15 Best Beach Reads for Summer in 2023

This post is all about the 20 Best Beach Reads for Summer in 2023.

Summertime is all about lounging in the sun. But I always find it so much better when I have a book in hand. I’m always in the mood for a great book that gets me in the summer season.

A few of my favorite authors that always make me love summer even more, is Elin Hilderbrand and Mary Kay Andrews. Something about their settings makes me want to jump into their story and be the protagonist.

However, there are so many other authors out there that I have read this year that make me adore even more beach reads. I will definitely be bringing with me one bag dedicated to books to the beach.

Carly-Rae’s 15 Best Beach Reads for Summer in 2023.

Best Cover: Hello Summer by Mary Kay Andrews

“I love the cover of Hello Summer. It was my first-ever Mary Kay Andrews book that propelled me to binge-read beach reads!

Most Heartbreaking: 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

“28 Summers left my heart shattered. It was beautiful and sad, and even after reading it months ago, it stays with me. A memorable setting, plot, and cast of characters you won’t soon forget.”

Most Likely to make you Laugh: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

“This book had me laughing so hard. I adore the banter and the scenarios. It was my first Christina Lauren book, and definitely not my last. I always recommend this one to readers.”

1. Beach Read by Emily Henry

January Andrews is a dedicated romance writer who loves her happily-ever-after endings. Meanwhile, Augustus Everett writes literary fiction and has no problem putting his characters through impossible obstacles and heartbreaks.

The two, however, cross paths when they find themselves as new beach house neighbors, and both have writer’s block. However, one night, the two decide to fix their writing problem by swapping genres for the summer. January must write literary fiction, and Augustus must write a romance. She takes him on whimsical swoon-worthy trips to inspire his romantic side while he has her talk with survivors of a cult. A book will be finished. But what happens when real love starts to become part of the equation?

2. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Olive Torres has accepted her unlucky life, while her twin is the complete opposite. Heck, even her sister Ami’s wedding is perfect as she gets everything for free by being the lucky winner of contest after contest. But when the entire wedding party, including her sister and her new husband, gets severe food poisoning at the wedding reception, Olive and the best man get sparred because they didn’t eat the seafood.

With a honeymoon starting in hours, Olive and Ethan decide to go and pretend to be the newlyweds so her sister doesn’t get charged. It seems like a disaster. Olive and Ethan hate each other, but soon a newlywed bliss starts to fall over them, and suddenly Maui has these two find more in common than they thought. But when the honeymoon ends, will reality strike the two, and everything ends?

I adore this one which is why it’s one of my Best Beach Reads for Summer. You can see my full review here.

3. The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

Hollis Shaw is living the perfect life with a successful food blog called Hungry with Hollis and a heart surgeon husband. But Hollis’s life starts to unravel after he gets killed in a car accident following an argument. No longer can she keep the cracks from splitting open, including her relationship with her daughter.

When Hollis decides to organize a ‘Five-Star Weekend’ in which she invites her best friends from different phases of her life, her Hallmark idea turns into another disaster. Old feelings start to unravel as her first love appears back in her life while her other friends have their own problems. Will Hollis’s life and those around her ever turn around? Will she be able to forgive herself and move on? Find out when you get teleported to Nantucket!

4. Ever Summer After by Carley Fortune

Persephone Fraser now spends her summers in an apartment in the city instead of at the lake after making the biggest mistake ever. However, when she gets a call that takes her back to Barry’s Bay, she comes face to face with Sam Florek again—a decade later.

Percy and Sam used to be unable to be apart. They’d read together and study—turned a friendship into a beautiful relationship. But to move forward, Percy must face what happened and see if her mistake is something they can both move on from.

5. Sanibel Dreams by Hope Holloway

Eliza Whitney suffers the loss of her husband and her job in the same month. She is unable to picture what her next step will be or what her future holds. But then she hears from her father’s widow asking her to come to Sanibel Island to finish settling all the affairs he left behind.

Her father’s widow, Theodora Blessing, though, needs Eliza’s help to save the family’s beachfront resort, Shellseeker Cottages. She has been running the inn for 70 years. But with the mystery of her late husband hard to unravel, the two women must work together as they discover secrets about themselves.

6. 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

Mallory Blessing takes this story on a whirlwind ride that will make you laugh, cry, and grit your teeth. Mallory sends her son, Link, a letter with instructions for what to do when she’s on her deathbed. The only thing it contains is a number that Link is stunned to discover belongs to Jake McCloud. Jake as is the husband of Ursula, a leader in the U.S. Presidential election.

The story then flashes back to the summer of 1993 and follows Mallory through 28 summers detailing how she and Jake came to know each other. And why Jake is the person she asks her son to call when she finds out she is going to die. A powerful read that won’t leave you even after you turn the final page.

Another favorite in my Best Beach Reads for Summer. You can see my full review here.

