Escape to the beach or lake without packing a bag or paying for a plane ticket.
During the summer, we’re all itching to escape our regular routines to soak up some sunshine. If your fantasy is a beachside getaway with a good book, I can tell you for sure that you’re not alone. Unfortunately, getting away isn’t always feasible. Moms don’t have time to travel, right?! I’ve gotten really good at escaping via a good book, but the getaway is more gratifying when the read takes me seaside without my having to pack a bag or get on a plane. If you won’t be “summering” anywhere, these waterfront-set novels will whisk you away to the travel destination of your dreams, from the Greek Islands and the South of France to the Hamptons and Nantucket. No packing necessary! Just crack open these spines and hit all the hot spots on seas, sounds, oceans, and lakes around the world. You’ll feel well-traveled by the time fall rolls back around.
Books Set in the United States
Maine
The Way Life Should Be by William Dameron
Two husbands who have left their wives to be together start over in a summer cottage in Maine. Before they know it, their adult children descend and turn their escape into an unconventional summer-long family reunion.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
In Knot’s Harbor, Maine, three college roommates get together for the yearly trip to the Lobster Festival in #1 bestselling author Emily Henry’s latest novel, Happy Place. But one of them, Harriet, has to pretend that she hasn’t decided to part ways with her husband Wyn. They share a room in the cottage and pretend all is well on the last year in this beloved destination.
Rhode Island
Watch Hill
Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey
Avery Carpenter Forrey’s debut novel opens with protagonist Callie Holt eating pizza in her bridal gown after her marriage ends…six hours after it started. Set at the Ocean House in Watch Hill, RI (near Newport), this intelligent observational novel delves into heavier topics like love, fidelity, social media, and appearance in a light-hearted way.
Block Island
Summer Stage by Meg Mitchell Moore
Amy Trevino takes on the role of stage manager for her famous brother’s play in Block Island while her daughter, a TikToker and former Disney star, returns home unexpectedly. With her brother’s ex-wife starring in the show, the entire family must find their place and what they really, really want.
Massachusetts
Nantucket
The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
One author has become synonymous with all of Nantucket — and that’s Elin Hilderbrand. This summer, Hilderbrand introduces us to five friends who gather on Nantucket after one of their husbands dies in a car accident. A five-star weekend means going away with your best friends from every stage of life (20s, 30s, etc.), something women will surely be replicating with glee. But this five-star weekend doesn’t go exactly as planned…
Cape Cod
Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur
Adrienne Brodeur takes us back to the shores of Cape Cod as she did in her beautiful memoir Wild Game to follow a family whose patriarch, a marine biologist with bipolar disorder, sets the tone for his adult children’s unraveling lives. Told in exquisite prose, this family drama shines a light on family, friendship, art, science, love, and loss.
A Little Ray of Sunshine by Kristan Higgins
A bookstore owner is shocked when the 17-year-old she formerly gave up for adoption walks into her store in this family tale by bestselling author Kristan Higgins.
New England
Save What’s Left by Elizabeth Castellano
Kansas-based Kathleen Dean’s marriage ends unexpectedly after 30 years, and she’s finally thinking about what she wants — which is to go to an east coast beach town called Whitbey. But when she arrives, things like fighting against the giant Sugar Cube holiday home emerge, showing that what really goes on locally in beach towns is the most interesting exploration of all. Debut novelist Elizabeth Castellano has a fresh, funny new voice.
New York
The Hamptons/Long Island
Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan
Set in a Long Island beach town and loosely based on The Philadelphia Story, Same Time Next Summer follows Sam, who’s engaged to a doctor and getting ready to plan her wedding. But then she runs into Wyatt, the heartthrob from her past. Will she have to choose between the two? As she did in Nora Goes Off Script, Annabel Monaghan delights with her bright, sparkling, witty writing style that makes everyone want to be her best friend.
Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin
Emmy Award-winning and bestselling author Sunny Hostin, co-host of The View, returns with a story set in an enclave in The Hamptons affectionately known as “SANS.” Developers discover this hidden gem of a neighborhood, which isn’t actually hidden to the elite African Americans who had lived there for decades. As Olivia tries to solve the mystery of what happened to her biological father, she moves to Sag Harbor. She befriends an ensemble cast of characters who show her who she really is as they fight to keep their neighborhood.
Fisher’s Island
The Beach at Summerly by Beatriz Williams
New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams takes us to Summerly, the seaside estate of the Peabody family. Olive meets Emilia who then confronts an FBI agent who needs Emilia’s help capturing a Soviet FBI agent. Eight years later, Emilia has moved on…but her past comes back to haunt her.
Fire Island
Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
Set in Salcombe, Fire Island, Bad Summer People follows a seasonal crowd as they reunite on the island. When a gorgeous new tennis pro comes to town, relationships shift and secrets begin to emerge, including a mysterious death. Told from multiple viewpoints including the young bartender, the village gossip, the perfect mom, the nanny, and, of course, the tennis pro himself, this delicious romp is summer perfection.
On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen
When book editor Julia Morse dies at age 37, she decides not to “follow the light at the end of the tunnel,” but to stay around all those she loves in Fire Island, including teenagers, a best friend, a neighbor, and others. Told with Jane L. Rosen’s trademark wit, On Fire Island is both hilarious and heartfelt.
Kismet by Becky Chalsen
When a handsome man descends on Fire Island to be the best man at Jo’s wedding, her twin sister Amy, happily married to her childhood sweetheart Ben, gets quite a shock. As the town readies for the nuptials, Amy, Jo, and Amy’s husband — Ben — will be thrown for a loop.
