Fiction Beach Reads 2025
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Reading a book at the beach is one of life’s simplest pleasures. There’s the sound of waves rolling in and out. Seagulls cry overhead, and the breeze carries the scent of salt and sunscreen.
These ten 2025 book recommendations are perfect for reading on the beach or relaxing in a hammock. They range from authors like romance writer Carly Fortune to mystery book author Freida McFadden.
The Page Turner
Emma Page grew up the black sheep in a bookish household, raised to believe that fine literature is the only worthy type of fiction.
Hiding her own romance manuscript from her disapproving parents, Emma finds inspiration at the family cottage, reading the juicy summer romances that belonged to her late grandmother.
But a chance discovery in Gigi’s belongings reveals a secret that can ruin her parents’ business and destroy their reputation in the industry. Now Emma must decide—as much as she’s dreamed of the day when her parents are forced to confront their egos, can she just sit back and watch it happen?
You Are Here
A once-bustling mall prepares to shut its doors for the final time. The residents of an upstate New York town must reckon with a shocking act that forces them to reevaluate who they are in this “remarkable study of ordinary people’s extraordinary inner lives.”
The inhabitants of a small town have long found that their lives intersect at one focal point: the local shopping mall. But business is down, stores are closing, and as the institution breathes its last gasp, the people inside it dream of something different, something more. This diverse group of characters in life, flawed strangers who prove unforgettable even after the last store has closed.
One Golden Summer
Alice spent just one summer at a lake cottage with Nan when she was seventeen. It’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately, though, she’s been itching for something more. When Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice devises a plan for them both. Another summer in that magical place. Barry’s Bay.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again.
Say You’ll Remember Me
There’s no such thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. That is, until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolutely wrong thing.
But after one incredible and seemingly endless date, Samantha is forced to admit the truth. Her family is in crisis, and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment. But no amount of distance or time is enough to forget what’s between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life worth remembering.
The Tenant
Blake Porter is riding high, until he’s not. He’s been abruptly fired from his job as VP of marketing. He can’t make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone he shares with his fiancée, and he’s desperate to find a way to make ends meet.
Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She’s exactly what Blake’s looking for. Or is she?
Because something isn’t quite right, neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake. And soon, Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets.
Funny Story
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He was good at telling it. Right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood friend, Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story. She’s stranded in Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family. She works as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills). And she decides to be roommates with the only person who could understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
The Last Ferry Out
When Abby steps foot on Isla Colel, she isn’t sure what—if anything—she’ll find. She only knows that she needs to see the place where her fiancée, Eszter, died to try and make sense of the tragic accident.
The island is nothing like Abby expected: Though it was once a bustling tourist hub, a hurricane has left it a shell of its former self. Only a handful of residents remain.
There, Abby befriends an alluring group of expats, but her sense of unease surges when one of them says he knows the truth about Eszter’s final days. Before he can tell her more, though, he vanishes from the island. And the others are chillingly cavalier about his disappearance.
What Happens In Amsterdam
Dani Dorfman has somehow made it to her thirties without knowing what she wants to do with her life. When an office romance ends poorly and gets her fired, she applies for a job in Amsterdam, dreaming of escaping the mess she’s created.
By the end of her first week in Amsterdam, she’s never felt more adrift or alone. Then she crashes her bike into her high school ex-boyfriend, and suddenly life is blooming with new opportunities.
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What Will People Think?
Mia Almas has a secret. By day, she works as a media fact checker. It’s a position her conservative, Arab grandparents approve of. By night, she takes to the stages of New York City comedy clubs. Being on stage lights her up and makes being a wallflower the rest of the time more bearable.
As Mia pursues a forbidden romance with her boss, it leads to a surprise revelation exposing her secret gig. Worried that her rebellious act could mean big consequences for her Palestinian-American family, Mia frantically dives into damage control. However, all her efforts to retreat from the spotlight reveal a family scandal from the 1940s that could alter everything.
My Friends
Most people don’t even notice them; three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she’s determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, a group of teenagers found refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier. They told silly jokes, shared secrets, and committed small acts of rebellion. These lost souls found in each other a reason to get up each morning. A reason to dream, a reason to love.
You open your book, and time seems to slow. The story pulls you in, transporting you to another life, another time. There is the heat of the sun on your shoulders and the occasional gust of ocean wind. The sound of water lapping at the shore.
People pass by, but their laughter and conversation are distant, muted by your focus on the plot of the book you’re reading.
Reading at the beach is a gentle escape, a vacation within a vacation.
Well that sounds like an interesting reading list. I love all the romance ones. A day reading at the beach does sound kinda fun. 😊