20 of My Favorite Beach Reads

If you have been searching for some fantastic beach reads to read this summer, pop in your email address below and I’ll send the printable list right to your inbox!

The One with the Kiss Cam by Cindy Steel
This book was pure delight! Nora is on a disastrous first date at an NBA game. But when her date gets up to get concessions, the kiss cam hovers over her and the stranger sitting next to her…let’s just say it might just be love at first kiss! This one is clean and funny with great banter and led me down the rabbit hole of other Cindy Steel books!

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren
This one was so light and fluffy (it is a retelling of Disney’s Tangled) but it was just SO FUN and enjoyable and one of those books that I blew through in 2 days because it was just pure delight. Funny, romantic, and clever. The best kind of summer reading book! (This book is part of the Meant to Be series – I’ve only read the Beauty and the Beast one besides this one (it’s called By the Book) and it was delightful too and on the Summer Reading Guide a few years ago. 

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan 
This one is my #1 pick of this year’s Summer Reading Guide – I loved it so much! Single mom Dolly Brick returns to Rhode Island for the summer to help out her dad and, after a flat tire, agrees to a mutually beneficial arrangement with Stewart Whitfield (think Pretty Women minus anyone being a prostitute). But what starts as a convenience slowly turns into something neither of them expected. I had to go back and re-read nearly the whole thing immediately after I finished it. (You also can’t go wrong with her other books It’s a Love Story and Nora Goes Off Script)

To Charm a Lady by Joanna Barker
You know those books where you just immediately want to spend EVERY WAKING MOMENT reading that book? This book was that for me! It is the 2nd book in this regency romance series, but it completely stands alone. While attending a house party, Cora is is under strict instructions by her mother to find a husband, but will she pursue a man her mother would approve of, or a longtime crush she has never gotten over.

Never With You by Kortney Keisel 
Carly and Nate (coworkers who plan luxury incentive trips for companies) can’t stand each other – until a fake dating scheme meant to solve their personal problems turns into something unexpectedly real. This one is full of witty banter, travel chaos, and super fun, kissing only romance. I laughed out loud during this one and I never can resist a good fake-dating trope. (This was another of my 2026 Summer Reading Guide picks and has all the makings for a fantastic beach read!)

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty 
This is one of my all-time favorite books – I love it so much! Alice comes to on the floor of the gym, with a bunch of worried friends around her. They aren’t the only ones that are worried – Alice is expecting her first baby and she’s concerned that the fall might have hurt the baby (she also can’t figure out why she’s at the gym; she hates the gym). The surprise of being at the gym, though, takes a quick backseat to the shock Alice receives when she realizes that it’s not 1998 like she thought, but instead it’s 2008. She’s not pregnant – she has three children. And the happy, new-ish marriage to Nick that she remembers is now on the verge of divorce. It’s a lot to take in. (Full review here)

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
Abby Jimenez does a great job with the “romance with substance” books, plus she gets an A for witty banter. (Note that her books are more open-door than Sophie Kinsella’s). And this is one of my favorites of hers – plus perfect for a beach read!

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Imagine if the love of your life died in a plane crash and then, when you’d finally moved on, it turned out he wasn’t dead at all. I stayed up WAYYYYY too late reading this one. (Full review here).

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
I am SUCH a fan of this book about a computer security guy who starts reading the emails between two women who work at the newspaper after their emails get flagged by the filtering software and then falls in love with one of them despite the fact that she has no idea he even exists. (And some of her other books that I highly recommend for beach reads are Landline, and if you are okay with more spicy scenes, Cherry Baby)

The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter
I loved this funny spy romantic comedy with a dose of action packed adventure. Zoe wakes up in Paris with zero memory, but when she is mistaken for her spy twin sister, there are a lot of people who want her dead. This one has dual narrators (there are two narrators on the audiobook, which was extra fun) and I just loved every second of this book.

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
Chani is a young journalist who wants to make it big, and when she interviews her celebrity crush, it is a life-changing experience both professionally and personally. Ten years later, they meet again and both realize that the 72 hours spent during the interview meant more than they thought. I blew through this one on audio. This one is on par with Book Lovers, steaminess wise.

