Life's a Beach
No better place to heal a broken heart than by the sea
Buyer beware- only one of these books is really suited to actually reading by the beach, because the other two are a little more emotional than you might want to dig into in public spaces! Or maybe you’re into that sort of thing. Up to you! But I CAN guarantee that all three of these books will lead to feeling the sand between your toes and the sun in your face and salt on your tongue.
Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan. Annabel Monaghan is quickly becoming Beth O’Leary to me: despite the stubbornly closed door in all her books, I will read whatever she releases as quickly as the library can send it to me. While this book didn’t hit me in the particular feels the way Nora Goes Off Script did, there’s something so comforting in how this author slowly destroys my belief in happiness and joy only to give it back to me by the final page, tripled from its original size.
Sam’s engaged to respectable Jack, has a respectable job she kinda thinks she’ll get fired from at any moment, and is touring wedding venues nearby her family’s Long Island beach house, where all her best summer memories were formed. Nevermind the fact that most of those memories are intertwined with Wyatt, the neighbor boy who was her first love. He hasn’t been back to his own family’s beach house since he broke her heart over a decade earlier, so now she can make NEW memories.
JK. He’s in town while she’s taking a forced sabbatical from work at the beach house, he’s next door, he’s hanging out with her family like nothing’s changed. And at this moment of massive change and transition in Sam’s life, a new look at the past that shaped her is absolutely in order.
So here’s the thing about this book: yes, it’s deeply romantic in only the way Annabel Monaghan can write. Yes, an overworked heroine who’s crippled by expectations (from others, from herself) is catnip to me. But the Big Twist of what Wyatt, beach bum musician, has become since he last saw Sam is pretty obvious pretty early on, which makes a lot of their interactions excruciating in a not fun, frustrating way. Not only that, but she’s engaged to someone else for way too long into the book, and given the Other Big Twist about why their families stopped speaking/why Wyatt left her the first time, I get why it’s there, but it means that for most of the book it’s hard to enjoy them reconnecting because there’s this Jack-sized wall in the way. And again, it’s agonizing in a not fun way, in an impatient way. I have a feeling some amongst you are really going to dig what she’s doing here, though.
How hot? 🔥 (closed door)
Meet Me In Paradise by Libby Hubscher. Remember how I was talking about pain in the last review? Buckle up. This book had me sobbing about every other chapter, and I was near-inconsolable near the end. If you read romance for fluffy feelings and escapism, despite this being a read about being on the beach with people you love (or could love soon), this is NOT THAT BOOK. I’m going to give some light spoilers in my recap only so you understand before embarking what book this, in fact, is.
The premise: Marin has played it My Favorite Color is Beige safe ever since her famous photojournalist mom was killed on assignment and she got responsibility for her younger sister, Sadie, who got a very different memo from their shared maternal trauma. Sadie is a photojournalist herself, and looking a little worse for wear after a recent assignment, which gives her the emotional leverage to get her sister to take a trip to a beach spa tropical island place for relaxation. But when Marin arrives at the airport and her sister doesn’t show, and then a strange (but handsome) man called Lucas is in the seat she could have sworn was her sister’s, all her bottled up anxiety is vindicated.
Lucas turns out to be more than meets the eye in a few ways, and becomes her island tour guide, even after Sadie finally shows up with her own beau in tow.Â
I’m not gonna spoil everything, but I will say that the reason Sadie tricks Marin into this trip is because she’s dying, and wants a final adventure with her beloved sister that also frees her sister of her fears so that she doesn’t fold in on herself when her final family member is taken away. If you cannot hang with terminal illness, on-page character death, and protagonist grief not tempered yet by time, you should skip this.
But if you’re looking for a truly beautiful story about sacrifice, grief, and the different forms bravery can take, not to mention a love story that’s equally heartbreaking as it is life affirming, this is the book for you.Â
How hot? 🔥 (closed door)
How To Honeymoon Alone by Olivia Hayle. Ok those first two beach reads got a little heavy, so I wanted to offer some lightness as well. Plus, this isn’t meant to be a closed door roundup, so this book brings the HEAT as well.
Eden’s cheating ex dumped her just before their wedding, but their tropical honeymoon is nonrefundable, so she does what any reasonable woman would do and decides to take a solo adventure to heal her broken heart. It’s extra lucky that someone else has the same idea, and is extremely hot. That’s Philip, though his version of overcoming his past involves scowling and work (despite being on a tropical getaway) in contrast to Eden’s sunny determination to enjoy herself, dammit. After the two of them get thrown together by accident, they start throwing themselves together on purpose, and might just learn something about love that they didn’t realize with their former partners.
This is a much breezier, classic beach read, that’s funny, sweet, and yet still packs enough of an emotional punch to feel genuinely romantic.
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’m releasing another interview, this time with author Olivia Hayle (author of the final book in this roundup!)
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!