21 Best Beach Reads to Toss in Your Tote This Summer

The best way to describe this twisty family drama set in coastal Rhode Island? Succession meets an Elin Hilderbrand novel. Alice hasn’t been back to her family’s private island in years, after leaving behind her family’s wealth and legacy to pursue a teaching career. When her father dies, she’s forced to come home to pay her respects, where she learns that none of her siblings will receive their inheritance unless she agrees to participate in a week-long scavenger hunt to unlock the fortune.

Not only is this full of unforgettable characters and complex family dynamics, but it also features a swoon-worthy summer love story (MacLean has written tons of historical romances) and plenty of coastal vibes.

It’s impossible to discuss the best beach reads without mentioning Elin Hilderbrand. In fact, this entire list could be full of Elin’s Nantucket novels. (She’s written dozens of them!) If you’re looking for a place to start, I’m here to recommend The Blue Bistro, my favorite book of hers.

After years spent bouncing around fancy hotels in luxe resort towns, Adrienne has decided to head to Nantucket for the summer, where she hopes to earn some quick cash after a break-up. When Thatcher Smith, the owner of The Blue Bistro, Nantucket’s hottest restaurant, hires her, she gets a crash course in the food world, where she learns that despite its popularity, the bistro is set to close for good at summer’s end.

Anyone who loves the behind-the-scenes restaurant world details from shows like The Bear will adore The Blue Bistro, but fair warning: Elin’s excellent food writing will most definitely leave your mouth watering!

Of course a list of the best beach reads has to include a novel called Beach Read! The catch? This novel is actually set on a Michigan lake—but trust me, it has the perfect vacation vibes.

Augustus is an acclaimed author, known for very serious literary fiction. Meanwhile, January is a bestselling romance writer. They have nothing in common, except for the fact that for the summer, they’re living in neighboring beach houses where they’re grappling with writers’ block. Their solution? Each has to write a novel in the other’s chosen genre, forcing them to spend time together.

You’ll definitely want to read this before the movie comes out. (The cast was just announced!)

If you’ve ever wondered what The Parent Trap might look like had the twins found each other as adults instead of children, this lakeside story is perfect for you. Every summer, ambitious New Yorker Vivian and small-town Lucy spend a month at their father’s beloved Maine lake house—separately. Although Lucy knew that her father had another child, Vivian was kept in the dark. When their father dies, Vivian heads to Maine to prepare the house to sell and gets more than she bargained for: Not only is Lucy there, but she had no clue about their father’s death.

What unfolds is a gorgeous sister story, as the two reconcile their pasts and the secrets their father kept from them, all the while determining what should happen to his legacy. The lush details about lake life will have you preparing to book a trip ASAP.

No matter if you’re looking for a swoony romance, a novel packed with vacation vibes, or a new spin on the classic “fake dating” trope, The Paradise Problem has it all.

During college, Anna agrees to marry West in order to secure UCLA’s subsidized family housing. Once they graduate, she thinks their divorce has been finalized. Cut to three years later: Anna is a starving artist and West is a Stanford professor who is uninterested in taking over his family’s grocery store chain—but very interested in the inheritance that stems from it. The issue? He can’t access the fortune unless he’s been married for five years. Luckily, he’s technically still married to Anna, so when his family demands he bring his wife to a family wedding on a luxe island, he’s forced to reach out and bring her to meet his snobby parents.

Something about reading historical fiction on the beach just feels so right, especially when it’s set in a classic coastal town like Martha’s Vineyard. Our Last Vineyard Summer, the latest beachy novel from Brooke Lea Foster, unravels secrets through timelines that alternate between 1965 and 1978.

Between a tough first year of grad school and the death of her senator father, Betsy’s been having a rough go at things. When her mother, a beloved women’s rights advocate, calls her to come home to Martha’s Vineyard in order to sell their home and pay off her father’s debts, she’s forced back into a world of complex family dynamics, a forbidden romance that threatens to resurface, and the complicated legacy her parents have left behind.

Looking for a new series to dig into this summer? Look no further than Sunny Hostin’s trio of novels set in Black coastal communities. Start with Summer on the Bluffs, which takes place in Oak Bluffs, a exclusive enclave on Martha’s Vineyard. There, Amelia and her husband own a beautiful home, where their three goddaughters have spent countless summers. When Amelia announces that she’s moving to the South of France, her goddaughters Perry, Olivia, and Billie are invited to spend one last summer on the Bluffs with a unique caveat: Come summer’s end, only one of them will receive the deed to the home.

Once you finish this, you’ll be racing to enjoy Hostin’s other two novels, the Hamptons-set Summer on Sag Harbor and Summer on Highland Beach, which takes place on the Chesapeake Bay.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I thought historical fiction wasn’t for me until I fell for Beatriz Williams’s books a few years ago. Luckily, she has plenty of summer-set novels spanning decades of history, although Husbands & Lovers is easily my favorite.

This novel begins in 2022, where single mother Mallory is grappling with a search for a new kidney for her son after he was poisoned by a mushroom at summer camp. Moving home to New England has forced her to confront two secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an Irish orphanage back in the 1950s and her affair with her childhood best friend turned famous singer, Monk Adams. Meanwhile, in 1951 Cairo, we meet Hannah, who engages in a passionate affair that leaves her pregnant as the streets of Egypt erupt in revolution.

Trust me, the way these stories intertwine is so satisfying.

I’ve read all of Annabel Monaghan’s novels, and this one is easily my favorite thanks to its exploration of reconnecting with your first love and strong summer vibes!

