17 Hot Books to Stuff in Your Beach Bag

​Whether you are lounging on a deck chair by a pool, sprawled on a towel at the beach, passing time on a flight on the way to vacation, or at home with a bowl of ice cream in front of the fan—there's no better way to enjoy summer than with a stack of summer reading. Take a look at these sizzling hot debuts.

A SONG OF SILVER AND GOLD by Melissa Karibian, from​​ Hansen House, June 15, 2022
Destined to be the song of summer for YA Sapphic fantasy readers, this story features sirens, a sea witch, and a princess who disguises herself as a sea captain. The stakes are as high as the sea is this tale of vengeance, resurrection, and unexpected romance.  

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AS SEEN ON TV by Meredith Schorr, from Grand Central, Forever, June 7, 2022
In the mood for an adorable, steamy escape? This story takes one aspiring city journalist and one real estate developer and mixes them up in Pleasant Hollow—which isn’t as charming as quaint as it could be but sparks tensions and tests loyalties all the same.  

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BEND TOWARD THE SUN by Jen Devon, from St. Martin’s Griffin, August 9, 2022
If watching something grow and bloom is in your wheelhouse, this lush story of hope will do the trick. Guarded, self-reliant botanist Rowan undertakes the restoration of a long-abandoned vineyard in Pennsylvania wine country, where she meets Harrison, a doctor struggling after the loss of a patient. Rowan's stay is temporary, and Harry is only there to recover, but they develop an extraordinary connection despite deeply different views on love.  

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BOYS I KNOW by Anna Gracia, from Peachtree Publishing, July 5, 2022
In this YA story, June deals with high expectations from her parents and a commitment-avoidant boyfriend. After a methodically-planned, tipsily-executed scheme to fix her life explodes on the level of a nuclear disaster, she flings herself into a relationship with a new guy. As the line blurs between sex and love, and the pressure to map out her entire future threatens to burst, June will have to decide on whose terms she’s going to live her life—even if it means fraying her relationship with her mother beyond repair.  

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FLORIDA WOMAN by Deb Rogers, from Hanover Square Press, July 5, 2022
Everyone is a Florida Woman when that summer humidity hits. Wonder what you would do if a wannabe cult led by three beguiling women tried to lure you in—and despite your better judgment, you kind of wanted them to succeed? As Jamie ventures deeper into the offbeat world and rituals of Atlas, a wildlife refuge for exotic monkeys, her summer is soon set to become an even stranger Florida headline than she ever could’ve imagined.  

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FOOL ME ONCE by Ashley Winstead, from Graydon House, April 5, 2022
Fill the cooler with beer to keep you cool while reading this feisty and funny battle of the Texas exes. Five years after their big breakup, Lee and Ben are forced to work together. Tension builds just as old sparks reignite, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of their home state.  

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FOR BUTTER OR WORSE by Erin La Rosa, from Harlequin, July 26, 2022
Craving a rivalry that’s boiling over? Two rival hosts of a massively popular cooking show have to fake a relationship to save their careers after an explosive on-air fallout, only to find their feelings for each other becoming real.  

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GROUPIES by Sarah Priscus, from William Morrow, July 12, 2022
Crank the radio to 11 and cover the best lounge chair at the pool with your brightest beach towel. Then take this deep dive into the grungy yet glittery world of 1970s rock 'n' roll and the women – the groupies – who unapologetically love too much in a world that doesn’t love them back.  

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HOW TO FAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD by Ava Wilder, from Ballantine Bantam Dell, June 14, 2022
If your perfect beach bag includes a stack of celebrity mags, squeeze this fake relationship rom-com in there too. Though their juicy public relationship is less than perfect behind the scenes, it doesn’t take long before Grey and Ethan’s sizzling chemistry starts to feel like more than just an act.  

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LOVE AT FIRST SPITE by Anna E. Collins, from Graydon House, January 4, 2022
If you ever wonder about the personal stories behind your summer vacation rental, this one is right up your alley. Dani teams up with Wyatt Montego, the handsome, haughty architect at her firm, to help her draw up blueprints to build a rental house to mess with her exes’ view as well as his peace of mind. Wyatt is terse and stern, the kind of man who eats his sandwich with a knife and fork. The closer she gets to her goal, the more she wonders if winning revenge could mean losing something infinitely sweeter.  

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LOVE FROM SCRATCH by Kaitlyn Hill, from Delacorte Press, April 5, 2022
Join Reese, the main character in this rom-com, for a summer job on the west coast. She's landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern—and her main competition for the fall job.  

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PROJECT NAMAHANA by John Teschner, from Forge, June 28, 2022
This beach read will take you into the wild heart of Hawaii—from seemingly idyllic beaches and mountainous inland jungles to the face of Mount Namahana. This propulsive story follows two men who are unified by a string of disappearances and deaths as they search for answers in the close-knit communities and corporate farms of Kaua’i.  

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THE THINGS WE LOST by Maggie Giles, from Rising Action Publishing, April 19, 2022
The lazy, hazy days of summer often spark thoughts of “what if.” Regret and unhappiness have haunted Maddie ever since a tragic early loss, and she has always wondered how her life could have been different. The morning after bumping into her ex, she wakes up a decade younger and with a completely different life as a 26-year-old. Her daughters don’t exist, her husband is nowhere to be found—and in this life, the friend who died when she was 14 is still alive. Is this new do-over exactly what she needs, even if it means she loses the life she has built?  

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THE SEAWOMEN by Chloe Timms, from Hodder Studio, May 14, 2022
Prefer a dark and dystopic beach scene? Eden’s Isle is far from paradise. The people who live there fear the water and believe the only way to remain virtuous is to never enter it, and for the women to be married and conceive within 12 months of their appointed motheryear—or risk being thrown into the sea.  

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THE SLEEPERS by KM Kelly, from Bloodhound Books, April 22, 2022
Hide behind the biggest sunglasses you can find and dip your toes into this propulsive thriller. Corran is a somewhat inept secret agent working undercover to infiltrate a political organization. But he has messed up and all he has to work with is a list of names – a hit list. On the list is Sylvie, who is on the run. Corran and Sylvie form a reluctant partnership, but can they overcome their mutual dislike for long enough to expose the political conspiracy and save themselves—and the world?  

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THE WILD ONE by Colleen McKeegan, from HarperCollins/Harper, June 14, 2022
Some summers seem to last forever, but maybe that’s not a good thing. In this dark and twisted coming-of-age thriller, a deadly summer camp secret binds three women and threatens to destroy their adult lives.  

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