The 60+ Best Summer Beach Reads of 2024
Here are more than 60 of the best summer beach reads of 2024. Each year, a tidal wave of beach-themed novels hits our shores. Plus, summer is your chance to catch up on some of the best books of the year—the ones all of your friends are talking about. Where to begin? Don’t worry. You bring the towel, the sunblock and the snacks. I’ll bring the books.
I’ve chosen plenty of romance novels for you to enjoy, both sexy and sincere (and sexily sincere and sincerely sexy). You’ll also find stories of female friendship, engrossing biographies of important women, historical fiction, batches of mysteries and thrillers, works of popular history, literary fiction and comfort reads.
And no one says summer like Jimmy Buffett—the late singer-songwriter and best-selling author is celebrated with a 20th-anniversary edition of one of his most popular books.
What? You want to read the latest books so no one can spoil the ending? Not to worry. I also highlight the best beach reads coming out in the next few weeks so your novels will have that hot-off-the-press feel. (You might also want to add a little more sunblock, by the way.) So dive in! And at the head of the Parade are…
The 60+ Best Summer Beach Reads of 2024
Courtesy of Alcove Press, Berkley, Avon
1. Summer After Summer by Lauren Bailey
2. This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
3. Summertime Punchline by Betty Corrello
In Summer After Summer, Jane Austen’s Persuasion proves an inspiration for Lauren Bailey’s modern retelling set in the Hamptons. For Carley Fortune’s hero Lucy, this summer will be different. And it is, until Lucy discovers the hot local entertaining her nightly is her best friend’s younger brother. (That never happened in a Jane Austen novel!) And on the Jersey Shore, stand-up comic Delfina needs to prepare the routine of her life for an upcoming comedy festival in Summertime Punchline. But no joke–she’s thoroughly distracted by an old flame who might just be the love of her life.
Summer After Summer by Lauren Bailey ($29.99; Alcove Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune ($19; Berkley) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Summertime Punchline by Betty Corrello ($18.99; Avon) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Berkley, Knopf, Doubleday
4. Funny Story by Emily Henry
5. Good Material by Dolly Alderton
6. Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
Three of the biggest romance novels of the year. In Emily Henry’s latest charmer, you get a double treat. It’s the “we’re just posing as boyfriend and girlfriend” trope crossed with the head-spinning situation of falling in love with your ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex! What was that, again? The New York Times calls Dolly Alderton a British Nora Ephron and that’s enough for us to pick up Good Material. And Kevin Kwan! You need details? A bankrupt–but handsome–future Earl of Greshambury must go to a posh wedding and snag a woman of means. Problems ensue, like a secret liaison that comes to light, a volcanic eruption and worst of all, falling in love with the relatively penniless girl next door. Amusement guaranteed.
Funny Story by Emily Henry ($29; Berkley) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Good Material by Dolly Alderton ($28; Knopf) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan ($29; Doubleday) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: 15 Books You Must Read if You’re Obsessed With Taylor Swift’s New Album
Courtesy of Gallery Books, MIRA, Harper Perennial
7. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
8. Tourist Season by Brenda Novak
9. In A Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati Alexander
Christina Lauren’s latest is always a lock for a summer beach read. Fake marriage so starving female artist can get cheap housing and heir-to-fortune can inherit $100 million? Got it. Any possibility they’ll fall for each other and complications ensue? Nawww. Brenda Novak’s Tourist Season has its own complications, from a hurricane to an appealing but guarded man with issues. (Is there any other kind?) And if you can’t go to the Caribbean, you can at least read the romance In A Not So Perfect World, which is set in the Caribbean. That’s where a video game designer who pledged to her bosses she’d remain single finds herself pretending to be the girlfriend of a man so she can get a free trip and he can win back the woman who dumped him. Then she starts to fall for him? Game over.
