Close Out The Summer With These Fabulous Books
What makes for a great beach read is something light, escapist, immersive, and intriguing. When you are looking for the best books to read on vacation, you want to be really engaged in what you are reading but also don't want beach reading with triggers or anything too heavy. It’s all about relaxing and enjoying some time for something you love (and probably don’t get to do enough).
(1) Beach Read by Emily Henry
In this popular Emily Henry book, a rom-com writer and another writer spend the Summer at neighboring beach houses, where they challenge each other to write a book that's opposite of their norm.
As they battle the demons in their pasts and struggle in their careers, they also go on cute little "research projects" (a/k/a dates) that keep the Summer romance afloat.
(2) The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
This story is about man who disappears after leaving a note to his new wife: "Protect her" -- his 16-year-old daughter. When his boss is then arrested for fraud and FBI agents appear at her home with questions, she realizes her husband may not be who she thought he was.
She and her rebellious stepdaughter pursue the truth about his past while attempting to build a new future, in this suspense-filled tale of twists and turns that will keep you guessing.
(3) The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jiminez
Two years after Sloan's fiance dies, she finds a dog, who helps her find happiness again, only to learn the dog belongs to a rock star, who wants him back.
You can guess where this leads based on the title. So, we've got a cute couple, including a rock star, and a dog. What more can we ask for?! Naturally, forces like fame tug on their relationship, and there's a bit of emotion too as you yearn to see what becomes of Sloan, Jackson, and Tucker.
This one will leave you with all the feels, yet it’s one of the best light beach reads that just makes you feel good.
(4) American Royals by Katherine McGee
American Royals is a blogger and Bookstagram favorite to add to your Summer reading list. It’s the story of modern-day America if George Washington became king instead of the first president.
It’s light, with a lot of romance and all of that royal family drama that will allow you to escape from reality. It's a fun and light beach read that many will enjoy, especially if you liked the Crazy Rich Asians series and/or To All the Boys I Loved Before series and/or the Netflix show The Crown.
(5) The Guest List by Lucy Foley
In The Guest List, someone is dead at a coastal Irish island wedding, but the reader doesn't know who or why until reaching the end. It's the kind of book where everyone has a secret and a connection to each other.
Although the setting is moodier than a traditional beach read may normally be, it still feels very beachy, yet intriguing at the same time.
(6) Cover Story by Susan Rigetti
This one follows the diary entries of a naive young woman who becomes a ghostwriter for a glamorous daughter of a foreign mogul living at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
But there's a trail of lies, fraud, and stolen identities and a shocking ending that will leave you furiously turning the pages on the beach questioning everything you just read.
Some NEW Books Coming This August:
-- Dead-End Memories: Stories, by Banana Yoshimoto. Translated by Asa Yoneda. (Counterpoint, Aug. 9)
First published in Japan in 2003, and newly available here, this collection offers plenty of Yoshimoto’s signature themes: lonely women, betrayal, relationship upsets — and grace, too.
-- Diary of a Void, by Emi Yagi. Translated by David Boyd and Lucy North. (Viking, Aug. 9)
In this debut novel, the only woman in her Tokyo office fakes a pregnancy to avoid undesirable tasks at work. As she gets deeper into the lie (disguising a growing belly, tracking the development of her “baby”), the story takes on an utterly absurd dimension — all the better to explore discrimination and double standards.
-- Mercury Pictures Presents, by Anthony Marra (Hogarth, Aug. 2)
In 1940s Los Angeles, Maria works as a producer for a foundering film studio after fleeing Italy years earlier. Her boss, Artie, is down on his luck: Money is running out, he’s at odds with his business partners — and that was before he was summoned to testify in front of Congress. As World War II breaks out, the studio becomes a refuge for all manner of exiles — actors, writers, émigrés.
-- Mount Chicago, by Adam Levin (Doubleday, Aug. 9)
In this novel, a Chicago comedian contends with unthinkable tragedy: A sinkhole opens up under the Art Institute, killing nearly his entire family. In the midst of his grief, he intersects with a longtime fan who works at the mayor’s office. There is plenty of heartache, city politicking and humor — as well as moving passages from the point of view of a neurotic parrot.”.