2023’s Beach Read List

Emily Henry has become my go-to beach read author and I find myself saying “you can’t go wrong with any Emily Henry books” when asked for beach reading recommendations.

Perfect for readers who: love binge watching dating reality shows (or just love a good rom-com to read on the beach)

Christina Lauren books always are top beach books for me so naturally a new Christina Lauren release should have a coveted spot in your beach bag this summer.

This one will absolutely wrap you up in the story of a romance author, in need of her own real life romance and a way out of her career funk, who gets roped in to a reality tv show to help her find her own true love by an aspiring filmmaker who is being forced into creating a hit reality show.

Perfect for readers who: devoured ACOTAR on the beach (or anywhere)

Romantasy is my new favorite genre these days and if you don’t mind lugging a thick fantasy romance to the beach, check out this new series starter that was SO MUCH fun to read. I feel like it’s going to be THE read of the summer. I couldn’t put it down.

This one is about a 20 year old woman who has been ordered to join the brutal and competitive war academy for dragon riders instead of pursing her dream of being a scribe. Totally unprepared and with quite a few obstacles in her way, she must survive the deadly trainings (as well as the other students) as she tries to prove she is worthy — all while war rages outside and she suspects leadership is withholding some secrets.

P.S. If you love ACOTAR check out this guest post Sarah did on ACOTAR’s release day back in 2015.

Perfect for readers who: love a high concept love story, love a good starcrossed lovers story

If you read The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, you know she can pull off a more high concept romance. Don’t be scared if at first, with the premise, you are like “I am not going to be able to suspend my disbelief.” I promise, just crack open the book and a cold beverage — you’ll be fine.

Imagine you meet the perfect man — the only catch is that he lives seven years in the past. I mean, talk about bad timing — amirite? That’s the premise and I promise you — it delivers.

An overworked book publicist, who has been grieving her beloved aunt, has kept her head down and created a perfectly planned future. That future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate she finds standing in her kitchen one day — in the kitchen of the apartment her aunt has always said is magical — and realizes he’s actually living seven years in the past.

Perfect for readers who: love a good coming of age story about that transformative time in your 20’s and don’t mind maybe shedding some tears on the beach (though fyi some of the story deals with loss/grief of a parent if that is a trigger)

One of the top books I’ve read in 2023 and one that hit me on such a personal level. While maybe not typical beach read fare, this contemporary coming of age story is heartfelt, funny and one that you will easily get lost in because the main character’s voice is so strong. It’s just a delightful gem of a book that deserves a spot on beach reading lists if you are a reader who wants a book that isn’t necessarily super light and is such a powerful, thoughtful read.

Perfect for readers who: love heartwarming women’s fiction with a dash of romance in it

Ali Brady’s The Beach Trap was one of my favorite beach reads last year so this is an instant add to the beach bag. A feel good story of sisterhood, love and a summer of self discovery!

Two sisters, desperately trying to keep the PR firm they inherited from their grandmother afloat, catch a break with a potential new client that could turn it all around. The only catch? The client is a self help guru who will only hire them if they complete a twelve week challenge all about getting outside their comfort zone.

Wanting to land this client and save their grandmother’s legacy, the girls set out on their summer challenge that will stretch them more than they could imagine and test the relationship (and also bringing old and new love their way).

Perfect for readers who: can’t get enough of nostalgic & gossipy reunion specials IRL or juicy fictional celeb/musician books

With this one think a little bit more of a lighter Daisy Jones-esque read meets The OC (if it was more musical a la Glee or High School Musical).

The stars of a popular teen show from the early 2000s — rocked by a scandalous implosion and cancellation of the show– coming together for the first time 13 years later for a reunion special that will either be a chance for redemption or a chance at further scandal and mess.

P.S. Books Like Daisy Jones & The Six

Perfect for readers who: want celeb fiction that is juicy and page-turning but also thought-provoking and critical towards the darker sides of celebrity and the industries that cultivate it.

