Discover the best spring books for adults to read this year. These books celebrate the season of rebirth, fresh starts, and a reprieve from cold weather. They’re bound to make you feel renewed. Keep reading to make your reading life bloom!
List of the Best Spring Books for Adults
TOP 3 MOST POPULAR PICKS
It Ends With Us: the best contemporary fiction option, using flowers as a metaphor for a story of rebirth
Late Migrations: the best non-fiction option, weaving nature into themes of life in short essays
Pride and Prejudice: the best classic option, set in the picturesque English countryside
In literature, spring often symbolizes rebirth, renewal, and new beginnings. It represents a time of growth, hope, and the rejuvenation of nature. Spring serves as a literary metaphor for fresh starts and personal transformation.
These spring books for adults celebrate rebirth, sun mixed with rain starting over, baseball season, nature, blooming flowers, time outdoors, growth, love, light after darkness, second chances at life, weddings, and more!
Romance Novels
- Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
- It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
- Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Classics
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Other Spring Fiction (Historical and Contemporary)
- Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
- Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
- Queen Bee by Dorothea Benton Frank
Spring Non Fiction and Poetry
- An American in Provence by Jamie Beck
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
- Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl
Reviews of the Full Spring Reading List (in Alphabetical Order)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Plot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is the beloved children’s classic book on the Gilmore Girls reading list. It oozes springtime from the whimsical garden to the White Rabbit, tea party, and so much more.
My Review: It’s the type of book you’ll want to re-read every year. I especially recommend graphic editions to enhance your fantastical reading experience.
Related Post: Alice in Wonderland Quotes
An American in Provence by Jamie Beck
Plot: In An American in Provence, a busy New York photographer took a one-year trip to Provence that soon became five years. Here, it’s all documented in photos, recipes, and poetic words that blend to form a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
My Review: While this book covers all seasons of the year in the French countryside, it just feels the most like spring. It is one of the most visually stunning books you will ever see.
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Plot: Angela’s Ashes is an unforgettable memoir about being Irish and poor in both Ireland and America.
My Review: Angela’s Ashes is best read around St. Patrick’s Day for those looking to read a great Irish author to celebrate spring. A top book recommendation, it’s known for illustrating McCourt’s distinctly Irish dialogue, which really connects you as a reader to him. So, it works especially well on audio. Like most memoirs, you’ll easily become engrossed in his life story.
Related Post: Quotes from Angela’s Ashes
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Plot: Anne of Green Gables has an energetic spirit that mimics spring. When this adventurous red-headed orphan arrives at the farmhouse, she wants to stay forever. First, she must win everyone over with her enormous imagination.
My Review: This is just one of those books that everyone should read. It works for children and adults alike. To this day, it makes me happy to think about it.
Of note, actress Rachel McAdams beautifully narrates the Audible version.
Related Posts: Best Anne of Green Gables Quotes | Anne of Green Gables Books in Order
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Plot: Evvie Drake Starts Over is about a widowed woman and a disgraced Major League baseball player. He becomes her roommate in Maine to escape New York and figure out how to fix his career.
My Review: If you have watched any rom-com, you can figure out where this charming story goes. It’s a real charmer, and the themes of starting over really shine through in the details of the plot.
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Plot: It Ends With Us by social media sensation Colleen Hoover is about a woman named Lily Bloom who owns a flower shop and must decide whether to walk away from a toxic relationship and start over.
My Review: Yes, it’s a difficult read, but it’s as good as everyone says it is. It also offers hope and rebirth — with floral metaphors. Since it’s, without a doubt, the best Colleen Hoover book, now is the best time to read it!
Related Post: It Ends With Us Series | It Ends With Us Review
Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl
Plot: Late Migrations is a beautiful memoir about life, death, love, and loss told through short essays containing poetic references to nature. Renkl poignantly explores the meaning of life through several connections to nature. She provides hope in the beauty of living nature and rebirth.
