(Thomas Bryson-King / For The Times)
17 page-turning beach reads for the ultimate summer escape
- Share via
If your ideal beach trip involves minimal talking and maximum page-turning, you’re in the right place. From bittersweet stories of complicated mother-daughter relationships to delicious small-town dramas dripping in mystery, we have curated a summer book selection that promises escape — and a little drama. With our book reviewer’s recommendations, you’ll be transported to a French resort town or a bygone era at the Chateau Marmont. If romance isn’t waiting for you on the shore, you’ll find plenty of it in our selections — along with secrets and lustful stares that may keep you stirred long after the final chapter. — Maddie Connors
If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
Showing Book Books
‘Go Gentle’ by Maria Semple
-
- Share via
-
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Semple comes by comedy honestly: The novelist began her career as a screenwriter whose credits include series such as “Mad About You” and “Arrested Development.” Readers might know her as the author of the novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” — she brings her same sense of offbeat humor to this book, which follows Adora, a philosopher whose life is upended when she meets an intriguing stranger. There are several plotlines in this novel, which Semple juggles with aplomb; I loved witnessing the book descend into a kind of joyful, barely controlled chaos. Beneath the humor and the wild plot twists is a graceful book about aging — intelligent, compassionate and, yes, gentle.
‘Almost Life’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
-
- Share via
-
(Summit Books)
Erica and Laure meet cute, on the steps of Sacré-Coeur in Paris one blistering summer day in 1978 when the former is too young and naive and the latter is too weathered and jaded. Drawn together by the French novel Erica carries, they embark on a brief and heated affair before Erica returns to university in England. As the decades unspool, they are in different measures and at different times cruel, cool and compelled to each other. Erica believes she is bisexual and winds up married to a fellow writer who has inherited wealth, with whom she has two daughters. The contrast between Laure’s bohemian (read: squalid) Left Bank flat with its smells and sensations, and Erica’s posh country home underscores the age-old trope of “opposites attract,” but it also emphasizes how little atmosphere — filthy or fabulous — matters when the passion is real and the sex is splendid.
‘New Skin’ by Sarah Wang
-
- Share via
-
(Little, Brown and Company)
You can get a new face, but you can’t get a new family. That’s the darkly funny conceit of Wang’s novel, “New Skin,” which follows a daughter grappling with her mother’s addiction to plastic surgery. The tightly woven plot feels almost Lynchian, following a mother and daughter locked in a deranged cold war as the mother recovers from yet another procedure. Despite its morbid and often scathing tone, the novel offers brilliant observations on identity, beauty standards — and the complicated inheritances passed between mothers and daughters. It will cut you open, only to sew you back up.
Thoughts on our guides? Let’s hear it!
We’re gathering feedback on how our guides can better serve you and help you find the next great restaurant, hike or activity in Los Angeles.
‘Ghost Town’ by Tom Perrotta
-
- Share via
-
(Scribner)
Perrotta, that satirist of suburbia (“Election,” “The Leftovers”), offers a story as potent with nostalgia as the perfect bong hit. It’s set in late-20th-century Creamwood, N.J., with brief but incisive returns to the narrator’s present-day life as a successful writer of a series called “Ghost Teacher” who dreads a trip home. In 1974, Jimmy Perrini is a 13-year-old son of the town fire chief whose life teeters between adolescent temptations and a death that arrests his development for decades. The adult Perrini, now known as Jay Perry, ties 1974 (Top 40 playlists, sugary cereals and pungent shampoos) to 2024’s digital morass. There’s a Ouija board and a couple of ghosts, but this isn’t meant to be a scary or even a spooky book. It’s a sad and sweet look at how our upbringings shape us long past when we wish to outrun them, on to a time when we hope we’ll never forget them.
‘The Summer Boy’ by Philippe Besson, translated by Sam Taylor
-
- Share via
-
(Scribner)
Besson’s 2017 novel “Lie With Me” was a huge success in his native France, and the English-language version of the book, translated by Molly Ringwald, is unmissable. His latest book is another coming-of-age tale, this time centered around six teenagers spending the summer of 1985 in a French resort island. The novel is told from the point of view of an 18-year-old named Philippe nursing feelings for a young man named Nicolas, who suddenly disappears. This isn’t a wispy, carefree romance; Besson isn’t afraid to tackle tragedy, and he does it with great care. A common problem with novels like these is that they can easily descend into nostalgia and sentimentality, but Besson avoids both of those traps deftly. Readers who want to revisit the excitement and pain of teenage love, and don’t demand a happily-ever-after ending, will find so much to admire here.