Inspired by Britney Spears and her fight against her conservatorship (as well as others like Amanda Bynes), this celeb fiction follows a child star turned former Hollywood-It girl fighting back against the conservatorship that has dictated her life for the past decade and allowing her very little freedom. The story weaves together her fight as well as her retelling, to her daughters, the story of her rise to fame and descent into the conservatorship she’s fighting.

Perfect for readers who: are seeking smart and funny romantic comedies that feel a little more on the literary side but still very much classic rom-com vibes

Reminds me of all the classic rom-coms I grew up loving and actually funny — this exudes everything I love about the rom-com genre and love stories and pays homage to it all. There’s so much to love in this book and will be an absorbing book for the beach with memorable characters, plenty of lols and incredible writing.

A writer for a SNL-type comedy show is jaded when it comes to love/romance and has sworn it all off — choosing to focus more on her career and non-romantic relationships. That is until a dreamy pop sensation is a guest on the show and the spark feels like it goes far beyond their professional collaboration which challenges all her assumptions surrounding love, men like him and if things like this only happen in fiction.

Perfect for readers who: want summer vibes (lake setting!), nostalgia, longing and second chance romances

While I didn’t love it as much as I did Every Summer After, I really felt like this was a fantastic summer beach read — lakeside setting really sets the mood (I really felt a sense of place) and an interesting premise for a second chance romance.

An instant connection and life-changing day spent together prompted twenty-somethings Fern and Max to make a plan to meet a year later at Fern’s family lakeside resort.

When Max is a no-show on the date they are supposed to meet a year later, it changes the trajectory of Fern’s life and she has never quite gotten over it.

Now, 10 years later, Fern has returned to the family’s lakeside resort after her mother’s death and is desperately trying to keep it going. And then in walks Max — 9 years too late and not quite the same man she met all those years before.

Perfect for readers who: love a good celeb romance (esp if you were glued to Justin and Britney back in the day) or can’t get enough of pop culture/examinations of pop culture

A second chance, friends to lovers meets enemies to lovers romance! Plus set in the world of mega pop-stardom and, in the present day sections, a Broadway production.

It honestly made for the perfect breezy beach read — wasn’t a 5 star read by any means but is exactly what the season called for. And it’s in paperback which is my favorite beach read format to throw in my beach bag.

Katee used to be a mega pop-star dating a popular lead of a boy band until she blew up her career and love life with one unforgettable night with another member of the boy band who has been her friend/crush since their theater camp days. Now, after living a normal life out of the spotlight, she’s offered a career re-building opportunity with a starring role on Broadway — the catch being that Cal, her childhood friend and crush who she hasn’t seen since all those years ago, is the director.

Perfect for readers who: love second chance romances, nostalgic summer stories and completely devoured Every Summer After/Happy Place

Another author who gave me a really good beach book last year (Nora Goes Off Script) is coming out with what looks to be a perfect summertime beach read, how lucky am I!

It’s about a woman who, while returning home to tour possible wedding venues near her family’s Long Island beach home, has her perfectly planned and predictable life shaken when she finds out that her childhood love (and breaker of her heart all those years ago) is also home to play a music festival. When all their past memories vividly rush back and their connection seeming to be as easy as ever, she starts to question the trajectory of her life and who she has become versus the girl she was the last time they were together here.

Perfect for readers who: want a juicy thriller on the beach full of badly behaving rich people

I don’t know what it is about grift/con thrillers that has been my favorite type of thriller beach read lately but they are really what is bringing the perfect sizzling beach read vibe when it comes to the thrills.

This one is about a woman who has conned all her life alongside her mother and decides — in order to leave that life behind forever — she’s going to grift one last time to land herself the heir of one of the country’s wealthiest families. The only thing standing in her way is a friend hellbent on not allowing this match to happen turning into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game.

Perfect for readers who: love domestic suspense dramas a la Liane Moriarty with a heavy dose of badly behaving rich people (White Lotus, Desperate Housewives). Especially for you if you’ve enjoyed books by Mary Cobb

I’ve already established that these types of domestic suspense dramas are my beach read thrillers of choice and honestly the worse behaved the characters the better. It just feels right to escape like that with my summer-time reads because I KNOW they will keep the pages moving at a breakneck speed and fully allow me to drift away from reality.

