Fall in love with the best beach reads of 2022. Escape into the best summer books to add to your summer reading list.
I often talk about wasting time on overrated bestsellers and wanting to read well-written books.
Yet, not everything you read needs to be thought-provoking and deep. Sometimes it’s just nice to escape into a fun story.
That’s why I’ve decided to compile a list of the best beach reads of 2022. Full of romance and drama and even some delicious fluff, beach reads can be such a nice treat to read while on vacation.
With a little bit of something for everyone, I’m sure you’ll find some fun new books to read this summer if you keep scrolling.
Best Beach Reads
The Younger Wife
Sally Hepworth
Tully and Rachel find themselves thrown for a loop when their father announces he is divorcing their mother with dementia and marrying a woman younger than both of them. As they dig deeper into Heather’s secrets and confront their own issues, comments from their mother make them suspect that their parents’ marriage may not have been as idyllic as they thought. Knowing the wedding will end in blood, The Younger Wife is an addictive beach read for 2022 that keeps you engaged as you play amateur detective, judging the reliability of the narrators and deciding who you think is guilty.
Reckless Girls
Rachel Hawkins
It seems like a chance of a lifetime when Lux McCallister and her boyfriend Nico are hired to sail two women to a remote Pacific island. Yet, when they arrive, another boat is already anchored there, piloted by a golden couple. The party of six gets along great until another stranger arrives and the perfect vacation turns deadly. The perfect guilty pleasure beach read, Reckless Girls has everything you’d want – exotic setting, gorgeous people, complicated relationships, and over-the-top plot twists. You know it’s not realistic, but you get sucked in anyways because it’s escapist reading at its finest.
The Christie Affair
Nina de Gramont
If you historical fiction for your beach reads, look no further than Nina de Gramont’s hot new release. She boldly reimagines the unsolved eleven-day disappearance of famous mystery writer Agatha Christie. In a glittery world of privilege in 1925, Nan O’Dea begins an affair with Archie Christie. Told from Nan’s perspective, The Christie Affair is a tale of a calculated plot to steal another woman’s husband, ending in betrayal and possibly murder.
Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus
Elizabeth Zott has always defied stereotyping, especially as the only woman chemist at the Hastings Research Institute. After falling in love with another chemist who sees her, life throws her a curveball. Now as a single mom, she unexpectedly finds herself the host of a tv cooking show. When Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking charms her audience, and now the women who watch her are beginning to question the status quo in their own lives.
Black Cake
Charmaine Wilkerson
In one of the best beach reads of 2022 for book clubs, estranged siblings Byron and Benny are brought back together by their mother’s death. For their inheritance, they find a traditional Caribbean black cake and a voice recording from their mother. Eleanor’s message tells the turbulent story of her life, one full of secrets and a long-lost child that will leave the siblings questioning everything they thought they knew.
On Rotation
Shirlene Obuobi
Ghanaian-American Angela Appiah has achieved the pinnacle of success as an immigrant child: medical school, a professional boyfriend, and a loyal group of successful friends. When her boyfriend dumps her, she fails her medical exam, and her best friend stops talking to her, Angela begins to question if this life is what she wants or what her parents have chosen for her.
Popular
The Hotel Nantucket
Elin Hilderbrand
After a breakup, Lizbet Keaton is excited for a fresh start at a newly remodeled Gilded Age hotel. Lizbet is desperate to please the billionaire owner and the popular Instagram influencer staying there this summer. With a charismatic staff with hidden pasts and the ghost of a former chambermaid haunting the halls, Lizbet has her work cut out for her as she tries to maintain the hotel’s reputation and sort out her own love life.
The Summer Place
Jennifer Weiner
Sarah Donhauser is surprised when her stepdaughter Ruby announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend. With only three months to the wedding at the family’s summer house on Cape Cod, family secrets and regrets create road bumps for all of the family members. As the wedding nears, confrontations lead to plenty of family drama in this summer beach read.
Love on the Brain
Ali Hazelwood
When NASA offers Bee Königswasser the lead on a neuroengineering project, she is thrilled until she learns she must work with her grad school archnemesis, the handsome Levi Ward. When her equipment goes missing and the staff begins ignoring her, Bee realizes that Levi is starting to support her at work, and must decide if she has the guts to lay her heart on the line.
The Bodyguard
Katherine Center
After her mom dies and her boyfriend dumps her, Hannah Brooks is desperate to avoid her mess of a life and sink into work as an Executive Protection Agent, a bodyguard to wealthy corporate clients. In walks her next assignment, reclusive superstar actor Jack Stapleton who needs protection from a middle-aged stalker while visiting his sick mother. The catch: Jack wants Hannah to pretend to be his girlfriend so his family won’t know. Now Hannah must act the part, and decide whether Jack’s just a really good actor or if the connection they seem to share is real. A light easy rom-com without steamy sex scenes, The Bodyguard might be the perfect summer beach read for you.
