Sunshine and Swoons: The 5 Best Romance Beach Reads
Romance is an unparalleled genre for vacation reading. It’s comforting to know that no matter what happens, the characters will find happiness together. That guarantee doesn’t often come in real life. If you need to escape from real-world stressors for a while, keep an eye out for these five romance beach reads at your local library or bookshop.
And if you’re looking for books to bring to the beach, check out Book Riot’s full list of the Best Beach Reads, including picks in every genre.
3 of the Book Rioters’ Favorite Romance Beach Reads
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
In a classic meet-cute/meet-disaster, Alexa and Drew get to know each other while stuck in an elevator. They concoct a plan to fake date at Drew’s ex’s wedding, where they end up catching real feelings. Unfortunately, Drew’s an L.A. surgeon and Alexa’s the Berkeley mayor’s chief of staff. Can their love close the distance between their real lives?
Guillory’s debut was part of the first wave of cartoon cover contemporaries in 2018, launching her prolific romance career. While romance books had always been classic beach reads, cartoon covers grew romance’s reach for a new wave of fans, and The Wedding Date was the perfect introduction.
—R. Nassor
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
It’s been seven years since I read Helen Hoang’s debut novel, and I still think about the characters, the setup (hello, male escort), their love story, and the giant smile this book put on my face. The Kiss Quotient — and all of Hoang’s romances — have a perfect balance of being real while making you root for love as you fall for her characters and then finish wanting to hug the book to your chest. Beach reads should have an element of fun while having enough weight to be worth your “vacation time,” and that is every word of this romance. It’s so good, it’s worth a reread!
—Jamie Canaves
Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Beach reads and contemporary romance are almost synonymous in my mind, and when I think of great contemporary romance, I think Red, White & Royal Blue. The rivalry between a prince and the son of the U.S. president causes an international incident. But when they’re forced to get to know each other, their growing chemistry almost causes an international incident of a very different kind. McQuiston’s writing is fun and witty, full of the kind of quick banter I love in a romance. A good beach read should leave you smiling and recommending the book to everyone you know, and this book will have you doing both before it’s through.
—Rachel Brittain
2 of My Favorite Romance Beach Reads
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
This rom-com will be cathartic for anyone whose high school English teacher changed their life. If you’re going on a road trip this summer, bring the audiobook with you for a thematic read.
In it, rival colleagues Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale agree to an end-of-life road trip with their former English teacher and lifelong mentor, Joe Delgado. As they celebrate Joe’s life and help him resolve unfinished business, Logan and Rosemary are forced to confront everything left unsaid from their complicated past.
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Kennedy Ryan is an author to follow for romance that will stick with you long after you’ve finished the book. Her characters feel so rich and fully realized, and I appreciate that their personal journeys are given as much attention as their story as a couple.
That is especially true of Before I Let Go. It follows divorced couple Yasmen and Josiah Wade, who, between co-parenting and starting a new business together, enter a love affair while working through old wounds.
For Book Riot’s full list of essential beach reads in every genre, check out The 50 Best Beach Reads of All Time.
New to romance, or wanting to explore it in greater depth? Check out Nikki DeMarco’s Romance Book Starter Pack for recommendations based on what genres you already read and love.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
We love a good cover, and this week, we’re highlighting a list of the best short story covers. Trust us when we say that these will look so demure on your bookshelves!
Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
In the course of writing about great book covers, there’s one thing that I’ve noted several times: short story collections have some of the most innovative, memorable, and eye-catching covers of them all. Why is that? Perhaps part of it is because short story collections are a harder sell to the average reader, so the first line of marketing has to be for the bookshop browser, whether they’re perusing on or off line. Perhaps part of it is that many great short story collections are coming from smaller presses, so pushing boundaries with design is part of what’s possible because there are fewer stakeholders to please in the process. Perhaps it’s also simply that short story collections, by nature of their diversity, invite more creativity into the cover design process.
Whatever the reason or reasons, I suspect anyone who appreciates a good book cover is here for it.
Let’s take a look at some of the banging short story book covers that have hit shelves this year, as well as look at some of the upcoming covers of collections you’ll want to pop on your TBR ASAP. If you’re reading this when the piece publishes in mid-May, know you’ll be reading it in time to partake in Short Story Month, too. Any month can be short story month, of course, but May gives extra reason to dive into bite-sized fiction.
As always, caveats abound here. It is still unnecessarily difficult to track down cover designers and artists for book covers, especially if you don’t have the book in your hand to double-check. Many publishers still don’t put this information on the landing pages for these books, so it takes good Googling and a lot of luck to dig up names to credit.
Autocorrect by Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston (May 27)
If you’re looking for a collection of darkly funny stories, this cover is not going to steer you in the wrong direction. It’s a squirrel that’s clearly been launched right into the book title, and he looks completely unfazed by it all. There’s a lot of nice movement in this design, especially as it is very simplistic.
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