7 Perfect YA Summer Beach Reads

These four best friends are completely obsessed with The Ruperts, a One Direction-inspired British boy band. They go beyond kissing posters, buying merch, and writing fan fiction … into borderline (or not) stalking. When they find out the band is in town for a concert they can’t get tickets to, they do the next best thing—book a room at the same swanky hotel as the guys. When they accidentally (or not) kidnap the Joey Fatone of the group, things go beyond bubblegum pop into darker territory. It’s a teen fangirl fantasy come to life and taken to its, albeit hilarious, breaking point.

The follow up to the totally delightful My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories, this YA all-star anthology takes on summer romance in short story form. It’s perfect for a sunny lunch break, or a full afternoon at the beach. With brand new stories from YA heavy hitters, including Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, and Veronica Roth, you’ll want to skip the magazines, and pick up this instead!

Alice has seen the same boy in her dreams as far back as she can remember. They’ve gone on wild adventures and fallen in love. But Max isn’t real—he’s just the guy of her dreams, in her dreams. That said, when Alice starts at a new school, there he is, in the flesh. Will he live up to her dreams?

Laurel is psyched when her best friend Viv invites her along on the cruise of the century, a star-studded “Cruise to Lose,” sponsored by Solu, a brand new weight-loss inducing sweetener. Seasick Laurel can’t eat much of anything, much less the Solu-sweetened desserts—which is good for her, because everyone who eats it starts to act a little strange … What follows is a hilarious horror-comedy that will have you on the edge of your beach chair.

Summer in Hawaii? Yes, please! After finding out that her best friend and boyfriend have secretly hooked up, 17-year-old Sloane socks him in the face, and jets off to Hawaii for her summer vacation with a broken heart and broken hand. With lush descriptions of the tropical landscape and a dreamy bad boy love interest, this book will make you feel like you’re at the beach—even if you’re stuck on the subway.

If you love checking your horoscope, you’ll love this fun summer read. Wilamena Carlisle is totally obsessed with astrology. When she finds out that a rare planetary alignment regarding love and relationships is coming up, she has 22 days to find a guy who fits into her astrological charts. But when she falls for a guy (or two) whose signs don’t line up, is their love cosmically doomed? This book is essentially a cute rom-com in teen novel form.

Summer camp romance! Cassidy was expecting to spend the summer with her boyfriend—instead, he dumped her. So she ends up, heartbroken, living with her estranged father at his B&B on the Jersey Shore, and working at Camp Manatee. Long-time Manatee counselor Bryan is finally back at camp after an accident that left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. They’re both expecting difficult summers—what they’re not expecting is to fall for each other. A quick, charming beach read!