Book Lovers
Emily Henry
Cutthroat literary agent Nora Stephens lives her whole life in books. On a sisters’ trip to North Carolina, Nora dreams of becoming a heroine worthy of the books she reads. Instead, she keeps running into a brooding editor from back in the city. As their accidental meetings keep coming, Nora and Charlie begin to see each other differently in this enemies-to-lovers summer read.
Something Wilder
Christina Lauren
Using her absentee father’s old treasure maps, Lily Wilder leads tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rocks of Utah. When an old flame and his friends book a tour, she firmly tells him they are never going to happen. Until the trip goes hilariously and hopelessly wrong and Lily finds it might be time to right old wrongs.
The Homewreckers
Mary Kay Andrews
Young widow Hattie Kavanaugh finds her family home restoration business in trouble after one too many bad investments. Strapped for cash, she accepts an invitation to star in a home renovation reality show cast against a male lead who is either a love interest or her worst nightmare. When their renovation uncovers clues to a missing persons case, Hattie finds her emotions caught between a weary detective and her handsome costar.
Bestselling Authors
Thrilling Summer Reads
The House Across the Lake
Riley Sager
After a slew of negative press, a recently widowed actress retreats to her family’s Vermont lake house. Casey passes the time spying on her neighbors across the lake: Tom the rich tech innovator and his gorgeous wife Katherine, a former model. When Casey and Katherine become friends, she realizes their marriage isn’t as idyllic as she assumed and becomes even more suspicious when Katherine disappears.
The Golden Couple
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Rogue therapist Avery Chambers promises that she can fix any problem in 10 sessions with her unconventional methods that have stripped her of her license. After cheating on her husband, Marissa Bishop is willing to do anything to save her marriage to Matthew. As Avery looks deeper into the seemingly perfect couple, she finds that there is much more going on than any of them suspect. With a compelling story and plenty of twists to keep you guessing, fans of psychological thrillers will want to add this book to their summer reading list.
The It Girl
Ruth Ware
April was the first person Hannah met at Oxford, and they quickly became inseparable with their group of friends until April was killed. A decade after April’s murder, Hannah learns that the recently deceased convicted killer may have been innocent. With a journalist probing for details and the murderer likely still out there, Hannah reconnects with her old friend group to uncover their long-buried secrets.
The Maid
Nita Prose
Although she struggles to interact with people, her love of order and cleanliness makes Molly Gray an excellent maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. When Molly discovers a wealthy guest dead in his hotel bed, the police peg her as the prime suspect due to her unusual behaviors. With the help of her friends, Molly must investigate the murder to prove her innocence in this locked-room mystery. If you are in the mood for a cozy mystery, The Maid delivers: the twists and turns are intriguing but not shocking and everyone gets their happily ever after.
The Last to Vanish
Megan Miranda
Even after a decade in her small North Carolina mountain town, Abigail Lovett feels like an outsider. Known for its outdoor recreation, Cutter’s Pass also has a history of mysterious disappearances. When a man arrives looking for his missing brother, the town closes ranks and Abigail learns how much she doesn’t know about her friends and coworkers.
I’ll Be You
Janelle Brown
As children, identical twins Sam and Elli were inseparable and so alike even their parents couldn’t tell them apart. Discovered by Hollywood, they spent years as B-List tv stars, often sharing the same role. However, their lives have drifted apart since Elli left acting, reinventing herself as a perfect homemaker, and Sam fell into drugs and alcohol after her failed acting career. When Elli disappears, Sam realizes her sister’s life is far from perfect and must dive into her sister’s traumatic secrets.
More Summer Reads
One Italian Summer
Rebecca Serle
One of the more lyrical of the beach reads in 2022 is a novel about grieving and understanding a parent. When her mother dies just before their planned mother-daughter trip to Italy, Katy decides to still spend the summer exploring the Amalfi coast as she grieves. Magically, Katy meets a younger version of her mother, giving Katy a whole new perspective on her mother as a person. Although the storyline wasn’t the best, the descriptions of Positano will have you desperately wanting to plan your own summer vacation there.
Honey & Spice
Bolu Babalola
Kiki Banjo, the host of a popular student radio show, has one mission: to keep the women of the Afro-Caribbean society at Whitewell University from falling from players. But when she kisses Malakai Korede, who she just denounced as the worst player of all, they are forced to fake a relationship to salvage their reputations. But the more Kiki gets to know Malakai, the more she wonders if her presumptions about him were wrong.
