There's a book for That: Beach Reads
It’s July and the sand is hot! We suggest you put up your beach umbrella and dip into these escapist novels (and a riveting memoir!) … romance, mystery, horror, and survival await.
The renowned author of The Women presents a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and daughter—the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.
A radiant escape to the lake from the beloved author of Every Summer After and This Summer Will Be Different, hailed as the “reigning queen of sun-soaked romance novels” (Bustle)
“The way that Carley Fortune can bottle up the feeling of summer and put it into a book needs to be studied. Her books are so transportive!”—Glamour
A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily-ever-afters.
Named a best book of the year by The New York Times, People, NPR, Barack Obama, and more, Liz Moore’s crowd-pleasing, list-topping novel unspools the ever-deepening mystery of a teenager’s disappearance from her Adirondack summer camp
A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals.
“A miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”—John Irving
An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate . . . only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.
“Tackling topics of queer identity, teenage angst, and religious guilt, this romantic novel burns with the intensity and yearning of first love.” — Harper’s Bazaar
For fans of Normal People, a queer, coming-of-age debut of impossible first love, first loss, and first heartbreak… Tender and heartbreaking, Sunburn portrays the realities of growing up in a small rural town–from the long, hot summers, to the pressures of a conservative, traditional community where everyone knows each other’s business. It’ll leave you aching for your own first love.
When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading “Go to Paris.” Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a traumatic childhood has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. But when her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes. As weeks—and many decadent meals—go by, Stella ends up living as a “tumbleweed” at famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, uncovers a hundred-year-old mystery in a Manet painting, and discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past. A feast for the senses, this novel is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home.
From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor comes a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer. With the humor and heart we’ve come to expect from bestselling author Steven Rowley, The Guncle is a moving tribute to the power of love, patience, and family in even the most trying of times.
“If you enjoyed The Searcher by Tana French, read What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins. . . . a mystery—and a gritty meditation on loss and redemption, drenched in stillness and grief.” —The Washington Post
After the shocking death of two teenage boys tears apart a community in the Pacific Northwest, a mysterious pregnant girl emerges out of the woods and into the lives of those same boys’ families—a moving and hopeful novel about forgiveness and human connection.
“Pitch-perfect… Dean tells this story with such nuance and humanity, you’re desperate to step into its pages.” —The New York Times
Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped, the eldest sister who freed her older brother and four younger siblings…What begins as a propulsive tale of escape and survival becomes a gripping psychological family story about the shifting alliances and betrayals of sibling relationships–about the secrets our siblings keep, from themselves and each other.
Korede’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola’s knife.
“A taut and darkly funny contemporary noir that moves at lightning speed, it’s the wittiest and most fun murder party you’ve ever been invited to.” —MARIE CLAIRE
Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers the novel pays tribute to, and slyly subverts, our most popular horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.
“A beautiful meditation on endurance, codependence, and the power of love. A dazzling book.” – Patrick Radden Keefe
The electrifying true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea: a mind-blowing tale of obsession, survival, and partnership stretched to its limits.
For more on these and related titles, visit the collection: Beach Reads
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