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (Also her book I’ve Got Your Number and The Undomestic Goddess)
Sophie Kinsella always comes up with the most ridiculous scenarios and then makes them so funny. I can’t help but to laugh my face off when I read her books. This is one of my favorite books of hers. Emma spills all of her secrets to a stranger she meets on a plane. But when that stranger becomes her new CEO at work, she realizes that he knows every embarrassing thing about her. How much worse could things get?

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (Also Things You Save in a Fire)
Hannah looks like a mild-mannered kindergarten teacher, but she is actually a private bodyguard who could probably kill you with your wristwatch. Her firm gets hired by Jack Stapleton, who is a massive movie star, and dealing with a stalker problem. He needs some protection while he goes home to visit his mom undergoing cancer treatments and Hannah gets put on the job. The lines get a little blurred when Jack wants her to pretend to be his girlfriend to keep his parents from worrying about him. What could possibly go wrong in this situation!? Katherine Center writes the most snappy, laugh out loud dialogue. This book is just so fun!

The Accidental Beauty Queen by Terri Wilson
Charlotte is a school librarian and happy to spend her life buried in a book. Her twin sister, though, has spent her life chasing beauty pageant crowns and now is competing for Miss American Treasure. Except, the night before the pageant begins, Ginny has a horrible allergic reaction and begs Charlotte to take her place until Ginny is well enough to step back in. But even though they look alike, Charlotte and Ginny are wildly different – is there any way they can pull off a con at this level? I read this last summer and blew through it in a day – it was just so so delightful. It’s also squeaky clean! (Full review here)

One and Only by Maurene Goo 
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that’s been this delightful! So much so, that I included it on my 2026 Summer Reading Guide. Cassia Park comes from a long line of matchmakers and she’s known the name of her fated love for years but can’t find him despite having a professional team on the lookout. As her 40th birthday approaches, she decides to act on her surprising connection with a much younger man and then, of course, she meets his boss – who is the man she’s been looking for for years. I blew through this one so fast!

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
I was drawn in by the premise of this book – two people who live in the same apartment, but have never met – but then I was drawn in by the characters, the story and the unexpected humor. Tiffy is coming off a bad breakup and needs a new place in a hurry and Leon only uses his apartment for sleeping during the day since he works a graveyard shift. As the two start leaving notes for each other (at first slightly snippy), they slowly come to like each other but. . . they’ve still never met.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
This was such a fun, delightful romantic comedy (with a little bit of heaviness) that I blew through in two days. Evvie Drake has just lost her husband (he dies in the first chapter) and Dean Tenney is a World Series winning pitcher for the Yankees who suddenly can’t pitch anymore and he has no idea why. When he escapes the endless news about his fall from grace in New York, he ends up renting the apartment in Evvie’s too-big-for-her house and the two strike up friendship, based on the agreement that he won’t ask about her late husband and she won’t ask him about baseball. You can imagine how long THOSE rules last. As far as swearing and sex, this one is about on par with Sophie Kinsella’s books.

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
This basically feels like a Jason Bourne movie in audiobooks form, with a female interrogation officer for one of the U.S. government agencies. She’s known as The Chemist because she uses chemical cocktails to get information out of her subjects, but now she’s less worried about her job and more worried about her life because the agency is now trying to kill her. This was just a FUN listen with lots of laugh-out-loud moments – say what you will about Stephenie Meyer, but she can write some SNAPPY dialogue. (Full review here)

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (Also One Golden Summer and Our Perfect Storm)
I love reading, but VERY rarely do I read a book in 1-2 days. I’m pretty good at being able to put a good book down or turning off a show even when the episode stops on a cliffhanger (it drives my husband crazy). This book was the exception. Six summers of Percy and Sam side by side…and one weekend when they are all grown up. One huge mistake made by Percy a decade ago is still haunting her and changed her and Sam’s relationship forever. She knows she is going to have to face Sam and everything she’s been avoiding when visiting her hometown for Sam’s mom’s funeral. When she returns, their connection is still undeniable, but so much has happened. This is such a great love story and had me completely consumed.

How to Kiss Your Best Friend by Jenny Proctor
This is your typically best friends to lovers romcom. He’s a swoony small-town science teacher still pining for his globe-trotting best friend, and now that she’s back in town (and their chemistry is off the charts), he’s ready to risk it all for a second chance at love that might finally make her stay. (the whole four book series is great!)