30 Beach Reads to Devour While Soaking Up the Sun This Summer

There's a charm to reading books set in seaside towns in the summertime, but there's even more of a delight to reading books about something dramatic that shakes up a picture-perfect community. In Emma Rosenblum's debut, the town of Salcombe on Fire Island, a vacation hotspot outside of N.Y.C., becomes absorbed in a mysterious murder when a body is found on the boardwalk. Centered around socialites Jen and Lauren, their frenemy husbands, and visiting single friend Rachel, copious secrets and tensions beneath their have-it-all exteriors come to light surrounding the case.

Have you hopped on the Emily Henry train yet? She published several YA novels and then was officially crowned an expert romance writer with the 2020 release of Beach Read. The charming book follows polar opposite writers, January, a romance novelist, and August, a literary fiction author, as they get to know each other and work on their latest projects together when they find themselves in neighboring vacation homes.

Hear me out: Plath’s iconic 1963 novel may chart a dark journey into a young woman’s slowly unraveling mind, but, perhaps counterintuitively, that darkness pairs perfectly with a sunny day at the beach or by the pool. That way, the story doesn’t become too overwhelming. Plus, I can personally attest that a candid shot of this book cover next to a cocktail umbrella-topped drink makes for a perfectly #aesthetic summertime social media post.

All of Liane Moriarty’s books seem specifically crafted to be thrown in a vacation bag, and you may as well start with her biggest hit that turned into a TV pheneomenon. Big Little Lies’s thrilling plot will reel you in, its broad cast of quirky, sharply written characters will keep you invested, and its smart, darkly comic tone will make it feel like you’re hearing the shockingly twisty story from your best friend.

If you read Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls teen spy series growing up, you’ll also love her 2023 adult debut. It's a rom-com that’s basically about a grown-up Gallagher Girl’s amnesiac twin sister. This page-turner is an ideal beach read: It’s fun, funny, and fast-paced, with a hint of spice and a solid dose of nostalgia for anyone who grew up hoping against hope that they’d somehow get to attend the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women.

Lovers of thrillers with unreliable narrators, this one’s for you. At its most basic, this book is about a young woman who worms her way into becoming the nanny for a rich, seemingly perfect family. But there’s so much more to it than that, and you’ll be peeling back the layers of this unpredictable story until the very last page. This summer is also the perfect time to devour Count My Lies, before it hits TV screens in a Hulu series starring none other than Lindsay Lohan.

If you're one to blow through books during the summer, it might be worth starting a series. Sarah J. Maas' sA Court of Thorns and Roses will sweep you away to a completely different world, as it's set in the faerie realm of Prythian and follows the adventures and romantic rendezvous of Feyre Archeron, who is swept away to the fantastical world. The books have become a phenomenon on #BookTok and IRL, and are considered some of the best erotic novels out there.

There's a quintessential, nostalgic quality to summer camp—and also the classic horror trope. Liz Moore's widely praised 2024 book The God of the Woods leans into the latter, to eerie effect. Set in 1975 at a camp in the Adirondacks, turmoil and a dark history are unleashed when the 13-year-old daughter of the camp owner and local family dynasty goes missing from her bunk.

Elle Kennedy's Avalon Bay series is as sweet a treat as soft serve. The first entry into the trilogy is Good Girl Complex, about orderly, people pleaser, and trust fund kid Mackenzie "Mac" Cabot, who begrudgingly spends her college break at the beachside town her parents moved to. Feeling alien from her family and others in the wealthy community, she finds an opposites-attract connection in local bad boy Cooper Hartley, and a summer to remember ensues.

Emma Cline's 2016 debut, bestselling novel The Girls made her a literary sensation, and she followed it up with another beguiling hit, 2023's The Guest. A week out in the Hamptons has never been so chaotic as it is here. After a young woman is thrown out of her older sugar daddy's home, she traipses around Long Island, pretending she is someone she is not, until tension blows over and she can make an appearance at her beau's Labor Day party.

The emotional story of Colleen Hoover's best-seller It Ends With Us follows recent college graduate Lily Bloom, who moves to Boston and enters a whirlwind relationship with a neuroscientist, Ryle, which quickly turns abusive. Chronicling their relationship, she finds her own strength, as well as solace in someone from her past. Once you've read the book, you can host a summer movie night for a viewing of the 2024 onscreen adaptation starring Blake Lively.

When down-on-his-luck Justin takes to Reddit to share that he believes he's been cursed because every woman he dates meets his soulmate after they break up, Emma surprises him by sliding into his DMs and saying the same. To break the curse, the two hatch a plan to have a fling for the summer—in a private island lake house, no less—to break the curse. Written from both of their perspectives, you'll be giddy seeing into each of their psyches as they realize their feelings for each other.

If your summer vacay goes a little off the rails, at least you can console yourself with the knowledge that it didn’t take a possibly-apocalyptic turn like the one in this book. Amanda and Clay take their kids to a rental house on Long Island, but their seemingly idyllic time off quickly takes a strange and very unnerving turn. And, when you’re done tearing through Alam’s novel at the beach and devising theories about what exactly happened, you can head inside and watch the (very good) Netflix film adaptation, starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke.

Acclaimed writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner's follow-up to Fleishman Is in Trouble is centered around the wealthy Fletcher family, whose father was kidnapped and held for ransom for one week in the '80s. While they were quick to move on from the ordeal at the time, as the three children are now well into their adulthood, they realize the entire family never reckoned with what happened in a gripping novel about the commitment and death of the American dream.

