6 New Summer Books to Read at the Beach

June is finally here! There are a lot of fun things to look forward to in the summer – like fresh fruits, slushy drinks (frose, anyone?), grillin’ and chillin’, water activities, and being outdoors. There is nothing better than sitting on the beach or at the pool, and relaxing in the sun with an engrossing book.

A ton of books are releasing this summer (lucky us!), and there are a lot of options. But how will you know which ones are good? Here are 6 of the best new page turners coming out this summer that I recommend you throw into your beach bag. These books will make you laugh, cry, shake your head, gasp in surprise, and best of all, captivate you while you get some much needed R&R on your well deserved time off.

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

Publish Date: June 5, 2018

Us Against You is an unforgettable sequel to Beartown and it’s just as good as the first. It has everything that you love about Beartown, and more. The writing is stellar and the character development is layered, complex, and phenomenal. This book will make you think about sportsmanship, family, marriage, grief, relationships, social classes, race, biases, violence, and prejudice. I think it’s incredible and for me, I doubt that any other book that I read this year will be better than this one.

I loved this book so much. Us Against You is just as captivating as Beartown. This is a must-read for those that loved Beartown. And it definitely lived up to my expectations.

Here is my review. And you can preorder the book here.

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

Publish Date: June 5, 2018

Social Creature is a glamorous peek into the lifestyles of the young, powerful, and ultrarich. It centers around two young women, Lavinia and Louise, and their toxic friendship.

THIS BOOK! If The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Great Gatsby had a modern, twisted baby, it would be this book.

It will suck you in and make you want to binge read it until the end.

The writing was very engaging and compliments the atmosphere that the author establishes in the book. It’s almost like you are hearing the story by reading what’s going on in Louise’s head while she is drunk and high and I loved it. And the twists at the end left me speechless!!

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Publish Date: June 12, 2018

This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who’s been searching for the truth all these years . . .

This is Grip Lit at its finest.

Friends, Secrets, and Skeletons – my absolute favorite!

This book is a blend of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels, All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, with a little bit of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black mixed in.

Let me just say that this book is downright creepy. It is not a “light” thriller. It’s a heavy, complicated thriller with complex characters that made me change my opinion of them several times. Some of the content is graphic and disturbing. It messed with my head. I read this book before bedtime, and it kept me awake thinking about it.

Girls Night Out by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

Publish Date: July 24, 2018

Friends, Secrets, and maybe a Skeleton…. My favorite genre!

College friends Ashley, Natalie, and Lauren have a girls’ getaway to the beautiful paradise of Tulum, Mexico. Sun, surf, sand, good times, and drinks served with small umbrellas are on the agenda. But even after they’re reunited, no one is being completely honest about the past or the secrets they’re hiding. When Ashley disappears on their girls’ night out, Natalie and Lauren have to try to piece together their hazy memories to figure out what could have happened to her, while also reconciling their feelings of guilt over their last moments together.

I was expecting a raunchy, fun girls’ trip to paradise. Maybe a midlife Girls Gone Wild. But, this book was so much more. It is a study of complicated female friendships wrapped in mysteries and a missing person. I loved it.

Believe Me by JP Delaney

Publish Date: July 24, 2018

Claire is a struggling actor who has a side job as a decoy for a law firm. She lures married men into propositioning her and uses a hidden camera to film this for her wife clients. This plot line alone is absolutely fascinating and I think that the author could have build the entire novel around this concept  – but wait! There’s more!

Claire ends up putting on the performance of her life by going deep undercover and trying to catch a suspected serial killer. Or so she thinks. I loved how this plotline progressed, and it kept me guessing until the very end.

JP Delaney knows how to keep a reader fully engaged and potentially missing life obligations because of this book. I liked JP Delaney’s first book, The Girl Before, but I liked this book so much more because of the intricate and unusual plot. I binge read it until the end.

She Was The Quiet One by Michele Campbell

Publish Date: July 31, 2018

This book fits neatly into the genre that I’ve dubbed Twisted Twins, Secrets, and Scandals.

Michele Campbell does an excellent job at bringing adult readers back to their teen years by recreating the angst, peer pressure, social hierarchy, and amplified feelings that one feels during that pivotal transition time.

At the heart of the story is a murder. <Cue Psycho shower scene music> At the start, we know that an orphaned twin has died but we don’t know which one, or why. One twin ends up deader than a doornail, with the other accused of murder. The story is told in the third person perspective with police interviews sprinkled in, a la Big Little Lies.

As the book goes on, I speculated on which twin died and who was the murderer. My guess kept changing as more details were uncovered. This psychological thriller kept me twisting and fully engaged until the end the truth was revealed. It was nothing like I thought.

This book is easy to read and entertaining.

Do you have any recommendations for new beach reads? Share them in the comments!