New Beach Reads & Favorite Beach-y Authors
🏖️Filling up your TBR with “Beach Reads” and officially feeling like summer!
Hi, my bookish friend! What is it about settling into your beach chair with your plush towel draped over it, the scent of sunscreen on your skin, warm sand beneath your toes, a cool drink by your side, and a book you’re excited to read in your hands? If you’re like me, it’s pure bliss!
That’s why today, I’m sharing a list of bright new beach reads. With this book list, summer reading feels like it's finally in full swing!
So, slide on your sunglasses because today I’m sharing:
😎 5 Clever products for reading on the beach that you’ll wish you knew about sooner!
📚 8 New Release Beach Reads, with recommendations from beach-read author Mary Kay Andrews.
🏖️ A Beachy Mystery/Thriller to Read & Watch with a twist you won’t see coming!
🐚 10 Quotes from books by the Best Beach Read Authors of all time!
Here’s to fun reading in the sun and awesome readers like you! 🍹
Happy Reading!
Your friend,
Audry
P.S. Help me grow our super-fun bookish community by sharing this week’s newsletter with your friends, family, co-workers, people you just met … I’m not picky!
Bookish Buys: Make Reading on the Beach More Enjoyable!
Reading on the beach can be a delight. However, getting the most enjoyment out of the experience often takes some planning. Between managing the elements and prepping for comfort, here are a few ideas to get the most out of your next reading sesh on the beach.
Start with sun protection! You may be reading Sunburned, but you don’t actually want to be sunburned! I swear by Neutrogena Ultra Sheer.
These sunglasses that go over your reading glasses mean you’ll never have to choose seeing clearly or squinting in the sun again! They comfortably fit over your regular glasses, and look so good, no one will know you’re wearing two glasses.
Protect what you’re reading from water, sand, and spills! This eReader Protective Case Cover fits most Kindles and allows you to read while your device remains safe in the case. Or keep your physical books safe in this super-cute summery fruit-patterned case.
To read in comfort, this backpack chair has it all! Carry it on your back, unfold it, and enjoy! You can read lying on your stomach thanks to a cushioned face opening and arm holes. Or sit up and recline while taking advantage of the attached sun shade.
Bookish Recs: 8 New Beach Reads 📚
I turned to “beach read” maven and author, Mary Kay Andrews, and her Friends & Fiction YouTube Channel, for help with most of this fun and fabulous list of books that just beg you to pack up the car and drive to your nearest sandy shore! (See some but not all of the authors listed below discuss their books on this YouTube episode!)
The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly is a heartwarming read with a dash of suspense, set on the idyllic Martha’s Vineyard. The story shifts between two timelines. In 2016, Mari Starwood returns to the island after her mother’s death to learn more about her mother’s past. In 1942, sisters Cadence and Briar start a book club to restore some sense of normalcy as they keep their family farm running during World War II. The story becomes even more intriguing when a German U-Boat and a mysterious spy wash ashore. I predict you’ll see plenty of people reading this one on your beach ventures!
is such a charming beach read! Sip on sweet tea as you enjoy this coastal Southern story about a mother and daughter who lose everything after the father goes to prison for a white-collar crime. They start a new life in a beachside commune for single mothers, make new friends, and try to manage being the focus of an unfriendly Instagram account. The reviews are glowingly positive for the story, the characters, and the writing!It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan is a sweet rom-com that’s perfect for the beach and summer reading! Jane Jackson is a former teen actress who is trying to shake her former (cringe-worthy) persona so she can be taken seriously as a Hollywood producer. Only she’s made a promise she’s seriously not sure she can keep, and is on the verge of a romance with a man she thought she couldn’t stand. Readers rave about the relatable characters and the entertaining storyline.
Mansion Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore has that beach-y feel! Set on Block Island, the story follows three women whose lives become intertwined. There are backstories, hopes and dreams, and even a murder mystery! Reviews are mostly positive. Most readers thought it got off to a slow start, but then picked up about a quarter of the way through. A few readers weren’t fans of the writing, but still enjoyed the plot and especially loved the setting.
The California Dreamers by Amy Mason Doan is set on the dreamy California coast. The story begins in the 1980s and follows the lives of a surfing family of six who live out of their van. When a photograph of them is taken without their permission and becomes famous, their lives soon take separate paths. Now, as they reunite to remember their father, the family must reckon with the glaring spotlight once again being on them. Reviews are mostly positive, but some readers find the writing style challenging.
