Our Booksellers Recommend: 5 Required Beach Reads
Summer necessities: SPF, the perfect playlist, and a stack of great books.
Summer is finally here, otherwise known as beach read season. The perfect beach read is a propulsive page-turner that sucks you into the story and keeps you engaged, while keeping things fun and breezy; no one wants to cry between catching waves and building sandcastles. Whether you’re looking for a light-hearted rom-com, a family drama, or even a thriller that keeps you guessing, the Zibby’s Bookshop bookseller team has got you covered. P.S: Don’t forget to wear sunscreen!
The Deal by Elle Kennedy: Start here. Seriously. A fake-dating hockey romance set on a college campus that is impossible to put down. The Off Campus series just landed on Prime Video, so if you want to be ahead of the conversation before season 2 comes out, this is your sign. This is one of those reads where you tell yourself one more chapter… and suddenly it’s 2:00 am.
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston: Ashley Poston is simply not allowed to keep doing this to us. A summer job at a stunning Maine estate, a secret garden, and a mysterious man trapped inside it (yes, really). Magical, swoony, and completely impossible to put down. If you’ve read her before, you already know. If you haven’t, start here.
The One by John Marrs: What if a DNA test could tell you who your soulmate is? That’s the premise and the rabbit hole only gets deeper from there. Twisty, propulsive, and genuinely hard to put down. Also now a Netflix series if you want to do a read-then-watch situation this summer.
Recursion by Blake Crouch: Blake Crouch does something very specific: he writes thrillers that are technically about time and memory but really make you feel things. The kind of book you pick up on a lazy beach afternoon and suddenly the sun has set and you have no idea where the time went. Perfect if you want your brain slightly melted in the best way.
Arrivals and Departures by Amanda Eyre Ward: From the author of The Jetsetters comes a new novel about a messy, lovable family scattered across the globe — a reality TV star, a sister who fell for a romance scammer, a brother teetering on the edge, and a mother still chasing a love she let slip away in Greece. Funny, propulsive, and set against the Mediterranean, which means even the backdrop feels like a vacation.