2025’s Best Beach Reads for Summer

Book Summary

When looking at one of the most famous paintings in the world, it’s easy to miss the three tiny figures in the corner at the far end of the pier. You might even think they’re just part of the sea. But 18-year-old Louisa, an artist herself, noticed them. The painting has unexpectedly been bequeathed to her and she’s determined to find out the story behind the enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of teenagers spent their days hanging out and laughing out on the pier to escape their difficult lives at home. Joar never backs down from a fight. Bookish Ted is mourning his father. Ali’s dad never stays in place for long. And then there is the boy who hoards sleeping pills and doesn’t want too much attention, but who has an extraordinary talent for art.

Louisa sets out on a cross-country journey to learn more about the work of art. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit.

Book Summary

Leah is a doctor who has carefully curated her life in a methodical and science-minded way. Then, a bout of vertigo followed by an astrology reading that claims she’s living way out of line with what was written in her stars, knocks her whole world off center.

Despite not believing in astrology, the results of her reading take her life on a new course. She’s determined to prove that astrology can’t be accurate by finding her star twins – her exact astrological matches. She travels to Venice, Istanbul, New Orleans, and beyond on her quest. Along the way, she’ll also encounter the mother she thought abandoned her, her steadfast father, and her childhood love.

Book Summary

As a photographer, Alice prefers letting others shine and is more comfortable behind the lens. But now her life is feeling a little stale. When her Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice takes the opportunity to spend time with her. Since it’s the summer, it’s the perfect chance to return to the same lake she visited when she was seventeen.

As they settle in, they hear the roar of a familiar yellow boat. The driver, Charlie, was nineteen the last time Alice saw him. As an adult, he’s a shameless flirt who makes Nan laugh and Alice feel like a teenager again. The warm summer days on the lake with Charlie feel like a balm for her soul, but how can she protect her heart?

Book Summary

As a kid, Jane was “Poor Janey Jakes,” the punchline character on a sitcom. As an adult, she’s become a Creative Executive at a studio and is embracing her “fake it ’til you make it” mantra.

Unfortunately, she might have taken this strategy too far. In a desperate moment, trying to get her first film approved, she accidentally told a big fib. Jack Quinlan is a huge pop star, and she said he agreed to write an original song for the soundtrack.

While Jane did know Jack twenty years ago, she hasn’t spoken to him since her first kiss with him two decades ago. Now she has to do the unthinkable and spend a week on Long Island with her former crush, Dan, a pompous cinematographer, who has an in to reunite her with Jack and convince him to write the song.

Book Summary

In 1957, McCarthyism and the Red Scare ruled Hollywood. Isabella is a young starlet with a promise to become the next Grace Kelly. Just after an audition with Hitchcock, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage to ride out this dark period of American history.

Her new neighbor, Léon Chazan, was a successful screenwriter until he was blacklisted. He’s continued writing despite knowing he won’t be able to sell his next script and is annoyed when Iz interrupts his work. But he can’t stay mad at her long, and soon they are exploring the coast in his roadster despite the studio’s insistence that Iz not leave her cottage.

Sixty years later, twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan is in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage. She finds a safe of secrets, raising questions about her grandfather and whether she can live up to his name. Can his old friend Iz, who still lives next door, help her?

Book Summary

From the outside, Jill and Jack are the perfect couple. The college sweethearts are wealthy, popular, beautiful…and about to be empty nesters. After dropping daughter Maggie at college, Jill suggests a road trip to help them reconnect.

Jack has no desire to drive to Utah with Jill and instead is planning to file for divorce as soon as they get home. They are only still married because of a shared secret that was buried for their daughter’s sake, but he can’t keep pretending to be happily married any longer.

Sadly for Jack, Jill has more than one secret. And she still believes he’s the only love for her. She’ll do anything to keep him as they set off on a road trip that turns into a cat-and-mouse game between a cunning wife and a reluctant husband.

Book Summary

Milly and Nicole grew up together and were as close as sisters. As adults, they’re no longer close for two reasons. They had a rift in their friendship, and they no longer see each other because Nicole became a global superstar. But, when a scandal breaks, Nicole turns to Milly, the only person in the world that she still trusts.

Milly is tempted to turn down Nicole’s plea. After all, Nicole wasn’t there for her when she needed her most. Plus, Milly is freshly divorced and raising a daughter alone. But, Milly can’t reject her old friend.

