Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2021

BUY IT: $20; amazon.com

As with everything written by the Alabama-born novelist who gave us Southern Lady Code, this collection of twelve essays is equal parts irreverent and poignant—a mirthful toast to friendship at middle age.

BUY IT: $20; amazon.com

Novelist Vivian Howe is killed in a hit-and-run accident, and when she makes it to the Beyond, she learns she can keep her eye on three grown children for one final summer—and that she has three opportunities to change what’s happening on Earth. This beach read is another winner from the golden girl of the genre.

BUY IT: $22; amazon.com

When a former sitcom star’s sister-in-law dies and his brother faces a health crisis, “Gay Uncle Patrick,” aka GUP, unexpectedly becomes the primary guardian of his niece and nephew for the summer.

BUY IT: $15; amazon.com

On a tiny island in the Chesapeake Bay, a fledgling podcast host happens upon the story of a lifetime: The townspeople pretend to see and interact with the dead husband of a beloved young widow who can’t seem to let him go.

BUY IT: $17; amazon.com

A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, this heart-pounding mystery begins with a husband’s disappearance and ends with a devastating twist.

BUY IT: $18; amazon.com

Fans of Daisy Jones & The Six will love the author’s latest, a generations-spanning tale about four siblings and an end-of-summer party that changes everything, set against the sparkling backdrop of the California coast.

BUY IT: $21; amazon.com

What begins as a respectable summer job nannying for a local doctor’s child becomes a full-blown awakening for sheltered 14-year-old Mary Jane when the psychiatrist’s clients—a rock star working to get sober and his movie star wife—move in. Set in the ‘70s, this one is a surefire winner for fans of Almost Famous.

BUY IT: $19; amazon.com

All roads lead to a Florida beach motel and its quirky cast of characters in this romance-thriller hybrid from Andrews, the “queen of the beach reads.”

BUY IT: $23; amazon.com

The Today Show co-host’s debut book is a tender, thoughtful look at fatherhood—at the man who raised him, the men he’s interviewed through his work at NBC, and his own experience as a dad to two young children.

BUY IT: $21; amazon.com

Fifteen-year-old Miriam Horton’s ideas about faith and her Baptist-preacher father are turned upside down in this coming-of-age debut novel.

BUY IT: $23; amazon.com

Kate Campbell is expecting a proposal, but when she gets dumped instead, she heads home from Manhattan to her teeny hometown of Sea Point, where she reconnects with two friends, Miles and Ziggy, who are also trying to navigate their next steps.

BUY IT: $23; amazon.com

A friendly neighborhood is rocked by the murders of two of their own—and is rocked again when Ruby, the woman they all implicated in the crime, moves back into the community after her conviction is overturned.

BUY IT: $18; amazon.com

An email address mix-up leads to an unexpected friendship between two women living very different lives: Daisy, a homemaker in the suburbs, and Diana, a high-power professional. But it turns out the misfired email wasn’t entirely an accident.

BUY IT: $16; amazon.com

From Southern Living's own senior travel editor, a beautiful story about a young teacher finding her purpose in an unexpected place. 

BUY IT: $20; amazon.com

A college admissions scandal is central to this family drama from the author of The Devil Wears Prada and When Life Gives You Lululemons.

BUY IT: $24; amazon.com

This highly anticipated, darkly funny novel follows Florida mom Sammie Lucas as she learns firsthand the difference between her sugary expectations of motherhood and its sharp reality.