The Carolinas
Cape Carolina, NC
The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey
For anyone who ever went to and loved a sleepaway camp, Southern bestselling sensation Kristy Woodson Harvey’s latest novel is the one for you. When Camp Holly Springs becomes in danger of being shut down, the owner and her two nieces have to put their complicated lives on hold to band together and save a place that means the world to them.
Sullivan’s Island, SC
My Magnolia Summer by Victoria Benton Frank
Maggie’s grandmother, the matriarch of the family, falls into a coma after a car accident caused by Maggie’s mother, which leads Maggie to leave New York and return to the South Carolina Lowcountry. Once she gets home, she sees everything falling apart: the family restaurant, her sister’s relationship, and her family’s health. Written by the daughter of the late bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank, this novel has extra special meaning to it.
Florida
Miami Beach
The Apartment by Ana Menéndez
Spanning decades-worth of residents in a Florida residence, The Apartment features life at the art deco Helena building in apartment 2B. With themes of exile, displacement, and homesickness, this novel shows the power of community and sharing stories to get through the toughest times.
North Bay Road by Richard Kirshenbaum
Part mystery, part forbidden love story, this novel by the author of Rouge follows a mother-daughter duo coping with a crumbling mansion in Miami and finding clues about a centuries-old murder.
Michigan
Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman
In Good Hart, Michigan, a charming, lakeside town, 80-year-old Mary Jackson is determined to protect her seaside home from encroaching developers. When Becky Thatcher, turning 40, comes to town and starts working with Mary at the general store, memories of her own lakeside experiences come to the fore in this charming, coastal tale by bestselling author Viola Shipman. Be warned: Cherry spitting may occur.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
I’m not sure if Tom Lake is a real place but Tom Lake is the name of the theater company in beloved bestselling author and owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Ann Patchett. Her latest novel delves into issues of family and love, set in an orchard in Northern Michigan. When her three daughters prod her to share details about her past, Lara goes back to her relationship with actor Peter Duke. A reminder that everyone’s parents had lives before them and the secrets we keep, this gorgeous drama will transport and delight.
California
Welcome to Beach Town by Susan Wiggs
It’s graduation day at Alara Cove’s Thornton Academy and the class valedictorian Nikki Graziola veers markedly off script during her speech. Her accusation pits her against the wealthy family that essentially rules the town. She leaves and becomes a competitive surfer overseas until a tragedy brings her back in the latest novel by bestselling author Susan Wiggs.
Hotel Laguna by Nicola Harrison
Set in 1942, this novel features Hazel Francis, who came to California to assist with the war effort at Douglas Aircraft. When the soldiers return and she loses her job, she becomes an assistant to a famous artist in artsy, bohemian Laguna Beach — and she then has to decide whether she’s going to commit to the West Coast lifestyle.
Canada
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
Already a New York Times bestseller, Carley Fortune’s sophomore novel is a smart, funny, heartfelt, romantic look at life at the resort her mother ran at Muskoka Lake. Fern leaves Toronto and returns to the resort when her mother dies tragically and, while there, reunites with a lost love from the city, Will. But what is Will hiding?!
England
The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore
Three very different sisters of a wildly eccentric mother must band together to save their beloved Sandcove, the family home. When their father walked out on their mother Margo years ago after their legendary love affair, she locked herself away, leaving her three daughters, Rachel, Imogen, and Sasha, to run wild. Now that her daughters are grown, Margo has re-entered the world but refuses to speak of their father. While they fight each other and their demons, they uncover family secrets.
France
You Can’t Stay Here Forever by Katherine Lin
After her husband dies, Ellie finds out he was cheating on her. In a painful fit of grief, she decides to cash in his life insurance policy and take off for Antibes, France. There, she books an extended stay in the luxurious Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc with her best friend Mable Chou. Told through the eyes of an Asian American woman, this wonderful debut novel touches on race, class, privilege, and friendship.
The Sunset Crowd by Karin Tanabe
Glamorous, delicious, and devious, this novel by fabulous author Karin Tanabe follows three women vying for power in Hollywood. A journey that takes them to the French Riviera reveals all the ways stardom can corrupt. “It girl” meets photographer meets assistant in interlocking tales on Sunset.
Greece
The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop
Born out of a mix of trauma and nostalgia, The Girls of Summer delves deep into the one that got away: A much older man Rachel never quite got over — even though she’s now married. Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of her adolescence, and in doing so, she unlocks memories of inappropriate power dynamics. Soon, deeply suppressed secrets about her first love affair begin to rise to the surface. This novel is unputdownable with mystery, relatable marriage woes, identity issues, a sense of urgency, and a bold new voice. This is the book of the summer.
Haiti
Queen of Exiles by Vanessa Riley
In the early 1800s, the queen of Haiti Marie-Louise Christophe tries to maintain control of the country before a coup, while her husband descends into mental illness and ultimately suicide. When she has to leave Haiti (the only free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere) with her daughters and tour Europe, regaining power alongside kings, Marie-Louise Christophe finds her sense of self in this tale based on the life of an amazing Black woman in history.
India
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Oprah’s Book Club pick, The Covenant of Water is by the bestselling author and physician Abraham Verghese whose novel Cutting for Stone was a massive success — just like this one. Set from 1900 to 1977, the story follows three generations in South India all afflicted by drowning.
The high seas
Drowning by T.J. Newman
If you really want to be immersed in a waterfront location, this will literally take you under. New York Times bestselling author of Falling, T.J. Newman is back with Drowning. When a father and daughter get stuck underwater in a crashed jumbo jet, their rescue effort hinges on the daughter’s mom on land. Can they beat the clock?