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren ($28.99; Gallery Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Tourist Season by Brenda Novak ($18.99; MIRA) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
In A Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati Alexander ($17.99; Harper Perennial) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Mariner Books, Poisoned Pen Press, Flatiron Books
10. Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
11. The Teacher by Freida McFadden
12. Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum
Some people want to sink into a frothy romance during their summer break. Others? They want chills with their chilled drink and the thrill of suspense. Here are three standouts so far in 2024. Everyone On This Train is a Suspect is delicious fun. A group of mystery writers board a train...and one of them is murdered. Stevenson delights in showing how the various styles of author (the forensic writer, the legal thriller writer, the psychological suspense writer and so on) tackle the crime in their own way. Freida McFadden, the blockbuster author of The Housemaid, finds suspense in high school where a teacher squares off against a not-so-innocent student at the heart of a scandal. And Emma Rosenblum’s Very Bad Company is a send-up of the tech world and corporate culture. Everyone at an annual retreat is desperate to paper over the disappearance of a key player when it means they might all lose out on millions.
Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson ($30; Mariner Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Teacher by Freida McFadden ($17.99; Poisoned Pen Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum ($28.99; Flatiron Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Dell, Bloom Books
13. The Rule Book by Sarah Adams
14. King of Sloth by Ana Huang
15. The Dixon Rule by Elle Kennedy
In The Rule Book, it’s simple: a new sports agent must keep her client happy. Too bad it’s an old flame from high school. She dumped him hard and now he wants revenge. King of Sloth is one of the big blockbuster of the year, thanks to the steamy chemistry between a Succession-like heir to a fortune who enjoys women throwing themselves at his handsome, wealthy feet. So why is he obsessed with his personal publicist when she is so (seemingly) indifferent to his charms? And in the campus romp The Dixon Rule, a top cheerleader tired of watching her ex-boyfriend sleep his way through her fellow squad members reluctantly agrees to fake date him to make another woman jealous. He’s tired of playing the field, getting top grades in chemistry…but failing when it comes to understanding who he really wants.
The Rule Book by Sarah Adams ($18; Dell) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
King of Sloth by Ana Huang ($17.99; Bloom Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Dixon Rule by Elle Kennedy ($18.99; Bloom Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: The 125 Best Romance Books of All Time
Courtesy of Doubleday, Crown, St. Martin’s Press
16. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
17. The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
18. A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins
How about a little romance of the high seas, courtesy of three of the most acclaimed works of popular history out in 2024? The Wide Wide Sea is the latest raved-about blockbuster from Hampton Sides. It charts the perilous, disastrous final voyage of Captain James Cook and why a model explorer went so fatally astray. The Demon of Unrest creates high drama by focusing on the knife’s-edge tension of the months between Lincoln’s election and the firing on Fort Sumter, a period when the Southern slave states broke with the U.S. because their preferred candidate lost the election. And famed shipwrecks throughout time and around the world give David Gibbins a unique way of presenting world history in a fresh, revealing light.
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides ($35; Doubleday) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson ($35; Crown) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins ($32; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Ballantine, St. Martin’s Press, Forever
19. The Summer We Started Over by Nancy Thayer
20. Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
21. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Nancy Thayer’s warm bestseller shows two sisters reconnecting over Memorial Day weekend as they work together to open a gift shop in Nantucket. Who knew the insanity of launching a business could be a bonding experience? Bestseller Mary Kay Andrews offers frothier fun. In Summers at the Saint, Traci Eddings is determined to revive the fortunes of her late husband’s hotel on the coast of Georgia, if only interfering in-laws, a motley staff, an unexpected death and long-ago scandals don’t stop her. And in the social media whirl of Just For The Summer, two reluctant dating app stars are cursed by a terrible track record: everyone who goes out with them rebounds and immediately finds a soul mate. So naturally, everyone wants to have a whirl, dump them and find true love. So why not date each other? That should break the curse! Real life intrudes into this fun premise when the guy suddenly needs to care for his siblings and the gal must deal with her poisonous mom.
The Summer We Started Over by Nancy Thayer ($30; Ballantine) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews ($29; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez ($17.99; Forever) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster, Gallery Books
22. The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page
23. An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin
24. Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy by Elizabeth Beller
As gripping as any romance and thriller are the real lives of powerful and important women. Barbara Walters truly was a rule breaker. From morning news to primetime dominance to The View, Walters blazed a trail every step of the way for the many women who followed. But it wasn’t easy. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin offers a dual biography of sorts, telling the story of her lifelong romance with husband Dick Goodwin as together they chart their remarkable seats at the table of power during the tumultuous 1960s. They share their separate memories of working for LBJ and Dick’s role in the campaign of Bobby Kennedy. The era ended in tragedy but their belief that government can make society better for everyone endured. LBJ of course succeeded JFK and yet another member of that family (by marriage) gets her due in the much-talked about bio of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.
