Summer is prime beach reading season, and women’s beach reads are a genre all their own. The perfect beach read for women combines several key elements that make it compelling, entertaining, and ideal for reading on vacation.
A beach read should be light and fun. Women often choose easy page-turners with a generous dose of humor when lounging by the ocean or poolside. Plots are fast-paced and focus more on fun, witty banter between characters rather than complex world-building. Compelling characters and addictive drama are a must, but the overall tone should be feel-good rather than heavy.
The setting plays a huge role in immersing readers in summer vibes. Beach reads usually transport us to sunny, tropical locales like a Hawaiian resort, Caribbean island, small coastal town, or European vacation hot spot. The glittering blue ocean, flowy sundresses, icy cocktails, and warm sand between toes create the ultimate escapist backdrop for temporary getaways between the pages.
Travel and adventure are common themes, as beach reads allow us to live vicariously through characters while we relax and recharge. Following a heroine as she checks items off her wanderlust bucket list or reinvents herself in an exotic new environment provides exciting yet comfortable literary journeys from the security of our beach chair.
Of course, romance is a must for any successful women’s beach read. Flirty banter, meet-cutes over piña coladas, and passionate affairs under the moonlight satisfy readers’ summer cravings for fantasy and fun. Scandalous love triangles, fake engagement plots, and romances between seemingly mismatched characters provide playful and irresistible romantic tension.
The best beach reads for women combine all these elements into page-turning books you can’t put down until you find out what happens. The stories whisk you away to an imaginary getaway full of summer fun without having to leave your lounge chair. With the sound of crashing waves in the background, these entertaining tales make for blissful beach reading any woman will enjoy.
These are all the reasons why I love reading and writing beach reads. I get to travel to fun and exotic locations, create adventurous situations and of course, add in a hunky hero, matchmaking locals and animal friends, and we get an irresistible romance to spice up the soothing sounds of the surf.
My latest beach read, Where Love Blossoms, provides the perfect escape if you’re looking to relax with a side of sweet romance. Maya Chance finds herself instantly attracted to the dashing and somewhat mysterious Luke Hastings. The fictional island of Ile d’Amour is the perfect setting with its tropical scenery, quirky locals with an eye for matchmaking, tall tales of its pirate heritage, and natural beauty. Add a pet monkey who’s endearing but mischievous, a wise innkeeper, an observant bartender, and a taxi driver full of stories and tales, and you get a heartwarming romance with plenty of humor and fun.
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Rachelle Ayala is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Her foremost goal is to take readers on a shared emotional journey with her characters as they grow and become more true to themselves. Rachelle believes in the power of love to overcome obstacles and feels that everyone should find love as often as possible, especially if it’s within the pages of a book.
Her book, Knowing Vera, won the 2015 Angie Ovation Award, A Father for Christmas garnered a 2015 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, Christmas Stray received a 2016 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, and Playing for the Save got the 2017 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award in Realistic Fiction.
She is also a writing teacher and founder of the Romance In A Month writing community. She lives in California with her husband and has three children and two birds.
