The Best Beach Reads for a Lazy Summer Day

Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met? The cast of Love is Blind would no doubt argue you can, and so might Tiffy — the protagonist of Beth O’Leary’s delightful romance novel. 

After a bad breakup, Tiffy signs up for a flatshare with a shift worker named Leon. With their opposing schedules they will never have to meet, making it seem like the perfect arrangement.

Soon, what starts as functional exercise in leaving each other notes about household admin  turns into something much deeper.

Award-winning journalist and podcast host Dolly Alderton makes her novel debut with Ghosts which tells the story of Nina Dean, a 32-year-old food writer who is dealing with intense struggles in her personal life. 

The book delves into issues many can relate to, including being ghosted, the pressures of ageing parents, double standards and feeling distant from important friends. 

This debut novel made it onto must-read lists from Vogue and Vanity Fair and it surely deserves its spot on our list too.

Red, White and Royal Blue takes us into the world of Alex Claremont-Diaz whose mother just happens to be the president. 

Alex’s feud with Prince Henry in the UK poses a problem for his mother’s administration, so as a publicity stunt, the two men become fake friends who find real romance.

In her New York Times bestselling book, Rebecca Serle offers a unique love story in which Dannie Kohan, an ambitious lawyer, thinks she has her life figured out and on track to hit those five year goals. 

After a strange dream in which she sees herself married to a man who is not her fiancé, Dannie thinks little of it until four and a half years later when she meets the very man she dreamt was her partner years earlier.

You might know Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Bunch from Crazy-Ex Girlfriend (check it out if you haven’t seen it!) but even if you don’t her book is still a must-read — just ask Amy Schumer and Mindy Kaling who have both raved about it. 

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are is a collection of essays about everything from mental illness, success, friendships and everything in-between.

This modern day Emma takes place against the backdrop of India, with all of its vibrant colours and characters. 

Ania, bored, rich and beautiful, discovers that she has quite the knack for match-making after helping her lovelorn Aunt find romance.

When Ania decides to lend her services to one of her best friends, she finds herself in a scandal that has all of Delhi talking.

Here’s one for fans of a good summer suspense story.

Pretty Little Wife takes place in a small town where two people have recently gone missing. 

One of those people is the husband of Lila Ridgefield who may have more to do with her husband’s disappearance than meets the eye. In fact, she was the last one to see his body.

This one is sure to be popular with fans of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.

You need to have a copy of Talia Hibbert’s Take a Hint Dani Brown in your beach bag, because you are going to love this wonderful, heartfelt book. 

Dani just wants a friends-with-benefits type situation and, at first, she thinks she’s found the perfect hook up in Zafir who rescues her in a moment that is caught on camera and goes viral.

The universe apparently has other plans for Dani though as her fake relationship with Zafir develops a deeper meaning.

The Nowhere is an LGBT+ novel set in outback Western Australia. It tells the story of Seb who dreams of having a different life, in a different place. 

When Jake and his family move next door, Seb thinks he may have found an escape, but instead finds himself, even twenty year later trapped in the events of a summer night long ago.

The novel digs into the themes of love, identity, isolation and sexuality and is a compelling, smart read.

Award winning author Melissa Lucashenko serves up her gritty and incisive wit in Too Much Lip, in which protagonist Kerry Salter decides to steal a Harley and head back to her hometown in order to see her father on his deathbed. 

Too Much Lip offers a tightly constructed narrative which seamlessly blends the themes of intergenerational trauma, the legacy of the Stolen Generation, institutional racism with undeniable humour and brilliance.