Summer calls for sunshine, vacation, and relaxing on the beach (or beach house), no matter the weather. These must-have beach reads will keep you basking in the sunshine for hours on end. Whether you’re looking for a romance, a mystery, or something in between, these books below are sure to keep you captivated.

Here are the most anticipated books coming out during summer 2023 

Kismet by Becky Chaslen (4/18)

For as long as anyone can remember, it has been Amy, Jo, and Ben. Amy and Jo, the inseparable but very different Sharp twins; and Ben, Amy’s childhood sweetheart-turned-husband. But as the Fourth of July weekend approaches, Jo’s whirlwind engagement and wedding is eclipsing the twins’ thirtieth birthday, and recent arguments between Amy and Ben have left their marriage feeling rocky. As the town transforms for Jo’s wedding weekend, an unexpected hurdle will put Amy’s trusted trio to the biggest test yet: the arrival of the handsome, mysterious best man. One with a strikingly familiar face; a face that Amy had planned to never see again.

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Happy Place by Emily Henry (4/25)

Since college, Harriet and Wyn have always been the perfect couple, going together like macaroni and cheese. Except now, they’ve broken up. And it’s been five months, and they haven’t told any of their friends. So when their friend group goes on their yearly trip to a cottage in Maine, the typically blissful week away is spent lying through their teeth. Naturally, they are forced to share a bedroom and deny how badly they still want each other. Will they be able to fake it in front of the people who know them best?

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Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune (5/2)

Fern Brookbanks can’t stop thinking about the handsome stranger with she spent an adventurous twenty-four hours with in her early twenties. They shared everything that day, but Will Baxter didn’t show up a year later like they had planned. Now Fern is thirty-two, and her life isn’t how she thought it’d be: back home to run her mother’s lakeside resort, where her ex-boyfriend is the manager, and Fern needs a lifeline. When it shows up in the form of Will, she isn’t sure she can trust him, especially because she knows he’s hiding something. Can Fern save Will the way he saved her almost ten years ago?

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Love Buzz by Neely Tubati-Alexander (5/2)

Serena Khan isn’t enjoying her estranged cousin’s four-day bachelorette party in New Orleans, until she meets a fellow Seattleite, and sparks fly. After their abrupt meeting, Serena is determined to find her mystery man, but her list of clues is not long. All she knows is his name is Julian, he lives on Chamber Hill, works at a tech company, and loves Lil Wayne and Nirvana. But the perfectly curated, stable life that her late mother insisted upon is within reach—and it does not include combing the streets of Seattle in search of her New Orleans’ flame.

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The Daydreams by Laura Hankin (5/2)

It’s 2004 and the television show The Daydreams had everything a popular teen show needed. The perfect cast of actors/singers, high ratings, and a romance that kept its viewers guessing and obsessing. When the show imploded during a live-streaming of the season two finale, no one could understand what went wrong. Afterward, the four stars went their separate ways. When fans demand a reunion special years later, cast members Liana, Noah, Kat and Summer, come together again—some for love, some for revenge, and some for forgiveness. As the magic of the show begins to emerge, so do old secrets, and the real reason for their downfall starts to become more clear.

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The Comeback Summer by Ali Brady (5/9)

Hannah and Libby are devastated at the thought of seeing the PR agency that they inherited from their grandmother, but the situation is starting to feel hopeless. When Lou, a self-help guru seeks a new agency, the girls believe it could answer their problems. The catch? They must complete Lou’s twelve-week course: Crush your Comfort Zone. As the two push past their own boundaries, things start to get complicated, and secrets that surface will have them questioning the relationship they’ve always counted on. Can the sisters manage to honor their grandmother while still honoring themselves?

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Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby (5/16)

Finally, Samantha Irby has made it. Walking the red carpet with famous actresses, offers from Hollywood, all the glitz and glam one can imagine—but still, Samantha is just trying to keep her life together. Providing a true portrait of her life, Samantha tells stories about her own teeth poisoning her, therapy, diarrhea, Reiki and crystals.  An outrageously funny offering that once again shows how Irby has become the beloved writer that she is.

