Looking for something to read to take with you to the beach or the pool this summer? Keep reading to for my picks for the Best beach Reads of 2023.
Looking for something to read to take with you to the beach or the pool this summer? Keep reading to for my picks for the Best Beach Reads of 2023.
Get ready for sun-soaked days and captivating stories with my handpicked selection of the 10 Best Beach Reads of 2023! Dive into these page-turners and let your imagination wander while you lounge on sandy shores or sitting in your hammock on your back porch. From heartwarming romances to funny essays to thrilling adventures, these books are the perfect companions for your summer. So grab a towel, find your spot under the sun, and escape into these books! Check out our curated list now and make these lazy hazy days of summer even more delightful!
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10 of the Best Beach Reads for 2023
1. Happy Place By Emily Henry
Harriet and Wyn have been the seemingly perfect couple since they met in college Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t. They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the beach house that has been their group of friends’ yearly getaway for the last decade. .Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
2. Meet Me By the lake By Carley Fortune
this instant #1 New York Times Best Seller is the perfect beach read!
Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in the city. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t.
Now Fern’s back home, running her mother’s lakeside resort—something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend’s the manager, and Fern doesn’t know where to begin.She needs a plan, and to her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Ten years ago, Will rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?
3. Romantic Comedy By Curtis Sittenfeld
Sally Milz, a sketch writer for “The Night Owls” comedy show, has given up on love after a few tough heartbreaks, and she’s happy with occasional flings, and career success, But when Sally’s colleague, Danny, starts dating the glamorous actor Annabel, it highlights a trend where average-looking men end up with stunning women, and this frustrates Sally so much she turns it into a sketch. Enter Noah Brewster, a famous pop star known for dating models, who appears as a host and musical guest on the show. As he and Sally start to form a connection, Sally wonders if there could be something more. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. In reality, someone like Noah would never date someone like her. Or, would he?
4. Carrie Soto Is Back By Taylor Jenkins Reid
Bestselling Author Taylor Jenkins Reid is back
Six years after her retirement, tennis champion Carrie Soto, finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and back to the tennis court to be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.
5. Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
quietly Hostile makes light as Irby takes us on another outrageously funny tour of all the gory details that make up the true portrait of a life behind the screenshotted depression memes. Relatable, poignant, and uproarious, once again, Irby is the tonic we all need to get by.
6.The Collected Regrets of Clover By Micki Brammer
What’s the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can’t give yourself a beautiful life?
From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.
Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story—and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.
7. Queen Charlotte By Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes
You KNOW I Love the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn, so I had to add this one!
Part Historical romance, and the stuff of fairy tales, comes the story of Queen Charlotte ( now on Netflix)
In 1761, on a sunny day in September, a King and Queen met for the very first time. They were married within hours.
Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent… not precisely the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she needed, because George had secrets… secrets with the potential to shake the very foundations of the monarchy.
Thrust into her new role as a royal, Charlotte must learn to navigate the intricate politics of the court… all the while guarding her heart, because she is falling in love with the King, even as he pushes her away. Above all she must learn to rule, and to understand that she has been given the power to remake society. She must fight—for herself, for her husband, and for all her new subjects who look to her for guidance and grace. For she will never be just Charlotte again. She must instead fulfill her destiny… as Queen.
8. The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
Hollis Shaw seems to have a perfect life: she’s the creator of a popular food blog and married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon.
Although the book is brimming with summer vibes, it begins with loss, exposing the cracks in Hollis’s marriage and relationship with her daughter, Caroline.
When Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”, she decides to host her own to get her life back on track, bringing together four friends from different stages in her life.
9.YellowFace By R.F. Kuang
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
This book frustrated me until the very end. But I recommend it.
10 Yours Truly By Abby Jimenez
Abby Jimenez always writes the best books for summer, and in my opinion, this is one of the Best Beach Reads for 2023.
First impressions can make or break future relationships. In the case of Dr. Briana Ortiz and her co-worker Dr. Jacob Maddox, it destroyed all chances of respect, let alone friendship. That is until Jacob turns the tables by writing a surprisingly thoughtful letter that alters her initial perception of the promotion-stealing pain in her butt.
Soon the two are exchanging notes, eating lunch together, and becoming more than just co-workers. Then Jacob gives her the greatest gift – a kidney for her brother – making her question whether The One has been right in front of her this entire time.
I saved this one for last because truly, for me, it is the perfect summer love love story.
So there are my 10 picks for the Best Beach Reads of 2023. Hopefully, you will find something on this book list to take on your next beach vacation!