There is nothing quite like getting lost in a good book with the waves as a backdrop. Whether you are heading to your favorite beach town, spending the afternoon by the pool, or planning a staycation on your porch, these books are the perfect summer companions. I first shared my favorite beach reads back in 2019, and I have loved keeping this list fresh with new titles every year. Here are my updated beach reads for your beach (or pool) bag this summer. See more of my favorite reads here.
This was originally published in June 2019 and has since been updated and recirculated for July 2026.
Top 5+ Beach Reads for the Summer (2026 Update)
New for 2026: This Summer’s Buzziest Beach Reads
These are the ones I am talking about this season — including the ones going straight into my own beach bag this summer.
Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Set in the 1980s at NASA, this dual-timeline novel follows astronomy professor Joan Goodwin as she joins one of the first classes of female astronaut candidates and falls unexpectedly in love with a fellow astronaut. A present-day shuttle crisis collides with the story of how she got there, making for an emotional, expertly researched read from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
A Very Novel Murder – Ellie Alexander
Bookstore owner Annie Murray opens a detective agency above her shop in the quaint town of Redwood Grove, only to be hired for her very first case: investigating a young woman’s suspicious drowning that police have written off as an accident. Bookish charm meets small-town intrigue in this cozy series launch, packed with red herrings and a shocking final twist.
Expiration Dates – Rebecca Serle
Daphne Bell has spent over twenty years receiving mysterious notes that predict exactly how long each of her relationships will last — until she meets Jake, and the note contains only his name, with no expiration date at all. As their romance deepens, Daphne must decide whether to trust fate or the secret she’s been hiding from him.
Good Joy, Bad Joy – Mikki Brammer
From the author of The Collected Regrets of Clover comes the story of 89-year-old Joy Bridport, who has spent her whole life playing by the rules until she learns her best friend of eighty years has only months left to live. Joy’s quiet rebellion against a lifetime of “goodness” makes for a funny, tender story about friendship and finally becoming who you were meant to be.
The Hearbreak Hotel – Ellen O’Clover
After a sudden breakup leaves her at risk of losing the Colorado mountain home that’s her only source of stability, Louisa Walsh convinces her reclusive landlord to let her turn the property into a bed-and-breakfast retreat for the brokenhearted. A slow-burn romance blooms between Lou and her landlord as they each confront grief they’ve been avoiding, in this tender, NPR-praised debut.
Husbands & Lovers – Beatriz Williams
This dual-timeline novel follows a single mother in contemporary New England and a Hungarian refugee navigating a dangerous affair in 1950s Cairo, their lives linked across decades by a mysterious heirloom bracelet. Beatriz Williams weaves history, romance, and family secrets into a richly detailed page-turner perfect for fans of sweeping multigenerational sagas.
It’s Not Her – Mary Kubica
A peaceful family vacation at a remote Wisconsin lake resort turns into a nightmare when Courtney Gray discovers her brother and sister-in-law murdered, and her teenage niece is nowhere to be found. Told through dual timelines and narrators, this twisty domestic thriller keeps you guessing whether the missing girl is a victim or a killer.
Last Night in Brooklyn – Xochitl Gonzalez
In spring 2007, twenty-six-year-old Alicia Canales Forten gets swept into the orbit of her glamorous, larger-than-life neighbor La Garza, a rising fashion designer whose epic parties define the gentrifying Fort Greene scene. A gender-bent riff on The Great Gatsby, this is a sharply observed story about ambition, race, and the version of the American Dream that money can’t quite buy.
Mad Mabel – Sally Hepworth
Eighty-one-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick has kept a decades-old secret buried: she was once known as Mad Mabel Waller, Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. When a neighbor turns up dead and old suspicions resurface, Elsie decides it’s finally time to tell her side of the story in this twisty, wickedly funny thriller about justice, redemption, and being underestimated.
Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure – Rhys Bowen
In 1938, fifty-year-old Ellie Endicott is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce after thirty years of marriage — so she takes the car, her housekeeper, and an elderly friend, and sets off for the south of France. What begins as an act of liberation becomes a found-family adventure in a charming fishing village, even as the threat of war creeps closer.