My Review: It’s absolutely stunning and feels like a meditative experience. I recommend it to Mary Oliver dans and anyone who enjoys connecting real life experiences to nature. It makes a really meaningful impact.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Plot: Lilac Girls is a harrowing World War II story that makes this list because it offers budding hope for women after their experiences in concentration camps.
Real-life American heroine Caroline Ferraday breathes life and hope into a grim tale, and the author tells this story with great reverence.
My Review: Meticulously researched, it’s one of the most impactful historical fiction books I’ve ever read. It’s absolutely shocking, yet also provides some glimmers.
Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Plot: In Meet Me in Monaco, Hollywood elites and paparazzi flock to Cannes in the springtime, starlet Grace Kelly takes shelter from British photographer James Henderson in Sophie Duval’s struggling perfume shop. There, she mixes delectable floral scents.
Their lives intertwine as Grace Kelly meets, becomes engaged to, and eventually marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in a beautiful spring wedding.
My Review: It’s a glamorous escape read with a bit of heart and hope that spans thirty years of time. It’s a light and delightful reading experience overall.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Plot: Pride and Prejudice is the classic love story of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.
My Review: From the romance at the heart of the novel to the budding love lives of Elizabeth’s sisters in the lush English countryside, it just feels like spring. I recommend listening to Pride and Prejudice on Audible, narrated by actress Rosamund Pike, who starred in one of the film adaptations.
Related Posts: Pride and Prejudice Book Covers | Pride and Prejudice Quotes
Queen Bee by Dorothea Benton Frank
Plot: Queen Bee, a book set in South Carolina, takes the reader to Sullivan’s Island, where a mother and her two adult daughters (one of whom is a beekeeper), come into their own in their love lives.
My Review: It’s a quick and light read that is set in spring and is lush with details about nature, including fun facts about bees. It offers a full arc of the three main characters as they start new lives in the season of rebirth. It’s a sugary-sweet read that leaves you with a smile.
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
Plot: A Room with a View is the classic Victorian romance novel once discussed on The Office by The Finer Things Club.
Set in the Italian and English countryside, Lucy is a young woman on the verge of an awakening, in which she must choose between convention and passion.
My Review: It’s a short classic book to which even modern readers can relate. I also recommend the modern re-telling Sex and Vanity for a great book pairing.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Plot: The Secret Garden is a delightful classic about a young English girl who returns to England from India as an orphan. The protagonist transforms when she discovers a charming walled garden that is always locked.
My Review: The Secret Garden has elements of mystery, spirituality, and charming characters. It’s the type of children’s book that would make a great read-aloud with kids.
Related Post: Best Quotes from The Secret Garden
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Plot: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the beloved American classic about the budding of a young city girl at the turn of the century.
Young, naive Francie Nolan experiences bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg as she blooms in her own time and place. Her story contains moments of universal experience that readers continue to love.
My Review: It’s a high school classic that readers actually love to read. It’s one of my own favorite high school reads. There’s also an older adaptation that makes a good pairing.
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Plot: Weather Girl is a fun book to read during April showers! Ari loves being a rising TV meteorologist, but her boss, the legendary meteorologist Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her ex, the station director, to mentor her.
She teams up with sports reporter Russell to get them back together, but it all backfires when cheery Ari becomes vulnerable and her chemistry builds with Russell.
My Review: It’s a very enjoyable read overall that takes you on a fun ride. It has a very light and escapist feel for the season.
Recap
THE BEST SPRING BOOKS
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remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules
Spring is my favorite season, thanks for the great recommendations!
I love your seasonal lists and have found many great books through your blog! Looking forward to trying some of these for spring. Thanks for sharing!!! (and p.s. a tree grows in brooklyn is also one my favorite classics!)
Hi Jill, I am so glad you find some seasonal books to read. As a seasonal reader myself, they are some of my favorite posts to create!! Happy Spring reading!!
Great suggestions! Anne of Green Gables on audio is on my list, and I loved How To Walk Away!
thanks Dara!!