The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page ($30.99; Simon & Schuster) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin ($35; Simon & Schuster) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy by Elizabeth Beller ($29.99; Gallery Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: 30 Best Serial Killer Books of All Time
Courtesy of The Dial Press, HarperVia, Random House
25. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
26. Nearly All The Men in Lagos Are Mad by Damilare Kuku
27. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
Travel the globe with these three winning novels. Surely you’re already a fan of Helen Simonson? Hazelbourne is set in an English seaside town just after World War I, with romance on the horizon and women chafing under the constraints of a society that wants them back into their former, submissive roles. Not easy since war showed them what they are capable of when given the chance. The twelve stories of Damilare Kuku’s collection Nearly All The Men In Lagos Are Mad cover the length and breadth of society in the vibrant city of Lagos: from rich to struggling poor, from a preacher’s wife to a musician ready for a night of sexual fun. But of course the stories are universal. Couldn’t you substitute the city you’re living in and have the title still ring true? And food critic Ruth Reichl knows how to whip up a treat with her charmer The Paris Novel. If you lived a quiet, parsimonious life, why not go to Paris when your mother dies and leaves you a one-way ticket? Why not buy that vintage dress? Why not live in the bookstore Shakespeare & Co? Why not try oysters for the first time in your life? You might as well read it now so you can cast the characters in the movie version surely fated to come.
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson ($29; The Dial Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Nearly All The Men in Lagos Are Mad by Damilare Kuku ($26; HarperVia) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl ($29; Random House) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Bloomsbury, Ballantine Books, Berkley
28. House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
29. The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
30. Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Fantasy can be an escape and isn’t escape what summer is all about? In House of Flame and Shadow, Sarah J. Maas continues her Crescent City series with Bryce and Hunt determined to reunite and save their world, assuming she can actually return to their world and he can free himself from imprisonment in the dungeon of Asteri. Sexy and scary, with fans scarfing this up. Newcomers need to start with House of Earth and Blood. And okay, you’re on the beach or in your backyard working on a tan. What better contrast than The Gathering, a mystery novel about murder near a vampire colony in rural Alaska? C.J. Tudor’s latest gives you chills in all the best ways. And Ali Hazelwood doesn’t disappoint with a supernatural romance shot through with tension. A Vampyre bride must submit to the Alpha Werewolf in order to fulfill a rare alliance that promises a peace between these two factions. But she’s not submissive and he’s not trusting, so it’s a marriage of inconvenience, at least at the start.
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas ($32; Bloomsbury) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Gathering by C.J. Tudor ($29; Ballantine Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Bride by Ali Hazelwood ($19; Berkley) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Dial Press Trade Paperback, Bloom Books, Delacorte Romance
31. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
32. Bridesmaid for Hire by Meghan Quinn
33. Beach Cute by Beth Reekles
Ok, trigger warning. Ready or Not is about a surprise/accidental pregnancy and for some folk, that will never be a beach read. But if you want a thoughtful romance and are down for the premise, you are ready for Cara Bastone’s novel. Or not! Much lighter is Meghan Quinn’s “fake dating” story of a woman on vacation who agrees to pose as the date of her brother’s despised best friend at the “wedding of the century.” Why? Think of the contacts she can make for her business among the wealthy attendees. Of course, the only contact she can think about is the once-hateful dude sporting her on his arm. And Beth Reekles–the author of The Kissing Booth–delivers a sun-kissed tale of three young women on vacation who become fast friends. Romance is on the horizon and life changes abound. But happily new friends rank highly in importance in this one.
Ready or Not by Cara Bastone ($18; Dial Press Trade Paperback) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Bridesmaid for Hire by Meghan Quinn ($17.99; Bloom Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Beach Cute by Beth Reekles ($12.99; Delacorte Romance) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: The 222 Best Books of All Time
Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press, Doubleday, Pamela Dorman Books
34. The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
35. The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian
36. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
More thrills. Rachel Hawkins excels at the quietly suspenseful, this time in the story of an adopted son whose late heiress mother infamously enjoyed four husbands–all of whom died under mysterious circumstances. Much as he tries to distance himself from the family web, it pulls him back in. Chris Bohjalian knows page-turners: he’s the author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant, after all. But he also shows the strained but binding ties between two very different sisters. It's thrown into high relief by the setting of Las Vegas, where one of them works as a Princess Diana impersonator and is determined to figure out who killed her boss. And Reese Witherspoon picks another twisty winner with the blockbuster thriller First Lie Wins, a nail-biter about a woman with at least one secret identity who is forced to con a man she’s falling for. It’s complicated!
