📚Heading up north? Or perhaps east for your share of Red Sea sun? No matter the coastline, one thing remains unfortunately true: lounging by the beach can become monotonous faster than expected. While beach time offers unrivaled relaxation, it doesn’t take long for idle sunbathing to turn into restlessness. The remedy? Considering digital screens don’t fare all too well by the beach, a good old book might just be your most reliable ally.

Not sure what book to grab for your weekend getaway? We curated a list for you. From vacations gone wrong and summer flings to experience vicariously, to short novellas that can be read in between pool dips, here’s what we recommend for your next beachside read.

SUMMER FLINGS-

Summer is never complete without a casual fling — and if you’re not living one firsthand, you should at least experience it through characters who don’t have to suffer any consequences. Here are our beachside romcom recommendations:

#1- Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. What do you do when every single person you date ends up breaking up with you only to find their soulmate after? Naturally, you vent on Reddit. When Emma comes across Justin’s post and realizes they share the same dating curse, the pair decide to fake-date to see if they can indeed summon their soulmates afterwards. But what was supposed to be a quick summer fling may not burn out as quickly as they had imagined.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 4.37/5

📄 Page count: 432

🛒 Where to get it: You can find the book at Diwan.

#2- Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood. What’s the first thing you do when you land in Italy? Easy — you fall in love with someone twice your age. Maya is 23, lost, confused, and on vacation in Europe where she meets 38-year old Conor who pretty much has everything together — It would simply never work out. When you’re stuck in a villa on the Ionian coast together, however, incompatibility becomes negotiable.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 4.07/5

📄 Page count: 416

🛒 Where to get it: You can place a special order for Problematic Summer Romance at TheBookspot or get the e-book from Amazon.

#3- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry follows two writers. One’s still dreaming of her big break, and the other has a Pulitzer under his belt. The two are on Little Crescent Island for the same goal: Writing the memoir of Margaret Ives — an heiress of one of the most scandalous families of the 20th century. Ives toys with the potential biographers, giving them different pieces of the puzzle. As both writers compete for the privilege of writing her biography, they find themselves creating an entirely different story.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 4.04/5

📄 Page count: 432

🛒 Where to get it: You can pre-order Great Big Beautiful Life from Diwan or get the e-book from Amazon.

VACATIONS GONE WRONG-

For readers who prefer suspense with their sunshine, these novels explore what happens when a getaway takes a dark turn. Spanning odd island mishaps and accidental murders, here are a few books we think you’ll enjoy.

#1- You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego. Six thriller authors are invited to a writing retreat in a mysterious remote manor off the coast of Maine, where the manor’s owner plans to give them a taste of their own fictional medicine with a week of games and trope-fuelled puzzles. Mila del Angél — who is hired by the owner to host the writing retreat — has a secret vendetta to fulfill, but things take a turn when a guest turns up dead and it’s not the murder she planned. It’s a whodunit where the suspects are all expert plotters themselves.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 3.59/5

📄 Page count: 371

🛒 Where to get it: You can find You Are Fatally Invited at Cherry Blossom Books.

#2- One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware. Sometimes when the going gets tough, you just have to leave your dignity at the door and sign up for a reality television show. For Lyla and Nico — whose lives are in a rut — a show called “The Perfect Couple” in which they compete against four other couples for a hefty grand prize may just be their ticket to a fresh start. However, when they arrive at the deserted island where the show is set to be shot, it becomes clear that their lives are at stake. TLDR: Think Survivor — but with a body count.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 3.65/5

📄 Page count: 432

🛒 Where to get it: You can find One Perfect Couple at The Bookspot.

#3- The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs. Here’s a scenario to ponder: You’re a couple years away from retirement, you’re excited to live comfortably and travel the world, but your partner blows through all your money in a disastrous investment. What do you do? For Pam, Nancy, Shalisa, and Marlene, the answer was simple: Kill the husbands, cash out on the life insurance policies, and retire in peace. As the women begin formulating their murderous plans, they quickly realize that the husbands have a plan of their own, and so the dance begins.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 3.78/5

📄 Page count: 366

🛒 Where to get it: You can find the e-book on Amazon.

QUICK DIPS-

For travelers who prefer shorter commitments, we get it — you’re on vacation, and you can’t exactly lug around a few 400-page novels. These novellas pack quite the punch in a fraction of the length — and the best part? You’ll actually get to mark them as read on your Goodreads account.

#1- The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang. When chickens make us cry, it’s usually because there’s too much Nashville hot sauce on them, but Sprout made us weep for an entirely different reason. Hailed as the Korean “Charlotte’s Web,” the story follows Sprout — a chicken no longer willing to lay eggs on command just to have them taken from her. Sprout wants to experience motherhood and roam free with her offspring in the wild, yet her world is unforgiving and cruel, and those around her will stop at nothing to remind her that she cannot survive beyond the confines of the system.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 3.98/5

📄 Page count: 134

🛒Where to get it: You can find the e-book on Amazon or listen to the audiobook on Storytel.

#2- The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill. A 15-year-old girl’s life turns upside down when her mother brings home a crane — a literal humanoid bird — as her new husband. As the crane’s presence grows increasingly sinister and the mother falls under his spell, the daughter senses that something is deeply wrong, stepping up to protect her brother while uncovering the dark truth about their new reality. Based on a Japanese folktale, the novella weaves magical realism and dark fantasy into a compelling coming-of-age tale. Bonus tip: Read by the beach — at night.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 3.87/5

📄 Page count: 118

🛒 Where to get it: You can find The Crane Husband as an e-book on Amazon, or listen to the audiobook on Storytel.

#3- Galatea by Madeline Miller. A reimagining of the Greek myth, Galatea follows the titular statue-turned-woman as she grapples with the nature of her own existence. She is, after all, beholden to her maker — the brilliant sculptor who brought her to life. Galatea begins dreaming of a life of her own, unbound by duty or obligation to anyone, and becomes determined to break free. Like Madeline Miller’s other works, Galatea offers a fresh perspective on the story that inspired it. It’s short, breezy, and will take you about twenty minutes to read — until the paneé turns golden.

⭐️ Goodreads rating: 3.93/5

📄 Page count: 64

🛒 Where to get it: You can place a special order for Galatea at TheBookspot, get the e-book on Amazon, or listen to the audiobook on Storytel.

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