Contemporary Fiction Beach Reads
Discover the best contemporary fiction beach reads for your next getaway! Dive into captivating stories perfect for relaxing by the shore. Explore our top picks now.
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Sand in My Eyes
by Christine Lemmon
Anna is so overwhelmed by life that she hardly sees the beauty around her, like walking around with sand in her eyes. But then the widow from next door comes knocking at her door, and one by one, their woman-to-woman small talks help pull the ugly from Anna's life so that beauty, peace, simplicity and contentment sprout forth strong and free.
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Message in a Bottle
by Nicholas Sparks
Divorced and disillusioned about relationships, Theresa Osborne is jogging when she finds a bottle on the beach. Inside is a letter of love and longing to "Catherine," signed simply "Garrett." Challenged by the mystery and pulled by emotions she doesn't fully understand, Theresa begins a search for this man that will change her life. What happens to her is unexpected, perhaps miraculous-an encounter that embraces all our hopes for finding someone special, for having a love that is timeless and everlasting.... Nicholas Sparks exquisitely chronicles the human heart. In his first bestselling novel, The Notebook, he created a testament to romantic love that touched readers around the world. Now in this New York Times bestseller, he renews our faith in destiny, in the ability of lovers to find each other no matter where, no matter when...
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A Summer Fling
by Milly Johnson
When five women become friends, it's one for all, and all for one! A heartwarming and hilarious novel from the bestselling author of Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Cafe and The Queen of Wishful Thinking. When dynamic, power-dressing Christie blows in like a warm wind to take over their department, five very different women find themselves thrown together at work. But none of them could have predicted the fierce bond of friendship that her leadership would inspire ... Anna, 39, is reeling from the loss of her fiancďż˝, who ran off with a much younger woman. Her pride in tatters, these days Anna finds it difficult to leave the house. So when a handsome, mysterious stranger takes an interest in her, she's not sure whether she can learn to trust again? Then there's Grace, in her fifties, trapped in a loveless marriage with a man she married because, unable to have children of her own, she fell in love with his motherless brood. Grace worries that Dawn is about to make the same mistake: orphaned as a child, engaged to love-rat Calum, is Dawn more interested in the security that comes with his tight-knit, boisterous family? When a sexy, footloose rock singer catches her eye, will Dawn have the courage to follow her heart? At 28, Raychel is the youngest member of their little gang. And with a loving husband, Ben, and a cosy little nest for two, she would seem to be the happiest. But what dark secrets are lurking behind this perfect facade, that make sweet, pretty Raychel so guarded and unwilling to open up?
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My Single Friend
by Jane Costello
Lucy is an ambitious publicity executive who loves nothing more than to glam up and party. Henry is a loveable geek, with a brain the size of Pluto and dress sense straight from the pages of Railway Enthusiasts’ Weekly. Yet nobody is closer than the two housemates, who have been best friends since primary school. So when Henry confesses that he’d like help with a makeover, Lucy rises to the challenge beautifully. Trouble is, she never envisaged quite how successful it might be. And now, she isn’t at all sure she likes it. The perfect laugh-out-loud friends-to-lovers romcom.
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Love the One You're With
by Emily Giffin
From the blockbuster bestselling author of "Something Borrowed, Something Blue" and "Baby Proof" comes an emotionally charged work about a chance encounter that forces one woman to question her decisions, her marriage, and herself.
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Something Blue
by Emily Giffin
Warm and engaging; readers will find themselves cheering for Darcy as she proves people can change in this captivating tale. Booklist (starred review.).
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Something Borrowed
by Emily Giffin
In this "New York Times" bestselling novel, a woman wakes up the day after her 30th birthday to find her best friend's fianc in her bed.
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Can You Keep a Secret?
by Sophie Kinsella
After the worst day of her life, Emma Corrigan spills her darkest secrets to a stranger on an airplane, but when he re-emerges in her life, she will have to face the things she said to him, and her growing feelings for him.
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Dear John
by Nicholas Sparks
An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.
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The Last Song
by Nicholas Sparks
Her teenage life turned upside-down by her parents' divorce and her father's relocation out of state, Ronnie Miller remains bitter three years later when her mother urges her to spend a summer with her father, a concert pianist who is quietly immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church. By the best-selling author of The Lucky One. Movie tie-in.
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Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
A celebrated writer pens an irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.
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Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope. Reader's Guide included. Reprint.
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The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town...
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Flying Changes
by Sara Gruen
Anxiety rules Annemarie Zimmer's days—the fear that her relationship with the man she loves is growing stagnant; the fear that equestrian daughter Eva's dreams of Olympic glory will carry her far away from her mother . . . and into harm's way. For five months, Annemarie has struggled to make peace with her past. But if she cannot let go, the personal battles she has won and the heights she has achieved will have all been for naught. It is a time of change at Maple Brook horse farm, when loves must be confronted head-on and fears must be saddled and broken. But it is an unanticipated tragedy that will most drastically alter the fragile world of one remarkable family—even as it flings open gates that have long confined them, enabling them all to finally ride headlong and free.
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The Devil Wears Prada
by Lauren Weisberger
A small-town girl fresh out of an Ivy League college lands a job at a prestigious fashion magazine, but wonders if the glamorous perks are worth working for the editor from hell.
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One Fifth Avenue
by Candace Bushnell
Bushnell turns a gimlet eye on the social and sexual politics of New York's elite, with the intertwined stories of five women at one swanky Manhattan address.