Betting on Good by Wendy Francis is a fun read about two couples, each with their own secrets and relationship issues, set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Derby. The stakes are high for both couples. And the drama will keep you turning pages! The reviews are mixed, with readers loving this lighthearted read and feeling as if they’re attending the Kentucky Derby with the characters. Other readers had a difficult time relating to the characters and their motives.
Our Last Vineyard Summer by Brooke Lea Foster looks like the perfect cozy story to pass a breezy afternoon. This story also takes you to Martha’s Vineyard, both in the present and back to 1965 and 1968. The story follows Betsy, who just wants to spend the summer with her boyfriend and end it engaged. But her father’s recent death and the sale of their home on Martha’s Vineyard send Betsy and her sisters back home to nostalgic, yet complicated memories and old family secrets.
Sunburned by Katherine Wood is both a beach read and a hot thriller! In it, Audrey wants nothing to do with her ex, Tyson. But when a human foot washes up in the Everglades (that once belonged to someone they both have a connection with!), things get complicated rather quickly!
Bookish Entertainment News: Beachy Thriller/Mystery to Read & Watch
READ: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart was published in 2014 and has since become a sensation. The story follows the Sinclairs, a perfect, rich, beautiful family, who vacation at a perfect beach, Beechwood. Then everything changes one summer. And the truth of what really happened is hidden among lies, and a twist few see coming. This is the first book in a three-part series.
WATCH: We Were Liars: Season 1 on Prime Video brings the book vividly to life. The setting of an island off Martha’s Vineyard has all the beachy, summery feels. And the twist at the end is leaving viewers reeling! Watch the trailer here. Or read fellow Substacker
’s review of the book-to-TV adaptation here.
10 Bookish Quotes from the Best “Beach Read” Authors of All Time
I wanted to showcase the remarkable talent of this fantastic list of authors, so what better way than to do that than in their own words?! Usually, I add one “Bookish Quote of the Week.” But today, you get not one, not two, but ten quotes of the week. And you may even discover a book rec to add to your beach read TBR!
“They always stayed at the beach to enjoy the golden hour, that hour when the sun sank low enough to spangle the water and make everything look as if it had been dipped in honey.”
― Elin Hilderbrand, Here's to Us
“Sometimes a change of scenery is all that’s needed to get a little perspective.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation
“You should always have an adventure lined up. Having something to look forward to is tantamount to happiness.”
― Abby Jimenez, Life's Too Short
“A summer away from everything, where I could read my books without worrying about being called a freak and swim whenever I wanted to, felt like heaven.”
― Carley Fortune, Every Summer After
“My perfect beach town isn't a fancy resort or glitzy planned community. It's a place with a hometown grocery that has decent meat, seafood, and a deli; a couple of ice cream shops; and a handful of good restaurants - where the island-wide dress code is 'no shoes, no shirt, no problem.”
― Mary Kay Andrews (quote from Atlanta Magazine), author of Beach Town
“The beach, the ocean, solitude—these are only a means to help you travel to the true peace and joy inside you. You must carry the magic in your heart, wherever you go.”
― Mary Alice Monroe, The Beach House
“Here's my definition of a great beach read - a fabulous story that sucks me in like a black hole and when it's over, it jettisons my bones across the galaxy with a hair on fire mission to convince everyone I know that they must read that book or they will die.”
― Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Sullivan's Island
“Mom said when she brought us beachcombing? She told us to always believe in something more. She told us to look at what was right in front of us, and we’d see that even a grain of sand was a miracle. That even a bit of glass was a message, that the universe was full of tricks and clues and signs.”
― Nancy Thayer, Beachcombers
“her blue eyes sparkling like she’d looked at the water so long they near turned into water themselves.”
― Kristy Woodson Harvey, Feels Like Falling
“She is fifteen years old that summer, a thoughtful, book-struck girl with long-lashed hazel eyes and a long-legged body that still doesn’t completely feel like her own.”
― Jennifer Weiner, That Summer
Did I miss your favorite “beach read” author? Let me know!
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Love the list, Audry! I've seen Sunburned recommended a few times, I'm keen to read it once I get through my TBR pile :))