As they slowly get to know each other again as adults, each woman begins to see new possibilities in her own life. Unfortunately, Nicole can’t stay hidden forever, and she also can’t continue keeping a secret that threatens the fragile bond between the friends.

Book Summary

Joan is a physics and astronomy professor at Rice University in Houston, content with her quiet life. Then, she sees an ad that changes her life. NASA is looking for the first women scientists to join the Space Shuttle program. After being selected from a pool of thousands of worthy applicants, Joan begins training in the summer of 1980.

As she trains with her new team, they become unlikely friends, and Joan finds a new passion for life. She also begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Book Summary

Katie is on the verge of being laid off from her job as a video producer, so she’s forced to take a gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

There are two problems with her plan. First, Hutch is her co-worker’s brother, and the men do NOT get along. And more importantly, she told a little fib that she knew how to swim.

Lies turn this assignment in paradise into a mess, but if Katie can face old fears and tell the truth, Hutch may be the man who makes her stop hating love.

Book Summary

Long-time friends Pam, Nancy, Shalisa, and Marlene are now in their 60s and looking forward to the perfect retirement. Except their husbands get involved in an investment gone wrong, and now the future looks as dreary as the recent past in all their relationships.

Then, one of the husbands dies. While the wives all think it was a freak accident, the husbands have concerns that they may be next due to some shady things they have done in hopes of recouping the money they lost.

Simultaneously, the women realize the men each have significant life insurance policies and are worth more dead than alive. And the men are pretty annoying to live with…

Book Summary

Vetrenarian Xavier might be the perfect guy, complete with his Greek god vibes and his kitten cuddling ways. But then he opens his mouth and says the exact wrong thing. Luckily, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving a jerk wrong. But what if that jerk can also admit his mistakes? Well, then there might just be an incredible date.

Unfortunately, that date comes just as Samantha is leaving town. She’s moving from Minnesota back to California to deal with a family crisis. Xavier, on the other hand, is firmly rooted in Minnesota, where he’s invested everything in his vet practice.

Samantha is determined that a long-distance relationship could never work, and she begs Xavier to forget about her. But even 2,000 miles between them isn’t enough distance for her to forget that there was, in fact, something undeniable between them.

Book Summary

Hendrix has a thriving business, amazing friends, and a loving family. While she’s checking off our lofty goals and ambitions, she’s also facing one of her biggest challenges so far – caring for an aging parent with Alzheimer’s.

With everything on her plate, romance has been on the back burner. But then she met tech mogul Maverick Bell. When they exchange a glance at summer’s hottest party, she feels like she’s finally met the one. While she loves that he makes her feel seen and appreciated, he’s also the ex of one of her new friends.

Book Summary

Ivy once considered her Hello, Juliet castmates as her family. Ten years later, she’s still not sure who turned them all against her and ruined her career.

A new celebrity exposé has resurrected all her past hurts and scandals, but there may be a way to benefit from the drama. Hoping to make a fresh start and add financial stability, Ivy agrees to a secret reunion episode.

Things don’t go smoothly when the cast reunites – Ivy and the man who once broke her heart find their costar dead. She could be next if she can’t uncover the chilling secrets that have plagued the Hollywood set from day one.

Book Summary

Margaret Ives is the daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th century, but the former tabloid princess hasn’t been seen in years. Now in her 80s, this tragic heiress is ready to tell her story. She invites two authors to Little Crescent Island for a one-month trial period, after which she intends to choose one to write her memoir.

The two authors she has invited couldn’t be more different. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-Prize winner with the personality of a thundercloud. Alice Scott, on the other hand, is an eternal optimist still working toward her big break as a writer.

Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story, but because of their ironclad NDAs, Hayden and Alice can’t share what they’ve learned in order to put together a more complete picture. Whether her story is a mystery, a tragedy, or a love ballad is yet to be determined. The same can be said for the story between Alice and Hayden, who can’t deny the inconvenient pull between them each time they’re in the same room.

Book Summary

Allison was raised by her loving, literary icon father, Carson, after her mother died when she was a teenager. Since they had a great relationship, she’s shocked when a DNA test reveals that she has a sister named Juniper. Her father clearly had secrets that he didn’t reveal before he passed away.