‘Alan Opts Out’ by Courtney Maum
-
- Share via
-
(Little, Brown and Company)
I fantasize about taking a sledgehammer to my smartphone roughly 100 times a day. Those little red circles that remind you how many unread emails and unanswered text messages I have? They can go straight to hell, where they belong. Alan Anderson, the protagonist of Maum’s hilarious new novel, would agree: After the Connecticut advertising executive loses a key account, he decides to move into his family’s playhouse and eschew the trappings of modern life, including his smartphone, much to the consternation of his socialite wife, Vivian. Maum paints her characters with care, and she nimbly locates the humor intrinsic to the novel’s high-toned suburban setting. It’s the perfect book to bring to the beach — but maybe leave your phone at home, lest you hurl it into the ocean.
‘The Chateau on Sunset’ by Natasha Lester
-
- Share via
-
(Ballantine Books)
“If you must get into trouble, do it at the Marmont,” reads the opening of this gothic novel set at the Chateau Marmont in 1950s Hollywood. It’s hard to imagine getting into good trouble these days at the Chateau — a relic of a bygone era. Thankfully our protagonist, Aria Jones, does it for us. A midcentury reimagining of “Jane Eyre,” the novel captures the feverish glamour and underlying chaos of the studio era, with each character proving more cunning and bewildering than the last. The result is a gothic tale with a distinctly Old Hollywood twist, paying homage to the enduring mystique of the Chateau Marmont. The dialogue is so taut and snappy, you’ll find yourself holding your breath. Madness, cruelty and difficult women are welcome bedfellows at “The Chateau on Sunset.”
‘Pool House’ by Mary H.K. Choi
-
- Share via
-
(Flatiron Books)
Choi is known for her well-received trio of young-adult novels, but her latest book proves that she’s just as talented at writing for older audiences. The novel follows Moon, an actor whose career has seen better days, and who has just lost her lover, and Stevie, Moon’s daughter, who is desperate to leave the Los Angeles home she shares with her mother. Life has other plans — the pair are forced to rent out their home and move into the titular structure to save money. I loved the way Choi deals with themes of aging, class and family with a rare sensitivity; this is a Hollywood novel that will resonate even with readers who don’t have an abiding interest in the entertainment industry.
‘Monster of a Land’ by Lauren Hough
-
- Share via
-
(Penguin Random House)
If summer is the season of endless promise, the open road is its patron saint. Throw in a dog and a chilling encounter in a torpid Texas town, and you have the makings of Hough’s “Monster of a Land.” The memoir takes readers on a journey through rural America not unlike Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley” — a comparison Hough herself invites. That said, Hough is a very different tour guide from Steinbeck. Voice-driven and diaristic, her travelogue is wholly original. A self-described 6-foot-tall lesbian and Air Force veteran, she traverses the country in a 2001 Dodge van, bringing a perspective that is as sharp as it is compassionate. The result is a funny, empathetic and occasionally cutting portrait of a divided America. Pack your bags and hit the open road, sure — but bring this book with you.
‘Single Girls’ by John Searles
-
- Share via
-
(Mariner Books)
If a man is ruining your summer fun, might I suggest you leave him? At least, that’s what Helen Gurley Brown would have advised in 1965, the It-girl who shaped Cosmopolitan. Decades later, women — including myself — have her to thank. A pioneer who urged women to delay marriage in pursuit of career ambition, Brown’s wisdom remains timely and inspiring today. (Sure, she doled out some bad advice too. Who hasn’t?). “Single Girls” by Searles, who worked as an editor at Cosmopolitan under Brown, follows a reimagined account of her rise from her early career to her revolutionary takeover of the magazine. The novel is witty, tightly written and a heartfelt portrait of a woman who gripped the nation’s attention by refusing to pity single women — and the world of 1960s New York City’s media empire is equally seductive.
‘Cooking in the Wrong Century’ by Teresa Präauer
-
- Share via
-
(Pushkin Press)
Those who have seen Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” should be fascinated by this relatively slim in pages but dense with allusions novel that won Germany’s Bremer Literature Prize in 2024. One couple, called the host and the hostess, ask another couple, called the husband and the wife, to a dinner party, along with a Swiss man who is an academic. Whether the assembled are engaging in polite conversation, spirited debate or internal conflict, they’re showing readers what a tightrope 21st-century life has become for anyone who uses their brain and enjoys more than their share of privilege on a swiftly deteriorating planet. While some moments, as when the hostess muses that strawberries are now available any time of the year, make this obvious, it’s the sliding-doors aspect of the book with different versions of the evening that make it more surreal.