Murder at the Hotel Orient – Alessandra Ranelli
At Vienna’s infamous Hotel Orient, where guests check in under aliases and cameras are banned, concierge Sterling Lockwood is the keeper of everyone’s secrets — until two guests are found murdered and she’s forced to turn detective to clear her own name. A stylish, witty debut mystery inspired by a real Viennese hotel, perfect for fans of Golden Age whodunits with a modern edge.
Once and Again – Rebecca Serle
The women in Lauren’s family are each born with a rare gift: the chance to turn back time and undo one moment in their lives. When Lauren temporarily moves back to her childhood home in Malibu and reconnects with the first love who broke her heart, she has to decide whether one of her own choices deserves a do-over.
One Golden Summer – Carley Fortune
When her grandmother breaks her hip, photographer Alice Everly takes them both back to Barry’s Bay, the lakeside town where Alice took the photo that launched her career as a teenager. There she reconnects with Charlie Florek, the now-grown boy from that photo, and finds herself falling for him all over again in this sun-soaked, friends-to-lovers romance.
Our Perfect Storm – Carley Fortune
Best friends Frankie and George have one night that changes everything when George shows up as the best man at Frankie’s wedding — only for her fiancé to leave her the very next morning. Heartbroken, Frankie agrees to take her canceled honeymoon to Tofino with George instead, and the slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance that follows is the must-read beach book of the season.
The Paris Novel – Ruth Reichl
After her estranged mother dies and leaves her only a one-way ticket to Paris, introverted New York book editor Stella St. Vincent reluctantly steps into a six-week adventure of fine food, vintage fashion, and unexpected connection. Written by the former Gourmet editor-in-chief, this one is a love letter to 1980s Paris best read with a glass of wine and an appetite.
Pink Sand Summer – Chassity Evans
An effervescent, transportive escape to Harbour Island in the Bahamas, written by an author who clearly knows and loves every inch of it. The hyper-local, insider details give this one the best “vacation” feeling of any new release this year—perfect if you want to feel like you are sipping a rum punch on pink sand even if you are stuck at home.
Road Trip – Mary Kay Andrews
Estranged sisters Maeve and Therese are forced together after their mother’s death leaves them an inherited painting that could be worth millions — if they can prove it’s real. Their journey to Ireland to trace the portrait’s mysterious origins makes for a fun, twisty road trip full of family history, charming villages, and a little romance along the way.
The Saddest Girl on the Beach – Heather Frese
Grieving the sudden loss of her father, nineteen-year-old Charlotte leaves college to stay with her best friend’s family at their inn on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Set against the wild, shifting landscape of Hatteras Island, this is a beautifully written story about grief, friendship, and finding your footing again.
The Shampoo Effect – Jenny Jackson
From the author of Pineapple Street comes another sharply funny, deeply observed novel of friends, family, and reinvention. When a woman moves from New York City to a small coastal Massachusetts town for a writing grant, she falls for a local guy with deep roots in the town—only to find herself shut out of his close-knit friend group when his ex-girlfriend announces she is pregnant with his baby.
So Old, So Young – Grant Ginder
Six college friends reunite at five different parties over twenty years, from a chaotic New Year’s Eve in a Lower East Side walk-up to a destination wedding to a fortieth birthday, each gathering revealing how much they’ve changed and how much they still need each other. Funny, nostalgic, and quietly devastating, it’s being called the millennial answer to The Big Chill.
Summer’s Never Over – Darby Bozeman
Five years after a counselor’s mysterious death by fire shattered her family’s Georgia summer camp, Greer is forced to return home when her mother dies — only to discover her old friend Margo never believed the death was an accident. This eerie, atmospheric dual-timeline thriller is being called the perfect creepy-camp beach read of the summer.
Summer State of Mind – Kristy Woodson Harvey
Burnt-out NICU nurse Daisy Stevens flees to the small coastal town of Cape Carolina for a simpler life, only for her first day on the job to bring an abandoned baby — and a connection to local baseball coach Mason — right into the center of her new beginning. The self-proclaimed “queen of the beach read” delivers another heartfelt, small-town escape full of secrets and second chances.