Instead of contacting Juniper directly about their connection, Allison takes a job as Juniper’s intern. But, things take an unexpected turn when the normally healthy Juniper has a heart attack. When she wakes up in the hospital, it seems that her new intern has saved her. To help June recuperate and de-stress, Ali invites her to stay in her family’s cabin in a small Wyoming town. Over the summer, the women will discover what family really means.

Book Summary

When Lucy in Dallas and Greta in Berlin each have a tough week, these former strangers find themselves impulsively setting up a house swap. Thanks to martinis and desperation, the women find themselves exchanging Southern charm and barbecue for European sophistication and schnitzel.

As part of the exchange, Greta’s daughter Emmi and Lucy’s son Jack get tossed into each other’s orbits, where they both discover secrets they can’t ignore. But it’s not just the teens who need each other. Greta’s biggest career achievement is in jeopardy, and Lucy’s past with a hot Viking named Bjørn invades her present.

Book Summary

In 1962, at the dawn of the jet-set era, two Pan Am stewardesses are navigating an adventurous new life in this historical fiction novel.

Judy Goodman and Beverly Caldwell had different reasons for seeking the coveted position of a Pan Am stewardess, but both were looking to put continents and oceans between them and their pasts. Judy is running away from an oppressive marriage in small-town Pennsylvania, while Beverly is leaving behind the gilded cage of her life in New York City society.

By joining the elite team at Pan American Airlines, they embrace the culture, etiquette, and strict rules of the world above the clouds. The job takes them to faraway destinations and presents them with opportunities they could have only dared dream about.

As the two women build a deep friendship, they see each other through both love and danger while discovering what is truly important. They will also be forced to confront secrets that could change their lives all over again.

Book Summary

Twenty-four-year-old Nicole is struggling with life. Ever since her sister, Kasey, disappeared seven years again, she’s been working the same dead-end job. She lives alone in a dinky Indiana apartment and just got a DWI.

Two weeks before Kasey disappeared, another young woman named Jules went missing in a similar way. Their cars were found a long way from home, with the driver’s side doors still open and purses untouched inside. The similarity between the cases was the only clue before both cases went cold.

Jules also has a sister, Jenna. When Jenna suddenly appears and offers Nic the first hope she has felt in years, the sisters unite and will do anything to find their missing halves.

Book Summary

Lia first met Wes when they were 14 years old. Her family purchased a lakeside summer cottage near Wes’ full-time home. This novel alternates between ten consecutive summers of the past and the present-day timeline when Lia and Wes are 28.

Throughout the novel, you’ll see how their relationship grows first into friendship and then into first love in their late teens and early 20s before everything falls apart. In the present-day timeline, Lia has returned for the first time in four years, despite hoping to never see Wes again.

Book Summary

In 1942, sisters Cadence and Briar Smith are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard and German U-boats lurk in the waters off the coast. Cadence and her best friend, Beth, start a book club in an attempt to find some normalcy in their lives. Soon, the book club has grown in members and influence, catching the attention of a publisher who could make Cadence’s dreams come true. But then, a mysterious man washes ashore, and his appearance means there could be a spy in the community.

In 2016, Mari travels to Martha’s Vineyard after her mother’s death. She’s on the way to meet Elizabeth Devereaux, a reclusive painter. Under the guise of taking a painting class, Mari learns more about Mrs. Devereaux, the Smith sisters, and her own connection to the island.

Book Summary

Life is good for 30-year-old Maggie. She’s planning to open a record store in her charming Midwestern hometown and is about to be engaged to her childhood best friend.  But, after finding a letter she wrote to herself when she was 13, she’s inspired to be more than just content. She wants to know who she really is, and that means she needs to find her birth mother.

Her search leads her to a wedding on Fire Island. After watching her biological family at the wedding from a distance, she realizes that they are full of drama. Does she want to run away from the fray and go back to her peaceful life, or should she dig deeper into her past? Things get more complicated when a handsome local offers to be her fake boyfriend so she can get closer to the family.

Book Summary

Haven has come to Positano, Italy to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast as part of her job as a nautical archaeologist. While she looks for historical artifacts, Haven also has a side quest. Her father spotted a trove of priceless gemstones on his last dive in the area, and she wants to find them.

As she searches for the hidden treasure, misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it a coincidence, or is it part of the Amalfi Curse and part of the region’s centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery?

