7 Beach Reads to Pack for Summer 2026

There’s no place like home, and for Lisa Hodges, that’s her Nantucket community. She couldn’t imagine herself anywhere else—until her husband passed away, and his gambling addiction came to light. 

It seems Lisa will have to sell the house. But she comes up with the plan to turn her home into a bed-and-breakfast, putting her excellent hospitality to good use. 

Between her four children’s varying responses to having it out with the town council, Lisa is in for more than she bargained for—and she hasn’t even met her handsome first guest yet…

Claire Shipman was living out her dream life in Manhattan when she lost everything: her husband, to an affair, and with him, all their money. 

Now a single mom to a teenager, and with another one on the way, Claire moves back to her hometown in Nantucket. At her high school friend’s book club, what begins as a joke quickly turns into a business endeavor: who better than fashionista Claire to start a used handbag shop? 

Her friend’s brother, Cody, has the space, but he’s skeptical. Will Claire be able to win him over and get a second chance at her dreams?

Despite living scattered across the country, the three sisters, Mandy, Emma, and Jill O’Toole, remain close. But when their cherished grandmother passes, she leaves them a surprise that will bring them together like never before. 

She left them joint ownership of her home in Nantucket, where the sisters grew up, as well as Mimi’s Place, one of the island’s most beloved restaurants. But before they can sell the restaurant, the three women must work there for a year. 

Together, they return to a place that has always held a special place in their hearts, requiring them to reevaluate their life choices in a moving story.

It’s 1954, and Cynthia Proctor is set on going to college. But that was before she lost her scholarship. 

Now, she has a chance to attend the legendary Maine Chance spa, where she’ll learn about a life outside of the classroom. 

There, she forms a bond with two women, very different from her, and together they learn to forge their own path in the world. 

Although 17-year-old Lara decided to follow her father to Tuscany for the summer, she’s not sure what to expect. 

But her fears prove futile when she meets the neighbors: the teenage Willoughbys are daring and charming, bringing her along on an adventure she’ll never forget. First love and more follow on a youthful summer of self-discovery. 

Thirty-year-old Frankie Simon has been selling movie memorabilia on Hollywood Boulevard for as long as she can remember. Having opened the shop with her late mother, it’s a way to keep the only family she’s ever known close. 

That all changes when a package arrives on Frankie’s doorstep, with an old photo in it—her mother standing with famous actress Glory Cartwright and Glory’s husband, taken at a film festival on the coast, the year before Frankie was born. 

Frankie is sent on a miraculous journey into the past, where nothing is as it seems, and her life will unravel in more ways than one. 

Sisters Emma and Agathe were once inseparable. Emma, the older of the two, was always the rambunctious Agathe’s protector until tragedy struck, and they haven’t spoken since. 

When their grandmother passes away, the sisters will be joined once more in Spain, to go through not only her home, but the memories—and hopefully, in the process, heal old wounds.