On paper, Sam is exactly where she’s supposed to be. She’s getting married to a doctor, she has a great job in New York City, and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. So why does everything feel so wrong? When she gets to Long Island, she reconnects with Wyatt, the boy who broke her heart when she was 17. As she spends time with him, memories coming flooding back—and Sam is forced to choose between the life she’s hurtling towards or the one she secretly wants.

Back in the days of required school reading, The Great Gatsby was my favorite book, which is why I’m always on the lookout for retellings of the Jazz Age classic. Last summer, I devoured Mansion Beach during my family’s annual beach week, and I couldn’t get enough of this modern take set in Rhode Island.

Nicola is hoping for a peaceful summer on Block Island, until she meets Juliana George, the mysterious tech entrepreneur who lives in the mansion next door. While Juliana is supposed to be prepping for her company’s IPO, she’s distracted by an old flame from her past who has a surprising connection to Nicola. When Taylor Buchanan—Nicola’s cousin’s wife and the second-in-command to a real estate empire—gets involved, it sets up an explosive summer that ends with the discovery of a dead body.

Although The Shampoo Effect doesn’t come out until June, it’s one you’ll certainly want to preorder. I mean, doesn’t that cover look perfectly fit for golden hour reading with your feet in the sand?

When Caroline arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she immediately becomes enamored with Van, who is deeply enmeshed in the coastal town’s close-knit social scene. As the two fall in love, Caroline falls deeper into Van’s crowd, which includes his ex-girlfriend Bailey. In a shocking twist, Bailey announces that she’s pregnant with Van’s baby, casting Caroline out of the friend group and leaving her to seek revenge.

It’s no secret that we love Southern-set novels here at Country Living—better yet when they’re set at the beach! In My Magnolia Summer, Maggie escapes New York City to head home to the South Carolina beaches after getting a devastating call from her sister Violet: Their grandmother has fallen into a coma after a car accident caused by their troubled mother.

When Maggie returns, she gets more than she bargained: Her family’s restaurant is on the brink of failure and her sister is on the verge of a devastating breakup. But a budding romance with a handsome farmer might just be what convinces her that she belongs back in the Lowcountry.

As a lifelong fan of Nora Ephron’s romantic comedies, I’m forever searching for books in the same vein—and Summer Fridays is the closest I’ve found! Although it doesn’t take place on a beach, it captures summer in New York City so well that it deserves a place in your beach bag. (Plus, there technically is a trip to Coney Island!)

It’s the summer of 1999, and Sawyer (a low-level book publishing assistant) is planning her wedding to her college boyfriend, who has been logging long hours at work—and growing close to his co-worker, Kendra. When Kendra’s boyfriend, Nick, asks Sawyer if she thinks something fishy is going on between their partners, they develop an unexpected friendship with an unofficial ritual: When they get off of work on Fridays, they go explore New York City together.

Not only is this packed with ‘90s nostalgia, but it’s one of the most well-written romance novels I’ve ever read.

There is no shortage of novels set in the book world, and On Fire Island is an excellent one to add to your summer reading list, thanks to its oceanfront setting. Warning: You’ll probably want to add some tissues to your beach bag!

For as long as she can remember, Julia has lived and breathed stories, which has grown into a flourishing career as a book editor. While she’s gotten pretty good at predicting endings, she didn’t see her own coming: She learns that she only has a few months left, and she wants to spent them at her beloved Fire Island cottage. Alongside her novelist husband, Julia begins to realize the impact she’s had on so many in her oceanfront orbit, from her neighbor to her best friend.

No matter if your closet is filled with Lilly Pulitzer or you can’t resist novels about real people, The Beautiful People is full of sun-dappled Palm Beach details.

After a broken engagement and family scandal, the now-broke Margo Hightower gets a job for none other than Slim Aarons, the photographer best known for his high-society photos. Margo sees the gig as a chance to get back to the lifestyle she’s accustomed to. After traveling to glam parties in New York and ritzy beaches where she rubs elbows with everyone from Jackie Kennedy to Truman Capote’s Swans, she heads to Palm Beach. It’s there where she forms a close friendship with rising fashion designer Lily Pulitzer, who just so happens to have the keys to Palm Beach’s inner circle.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m a fast reader, but I impressed even myself with how quickly I tore through this jet-setting thriller.

Although Belle likes to think she can’t be swayed by money, when her best friend Summer invites her on a luxe tour through the Mediterranean aboard her billionaire boyfriend’s yacht, she agrees to join. On board, the trip swiftly turns into a nightmare, as the women are soon treated like prisoners by their controlling host.

If you like this one, I recommend all of the summer-y thrillers by St. John—just note that she now writes under the name Katherine Wood, so you don’t miss any!

Anyone who can’t resist a coming of age novel—especially when it’s written for adults from the perspective of a teenager—will likely enjoy Sag Harbor, which is as fun and compelling as it is thoughtful, all the while handling discussions of race and class.

Every year, Benji and his family escape Manhattan’s elite prep school world—where they are one of the only Black families—and head to Sag Harbor. Benji hopes that the summer of 1985 will be different; and it certainly proves to be, as he’s tested by challenges big and small.

This “autobiographical novel” is doused in ‘80s nostalgia and explores growing up Black in upper-middle-class circles in the era.

Just off the California coast on Balboa Island, the lives of three women begin to unravel during the summer of 1956. In hopes of fixing her crumbling marriage, Milly has moved her young family from Hollywood to the island—except now, instead of coming home late, her husband barely comes home at all. Meanwhile, Sylvia and her husband have recently opened The Island Club, only for Sylvia to learn that they’re in dire financial straits. And finally, Adele has always been a loner after escaping from a shameful scandal decades before and is paranoid that her secrets are set to come to light.

As the lives of these three women converge, they find that friendship and tennis might be the only things that can save them. I’d recommend this to those who loved the tennis premise of Carrie Soto Is Back.