These Summer Storms – Sarah MacLean
Alice Storm hasn’t set foot on her billionaire family’s private Rhode Island island in five years, but her father’s sudden death — and the inheritance game he left behind — pulls her back for one explosive week with her estranged siblings. Razor-sharp, steamy, and stacked with family secrets, this is MacLean’s contemporary debut for fans of Succession-style drama with a side of romance.
Villa Coco – Andrew Sean Greer
A directionless young archivist takes a job cataloging the belongings of Coco, a flamboyant ninety-two-year-old Baronessa in a crumbling Tuscan villa, only to find himself swept into her chaotic household and her final mission to reunite with the love of her life. From the Pulitzer-winning author of Less, this is a witty, sun-drenched ode to growing up and growing older.
Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke
Christian “tradwife” influencer Natalie Heller Mills has built a brand romanticizing pioneer life, until a public scandal upends everything and she inexplicably wakes up living that pioneer life for real, in the year 1855. Darkly funny and unsettling in equal measure, this buzzy social satire has already been picked up for a film adaptation.
25 Classic Beach Reads You Can’t Go Wrong With
And of course, no beach bag is complete without a few tried-and-true favorites. Here are 25 beloved beach reads from past summers that are just as good today as the day I first recommended them.
Beach House Rules by Kristy Woodson Harvey
A mom and daughter rebuild their lives at a rundown beachfront inn full of single moms and second chances.
The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange
A woman just out of prison tries to rebuild her life as family secrets and an old flame complicate everything.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
An oral history of a ’70s rock band’s rise to fame and the mysterious breakup at their peak. There is an Amazon Prime series based on this novel and a playlist.
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul
A Hollywood legend’s death exposes a hidden past connecting three wealthy Black sisters’ families. There is a connection to Winston-Salem in the novel as well.
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
On her 30th birthday, a woman’s five dream dinner guests — including Audrey Hepburn — actually show up.
The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Peekanen
A picture-perfect DC couple’s unconventional therapy sessions unearth secrets far bigger than an affair.
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
A heartbroken comedian navigates a breakup and discovers there are two sides to every love story.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
A glamorous wedding on a remote Irish island turns deadly, and everyone becomes a suspect.
The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
A hotel manager’s fresh start gets complicated by a ghost, a picky billionaire owner, and plenty of staff secrets.
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Four retired assassins in their sixties must use all their skills to survive being targeted by their own agency.
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
A woman plots to steal a wealthy socialite’s entire life in this dark, twisty, unexpectedly empowering thriller.
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland
Three generations come together to save their family’s beloved Catskills hotel from being sold.
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
A woman once accused of murder is forced to face the past when a true-crime podcast reopens her case.
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
A retired pharmacist runs into the boy who broke her heart sixty years ago and revisits old family secrets.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki
The sweeping true story of the cereal heiress who became the wealthiest woman in America.
The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth
Family secrets and a murder mystery collide in this quick, twisty, can’t-put-it-down read.
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
Exes fake a marriage to claim a billion-dollar inheritance — cue the awkward family vacation and unexpected sparks.
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Best friends take one last vacation together to fix their friendship (and maybe something more).
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
A grieving widow forms an unlikely friendship with an aquarium octopus who may hold the key to a family mystery.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A legendary Hollywood star finally reveals the truth about her glamorous, scandal-filled life and seven marriages.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Two nemeses end up on an all-expenses-paid honeymoon together, forced to fake being newlyweds.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
A nosy tea shop owner finds a dead body in her store and decides to solve the murder herself.
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
A retired investigator is pulled back into action when his daughter-in-law calls about a murder and a missing fortune. If you have not read the Thursday Murder Club series, that is another great series!
When Life Gives you LuLuLemons by Lauren Weisberger
A witty escape into Greenwich, Connecticut’s glamorous, scandal-soaked suburbia from the author of The Devil Wears Prada.
You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa
Perfect for fans of The Guest List who want their beach reads with a side of murder and mayhem.
I loved when life gives you lulu lemons. Great book! I’m adding some of these to my list right now. I’m currently listening to Where the crawdads sing on audible and reading The golden hour.