The HBCU Leggings 2026 Summer Reading List

7 Books by Black Authors to Add to Your Summer Stack

I don’t know about you, but I know summer hits differently when you have a good book. 

There is something about warm weather, longer daylight hours, a flight to a new destination, a beach chair, or a quiet Sunday afternoon that makes you want to read. And if you’re anything like us, you don’t just want something light. You want a page-turner that makes you text your group chat halfway through chapter six.

This summer, we’re doing something new.

We’re officially launching The Culture Cart—our curated collection of books, brands, beauty, games, and culture-driven favorites we genuinely love. If it inspires us, educates us, or makes life better, it’s going in the Cart.

And we’re starting where most of us start in the summer: books.

Below is the HBCU Leggings 2026 Summer Reading List, grouped by mood. Whether you’re in your romance era, your thriller era, your historical fiction era, or your “I need something that feels like my cousins arguing at Thanksgiving” era—we've got you.

You can shop every single title through our Culture Cart storefront right here:
HBCU Leggings Culture Cart

Let’s get into it.

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For the Lovers 

Score by Kennedy Ryan

Kennedy Ryan does not write surface-level romance.

She writes about adults. Real adults. Doing adult things (if you know what I mean). The love she writes about is the kind that requires vulnerability, accountability, and emotional maturity. Score is a second-chance romance that leans into mental health, vulnerability, and the reality that loving someone deeply still requires loving yourself first.

It’s tender without being soft. Romantic without being unrealistic. And if you’ve ever believed in the idea that people can grow and come back better, this one will hit.

This is the kind of book you finish and immediately sit quietly for a second.

For the Thrill Seekers

Sundown Girls by L.S. Stratton

If your ideal summer read includes secrets, small towns, and something that feels slightly… off, this one is for you.

Sundown Girls follows a Black teen navigating a Southern vacation town with a buried history of racial violence. And when we say buried, we mean that literally and figuratively. The atmosphere is tense from the first page. The kind of tension where you know something isn’t right, even if you can’t name it yet.

What makes this one hit is that it’s not just scary for the sake of being scary. It’s layered. It asks questions about history, silence, and who gets protected when the truth comes out. There’s supernatural energy woven in, but the real horror is what communities choose not to confront.

If you loved the social awareness of Jordan Peele’s films or the sharp edge of Tiffany D. Jackson’s storytelling, add this to your stack immediately.

This is the book you start “just for a chapter” and look up three hours later.

For the History Buffs

Fire, Sword, and Sea by Vanessa Riley

Let’s talk about the fact that there was a Black woman pirate in the 1600s.

Yes. A pirate.

Fire, Sword, and Sea is inspired by the legend of Jacquotte Delahaye, a 17th-century Black female pirate whose story has floated between myth and history for centuries. Vanessa Riley takes that legend and builds something immersive, sweeping, and cinematic around it.

This isn’t quiet historical fiction. It’s layered with power, betrayal, survival, and strategy. It reminds you that Black women have always existed outside the boxes history tried to put us in.

What I love about this one is that it expands your imagination. When we talk about reclaiming stories, this is what we mean. We deserve to see ourselves as adventurers. As rebels. As leaders of ships, not just passengers on them.

If you like your summer reads with salt air, sword fights, and a woman at the center of it all, add this to your cart immediately.

Because honestly? A Black woman pirate belongs on your 2026 reading list.

For the Family Focused (Because It Gets Complicated)

Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani Akinola

If you come from a big family, a Nigerian family, a first-generation family, or honestly any family where everybody has opinions, this one will probably feel familiar.

Leave Your Mess at Home follows four Nigerian American siblings who find their way back to each other in Chicago after years apart. And when we say “find their way back,” we mean through tension, misunderstanding, cultural expectations, and all the unspoken things families carry.

This is the kind of book that makes you pause and think about your own siblings. Your own people. The ways distance changes us. The ways love stays even when it’s messy.

What I love about this one is that it doesn’t rush reconciliation. It understands that family healing is layered. That identity is layered. Being Nigerian American, or Black American, or anything hyphenated, means navigating multiple worlds at once.

It’s contemporary. It’s sharp. It feels real.

And honestly? Summer is reunion season. This is the perfect time to read something that reminds you why family is complicated and worth it anyway.

For the Ones Building Something

Black Founder: The Hidden Power of Being an Outsider by Stacy Spikes

If you’ve ever felt like you had to build your own table instead of waiting for a seat, this one is for you.

Stacy Spikes tells the story behind founding MoviePass and navigating the startup world as a Black entrepreneur. Spikes keeps it real, admitting that it’s frustrating in moments and yet incredibly empowering.

What makes this book summer-worthy is that it doesn’t romanticize entrepreneurship. It shows the reality of being underestimated, overlooked, and sometimes pushed out—and still choosing to innovate anyway.

For the ones with ideas who are quietly planning something and who don’t want to shrink in rooms anymore, this one’s for you.

Add it to your Culture Cart stack.

For the Women Who Need a Quiet Moment

When We Talk to God: Prayers and Poems for Black Women by Sharifa Stevens

Some summers are loud, and some summers are about finding stillness.

When We Talk to God is exactly what it sounds like—prayers and poems written specifically for Black women. The honest kind. The kind that holds space for exhaustion, ambition, grief, joy, and softness all at once.

This is a book with which you can take your time. Keep it by your bed or flip open when you need grounding. Gift it to your sister, your best friend, or your mom.

If your summer includes reflection, recalibration, or simply wanting to feel held for a moment, this one belongs in your stack.

Add it to your culture cart and let it meet you where you are.

For the Ones Doing the Work

It All Starts When You Do: How to Do the Real Work of Self-Healing by Kier Gaines, LPC

Releases September 1

Every summer, there’s at least one conversation that sounds like this:

“I’m working on myself.”

But what does that actually mean?

Kier Gaines is a licensed professional counselor who has built a reputation for making mental health conversations accessible, honest, and practical. He doesn’t speak in therapy jargon. He speaks in real-life language. The kind that feels like a conversation instead of a lecture.

It All Starts When You Do focuses on accountability, emotional growth, and the intentional work required to break cycles. It’s about recognizing patterns, owning your healing, and choosing differently moving forward.

This one officially releases on September 1, which makes it the perfect book to pre-order now and step into fall with intention. If you spend your summer reflecting, maybe you can use the fall for implementing what you discover.

If you’ve been saying this is the season you’re going to approach your healing differently, this book belongs in your Culture Cart stack.

Pre-order it now so it arrives right when you’re ready to turn the page.

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Final Thoughts

Reading has always been part of how we grow. It sharpens our thinking, expands our imagination, and sometimes gives language to things we’ve felt but couldn’t quite name. This list is for the one who read with intention. The ones who want a little romance, a little strategy, a little healing, and maybe even a little edge.

The Culture Cart is simply a place to gather what moves us.

If something in this list speaks to you, don’t wait. Start your stack now and settle into your summer with stories written by us, for us.

Browse the full Summer Reading List and explore the Culture Cart.