Hi friends! I know it’s already mid-summer and I haven’t been posting these regularly! But here we are! Books that take place at the beach!
Along for The Ride by Sarah Dessen
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.
In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect. (taken from goodreads.com)
Sarah Dessen’s books are some of my favorite and they are the perfect summer time reads!
2. August and Everything After by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Summer on the New Jersey shore offers Quinn a new start at life and love, but only if she can come to terms with her past
Graduation can’t come soon enough. Desperate for a fresh start, Quinn is eager to escape to her aunt’s house on the New Jersey shore for the summer…away from teenage drama and having to answer everyone’s questions about “what comes next” after high school.
Quinn can’t bear to focus on the future. She doesn’t even think she deserves one—not after her best friend died in a car accident that Quinn feels responsible for. But when Quinn meets Malcolm, a musician who has been trying to escape his own demons, she starts to believe in second chances. (taken from goodreads.com)
The Jersey Shore is somewhere I have always wanted to go during the summer. It always looks so nice and pretty in pictures!
3. Be True to Me by Adele Griffin
How far is too far to go for love?
Jean: Could it be true? Instead of a summer playing handmaiden to Daphne, was I being delivered something entirely different—a summer in the spotlight? A summer starring Gil Burke and me?
Summer flings and sexy romances were Daphne’s territory. Not mine. I was the one you didn’t pick.
I swatted off my hope like a bumblebee, knowing it was already too late. I’d been deliriously stung.
Fritz: People always joked about summer romances because they didn’t last. Summer romances were made out of ice cream and cotton candy, intensely sweet before they melted into nothing. But I’d never thought of Gil as a summer thing.
Gil was my real love, my real first. We were outsiders together, we had each other, we didn’t care that we didn’t belong. (taken from goodreads.com)
There are very few books that take place on Fire Island, which is the an outer barrier island parallel to the south shore of Long Island. Its a small Island that doesn’t allow cars and is somewhere I have spent a lot of time on during the summer. This was one of the first thriller like books I have ever read before!
4. Beach Blondes Series by Katherine Applegate
Three months. Three guys. One amazing summer.
Summer Smith is in for the best summer of her life. Between the cold weather and her boyfriendless existence in Minnesota, Summer is ready for sun, sand, and boys in the Florida Keys. And by the end of the first day, she has more than enough to keep her busy:
Adam, the senator’s son, has looks, power, and all the money in the world.
Diver, the mystery man, is mellow, intriguing, and definitely unique.
And Seth, the perfect guy…only he has a girlfriend. But with new friends, cute guys, and miles of hot white sand, Summer’s in for more trouble than she thinks…. (taken from goodreads.com)
I really enjoyed these books! They are fun and easy reads!
5. Between Us and The Moon by Rebecca Maizel
A luminous young adult novel that evokes Judy Blume’s Forever for a new generation.
Ever since Sarah was born, she’s lived in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Scarlett. But this summer on Cape Cod, she’s determined to finally grow up. Then she meets gorgeous college boy Andrew. He sees her as the girl she wants to be. A girl who’s older than she is. A girl like Scarlett.
Before she knows what’s happened, one little lie has transformed into something real. And by the end of August, she might have to choose between falling in love, and finding herself.
Fans of Jenny Han and Stephanie Perkins are destined to fall for this story about how life and love are impossible to predict. (taken from goodreads.com)
This sounds really cute!
6. The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan
Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins.
To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.
How did she let her friends talk her into working?
After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.
All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.
It will be a summer she will always remember. (taken from goodreads.com)
This sounds like a lot of fun!
7. The Dream Weaver by Reina Luz Alegre
Twelve-year-old Zoey comes from a family of dreamers. From startup companies to selling motorcycles, her dad is constantly chasing jobs that never seem to work out. As for Zoey, she’s willing to go along with whatever grand plans her dad dreams up—even if it means never staying in one place long enough to make real friends. Her family being together is all that matters to her.
So Zoey’s world is turned upside down when Dad announces that he’s heading to a new job in New York City without her. Instead, Zoey and her older brother José will stay with their Poppy at the Jersey Shore. At first, Zoey feels as lost and alone as she did after her Mami died. But soon she’s distracted by an even bigger problem: the bowling alley that Poppy has owned for decades is in danger of closing!
After befriending a group of kids practicing for a summer bowling tournament, Zoey hatches a grand plan of her own to save the bowling alley. It seems like she’s found the perfect way to weave everyone’s dreams together…until unexpected events turn Zoey’s plan into one giant nightmare.
Now, with her new friends counting on her and her family’s happiness hanging in the balance, Zoey will have to decide what her dream is—and how hard she’s willing to fight for it. (taken from goodreads.com)
I am so excited to read this one! I have it on my TBR and have a placed a hold on it at my library!
8. Fifteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton
Love blossoms by the lake in this sweet summer romance, in the tradition of Seventeeth Summer and Sixteenth Summer.
Chelsea isn’t looking forward to her summer at the lake. It’s the first time her family has been there since her grandmother died, and she can’t break out of her funk. But her summer takes a turn for the better when she meets a boy who works in the bookstore. Josh is cute, sweet, funny…and best of all, seems to like her as much as she likes him. As the days pass by in a blur of boat rides, picnics, and stolen kisses, she can’t believe how lucky she is. No one has ever made her feel so special, or so beautiful.
But Chelsea knows her days with Josh are numbered. She’ll be heading home at the end of the summer—and he’ll be staying behind. Will this be Chelsea’s summer of love? Or will it be the summer of her broken heart? (taken from goodreads.com)
I read this a few summers ago and I really enjoyed this! Its so cute and fun!