the best beach reads of 2015

Grab your towel! Slather on that SPF!
But most importantly, don’t forget to grab
a great read before you hit the beach. You’ll
want to pack one of these books the next time
you’re planning a day of fun in the sun.

Throne Of Glass
By Sarah J. Maas
What’s a summer reading list without a YA pick? Celaena Sardothien is a young, beautiful assassin who is freed from her life working in the mines of Endovier and brought to the castle of the King who is responsible for the death of many. He offers her a deal: enter into a warriors competition as his champion and fight for her freedom. But there’s more behind the castle walls including hidden passageways, evil spirits and yes, a love triangle between a Prince and his handsome guard.

All The Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr
Marie-Laure is the blind daughter of a museum’s locksmith in Paris. Werner is a German orphan with a penchant for fixing radios. When World War II upends both their lives in ways they’d never imagine, this story tracks their lives throughout the war and manages to show us how good manages to always win out against the odds.

Ship Of Brides
By Jojo Moyes
From the author of “Me Before You” comes the story of 650 Australian war brides as they board a military vessel bound for England to meet the men they promised to marry. World War II has ended and the vessel they’re traveling on also happens to house a thousand naval officers. Despite the strict set of rules at sea, the men and women bound for England inevitably become intertwined. You’ll marvel at the bravery of the women aboard as they make a journey across the ocean to meet the men they hope they’ll still want to marry.

Ship Of Brides
By Jojo Moyes
From the author of “Me Before You” comes the story of 650 Australian war brides as they board a military vessel bound for England to meet the men they promised to marry. World War II has ended and the vessel they’re traveling on also happens to house a thousand naval officers. Despite the strict set of rules at sea, the men and women bound for England inevitably become intertwined. You’ll marvel at the bravery of the women aboard as they make a journey across the ocean to meet the men they hope they’ll still want to marry.

The Paris Wife
By Paul McLain
If you’re a fan of the “Lost Generation” writers: Fitzgerald, Pound and Stein, then you’ll love the story of Hadley Richardson, the woman that first tamed Ernest Hemingway. Based on their real-life relationship, Hadley faces the challenges of a wife living in her husband’s shadows as she attempts to find her place in the Jazz-age and decide on what it really means to be a partner, Mother and a woman.

Euphoria
By Lily King
Inspired by the life events of anthropologist Margaret Mead, three young, ambitious anthropologists are living deep within the tribes of New Guinea. Nell Stone finds herself in a love triangle between her Australian husband and his British friend as she struggles to understand the Mumbanyo tribe and become accepted in their world. The second half of this story is nearly impossible to put down as she finds herself choosing between love or fate.

Dept. Of Speculation
By Jenny Offill
An honest portrayal of a relationship, filled with wit and piercing revelations about love. We follow one couple as they fall head over heels, marry, have a child and try to navigate what lies ahead. When the two reach an impasse, the wife looks back on their courtship and tries to decide how to falter ahead.

The Thinking Woman’s Guide To Real Magic
By Emily Croy Barker
Every woman dreams of escaping her real-life and finding a magical realm filled with parties and beautiful people, right? For Nora Fischer, this too-good-too-be-true scenario turns out to be just that. Consider this the Harry Potter for an older generation.

The Girl On The Train
By Paul Hawkins
If you’ve ever taken a ride on a commuter train and looked inside the passing homes, you’ll immediately enjoy this roller coaster ride. Alcoholic Rachel can’t deal with her own life’s failings and becomes enamored with a couple she can view from the train. She eventually witnesses something she can’t turn away from and her real-life begins to intermix with her imaginary one. The only problem? Her frequent black outs blur the lines between what is real and what is not.

Station Eleven
By Emily St. John Mandel
This novel is unlike any other end-of-the-world saga. A flu has wiped out most of the world’s population and this tale follows a group of misfit actors as they travel together and begin to cross paths with a violent Prophet.  The story weaves between the present day and life pre-collapse, when cell phones, the Internet and safe passage are but a distant memory. 

Luckiest Girl Alive
By Jessica Knoll
It’s hard to like Ani, the weight-and-label obsessed woman who this tale centers around. But before she was Ani, she was TifAni, a prep-school student that had a very dark past. You start to understand that this broken woman is hiding from something real as the novel’s twists and turns keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Rocks
By Peter Nichols
A case could be made that the name of this books title isn’t just referring to the quaint seaside resort owned by Lulu, but a nod to the state of her five-decade long relationship with Gerald. Nichols’ prose sweeps over us as effortlessly as the crashing waves he so perfectly describes. It’s a book that’s made to be read at the beach.