing generosity or remaining consistent with unnoticeable good deeds.

Narcissism is a personality disorder that is essentially a by-product of deeply rooted issues from childhood and an over-inflated ego that pursues evil desires at the expense of one's faith, morals and the feelings of others. For years, psychologists, sociologists and mental health experts have dived deeply into the phenomena of narcissistic behavior, providing a great scope of knowledge from their extensive studies.

Some of these observations come from a Christian perspective, but within the context of Islamic psychology, knowledge about where narcissism comes from is scarce. It is important to understand why narcissism is becoming more prevalent among Muslims and how there are teachings in Islam that guide us on how to identify, avoid, deal with and overcome it.

Patriarchal societies are primarily associated with men who have narcissistic tendencies, however, more and more women are displaying similar behaviors in their relationships too. If you are one of the many people who have come into contact with Muslim narcissists, you will know how difficult it is to maintain relationships with them.

In this book, Mona Alyedreess shares what the Islamic faith tells us about narcissism and where it comes from, how people develop this disorder, how to recognize and avoid Muslim narcissists and how to help and deal with them, enabling you to move on from a toxic situation.

A Muslim Woman’s Diary is a collection of thoughts, reminders and advice in the form of quotes from a Muslimah to all her sisters across the world. The book is divided into four fundamental themes – haya, nafs, sabr and obedience. The aim of this work is to help you deal with the major and minor issues in your life, as well as guide you to change your mindset into a positive perspective when facing calamities.

Along the way, you will also gain an overall understanding of the Islamic principles in how to understand your worth as a Muslim woman in a Western society, how to deal with your nafs, how to maintain sabr in times of hardship and finally how to be obedient to your Lord and parents. By the will of Allah (S), this book will help you re-evaluate the meaning of your life and assist you to see the light within the darkness.