50 Best Books for the Beach This Summer

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Nancy Thayer
Ballantine Books (May 2017)

A love triangle in Nantucket over Memorial Day weekend? Thayer's sharp cast of characters makes the imminently readable summer chick-lit setup as fresh as ever.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Michelle Gable
St. Martin's Press (May 2017)

Calling all old-home lovers: Gable's novel takes you into the lives of the Codman family through the lens of their once-prized, now-deteriorating Nantucket compound, Cliff House.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Ann Kidd Taylor
Viking (June 2017)

In her first novel, Taylor (daughter of The Secret Life of Bees author Sue Monk Kidd) crafts an unexpected tale of romance and shark attacks set against the Gulf Coast's sparkling waters.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Jean E. Pendziwol
HarperCollins (July 2017)

An elderly woman and a delinquent teen form an unlikely bond as they uncover the journal entries of a man who oversaw a remote Lake Superior lighthouse nearly a century before.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Beatriz Williams
William Morrow (June 2017)

This sun-drenched novel traces Virginia Fortescue from World War I France to a tropical Florida boomtown as she seeks the true identity of her late husband.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Hannah McKinnon
Atria (June 2017)

Three adult siblings have unpacked emotional baggage at their parents' Rhode Island beach home, but their mother is determined to tidy things up—before she sells the house.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Jane Green
Penguin (June 2017)

Prepare to love and loathe aging movie star Ronni Sunshine as she attempts to make up for lost time with her three grown daughters at her Westport, Connecticut, beach house.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Jamie Brenner
Little Brown (April 2017)

Young, play-it-safe attorney Marin Bishop has it all. But when a long-lost half-sister shows up, she journeys to a beachside B&B, where she discovers everything she never knew she lacked.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Graeme Simsion
St. Martin's Press (May 2017)

Simsion, of The Rosie Project fame, serves up another unconventional hero, this time in the form of Adam Sharp, a sensible IT technician with a penchant for music trivia and a torch for his long-lost love.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Daniel Wallace
St. Martin's Press (May 2017)

With the same refreshing style as his novel Big Fish, Wallace casts the tale of Edsel Bronfman, whose mundane life is turned on its head when he learns he has 79 days to find a travel companion (ahem, date) for a free beach weekend.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Hendrik Groen
Grand Central (July 2017)

Groen is the ringleader of his retirement home's prank-prone "Old- But-Not-Dead Club." But as soon as a feisty widow arrives, the gruff octogenarian is on his best behavior, even combing what's left of his hair. It's truly a love story for the ages.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Nina Laurin
Grand Central (June 2017)

This riveting work delves into the grim world of kidnapping and captors. Laine Moreno tries to save a young girl from the same cruel crimes that befell her own childhood.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Paul Vidich
Atria (April 2017)

Travel to 1950s Havana, Cuba, where CIA agent George Mueller is caught in a complicated plot: tailing his friend, colleague, and possible spy Toby Graham, just as Castro is on the brink of power.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Karen Dionne
G.P. Putnam's Sons (June 2017)

Helena Pelletier's picture-perfect life is upended when her violent father—a recluse nicknamed the Marsh King—escapes from prison, and the authorities turn to her for answers.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Andrew Wilson
Atria (July 2017)

In a stranger-than-fiction spin, crime novelist Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days in 1926. Author Andrew Wilson uses that real-life mystery as a starting point for a whodunit as gripping as Christie's own beloved writing.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Michele Campbell
St. Martin's Press (May 2017)

Jumping across time between three best friends' lives during college and adulthood, Campbell paints complicated relationships full of love and hate. Is one of them to blame for another's death, or is it the usual suspect?

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Paula Hawkins
Riverhead Books (May 2017)

In the followup to her smash hit The Girl on the Train, Hawkins weaves another wonderfully twisted mystery, after not one but two women are found dead at the bottom of a small-town river.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Caite Dolan-Leach
Random House (February 2017)

Upstate New York's wine country is the backdrop for a scavenger hunt of a mystery following Ava Antipova as she tracks clues left by her deceased twin sister, Zelda. But is Zelda really dead, or simply hiding in plain sight?

