Several titles emerged as the most popular books, movies and songs this summer, with many audiences gravitating toward both new releases and classic favorites. Whether in theaters, on streaming, or through their kindles, audiences interacted with different media throughout their break, and for your sake, The Mirador has narrowed down the best books, movies, and tv shows to recommend.
Books
Books such as “We’ll Always Have Summer” by Jenny Han, “Happy Place” by Emily Henry and “One Golden Summer” by Carley Fortune rose to popularity through social media and made their way into Miramonte students’ reading lists. Sophomore Mara Warren read multiple books over the summer.
“My favorite book I read this summer was “We’ll Always Have Summer” by Jenny Han. I enjoyed it because it had so many unexpected plot twists that really added to the book and development of the characters,” Warren said.
Shayna Kraft, a sophomore, also read similar titles over the summer.
“‘We’ll Always Have Summer’ is a great book; it’s super summery while also being super suspenseful. It leaves you on the edge of your seat,” Kraft said. “We’ll Always Have Summer” was the last book in the three-part series “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” written by Jenny Han. It follows three teenagers in a love triangle, the catch being that two of them are brothers and she battles her love for each of them.
Another book following the summer romance theme is “Happy Place” by Emily Henry. If you love summer getaways filled with heartwarming friendships and bittersweet relationships, then this book is for you. Set in Maine, the story follows a group of college friends on their last trip to their beloved summer house.
The last book of the summer is “One Golden Summer” by Carley Fortune. This book follows two people: Charlie, who grew up by a lake; and Alice, who is from the city. They spend the summer together and everything leads back to the little yellow boat that the characters’ childhood memories together started on.
Movies
Many different movies came out over the summer, including “Superman,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “How to Train your Dragon.” “How To Train Your Dragon,” the live action version, premiered in June, and quickly caught many of the original fans of the animated version’s attention. Shayna Kraft, for example, loved the nostalgia of the movie.
“‘How To Train Your Dragon’ was the movie of the summer, because it was very nostalgic and the action was good,” Kraft said.
The movie follows the unconventional friendship between a boy and a dragon, and presents the message that people, or things, who may come off as scary, can actually have big hearts. “Superman” also came out over the summer, and follows yet another one of Superman’s adventures. The story is filled with action and adventure, and has a heroic ending. Many fans also loved the actor chosen to play this version, and appreciated the emotion and humility he brought to the character. “I Know What You Did Last Summer” also came into theaters. The movie is based on the book series written by Lois Duncan. The movie is full of mystery and suspense; taking place after the events of a fatal hit-and-run, four teenagers struggle to protect their deepest secrets from a mysterious figure.
Songs
There always seems to be a song of the summer, and this year, “Hell N Back” by Bakar and “Love me Not” by Ravyn Lenae were the top hits. Similar to most songs that became popular this year, these two tracks surfaced on Tiktok, and followed the path of many other “songs of the summer” by being boosted by the TikTok platform and algorithm.This usually happens when creators make posts using the sound and people hear it every time they open the app. “Love Me Not” was one of the most trending sounds over the summer, with more than 435,300 posts to the sound, with most posts gaining over one thousand likes and views. Due to Bakar performing “Hell N Back”at Outside Lands, a music festival in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park, the song became well listened to and resurfaced. Sophomore Ava London went to Outside Lands and loved hearing the song performed live.
“My favorite song of the summer is ‘Hell N Back’ by Bakar, because I saw him in concert, and it’s very nostalgic,” London said.
The 2025 summer was clearly filled with great movies, songs and books and one can only imagine what the next seasons have in store. From The Mirador to you, we hope you’ve enjoyed Issue 1’s The Mirador recommends!