The Lifeguards
Amanda Eyre Ward
Raising sons together in their plush Austin neighborhood, Whitney, Annette, and Liza are best friends living the dream. When their sons return one night after lifeguarding on the lake, the boys spill a secret so shocking it will test their friendship as they learn their children aren’t as innocent as they thought. A tale of what we will do for those we love full of complicated friendships and betrayals, The Lifeguards sounds like one of the perfect beach reads for 2022.
The Love of My Life
Rosie Walsh
When Emma falls seriously ill, her husband Leo begins to research her life for her obituary. The more he digs into his wife’s past, the more he realizes everything she told him about herself is a lie, including her name. Now Emma must convince Leo that he really does know her, but first she must tell him about the other love of her life.
The Unsinkable Greta James
Jennifer E. Smith
After the unexpected death of her mother, singer Greta James has a mental breakdown on stage and the viral footage threatens to ruin her career. Adrift in her career, Greta agrees to go with her father on the Alaska cruise he had booked for his fortieth wedding anniversary. When she meets a charming historian, Greta finds herself set on a path of healing.
Flying Solo
Linda Holmes
After her canceled wedding, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown to settle her great-aunt’s estate. Digging through her house, Laurie is surprised to find an old love letter with a strange signoff and a gorgeous carved wooden duck. When the duck disappears under suspicious circumstances, Laurie dives into her great-aunt’s secrets and discovers what it means to make a life for yourself.
Nonfiction
Rough Draft
Katy Tur
MSNBC news anchor Katy Dur recounts a lifetime of chasing news. Her parents Marika Gerard and Bob (now Zoey) Tur gained fame and wealth as helicopter journalists covering such events as O.J. Simpson’s car chase. By high school, they had lost it all, leaving Tur with a complicated relationship with her parents. Telling of her own rise from local reporter to foreign correspondent and eventually news anchor, Tur ponders on the roles and responsibilities of journalists.
Nowhere for Very Long
Brianna Madia
Rejecting the capitalistic path of others, Brianna Madia always sought to take the road less traveled. So she bought a beat-up orange van named Bertha and set out to travel the deserts of the American West with two dogs and her husband. Madia’s journey – from married to single and from lost to found – is about more than #vanlife or minimalism; it’s a memoir that explores both the outer world and her inner self.
Rogues
Patrick Radden Keefe
Bestselling author and journalist Patrick Radden Keefe brings together twelve acclaimed articles from The New Yorker that showcase fascinating stories of underhanded intrigue. From a forger of vintage wines to a whistleblower at a Swiss Bank who is either a hero or a liar, Keefe collects deeply human stories of criminals and rascals and those who stand up to them.
Which Beach Reads of 2022 are You Most Excited to Read?
What do you think? What beach reads did I forget to add to my list? Did I include any overhyped authors? As always, let me know in the comments!
More Summer Reading Lists:
Ann says
I have fallen so far behind in my overly ambitious Summer reading TBR.
I had a bunch of books lined up for post surgery recovery period, but I swear anesthesia does a number on you. I had a hard time focusing!
I have The Hotel Nantucket waiting for me at the library.
Was it just me or did The Summer Place cover have nothing to do with the story? Who is that woman? I did enjoy the book though.
Still slowly making my way thru Bomb Shelter (I am so behind)! It has nice short chapters. That is about all I can deal with for the time being.
Hoping to get my groove back!!!!!!!
Gaili Schoen, RipeReads.net says
Haha so true- the Summer Place cover def does not fit the story. No one is floating around in the water! Maybe it is Veronica recalling summers past 🙂
CimmieS says
Not that it’s summer here, but cold, bleak days a great way to be cosy & read. Couldn’t get into Black Cake. Made several attempts even jumped into the centre of the story to skip read throughout it. Enjoyed The Maid. I cheered her on along with her new friends in this story about a probably high functioning heroine with fringe autism.
Several new book suggestions leaped towards me from your new reading list, thanks.
Gaili Schoen, RipeReads.net says
I Love Book Lovers and The Summer Place. Also enjoyed One Italian Summer, The Bloomsbury Girls, and absolutely loved Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting (the Audiobook was really fun!) Right now I’m reading The Paris Bookseller which is about Sylvia Beach, the founder of Shakespeare and Company. And I highly recommend Remarkably Bright Creatures for a great summer read everyone seems to enjoy. Looking forward to reading Flying Solo, Tracy Flick Can’t Win, the new Nora Ephron biography, and Neruda on the Park! So many great titles ahead!