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Rachel Khong
Henry Holt and Co. (July 2017)

What would you do for love? In this poignant novel, a college dropout goes to great lengths to help her father, who has Alzheimer's, reconnect to his career as a professor.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Julianne Pachico
Spiegel & Grau (March 2017)

Pachico's ambitious debut weaves together seemingly disparate locations (Colombia and New York City) and characters, and reminds us how connected the world really is.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Susan Perabo
Simon & Schuster (March 2017)

After an unthinkable crime involving a young girl, grief and guilt are laid bare in this novel that's as achingly beautiful as it is suspenseful.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Julia Fierro
St. Martin's Press (June 2017)

Revel in Fierro's crisp prose as an invasion of moths blankets everything on idyllic Avalon Island, save the social tensions bubbling just below the surface.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Hannah Tinti
The Dial Press (March 2017)

Prepare to be mesmerized by the dark but devoted Samuel and his equally complex daughter, Loo, in this coming-of-age story.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Lynne Olson
Random House (April 2017)

Olson recounts how European royalty, spies, and scientists exiled in Great Britain during World War II helped defeat Hitler.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Jack E. Davis
Liveright (March 2017)

From prehistoric wildlife to modern-day tourism, this masterfully researched tome details the Gulf Coast's journey to becoming a jewel of the American landscape.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Robert P. Watson
Da Capo Press (August 2017)

Discover the story of the oft-forgotten HMS Jersey, a British warship that housed thousands of prisoners during the American Revolution.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Joe Quirk
Free Press (March 2017)

Enter a world where floating cities offer an economical and environmentally sound alternative to the landlocked municipalities of today.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Dr. Rock Positano
Simon & Schuster (May 2017)

A friend recalls his time with "Joltin' Joe" and captures the highs and lows of the ultimate boy of summer.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Kathy McKeon
Gallery Books (May 2017)

Step inside the former First Lady's gilded but lonely world, as McKeon recounts the 13 years she spent as Kennedy's personal assistant.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Ryan White
Touchstone (May 2017)

Parrotheads, rejoice! The first definitive Buffett biography takes an in-depth look at the man behind the flip-flop-wearing, frozen drink–sipping fantasy that is Margaritaville.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By David Adams
Smith Street Books (April 2017)

Pick a cocktail! Any cocktail! From the Navy Grog to the Beachcomber, every recipe is summer vacation in a glass.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Ellen Brown
Running Press (May 2017)

Brunch's best friend gets genius updates with savory twists, like the Gazpacho Mary, plus creative garnishes.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Coastal Living
Oxmoor House (May 2017)

Pardon our pride, but our cup runneth over with this cheery little book. With refreshing recipes and clever bar-tending tricks, it's sure to leave you in high spirits.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Victoria James
Harper Design (May 2017)

Especially with Lyle Railsback's pretty illustrations, sommelier Victoria James's charming book is as enticing as the drink that inspired it.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Mary Kay Andrews
St. Martin's Press (May 2017)

From her Southeastern coastal kitchen, Andrews shares simple summer recipes for laid-back gatherings.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By John Nelson
Gibbs Smith (March 2017)

Nelson grants the Pacific Northwest its rightful place at the table with recipes that pay tasty tribute to coastal Oregon and Washington.

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Sam Talbot
Oxmoor House (April 2017)

Celebrated chef and native Mainer Sam Talbot presents 100 delicious whole-food recipes to try out this summer. Time to head to the farmers' market!

Buy it: Amazon.com

By Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
St. Martin's Press (July 2017)

The mother/daughter writing duo channels the likes of Nora Ephron and Erma Bombeck with witty essays that are equal parts gut-busting and heartwarming.