Looking for your next beach read? One of these books could be the one (2024)

During the summer, the beach can provide an escape from seasonal unpleasantries. With crashing waves that drown out noise pollution, cool water that combats intense heat, and salty air that masks disagreeable summer scents like hot trash and car exhaust, the beach is transformed into your own local paradise. Related video above: Oklahoma student publishes 2 books by nine years oldSpending time at the beach with a book in your hands can make your escape even sweeter. Meet dynamic characters, explore intriguing settings, and digest complex storylines all while relaxing on your beach towel or lounge chair – perfect tranquility. The tranquility associated with the beach only seems to fade the moment packing for it comes around. Which sunscreen will you bring? Which snacks? Which games? The endless options can feel overwhelming.If your main stressor when packing for the beach is deciding which novel to dive into, look no further. Filled with unique travel destinations, warm summer climates, and heartwarming love stories, the following romance novels might be the perfect bring-along-item for your next escape to the beach. Viva Lola Espinoza by Ella CeronKindle ($8.99) | Paperback ($12.99) | Hardcover ($10.99) Here's the description you find for the book online: Lola Espinoza is cursed in love. Well, maybe not actually cursed — magic isn't real, is it? When Lola goes to spend the summer with her grandmother in Mexico City and meets handsome, flirtatious Rio, she discovers the unbelievable truth: Magic is very real, and what she'd always written off as bad luck is actually, truly . . . a curse. If Lola ever wants to fall in love without suffering the consequences, she'll have to break the curse. She finds an unlikely curse-breaking companion in Javi, a seemingly stoic boy she meets while working in her cousin's restaurant. Javi is willing to help Lola look into this family curse of hers, and Lola needs all the help she can get. Over the course of one summer — filled with food, family, and two very different boys — Lola explores Mexico City while learning about herself, her heritage, and the magic around us all.Just for the Summer by Abby JimenezKindle ($11.99) | Paperback ($13.31) | Hardcover ($26.37)Here's the description you find for the book online: Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected—including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?The Unhoneymooners by Christina LaurenKindle ($10.99) | Paperback ($9.79) | Hardcover ($59)Here's the description you find for the book online: Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion...she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is...Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.Beach Read - Emily HenryKindle ($12.99) | Paperback ($9.33) | Hardcover ($24.50)Here's the description you find for the book online: Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes best-selling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.They’re polar opposites.In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.Funny Story - Emily HenryKindle ($12.99) | Paperback ($19.85) | Hardcover ($18.78)Here's the description you find for the book online: Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?All Roads Lead to Rome by Sabrina FedelKindle ($8.99) | Paperback ($12.99) Here's the description you find for the book online: Introverted, slightly anxious Astoria “Story” Herriot knows everything about Rome—her mom’s an attorney here and the two of them are living la dolce vita… at least until Story’s off to college in the fall.But when Story is in the wrong gelato shop at the right time, she’s swept up in a fake dating scheme with Scottish heartthrob, Luca Kinnaird, to protect his relationship with a pop princess. There’s something in it for her, too—Luca promises to help fund a scholarship in her dad’s memory. Soon she’s showing Luca the best cafés, sightseeing at the Mouth of Truth, and picnicking at the ruins of the Abbey of Santa Maria del Piano. Story’s travel guide skills are 10/10, but what she knows about being a celebrity—or having feelings for one? Zero.Pretending to be Luca’s guide—then his girlfriend—gets the paparazzi’s attention . . . and what’s true and what’s fake gets blurry as their different worlds crash together. Sophisticated, hot, rich, and with the most charming accent ever, Luca is full of surprises. And maybe, too, is Story’s perfectly planned future.It’s a fairy-tale romance in the Eternal City…will it have a fairy tale ending.