Available Aug. 4
Available Aug. 4
‘The Amateur’ by Chris Bohjalian
-
- Share via
-
(Doubleday)
On one hand, this may be Bohjalian’s most polished, commercial novel yet, surpassing even “The Flight Attendant” in its screen-friendly elements (more on those shortly); on the other hand, this may be Bohjalian’s most psychological novel, with a first-person perspective through hubris, breakdown and a hard-earned second chance at life. Mira Winston rules her New Jersey hometown and its well-heeled country club, where she, at 17, outgolfs every member and almost all of the pros; it’s considered a given that she’ll turn pro at some point. However, Mira’s future looks much darker after her practice drive breaks through netting and kills a caddy, one of her high-school classmates. Although she’s allowed to attend college while the case against her is built, she falls apart and returns home to find she’s being talked about for many other reasons too – and it will take a last-minute twist for the truth to be told.
Available Aug. 4
Available Aug. 4
Extra-hot reading for romance-genre lovers
No entries under this group.
Please reset filters to see all entries.
‘Down to Earth’ by Julia Turshen
-
- Share via
-
(Simon & Schuster)
A farm in upstate New York may not be the classic beach read setting, but Julia Turshen’s sweet, sapphic romance will make you reconsider vacation plans. When Paige and her son relocate to the fictional town of Sungold, they’re looking for a fresh start. What they get is fresh produce from Frankie, the town’s beloved local farmer, and for Paige, an unexpected crush. Bonus here is that Turshen is a celebrated cookbook author, so she has the unique (and charming) ability to make any[itals] food sound Michelin-starred — call me after you read about the tomato and mayo sandwich. “Down to Earth” offers heaping servings of found family, nostalgia (there’s a lovely roller rink scene), and a slow-burn romance that’s worth savoring.
‘In Every Possible Way’ by Alicia Thompson
-
- Share via
-
(Berkeley)
Calling a book a “lovely walk” may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but it’s what makes Thompson’s latest romance such a delight to read. Jess is 37 and stuck in a dead-end job when she goes on a very bad date and offhandedly wishes she’d met her date’s younger brother instead. And because wishes occasionally do[itals] come true, she wakes up the next day in Ireland (not Florida, where her bad date was) and comes face-to-face with Eamonn, the 29-year-old, poetry-loving mechanic she’d wished for. They quite literally go for a long walk that feels like a dream unfolding. Eamonn and Jess’ romance is a slow burn underscored by dialogue so charming that it almost feels like watching a great play, while Ireland is painted so vividly it becomes a charismatic character in its own right. If you’re looking to escape into a new reality (and that just so happens to be walking along cobblestone roads next to a gorgeous Irish mechanic), then add “In Every Possible Way” to your beach bag.
‘Scandal of the Summer’ by Alexandra Vasti
-
- Share via
-
(Saint Martin’s Griffin)
Pirates, princesses and petticoats (oh my!) abound in Alexandra Vasti’s “Scandal of the Summer.” Brainy Lady Ruby is a Regency-era woman who has decided she’d rather not be married or become a spinster. So she does what any reasonable debutante would and skips town with her two besties to a remote estate. Things get complicated, though, when Ruby meets Captain Archer (a smuggler of stockings …), who also lives at said estate. Seeing as Ruby and Archer both have secrets to hide, they’re initially defensive. But Archer has dimples, so their sharp barbs quickly turn flirtatious. One thing leads to another and, naturally, they’re soon getting handsy in a cove (he is a pirate, after all). Fast-paced and jam-packed with high jinks, “Scandal of the Summer” features an alarming number of puppies that are sometimes tucked into pockets. So come for the dimples, and stay for the pocket puppies.
‘Tropesick’ by Lauren Okie
-
- Share via
-
(Avon Books)
We romance readers love our tropes, and Okie’s “Tropesick” is a clever love letter to the genre. Katie and Tyler were childhood friends and neighbors (see? Tropes abound already!) who haven’t seen each other in almost a decade. But when they’re forced to ghostwrite a romance novel together, the chemistry quickly returns. Part of the fun is watching Okie weave as many romance-isms into the novel as possible, and I very much enjoyed Katie’s dELiA*s-inspired wardrobe, Tyler’s brooding, cinnamon-roll-hero energy, and a surprise cat named Pinot. But like all great romance novels, this one has a steady emotional heartbeat tied to grief, addiction and trauma that are delicately woven throughout. If you’re a devoted romance reader who loves analyzing why tropes work in the first place and wants summer to feel surprisingly emotional, then “Tropesick” deserves a spot in your carry-on bag.
No matching entries.
Please reset filters to see all entries.
No matching entries.
Please reset filters to see all entries.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Top
‘Social Animals’ by Camille Perri