Holidays & Occasions Summer Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2022 By Southern Living Editors Southern Living Editors Since 1966, the editors of Southern Living have been carrying out the mission of the brand: to bring enjoyment, fulfillment, and inspiration to our readers by celebrating life in the South. We inspire creativity in their homes, their kitchens, their gardens, and their personal style. We are a friend they can trust, a guide to the seasons, a helping hand during the holidays, and a relentless champion of the Southern way of life. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on May 5, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best products—learn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. Roberto Moiola/Sysaworld/Getty Images 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. Book Lovers by Emily Henry amazon.com BUY IT: $17, amazon.com 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. Buy Now One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle amazon.com BUY IT: $27, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown amazon.com BUY IT: $27, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan amazon.com BUY IT: $27, amazon.com 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. Buy Now By the Book by Jasmine Guillory amazon.com BUY IT: $16, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Six Days in Rome by Francesca Giacco amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand amazon.com BUY IT: $29, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim amazon.com BUY IT: $17, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Summer of Lost and Found by Mary Alice Monroe amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam amazon.com BUY IT: $26, amazon.com 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. Buy Now French Braid by Anne Tyler amazon.com BUY IT: $27, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White amazon.com BUY IT: $29, amazon.com 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. Buy Now A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia amazon.com BUY IT: $17, amazon.com 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. Buy Now On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Odyssey by Lara Williams amazon.com BUY IT: $27, amazon.com 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. Buy Now This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley amazon.com BUY IT: $27, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Meant To Be by Emily Giffin amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez amazon.com BUY IT: $16, amazon.com 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. Buy Now The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner amazon.com BUY IT: $29, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com After a betrayal, Vincent finds herself in Paris among the storied museums, cafes, and romantic riverbanks. She becomes entangled in a new romantic relationship, but looming on the horizon is the reality of seeing her estranged husband again, a prospect that invites even more complications into her new Parisian life. Buy Now Mustique Island by Sarah McCoy amazon.com BUY IT: $25, amazon.com The famed—or infamous—Caribbean island of Mustique is filled with stories, as well as wealthy visitors seeking escape. A mother and her two daughters arrive on the island in 1972 and find more than they'd ever dreamed of on the sun-splashed island once loved by Princess Margaret. Buy Now The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach by Sarah Stodola amazon.com BUY IT: $28, amazon.com 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. Buy Now Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit