Your 2026 guide to summer seaside reading

📚⛱️ Summer reading just hits different. The light is better, the pace is slower, the view is breathtaking, and the books tend to linger — partly because you have time to actually finish them and partly because a good book on a breezy afternoon is a reliable pleasure. Whether you’re heading up north or choosing to opt for the Red Sea, this week’s edition of The Enterprise Guide has a little bit of everything for your summer reading pleasures.

💡 Would you rather spend your time logging classics on Letterboxd? We’ve got you covered with a guide to our favoritefilm classics.

OR- Staying in Cairo and feel like going bookshopping? Check out our bookworm’s guide to Cairo here.

Summer flings

Not every book needs to earn its place with ideas. Sometimes what a summer afternoon calls for is a well-told love story — with characters you don’t want to kill.

#1- One Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune: Frankie and George are childhood sweethearts — competitive, devoted to one another, but unwilling to fess up when it comes to feelings. When Frankie’s fiancé leaves her at the altar, George concocts a plan to savor the honeymoon anyway. With him for a week in a gorgeous destination, the two of them come face-to-face with the reality of their growing relationship.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 4.05/5

📃 Page count: 410

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the e-book on Amazon.

#2- Hard Feelings by Jennifer Millikin: First date gone insanely wrong? Been there, done that. Cecily and Dom’s first meeting is going well… until it isn’t. An overheard conversation sends Cecily running for the hills, but eight months later, they’re forced to put aside their differences in Vegas for their friends’ pre-Wedding parties. The kicker? They get drunk and married. Cue the plot of What Happens in Vegas, albeit with a few twists.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 4.03/5

📃 Page count: 409

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the e-book on Amazon.

#3- The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston: Sometimes summer calls for a little fantasy with a dash of magical realism — this one’s got it. Sophie heads to Maine for a summer job with a ton of baggage (literal and metaphorical). There, she finds a door that randomly appears throughout the estate. Inside, she finds an unfinished garden with a man trapped inside — the rest is history… or is it?

⭐ Goodreads rating: 3.96/5

📃 Page count: 400

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the e-book on Amazon.

Mythology by the Mediterranean

Old myths by the sea that produced them? Sign us up. This category is for the reader who wants their beach book to have some weight to it — stories drawn from the ancient world, retold by writers who know exactly what they’re doing.

#1- The Wandering Queen by Claire Heywood: Chronicling one of the lesser-known mythologies, Claire Heywood’s latest fantasy follows the daughter of the King of Tyre, Elissa, as she flees her kingdom following her father’s death to become the founder and queen of Carthage (modern-day Tunisia). As is the case with mythology retellings, expect plenty of twists that go beyond what the myths have to say. Heywood is no stranger to compelling female protagonists, having penned 2021’s Daughters of Sparta.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 3.72/5

📃 Page count: 307

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the e-book on Amazon. You can also place an order for the hardcover version through The Bookspot.

#2- No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes: Another incredible piece of work by veteran mythology author Natalie Haynes — whose A Thousand Ships remains one of the most-read works of mythological retellings — No Friend to This House follows the legendary Jason and the Argonauts to find the golden fleece, meant to be a fool’s errand. Concurrently, the central figure of Euripides’ tragedy, Medea, takes center stage. Haynes presents an entirely new and fresh perspective on this anti-heroine, a woman long despised and villainized in myth.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 4.04/5

📃 Page count: 369

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the e-book on Amazon.

#3- Son of Nobody by Yann Martel: By the bestselling author of Life of Pi, Yann Martel returns to the literary scene with Son of Nobody — and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect with Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey making sail toward our screens. Not your average Iliad or Odyssey retelling, Martel’s latest work chronicles the events of the Trojan War through a new perspective, told in varying POVs that span the past, present, and future, proving that the “past is never done with,” as Circe author Madeline Miller puts it.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 3.55/5

📃 Page count: 352

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the e-book on Amazon.

Deep dives

Not looking for something light for the summer? These selections will need a little more focus on your end, call for an occasional hard grip, and prove unputdownable.

#1- The Wedding People by Allison Espach: Years after Phoebe gets her PhD and marries the man she fell in love with, she realizes she feels unfulfilled with her current life. The book sets off as Phoebe arrives at the Cornwall Inn, fleeing her hometown of St. Louis, and recovering from a divorce from a 10-year marriage. Depressed, lonely, and existential, Phoebe decides to come to her dream hotel to end her life. A chance elevator ride with the bride of a wedding taking place at the inn, Lila, sets off an unlikely friendship and an unlikely recovery.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 4.06/5

📃 Page count: 367

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find a physical copy at Diwan or get the e-book on Amazon.

#2- Wide Sargasso Seaby Jean Rhys: A Jane Eyre prequel about the crazy lady in the attic? Absolutely. First published in 1966, the book tells the story of the woman locked in the attic at Thornfield Hall, told from her own perspective. Author Jean Rhys sets the novel in Jamaica and Dominica in the years following emancipation, exploring colonialism, race, identity, and what it means to be defined by someone else’s narrative. Also, Mr. Rochester may just be the villain in her story — rightfully so.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 3.59/5

📃 Page count: 176

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the ebook at no cost on the Internet Archive.

#3- Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke: Natalie is a mega-influencer with mns of followers and a brand built on being the perfect, traditional religious mother. Behind the scenes are nannies, photographers, and producers manufacturing moments that look spontaneous. Then Natalie wakes up in 1855: same house, same farm, no electricity, no staff, no audience. Burke’s debut runs on two timelines — Natalie’s curated life before, and her attempt to survive the unmediated reality after — and uses the structure to expose the machinery behind an identity constructed entirely for public consumption.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 3.95/5

📃 Page count: 400

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find a physical copy at Diwan. The e-book is available on Amazon.

Literary beach snacks

Not every mood calls for a full novel. These are the books for when you want to read something complete between swims — short, satisfying, and capable of leaving a mark despite the brevity.

#1- 84 Charing Cross Roadby Helene Hanff: Our first and only non-fiction entry in this guide is one you need to pick up as soon as possible. A slim, charming book made entirely of letters — 20 years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a broke New York writer with eclectic literary tastes, and Frank Doel, the mild-mannered antiquarian bookseller in London who supplies them. What begins as a transactional exchange becomes a genuine friendship conducted through the mail, across an ocean, over two decades. It’s surprisingly wholesome, utterly bingeable, and left us with tears as we faced the reality of the passing of time.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 4.17/5

📃 Page count: 106

WHERE TO GET IT- Available in paperback at Diwan and in e-book format on Amazon.

#2- ICould Be Famous by Sydney Rende: If you’re looking for a book that will have you constantly thinking, “WTF” — this is it. I Could Be Famous is a collection of short stories — with one recurring character — all centered around fame, how far people will go for it, and the downsides they don’t allow us to see. While some stories fare better than others, it’s an all-in-all enjoyable read that can be finished in as little as two sittings. Just keep an open mind.

⭐ Goodreads rating: 3.49/5

📃 Page count: 272 (each story within the 20-30 page mark)

WHERE TO GET IT- E-book available on Amazon.

💡 HONORABLE MENTIONS-

• Shahrazad’s Gift by Gretchen McCullough (Diwan);
• The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman (Amazon).