Book Summary

When Phoebe was a child, she was struck by lightning. Ever since, she’s had a gift of premonition alongside mysterious dreams. She left Charleston for the West Coast to get away from living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, but now she’s returning to South Carolina to help care for her mom, who had been showing signs of dementia.

The longer Phoebe stays in her childhood home, the more her nightmares intensify. The bad dreams are also bringing her closer to a shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything.

Book Summary

Julia Mann is a sharp-tongued former actress with a murder conviction in her past. When she discovers a dead body floating in her Hollywood Hills pool, the police eye her as the prime suspect. IN order to clear her name and stay sober, Julia reluctantly teams up with her Gen Z Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Natasha.

Their unconventional investigation leads them through the glitzy and bizarre underbelly of Los Angeles, from burlesque clubs to Palm Springs country clubs, encountering showgirls, cat burglars, and eccentric Hollywood agents.

As they navigate false leads and outrageous clues—including dead piranhas and oversized martini glasses—the duo forms an unexpected bond.

Book Summary

In the 1930s, it wasn’t easy for a woman in the United States to get a divorce…unless she headed to Reno, Nevada. In this former frontier town, women could establish residency by spending six weeks at a “divorce ranch,” and then they’d be eligible for legal divorce through the Nevada laws, which gave women more rights to leave a husband.

Evelyn will do anything to get out of her loveless marriage. She heads to the Flying N Ranch and soon bonds with her housemates, most of whom have never traveled from their homes. During their stay, the women can ride horses by day and dance with cowboys by night. However, there is no escaping the grim realities of Depression-era America hiding just below the glamour of Reno.

Book Summary

Gail’s daughter Debbie is getting married tomorrow, and Gail was already having a bad day because she wasn’t invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Things got worse when she lost her job. Then, her ex-husband just showed up on her doorstep, with a cat, and with no where else to stay.

However, her true crisis begins when Debbie shares something she just learned about her fiance. Suddenly, the wedding is thrown into question, but the secret also brings up old feelings about Gail’s past marriage.

Book Summary

This summer thriller is a follow-up to the bestseller The Woman in Cabin 10. Lo is a journalist who has taken some time off after the birth of her child, but she’s now ready to reclaim her career. An invitation to the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann comes at the perfect time.

When she arrives at the chateau on Lake Geneva, she hopes to score an interview with Marcus, but can’t pin him down. Finally, she gets a call summoning her to his hotel room late one night, which makes her nervous, but she goes anyway.

When she arrives, it’s not Marcus in the room, but a woman in life-or-death jeopardy who claims to be his mistress. Soon, Lo finds herself on a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, but should she even trust the woman she is trying to help?

Book Summary

Let’s Call Her Barbie is a historical fiction novel that delves into the creation of one of the world’s most iconic dolls. The story follows the life of Ruth Handler, the co-founder of Mattel and the visionary behind the Barbie doll, as she navigates the challenges of the toy industry and societal expectations.

In 1956, the store shelves were filled with baby dolls that encouraged little girls to pretend to be mothers. Handler was determined to create a doll that empowered young girls to imagine a future beyond traditional roles. She assembled a team of creative rebels to create not just a doll but, ultimately, a legacy.

Book Summary

Minnie is an expat on the island of Corfu in 1898. She didn’t expect to be raising her two children alone there, but knows she needs to make a new plan for the next phase of her life.

Mystery author Stephen Dorian has just arrived from London to a neighboring villa. While Minnie is initially intrigued by her new neighbor, she quickly learns that he is a grump. While she’s determined to avoid him, that’s impossible when he offers her a high-paying job as his typist.

Soon after starting, a young maid is murdered, and local officials aren’t doing much about it. Minnie is determined to stop the maid’s life and death from being ignored, as often happens with those deemed unworthy by society. Stephen aids in her investigation as they uncover another side of Corfu.

Book Summary

While 21-year-old Ellie was touring Europe, she wasn’t planning on falling in love. Then she met Ash in Lisbon, and within their three days together, the duo formed an unforgettable bond. Before Ellie moved on to the next town on her itinerary, they agreed to meet again in Spain. Sadly, Ellie arrived late, and Ash wasn’t there.

Six years later, Ellie has settled into a new, peaceful life in Wales. She’s working as a gardener for a viscount and viscountess on their sprawling five-hundred-year-old estate. When Ash suddenly reappears in her life, her heart breaks when she learns why he wasn’t waiting for her in Madrid. But now that they are reunited, she has a choice to make.