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins ($29; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian ($32; Doubleday) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston ($28; Pamela Dorman Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Avon, Kensington
37. Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle
38. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
39. Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday
Relax and enjoy yourself with three romances that you just know will offer at least some sort of HEA (Happily Ever After, natch). In Old Flames and New Fortunes, the small town of Moonville, Ohio is the setting for a witchy florist who uses flowers to help love blossom for her clients...but can’t see past her own heartbreak to the romance waiting right in front of her. Cat Sebastian excels at queer romances, this time the unlikely but inevitable (?) sparks flying romance between a closeted baseball player in 1960s New York and the lonely arts reporter somehow assigned to write a profile. You Should Be So Lucky! And in Earls Trip, a historical romance gets quite naughty when an earl is propositioned by a woman determined never to marry. She simply wants to know what she’ll be missing, so won’t he bed her, please? Frustratingly, he’d rather she wait for her wedding night…okay, their wedding night. Julia Quinn endorses it as the best historical romance she’s read in years.
Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle ($18; G.P. Putnam’s Sons) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian ($18.99; Avon) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday ($17.95; Kensington) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Scribner, St. Martin’s Press, Harper
40. The Women by Kristin Hannah
41. Long Island by Colm Tóibín
42. Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes
Three peak works of fiction out this year will be as absorbing as any bodice-ripper. Kristin Hannah is a superstar and with The Women, she tackles the nurses of Vietnam and what life is like during and after the conflict is over. Irish author Colm Tóibín returns to the character Eilis, the immigrant hero of his acclaimed bestseller Brooklyn. It’s now the 1970s and Eilis lives in Long Island. She still feels like a newcomer in America, despite being surrounded by her Italian-American husband’s extended family and their two children. Then she discovers he cheated on her. Oprah is a fan of this one. After that high drama, you’ll want some relief. In Wives Like Us, Plum Sykes delivers another wickedly funny look at the upper crust when wealthy American divorcees invade the British countryside and a stately home worthy of Downton Abbey.
The Women by Kristin Hannah ($30; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Long Island by Colm Tóibín ($28; Scribner) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes ($28; Harper) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: The 110 Best Thriller, Crime and Suspense Novels of All Time
Courtesy of Little, Brown and Company, Forge Books
43. The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson & Nancy Allen
44. Extinction by Douglas Preston
James Patterson is a man for all seasons. However, summer surely is his favored stomping ground, thanks to books that promise and deliver entertainment. He pairs with Nancy Allen to offer up a legal thriller where the #1 lawyer in the country is now #1 on the Most Wanted list. You’ve probably stopped reading this to start reading it, haven't you? And Extinction? Just say it: it’s Jurassic Park but with…well, actually it really is Jurassic Park. Best-selling author Douglas Preston goes toe to toe with Michael Crichton’s classic thriller by resurrecting wooly mammoths for the pleasure of wealthy tourists heading to a preserve in the Colorado Rockies. It’s not just dinos run amok, because the ancient force that wiped out the dinosaur might just be ready to do the same to humans.
The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson & Nancy Allen ($30; Little, Brown and Company) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Extinction by Douglas Preston ($29.9; Forge Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Author Kate DiCamillo on the Book That Changed Her Life and Other Favorites
Courtesy of Doubleday, Avid Reader Press/S&S, Atria Books
45. The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
46. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
47. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Three novels toy with science fiction and fantasy elements so winningly that people who think they don’t really like those genres are happily devouring them. In The Husbands, Holly Gramazio takes a clever spin on the swipe-right dating world by letting a woman discover a wonderful attic. Down comes a man and her life is transformed. And if she tires of him, he can be sent away and another very different man comes out of the attic so she can see what life with him has to offer. And on and on, in a parade of husbands and instant gratification, along with the sneaking suspicion that always being able to try something else might just be its own trap. With The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley has written the unclassifiable debut of the year: a time-traveling/workplace comedy/romance between a civil servant in the near future and her unexpected roommate: an Arctic explorer who perished back in 1845…at least until the Ministry of Time got a hold of him. Nutty and surprising. Finally, in Expiration Dates, a woman is cursed (or blessed?) to be informed at the start of every relationship how long they’ll last: three hours, the weekend, four months? It’s all spelled out in advance. Should commitment have an expiration date? And how will our hero react when this magical predictor stops working?
