Best Beach Reads of All Time According to Our Readers

Book Summary

When family tragedy strikes, Uncle Patrick needs to take custody of his niece and nephew for the summer. Forty-three-year-old GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) loves the kids, but he’s used to them going home after a weekend.

Once a famous sitcom star, Patrick’s career is stalled. His Palm Springs lifestyle of cocktails at brunch isn’t exactly ideal for a 6 and 9-year-old. He quickly realizes that having the kids longer than a few days means he needs to be more of a parent figure. But in order to help the kids, Patrick will also have to figure out how to help himself. This means facing some difficult memories from his past and deciding what he wants for his future.

Don’t miss the newly released sequel, The Guncle Abroad.

Book Summary

Caretta had no intention of returning home to the South Carolina Lowcountry, but when her mother makes an unusual request, she can’t say no.

Soon, Caretta adjusts to the rhythms of the island, begins repairing the family beach house, and even earns the title “turtle lady.” Through reconnecting with her mother, Caretta learns precious lessons about true love, sacrifice, and forgiveness.

Book Summary

The Lowcountry Tales series is a beloved collection of novels set in the stormy and steamy picturesque Lowcountry of South Carolina. The series highlights the charm and complexities of Southern life, weaving together themes of family, friendship, love, and personal growth.

Each book follows different characters, often women facing life-changing challenges, who find strength and wisdom in their close-knit communities. The storytelling is injected with humor, warmth, and a deep appreciation for Southern traditions, making the Lowcountry Tales a great tribute to this region.

Book Summary

For six summers, friends Percy and Sam were inseparable. They spent every moment possible together in Barry’s Bay, often curled up with books. As they get older, their connection leads to more than friendship.

But after Percy makes a big mistake, she spends the following ten summers in the city guarding her heart. However, when she gets the terrible news that Sam’s mother has died, she returns to the lake for one weekend. Her chemistry with Sam is still undeniable, but is the past too much to overcome?

Book Summary

Letty’s sister Tanya made her promise that if anything happened to her, Letty would take Tanya’s daughter Maya and run.

When Letty finds Tanya dead, she knows the murderer is Tanya’s ex, Evan, so she follows Tanya’s instructions to get out of town. Tanya left behind a go-bag of cash, and massive diamond ring, and a faded magazine article about a small mom-and-pop hotel in a Florida beach town.

She heads south to Florida with four-year-old Maya, trying to comfort the child and unravel her sister’s secrets while keeping a low profile among the locals, including the handsome police chief Joe.

Sisterhood, romance, and mystery intertwine throughout almost 500 pages, which is great if you’re looking for a longer option.

Book Summary

In this charming debut novel, Widower Tova works at the Sowell Bay Aquarium to occupy her mind and time. She takes pride in cleaning perfectly every night, even though she doesn’t need the money. She loves all the aquarium life but forms a special bond with the intelligent (and curmudgeonly) octopus named Marcellus.

He’s just as surprised to feel friendly toward this human who visits him nightly. Soon, he connects the sadness he sees in her with something he saw in the ocean long ago. Can he help her solve the mystery of her son’s disappearance 30 years ago?

Book Summary

Marilyn wasn’t just caught making out with the rabbi’s son—she was caught by the whole congregation! In hopes of saving their daughter’s reputation, her parents sent her to her great-aunt Ada for the summer. They gave her an ultimatum: spend the summer with Ada, Philadelphia’s strict premier matchmaker, or kiss her college plans goodbye.

Based on her mother’s description, Marilyn expects Ada to be a humorless septuagenarian. Instead, Ada is sharp and straight-talking, with platinum blonde hair, a Hermès scarf, and a Cadillac convertible. As the summer goes on, Ada and Marilyn set off for the Jersey Shore, where Marilyn helps to scope out eligible matches for anyone but herself. She’s learning a lot from Ada—but not exactly what her parents were hoping for. Marilyn realizes that she doesn’t have to settle, even as her father threatens to disinherit her.

Book Summary

Float Plan takes you to the sunny Caribbean with Anna as she sets off on the boat that she inherited after the loss of her fiancé. While Anna initially begins her adventure alone, she quickly realizes that she’s in over her head. She hires Keane, a professional sailor who is dealing with his own struggles as he faces a future that looks much different than what he had planned.

Anna originally intends to follow the exact sailing route that she and her fiancé had planned to take together, but along the way, she discovers that she’ll have to chart her own course – both aboard the boat and in her life. Likewise, Keane is navigating rough waters both aboard Anna’s boat and as he struggles to put his life back on the course he had mapped out for himself.

Book Summary

This story follows the lives of Vix and Caitlin over 20 summers. We see the ways in which their lives are woven together and torn apart over the years, from puberty to their 30th birthdays.

Growing up in Santa Fe, Vix had a difficult life at home. But everything begins to change for Vix when Caitlin – the mysterious and wealthy girl at school – chooses her as a friend and invites her to spend the summer with Caitlin’s family on Martha’s Vineyard.

On the Vineyard, Vix is introduced to a life of extreme privilege and becomes part of the Somers family. Returning year after year, the two girls become “summer sisters.” As the summers go on, their friendship also grows more complicated, until the summer when everything falls apart.

Now, years later, Vix is living and working in NYC, and Caitlin is planning her wedding on the Vineyard. When Cailtin begs Vix to not only attend her wedding but also be her maid of honor, Vix agrees to go in hopes of finally understanding what happened back then.

Book Summary

Hannah may look like a kindergarten teacher who could only wrangle young children, but she’s more dangerous than she seems. Her excellent skills as an Executive Protection Agent (aka bodyguard) just earned her a job protecting a superstar actor, Jack. He has some unlikely enemies – like a middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker and a brother who seems to hate him.

When Jack has to return to the family ranch in Texas during his mom’s cancer treatment, he doesn’t want her to find out about the stalker. This means she can’t know he needs a bodyguard to be safe. What could go wrong when Hannah has to pretend to be his girlfriend in front of his whole family?