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Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum (5/23)

Every summer, Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island. With their husbands, Sam and Jason, the two hold sway on the beach and the tennis courts. Their friend Rachel Woolf is single and on the prowl, and doesn’t care who’s married. Everything is pretty quiet around Salcombe, until a body is found on the boardwalk, and suddenly the picturesque town is not what it once seemed.

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Summer Stage by Meg Mitchell Moore (5/23)

Amy Trevino, English teacher and occasional drama director, is a former aspiring playwright, while her brother, Timothy Fleming, has gone off to achieve his Hollywood dreams. Amy takes on the role of production manager in her brother’s play, attempting to mend family wounds. Her daughter Sam, once a Disney child star, has been pursuing fame at a TikTok house, and returned home suddenly, refusing to talk to Amy about it and moving to Block Island with her uncle Tim. As the three grapple with trying to make the production a success, they’ll also discover what it is they want out of life.

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Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane (5/30)

Barnett is getting married at his mother’s farm for misfit animals; she just doesn’t know it yet. And in their small Louisiana town, there are forces at play that really don’t want to see the handsome couple walk down the aisle. Barnett is planning to ship in two hundred of his most fabulous friends, and after a glitter-filled week, the town may never be the same. A story about unconditional love and a small town that is forever changed.

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The Whispers by Ashley Audrain (6/6)

As the summer winds down, the folks on Harlow Street gather for a BBQ that goes late into the night, drinks flowing. Everything is fine until the typically picture-perfect hostess explodes at her son, exposing what is underneath. When her son falls from his bedroom window, she sits in utter silence at his hospital bedside, refusing to speak. The next three days are thick with tension as the women of Harlow Street grapple with what happened that late summer night.

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Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monoghan (6/6)

Sam has a great job in Manhattan, she’s engaged to a doctor, and she’s about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s beach house on Long Island. But as soon as she arrives, she panics at the thought of Wyatt being there. Wyatt: the one she spent fourteen summers with, the one who broke her heart when she was seventeen. But Sam is engaged, so she shouldn’t be feeling this way—right? Yet the sounds of Wyatt’s guitar have the memories, and the truth of their split, flooding back. When they reconnect, the connection can’t be ignored and soon, Sam will have to make a choice.

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Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig (6/6)

Shek Yeung is a fearless pirate queen who witnesses her husband’s murder at the hands of a Portuguese sailor. In a bold move to maintain power over her half of the fleet, Shek Yeung marries her husband’s second-in-command and agrees to bear him a son and heir. However, as she fights to assert her leadership, larger threats from the Chinese Emperor and European forces loom on the horizon. Shek Yeung’s merciless retribution also creates problems of its own, forcing her to make tough decisions that could cost her everything she has fought for.

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The Spectacular by Fiona Davis (6/13)

In New York City, 1956, Marion Brooks is on the cusp of the life everyone expects her to have when her high school sweetheart proposes to her. But the nineteen-year-old feels trapped and jumps at the chance to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes instead. Meanwhile, the city is in chaos due to the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been planting bombs in crowded areas for sixteen years. The police turn to a young doctor, Peter Griggs, who uses psychological profiling to track the bomber down. As Marion and Peter become involved in the search, Marion must take a dangerous risk that could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and the people she loves most.

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Hotel Laguna by Nicola Harrison (6/20)

During World War II, Hazel Francis joined other “Rosie the Riveters” in California to help construct bombers. But after the war she was dismissed, and women like her were expected to become wives and mothers. Unwilling to conform to traditional roles, Hazel stays in California and takes a job as an assistant to an artist in Laguna Beach. Though she becomes part of the community and falls in love with the town’s rhythms, Hazel still dreams of working with airplanes and learning to fly, torn between pursuing her dream and the life she has found in Laguna.

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Save What’s Left by Elizabeth Castellano (6/27)

Kathleen Deane’s husband confesses his unhappiness with their life in Kansas after 30 years of marriage. While he’s away, Kathleen starts pondering her desires and recalls her friend Josie’s descriptions of Whitbey, a small beach community on the East Coast. However, reality in Whitbey differs from Josie’s letters, and Kathleen’s neighbor, Rosemary, is difficult. Plus, the construction of a neighboring holiday home, the Sugar Cube, causes frustration. Despite this, Kathleen finds herself engaged in town politics and discovers that Whitbey may not be a fairytale, but it’s precisely what she needs.