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio ($29; Doubleday) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ($28.99; Avid Reader Press/S&S) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle ($27; Atria Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Little, Brown and Company, Penguin Classics
48. A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett
49. The Penguin Book of Pirates edited by Katherine Howe
Jimmy Buffett is gone? It hardly seems possible. And it won’t be true, as long as there are margaritas and lost shakers of salt and cheeseburgers in paradise and people looking for a genial good time. They find it in his music (check out Songs You Don’t Know By Heart for some lesser-known gems). And they find it in his very successful writing career. It’s already the 20th anniversary of A Salty Piece of Land, Buffett's picaresque tale about Tully, a fellow who smokes a little too much ganja and finds himself whisked away by a 101-year-old sea captain to adventures involving rock stars and ghosts and sailors and sirens of the most pleasing kind. And if you’re at the beach or on a boat, you’ll want to keep an eye out for pirates! What better primer than the new anthology The Penguin Book of Pirates? It’s a compendium of stories about Blackbeard, women pirates and others who were the scourge of the high seas...and sometimes created egalitarian communities on board while doing so. Editor Katherine Howe pulls together contemporary accounts from journalists, ship's logs, trial transcripts and more to paint a picture of pirates as they really were. It pays to be prepared (and it’s highly entertaining too).
A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett ($30; Little, Brown and Company) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Penguin Book of Pirates edited by Katherine Howe ($20; Penguin Classics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.orgComing Soon—The Summer Beach Reads We’re Anticipating
Courtesy of Del Rey, Scribner, Tor Nightfire
50. Incidents Around The House by Josh Malerman
51. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
52. Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
Josh Malerman wrote Bird Box, the horror novel that became the Sandra Bullock blockbuster. Now he’s delivering a new creepfest with Incidents Around The House. I am not interested. I do not like being scared. It features your everyday family: Mommy, Daddo, Grandma Ruth, eight year old Bella…Other Mama, the presence only Bella can see and hear, the creature that asks Bella one question every single day: “Can I go inside your heart?” See? I’m already scared.
Stephen King is an acclaimed, best-selling novelist. But I believe his best work comes in short stories. Check out King's latest collection, You Like It Darker. (And then check out his masterpiece, the four novellas that comprise Different Seasons.)
Chuck Tingle has the perfect name for an adult film star specializing in fetish. But he’s actually the author of numerous books under various pseudonyms. As Tingle, he burst onto the horror scene with Camp Damascus, a novel set at a gay conversion camp. Now with Bury Your Gays, Tingle ups the horror by setting it in…Hollywood. A screenwriter is at the top of his game thanks to an Oscar nomination and a hit streaming series. But his bosses want the writer to have a killer season finale by offing the gay characters on the show (a move so common in TV circles it’s a cliche fans bemoan online). Oh and the creatures he dreamt up during his B movie horror film days? They've come to life and are stalking him. In other words, Hollywood!
Incidents Around The House by Josh Malerman ($28; Del Rey) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
You Like It Darker by Stephen King ($30; Scribner) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle ($26.99; Tor Nightfire) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Viking, Knopf, Orbit
53. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
54. Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi
55. How To Become The Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
Lev Grossman shot to fame with his three novels invariably described as Harry Potter, but filled with cursing and sex. Now he tackles the tales of King Arthur. Anyone expecting a caustic, modern spin on Camelot won’t be disappointed. You’ll find Python-esque humor, transgender knights, queer knights (in the closet or whatever constitutes a closet in those days), a tiresomely perfect Lancelot and at least a hero of the expected sort: an 18 year old kid mostly abandoned, seen as useless but determined to be a knight and, who knows, perhaps of more kingly bearing than he imagines. Frankly, I was not easily won over. But Grossman isn’t here to tear down Arthurian myths or reveal them as far too lacking when it comes to gender and sexual politics. Oh he perhaps does that too. But Grossman isn’t tweaking the story of King Arthur. He’s telling it again in his own way. Each character is given a back story that deepens and impresses on our mind, from the new lesser knights we begin with to Arthur and Lancelot and the whole gang. Ultimately, it becomes quite moving. These tales will be told again and again as long as stories are told. But they won’t always be told well. Here, they are.
