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  4. Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2022

Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2022

Southern Living May 2021 Cover
By Southern Living Editors Updated May 05, 2022
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
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If you're already planning what books you'll be packing in your beach bag this summer, you're in good company. Vacation is just around the corner, and our reading list is as ready as we are. There are lots of new beach reads by some of our favorite authors coming out this summer. From Elin Hildebrand to Mary Alice Monroe to Jasmine Guillory, there's no lack of new stories coming out to keep us busy all summer long. If you're still looking for a few good books, check out some of our favorite beach reads of 2022, and get that summer reading list in order. Beach days will be here before you know it—and if you're also still booking your travel, check out The South's Best Beach Towns and The South's Best Resorts for some of our best summer ideas and favorite vacation spots to inspire your travels with family and friends this season.

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Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Book Lovers
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A literary agent heads to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, with her sisters for a much-needed getaway but finds more than she bargained for in this new novel by Emily Henry.

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One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

One Italian Summer
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Take a trip to the Amalfi Coast in Rebecca Serle's latest novel, which is a heartwarming love story about a mother, daughter, and the magic of the Italian seaside.

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Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown

Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown
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This novel is about what it means to be a family. It follows three sets of parents and the changes, hopes, and complications that arise when they find themselves connected by their adoptions of four biological siblings.

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Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
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This funny and charming new novel tells the story of a divorced screenwriter who pens a script about her failed marriage and finds that it might just provide the fresh start she's looking for.

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By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
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Jasmine Guillory's perfectly plotted reads have earned tons of fans, and there's a new one headed your way this summer. By the Book tells the story of a woman on a mission to secure a manuscript from a high-profile author—though complications arise as deadlines encroach.  

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Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
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In this story, a widow working at the Sowell Bay Aquarium finds friendship with one of the aquarium's inhabitants, an octopus named Marcellus, who tries to help her solve a mystery from the past and alleviate her grief.

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Six Days in Rome by Francesca Giacco

Six Days in Rome by Francesca Giacco
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Francesca Giacco's new novel follows an artist named Emilia as she sets out for Rome after her relationship ends. When she arrives, she encounters places and people that encourage her toward new perspectives—on the world and on herself.

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The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
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It wouldn't be summer without a new Elin Hilderbrand novel to read on the beach. This one takes you to the Hotel Nantucket, where the staff and guests provide plenty of drama behind the scenes.

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Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim

Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim
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Professional matchmaker Sophie Go has her work cut out for her when she moves home to Toronto and tries to find work as a matchmaker. She soon meets a group of septuagenarian bachelors and learns about love, loss, and starting over.

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The Summer of Lost and Found by Mary Alice Monroe

The Summer of Lost and Found
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The latest addition to Mary Alice Monroe's Beach House series is set in the COVID-19 era and starts with unexpected challenges, including a layoff, travel troubles, and quarantine. It explores the challenges and lessons that can follow when you cultivate perseverance and friendship in trouble times.

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The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam

The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
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This smart and funny new novel by Tahmima Anam is set in the world of tech startups and explores the pressures of love, fame, and the challenges of marriage in an ever-more-modern world.

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French Braid by Anne Tyler

French Braid by Anne Tyler
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Anne Tyler fans, take note. The writer's latest novel is out now and tells the story of a Baltimore family, each member of which nurtures hopes and encounters challenges as they walk through their lives which unfurl in the book over decades.

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The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh

The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh
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If your favorite beach reads are of the thriller persuasion, try Rosie Walsh's The Love of My Life, a family drama about love, life, and the mysteries of the past.

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Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux

Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux
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Paul Theroux's latest tells the story of Joe Sharkey, an aging big-wave surfer who grapples with past tragedy while reconnecting with the seas surrounding his home in Hawaii.

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The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

The Lost Summers of Newport
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This new novel by a team of favorite beach-read writers is set in Newport, Rhode Island, among the area's holiday homes and towering coastal mansions. It tells three intertwined stories that take place from the Gilded Age to the present.  

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A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia

A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia
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A writer and blogger named Noora has her hands full navigating New York when she lands a job at Vinyl magazine, a venture that brings a new crush, a demanding boss, and more complications than she ever expected.

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On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi

On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi
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If you like your rom-coms set in the medical field (a la Grey's Anatomy), you'll love Shirlene Obuobi's new book On Rotation, which finds med student Angie being tested on all fronts as she navigates friendship, love, and family.

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The Odyssey by Lara Williams

The Odyssey by Lara Williams
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This satiric romp tells the story of a woman working aboard a luxury cruise ship. She goes on her own epic journey on the high seas and encounters more than a few darkly comic situations along the way.

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This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
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In Emma Straub's latest, a woman named Alice—who goes to sleep on the eve of her 40th birthday and wakes up to find herself at 16 years old, transported back to the year 1996—is greeted with new perspective and the temptation to change the past.

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Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
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Sloane Crosley's highly anticipated new novel is set in New York City, where a woman leaving dinner soon comes face-to-face with past heartbreaks. She's spurred to reevaluate her current relationship as those of the past surround her.

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Meant To Be by Emily Giffin

Meant To Be by Emily Giffin
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In Emily Giffin's new novel, a love story grows between two teenagers from very different backgrounds when their paths cross in the 1960s, though the question of whether their relationship is meant to be threatens to tear them apart.

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Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
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This new romance read tells the story of an ER doctor from the city who falls for a small-town carpenter ten years her junior as they navigate their differences and try to find a way to bring their worlds together.

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The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner
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This new novel by Jennifer Weiner explores what happens when a pandemic engagement turns into a wedding at the family beach house on Cape Cod, complete with misunderstandings, confrontations, and more than a few tricky situations.

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Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola

Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
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This fun and funny campus novel is set at Whitewell University, where Kiki Banjo, the host of the student radio show Brown Sugar, is determined to help other students find their way through the mess of university dating. Much to her dismay, she soon finds herself in just the kind of romantic situation she opposes.  

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The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach by Sarah Stodola

The Last Resort
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The beach vacation has become synonymous with summer, but if you look a little deeper, you'll find that a relaxing getaway has deeper consequences—for local economies, the environment, and the shoreline. Sarah Stodola's new book cracks open ideas of paradise and the complicated histories of coastal travel.

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    1 of 25 Book Lovers by Emily Henry
    2 of 25 One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
    3 of 25 Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown
    4 of 25 Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
    5 of 25 By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
    6 of 25 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
    7 of 25 Six Days in Rome by Francesca Giacco
    8 of 25 The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
    9 of 25 Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim
    10 of 25 The Summer of Lost and Found by Mary Alice Monroe
    11 of 25 The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
    12 of 25 French Braid by Anne Tyler
    13 of 25 The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh
    14 of 25 Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux
    15 of 25 The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
    16 of 25 A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia
    17 of 25 On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi
    18 of 25 The Odyssey by Lara Williams
    19 of 25 This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
    20 of 25 Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
    21 of 25 Meant To Be by Emily Giffin
    22 of 25 Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
    23 of 25 The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner
    24 of 25 Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
    25 of 25 The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach by Sarah Stodola

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