Set in a wealthy beach community, with plenty of secrets and scandals to go around behind the perfect facade, the ultimate scandal unfolds at the beginning of the book with the discovery of a dead body on the boardwalk and turns the summer upside down in this small community.

Perfect for readers who: love a good locked-room whodunit with a luxurious setting

A group of 4 women are invited, by the grandmother of one of the girls, back to the Provence chateau where they spent time when they all studied abroad during college 20 years before — a sudden and surprising invitation but a dream trip nonetheless.

As the women descend on the chateau, an impending big announcement from their hostess never happens when the woman is found dead after a night of celebration. The shocking murder renders everyone suspects and things get even more sinister when an Instagram account pops up threatening to spill their secrets.

Perfect for readers who: love to get in a fast-paced and fun thriller and those who can’t get enough of fictional grifting

This fast-paced psychological thriller will be a must-read beach read for your summer vacation — compulsively readable and taut suspense.

Two best friends have been conning and scamming their way through the elite of sunny California. But when a big catch is reeled in, in the form of a billionaire and philanthropist’s invite to his private island, one of the girls accepts an invite while the other waits for the spoils of the trip.

But that never comes as her friend never comes back and has basically disappeared prompting her to head to the island to find out what happened after all.

Perfect for readers who: love sipping a daiquiri beach-side while reading a juicy revenge story

One of my most anticipated new thriller books for 2023 for its promise of twisty summer goodness in a beachy setting to boot.

A group of childhood best friends who have drifted, but still remain bonded by their secrets are surprised when they get an extravagant invite to a Caribbean bachelorette party by another in the group who, by social media appearances, seems to be living quite the posh life but whom they haven’t spoken to in some time. The women accept the invite for a Caribbean getaway but soon the party takes a sinister turn turning up some of their darkest secrets.

Perfect for readers who: are looking for historical fiction beach read and who love historical stories featuring strong & independent women finding their way in a world that wants to put them in a box

Historical fiction is a genre I love so much but it’s often hard for me to find historical fiction beach reads that don’t depress me/feel too heavy mood wise or that are too literary I can’t slip into them easy when my brain is needing something a bit lighter and page-turning. But a really good historical beach read can bring exactly what I need to enjoy the genre amidst the rom-coms and juicy thrillers in my bag.

Set in the sunsoaked coast town of Laguna Beach, it’s about a woman who came from the midwest to Calfornia to do her part in the war efforts, becoming one of the many Rosie the Riveters building bombers for the military, and who now post-war must figure out what’s next for her life that doesn’t involve going back into a traditional woman’s role when her dreams are much bigger.

Perfect for readers who: devoured The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and other glamorous/juicy multi-generational family sagas that flit from the past to the present as the generational family secrets reverberate there

Get lost in this Old Hollywood-set beach book in 2023 — a book that brings that glamour and juiciness of Evelyn Hugo mixed with The Vanishing Half’s exploration of race, privilege and family.

Long held family secrets and revelations are unearthed when a silver screen icon dies and leaves her estate to 3 Black sisters and a journal of Kitty’s — that chronicles her childhood in Jim Crow South through her time as a woman in Hollywood — and find out their shocking connection to the starlet and the secrets she held close about her identity.

Perfect for readers who: love a good friends to enemies to lovers book

Talia Hibbert is one of my all-time favorite romance authors and her YA debut is making a big splash this year!

Academic rivals and former friends are forced to work together at an outdoors survival program and the stakes are high in the form of a university scholarship. As they try to repair their relationship for the sake of survival on this adventure, the good memories they shared start to resurface and could be just the spark the two need.

Perfect for readers who: fans of the fake dating trope and sweet YA romances like those from Jenny Han & Morgan Matson

Romance author Rebekkah Weatherspoon’s YA romance debut!

Two awkward teens, both striking out in the romance/dating department lately, decide to fake-date in order to get some experience and confidence for their next attempts at dating. And their scheme seems to be working in many ways but soon gets confusing as fake romance blurs into real feelings.