Navola will inevitably be compared to Game of Thrones aka A Song of Ice and Fire. (Take your time, George! We’ll wait.) But this fantasy novel by Paolo Bacigalupi shouldn’t be sold as a rip-roaring tale with dragons. It’s mostly a coming of age story set in an Italian-ish country where backstabbing and shifting alliances and Medici-like power is always balanced on the edge of a knife. Bacigalupi may shift into high gear in the later volumes (there will assuredly be more). But here he admirably takes his time, painting a full portrait of Davico di Regulai, the heir apparent of a family dynasty but a young man who seems ill-suited to the treacherous and subtle world of his father. Davico is just…too honest, too open. It’s a quietly compelling novel as we wonder if Davico will simply be consumed by the world he’s meant to help lead…or is he actually more ruthless than we think? Absolutely no one can be taken at surface level and that dragon’s eye (an ancient artifact) will at some point open, but the entire feel of this novel is more Wolf Hall than Game of Thrones. Know that and you will enjoy it without tapping your toes wondering when the fireworks will start. It’s the revelation of character that casts a spell here, not wizards and magic.
Django Wexler knows how to hit the sweet spot of humor in the often too-serious world of fantasy. He combines the fatalistic time-loop of Edge of Tomorrow with the knowing comedy of Redshirts by John Scalzi in How To Become The Dark Lord & Die Trying, the story of a woman bored by endlessly trying to defeat the Dark Lord only to be foiled by a time loop. So, what the hell, she decides to become the next Dark Lord instead.
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman ($35; Viking) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi ($30; Knopf) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
How To Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying by Django Wexler ($19.99; Orbit) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Gallery Books, Little Brown and Company
56. Once Upon A Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy by Elizaebeth Beller
57. Ask Not: The Kennedys and The Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan
58. JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil
Three more biographies centering on the Kennedys because we cannot get enough.
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy is remembered mostly as the wife of John F. Kennedy Jr., both of whom died in a tragic plane crash that also killed her sister Lauren. Author Elizabeth Beller strives to give Carolyn and her fashion career before becoming a Kennedy and thus tabloid fodder its due.
Journalist Maureen Callahan takes a fresh angle by focusing in on the women born or married or merely sucked up into the world of the Kennedys and the price they paid. Sexual assault, suicide, manslaughter or “merely” slander are some of the very high prices women paid, as detailed here. Anyone looking for happy stories of Camelot should keep looking.
John F. Kennedy Jr.–or John John as he was known by people who didn’t really know him–also burned bright and was snuffed out too soon. Now we’ve got an “intimate” oral history of the latest Kenndy to die too soon. Will our fascination with the Kennedys ever wane? Not this century.
Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy by Elizabeth Beller ($29.99; Gallery Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan ($32.50; Little, Brown and Company) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
JFK Jr. by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil ($30.99; Gallery Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press, Little, Brown and Company, Berkley
59. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
60. Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
61. Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood
Romance is most definitely in the air. Hilderbabe alert! Fans of Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket novels surely know that after about 30 novels, she is bringing the series to a close with Swan Song. Hilderbrand insists she is retiring, but maybe a rapturous reception from her legion of readers will convince her that maybe, someday, she’ll return. Meanwhile, Swan Song offers all the drama, lavish parties and heart they’ve come to expect from her.Katherine Center offers another source for the pleasurable charms readers of Hilderbrand will soon be desperately jonesing for. In Center’s latest, an aspiring screenwriter gets a chance to work on a romantic comedy script with the famous Hollywood hero Charlie Yates. But he’s a jerk! And he’s only cranking out this script to get another project greenlit. And he doesn’t believe in love! Oh, it’s on.STEM researchers–folk who focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine–are pretty damn sexy in Ali Hazelwood’s latest romance. Rue is killing it in the world of food science until her start-up is targeted by a distractingly handsome front man for a company planning a takeover. They really should not fall for each other. Or do anything about it. Or at least they shouldn’t let anyone find out about it.
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center ($29; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand ($30; Little, Brown and Company) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood ($19; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: How To Read The Books of Colleen McCullough In Order