7. Hello Summer by Mary Kay Andrews

Conley Hawkins is finally living her dream in Washington, D.C., working in a new position for a big-city paper. It’s everything she wanted after leaving her family’s small-town newspaper behind.

But when Conley’s new job ends up not working out, she ends up right back home working with her sister at The Silver Bay Beacon. She gets assigned to overseas “Hello Summer,” a gossip column in the paper—much to her dismay. But after witnessing an accident that results in a high-profile death, Conley starts to uncover dangerous details. Suddenly, her small-town job isn’t so small.

8. Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan

Joanna Whitman’s celebrity chef ex-husband dies in a car accident. She doesn’t know what to feel as their marriage was plagued with secrets. But after learning the young woman in the car with him is pregnant, she decides to lend a helping hand, knowing how intense all the media attention can get.

She invites Ashley Blake to her beach house that is concealed from the outside world on the California coast. Ashley accepts, and the two set out to form a very unconventional bond. But Ashley isn’t telling Joanna the entire truth about why she was with her ex-husband in the car, and she fears telling her the truth.

9. The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

When Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill were twelve, they met a Camp Chickawah and became best friends. However, when they learned their also half-sisters, they break off all contact. But when their father dies fifteen years later and leaves them a joint portion of his beach house in Destin, Florida, the two girls are reunited—much to their dismay. Blake wants to sell. She needs the money after now being a dog nanny. But Kat, a social media influencer, wants to keep it.

They strike a deal that both will help renovate the falling-down beach house. But at the end of summer Kat will buy out Blake’s half. The two are at odds on the vision, but a summertime romance blooms for both and them. Will the two sisters finally find common ground?

10. Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak

Marlow Madsen decides to travel back home to a small island in Florida after her US senator father dies. She helps her mother with the estate but also reconnects with old friends.

The trio is looking forward to a beachfront summer where they can all try to move on from things that happened. But when her father’s will unveils a secret that changes everything, suddenly Marlow is questioning her entire upbringing. But Marlow also learns that happiness can be found if good friends (and a new love interest) surround you.

11. The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery

Bree, Mikki, and Ashley met as strangers but made their dream of opening the Boardwalk Bookshop a reality. It’s part bookstore, part gift shop, and part bakery all in one, exactly as they hoped. It is thrilling, too, unlike their personal lives.

Bree is determined not to let anyone near her heart after dealing with her late husband’s betrayal. But Ashley’s brother may change that. Mikki, on the other hand, is still friends with her ex. Well, until someone new steps into her life. Finally, Ashley is head over heels in love, but things start to crumble when she finds out there will never be a wedding. Can these three women who have a glass of champagne together every Friday at their store find their footing and happily-ever-afters?

12. Summer at Firefly Beach by Jenny Hale

Hallie Flynn was in love with her summers at her Aunt Clara’s beachside house at the gorgeous Firefly Beach. It was everything she always wanted. But after Hallie learns her beloved Aunt passed away, her heart breaks.

Aunt Clara, though, left Hallie a bucket list she wrote as a child to complete. So, Hallie leaves her job and returns to the beachside home, confronting things in her past. Meanwhile, her childhood best friend, Ben Murray, is at her side, and the two start to see each other in a different light.

13. The Return by Nicholas Sparks

Trevor Benson is sent home after getting injured in a blast in Afghanistan. He decides to go back to his grandfather’s home, which he inherited after his passing in New Bern, North Carolina. There he meets the local deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson and instantly finds himself attracted to her, but she has secrets. So does Callie. A young girl who lives not far from his grandfather’s place.

After a sudden crisis, Trevor learns Callie might be more connected to his late grandfather than he thought. But as he tries to figure it out, Trevor starts to learn that sometimes to have a future, you need to go back to where things all started.

And all while figuring it out, Trevor has to learn to be a beekeeper for his grandfather’s hives.

14. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Daphne Berg is now a successful plus-size Instagram Influencer and is stunned when her ex-BFF, Drue Cavanaugh, waltz back into her life. They haven’t talked in six years after a fight ended their relationship. Daphne is even more surprised Drue asks her to be her maid of honor. Then again, Drue never did have the power to keep friends around.

Daphne doesn’t want to go, but she agrees after Drue dangles a weekend in a Cape Cod mansion. The whirlwind weekend won’t be anything like Daphne expects. And a new guy in her life may just make things spicier. But is the past ever really forgiven and forgotten?

15. Summer Island by Kristin Hannah

Nora Bridge is a famous radio talk-show host and a successful newspaper columnist who readers admire for her honest advice. What they don’t know is Nora walked out of her marriage and away from her daughters years ago, never returning. Years later, her youngest daughter Ruby decides to help her mom after Nora gets in an accident. But what Nora doesn’t know is Ruby has agreed to write a tell-all about the horrible mother who left her.

Nora retreats to Summer Island with Ruby, and Ruby is reunited with her very first love. As Ruby writes, she starts to discover things—including things about her mother, who she finds isn’t as terrible as she thought. But only Ruby can decide what to submit and what to keep for herself.