If you've read Taylor Jenkins Reid mega-hits like Daisy Jones & the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, you should dive into her 2021 book Malibu Rising. It certainly is one of the most beach-read novels of hers. Inspired by the 1983 Malibu fires and California surf culture, it takes place over one night in which Nina Riva, a famous model and surfer, is hosting her annual end-of-summer party. Her home becomes engulfed in flames by the end of the night, but before then, tension among her equally talented and renowned family members lights a tense fire of its own.

For those seeking chaos this summer, Margo's Got Money Troubles has more than enough for your fix, and you'll laugh out loud, too. 20-year-old, single mother Margo is struggling to get by when her estranged, former wrestling star father comes back into her life, asking to move in with her. Inspired by his performative personality, she decides to launch her own OnlyFans, making for a smart, whitty look at money, internet fame, and power. Read it now before the A24-produced series starring Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman hits streaming on Apple TV+.

Popular thriller author Lucy Foley's 2024 novel uncovers the secrets of a mysterious, alluring estate known as The Manor. Owner Francesca Woodland opens its doors with a meticulously planned summer solstice party, and the night poses stress for many of the space's employees and Woodland herself when an old friend shows up. But the real melodrama unfolds after the affair, when it turns out that The Manor burned down and someone died.

I’ll take your smutty poolside rom-com and raise you a talky, intellectual, complex (and still sexy!) take on love. Salley Rooney’s hit novel follows Marianne and Connell’s sometimes-sweet, often-confusing attempts at romance over several years. You’ll root for them, you’ll roll your eyes at them, you just might pull all your hair out as the frustratingly tangly tale unfolds—and I can think of no better way to while away a long, sunny day.

If your summer is typically spent tuning into reality shows like Bachelor in Paradise and Love Island, you're going to want to read One Perfect Couple. Bestselling thriller author Ruth Ware's book pulls inspiration from hit competition and dating series, as it's set on a desolate, tropical island where five couples are partaking in a new reality show. While it seems as though they're at first in paradise, a major storm makes the experience a nightmare—especially when it turns out a killer is on the island with them, making their fight for survival all the more terrifying.

Casey McQuiston is an expert at blending heart and spice—as any Red, White & Royal Blue fan can attest—and this 2024 novel has both in spades, set against the backdrop of a sun-drenched summertime getaway. Exes Theo and Kit end up on the same small-group European food tour, so they do the only logical thing: Start a challenge to see who can hook up with more people throughout the trip. Duh.

Once you get into Emily Henry, you won't be able to stop, and her popular book People We Meet on Vacation is another peak beach-read kind of book. It sees the reunion of best friends Alex and Poppy, who couldn't be more different but are immensely close and take a yearly trip together until they drift apart. Two years after they stopped taking their vacations, Poppy invites Alex on another, and he agrees, leading to an opportunity for reconciliation (and maybe something more).

This smart take on the classic rom-com genre is basically the thinking woman’s fanfic, starring a writer on an Saturday Night Live-esque show and a musician who some (me) might say sounds a lot like John Mayer, whose romance blossoms over the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It sounds weird described like that, but trust me, it works. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, relatable, and, ultimately, a very sweet love story.

If you haven’t read Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here, do that first, but then be sure to circle back to this, his newest book. Wilson has a knack for writing hilariously zany stories that pack a shockingly poignant emotional punch, and Run for the Hills is no different. It follows a pair of half-siblings who embark on a road trip first to round up their other siblings and then to track down the father who abandoned them all, with plenty of hijinks and heartfelt moments along the way.

Gillian Flynn's 2006 debut is a certified classic thriller that any fan of the genre needs to read. It makes for the perfect day trip read, too, considering how short it is. It also exudes the dizzying feeling that comes with heat exhaustion, as it unfolds in a small Southern town where reporter Camille returns to investigate a string of girls's murders. Once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down (and then you can get lost in the perfect binge watch of its perfect 2018 miniseries adaptation).

Let State of Paradise into your life, and its sticky, humid setting and twisty mystery will consume you even more than the dew point outside. The page-turner follows a thriller ghostwriter living out of her mother's Florida home in a town where an odd company called ELECTRA seems to have moved in, taken over, and infiltrated its residences by passing out strange VR devices. When her sister disappears, the writer goes in search of her and finds more than one conspiracy to dig into.

It’s technically YA, but this 2025 take on Pride & Prejudice is sure to win over readers of all ages. Written by actor Angourie Rice and her playwright mom, it centers on the headstrong Lily, whose plans for a low-key summer on the beach are interrupted by the arrival of superstar Dorian and his posse. She’s initially annoyed by his presence, but can’t seem to stop running into him…wonder what’ll happen next!

This one's a true rom-com for the bookworms. When Samantha spends summer at Martha's Vineyard and is tasked with watching over her bookish half-brother, who only wants to spend his days at the library, she connects with a charming temporary librarian named Bennett. Sparks fly as they grow closer while Samantha helps Bennett on his quest to research the identity of his father whom he's never met, and he helps her write her dream cookbook.

All of your summer fling fantasies come alive in this heartwarming book. After two tough years in which hardship has turned professional organizer Ali's life into a mess, she serendipitously meets a man named Ethan who puts her path back on course.

Prepare to get heart palpitations on the beach reading romance novelist Carley Fortune's 2024 release. Set on Canada's Prince Edward Island, tourist Lucy experiences a whirlwind fling with local Felix—who she at first doesn't realize is her best friend Bridget's brother. Every summer, she falls into the same old patterns and sees Felix again, despite their feelings that they should let old flames die. That's especially put to the test when she drops everything to console Bridget for the summer after she calls off her wedding.

The Summer of Perfect Mistakes is a romance that sizzles. Old high school classmates reconnect when former all-American perfectionist Lark takes a leave from medical school after experiencing mental health issues and she signs up for an art class that just so happens to be taught by a creative boy she grew up with.