Summer – a time to unwind and focus on yourself. A time to get tan on your favorite beach reading the newest novel.
Reading books at the beach is a way to break away from society and the stresses of the real world. Other than people-watching, which I love, I tend to pick up a few books to read during the summer. I’m a sucker for simple beach reads that I can finish in a day and those books tend to fall into my top two genres, romance and mystery. Stick around to hear the best book recommendation for varying genres.

Starting off strong, Emily Henry, an author based on adventure and romance has written numerous books and series that interest me and will hold my attention for the duration of the novel. Written in 2016, “The Love that Split the World”, is a narrative based on the lives of two teenagers living in a small town in Kentucky, but in separate dimensions. The book is just under 400 pages and is filled with adventure, mystery, and romance. If you are interested, make sure to check it out because I loved it.

Another of my favorites from Henry is “Book Lovers”, published just a year ago, which is a similar novel to the rest of her books as it is based on simple love stories (much different than The Love that Split the World Apart which is more sci-fi based). The book covers the life of workaholic Nora and her realistic route to true love.
Next up is a little different, a mystery with less action. “The Party” is written by Robyn Harding in 2017 and is based on sophomore Hannah Sanders and her big sixteenth birthday party planned by her parents, Jeff and Kim. Although the party is just a small aspect of the book, it sets the rest of the book up to allow the reader to unravel the mystery of what truly happened that night. The book did take me a while to read because of the lack of action throughout the story but the curiosity of wanting to know what happened helped me push through. The ending was definitely satisfying after reading it for so long.

My entire family read “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens and their high praises convinced me to read it. The book follows the story of Kya Clark growing up alone on the Marsh after her family grew away from her when she was young. I don’t want to say much else without risking a spoil but this is an adventure, romance and murder mystery altogether. This book was also produced into a 2023 film featuring Daisy Edgar-Jones playing the role of Kaya and although the movie was great, I personally don’t think it brought her book to its full potential. I am happy to pass it on to more readers and you should definitely choose the book if you are debating between the two.

There are so many more books I could recommend by authors such as Taylor Jenkins Reid and her novel “Malibu Rising” or Carley Fortune’s, “Every Summer After”. I love quick beach reads filled with drama and dialogue. Take a look at these books and authors to entertain you on the sunniest beach days.