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Goodbye Earl by Leesa Cross-Smith (7/3)

Four teenage friends, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline and Kasey, are at the cusp of adulthood, eagerly anticipating their futures full of love, career and self-discovery in 2004. Fifteen years later, Kasey returns to her hometown of Goldie for a wedding, keeping her past and sudden departure after graduation a secret from her friends. Despite the joy of being reunited, Kasey is worried when she senses that one of her friends might be in danger, which triggers her memories of that summer. However, this time, Kasey is determined to protect her loved ones and not let her past control her future.

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Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen (7/4)

Debbie and Phil Tran’s comfortable life in Toronto with their family nail salon is threatened when a chain salon opens across the street and their landlord increases the rent. With the help of their daughter, Jessica, son Dustin, and niece, Thuy, they plan to sabotage the new salon. As relationships are tested and the line between right and wrong blurs, the family must choose between keeping their family intact or fighting for their salon.

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The Housekeepers by Alex Hay (7/4)

Mrs. King runs the grandest home in Mayfair as a respectable housekeeper. The home is a symbol of wealth, a hoard of treasures, although it holds dark secrets. When she is suddenly dismissed from her position, she seeks revenge, pulling together an eclectic and vengeful group of women. They plan a heist for the night of the highly-anticipated costume ball, but Mrs. King wants truth more than she does wealth, and she’ll risk everything to get it.

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The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey (7/11)

After personal tragedy, June Moore bought Camp Holly Springs, a thriving summer haven for girls. But now, she might be at risk of losing the place she sacrificed so much for. Her niece, Daphne, a lawyer who’s now in her thirties, met her two best friends at the camp, and they are still as close as ever. When Daphne finds out her best friend Lanier’s husband has done something illegal, she’ll have to make a choice between her job and her friendship. Lanier has secrets that may change things completely, but the girls put their problems aside to help June save their childhood oasis.

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Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker (7/18)

Darby, Mary Beth, and Rhea are mothers trying to reclaim parts of their lives. But a strange condition takes hold of the preschoolers at Little Academy—they begin craving blood, and any plans the mothers had to focus on their own lives goes out the window. Especially when a young teacher is found dead. Now, the kids and their mothers are witnesses AND suspects, and the police will have look more closely to figure this one out. A portrayal of the impossible standards we hold mothers to, as well as ourselves.

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Silver Nitrate by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (7/18)

Montserrat, a talented sound editor in ’90s Mexico City, is constantly overlooked by the boys’ club running the film industry and even her best friend Tristán. Their lives change when Tristán’s new neighbor, cult horror director Abel Urueta, claims he can change their fates by finishing his cursed magic film. Montserrat and Tristán agree to help, but they soon realize the film is attracting dark forces. As they unravel the mystery, they learn that sorcery and magic may not just be limited to the movies.

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What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall (8/1)

Coco Weber has returned to her Catalina Island home, where she was the only survivor of a deadly home invasion twenty years ago. She hopes to see her aunt and escape from her ex by writing obituaries. With her college friend Maddy’s help, Coco discovers that the deaths on the island are suspiciously similar and she receives a threatening obituary in the mail. Coco begins to connect her family tragedy to the serial killer’s crimes and realizes that the secrets on the island may be too dangerous to uncover.

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The Art of Scandal by Regina Black (8/1)

Rachel Abbott, the wife of a politician, receives a sexy explicit text from her husband meant for another woman on his 40th birthday. They agree to a deal, Rachel will stay as the perfect Black trophy wife until the election is over in exchange for one million dollars and their mansion in Oasis Springs. However, her facade slowly crumbles and she meets Nathan, a young artist who reignites her passions. As their relationship grows, they must decide whether to risk everything for love, including the secrets they are both hiding

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I’m Not Done with You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto (8/22)

Jane, a struggling midlist writer, is unhappy with her underwhelming marriage and Bay Area lifestyle. Her only true connection was with her friend Thalia, whom she lost after a blood-soaked night. When Thalia’s name appears on the New York Times bestseller list and a post invites Jane to a book convention, Jane sees it as an opportunity to reconnect. Despite financial concerns, Jane travels to New York City to find Thalia and make things right. However, the reunion may not be what Jane expected, and the past could come back to haunt her.

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