Sunday Book Club: My Favorite Young Adult Beach Reads

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I have a really soft place in my heart for young adult beach reads. Especially young adult beach reads. Why? Well, I practically grew up on authors like Sarah Dessen, who’s specialty is young adult beach reads.

But what is a young adult beach read?

We should probably go over that first. First, it’s (obviously) a young adult book. Second, it typically takes place during the summer, but that’s not a requirement. It just has to have a summer feel. Which gets us to point number three. In a beach read, the stakes aren’t as high (nothing is really life or death). But the story is told by a teenager, so you know, they are going to tell you the stakes are that high. Finally, reading overall is a little bit lighter. It’s good writing, don’t get me wrong, but you aren’t going to have to sit there trying to decode everything for hours. You could read one of these books cover to cover in one afternoon at the pool.

My top young adult beach reads

Since this is one of my favorite genres, I have a lot of books I love in this category. I’ve talked about a handful of them on here already, but I thought I would still share some of them with you again.

The Summer I Turned Pretty (Series) by Jenny Han

I can’t get enough of Jenny Han (and who can, really). I love her series, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but The Summer I Turned Pretty series is the quintessential summer series.

The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles

You know I love this one, read more about it here.

Saint Anything and Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

You can read my ode to Sarah Dessen and how she’s the queen of summer books and young adult books for teenage girls here.

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

I think we can all sympathize with the main character of this book: getting overly focused on something minor to avoid dealing with making decisions about the future. Matson makes it significantly less painful though by setting it against the backdrop of a family wedding where nothing can seem to go right.

When It’s Real by Erin Watts

What would you do if you could be paid to pretend to be the girlfriend of hot it boy musician? You’d probably enjoy it a lot more than Vonn. But now you get to read about what that world might be like and live vicariously through Vonn. This book is the perfect, fun light read.

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

When you’re a teenager, basically everything is do or die.You either give it 0% or 100%. The main character Abby? Well she’s set on discovering herself to help her get into an art show by the end of the summer. Plus, her unrequited crush/best friend Cooper decides to join in. Basically emotions are at 100% and it’s set at the beach. Win-win-win.

The Royals by Rachel Hawkins

Okay, so this book is clearly jumping on the current royals craze and I don’t hate it. I would say that if I had someone who I thought wasn’t ready for The Royal We, I would give them Royals. Basically, Royals = The Royal We, Jr. Edition. It’s a compliment, I promise.

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

If it got turned into a Freeform/ABC Family show, then it has to be so bad, it’s good, right? Well, sure. The book isn’t a lot like the show, but the book is a lot fluffier and takes place primarily in Hawaii, so trust me, you’ll have a lot more fun.

Paper Towns by John Green

I had to include a John Green book, right? Kind of right? I’m still not fully sure. Anyways, I think this may have been one of his best books and a perfect YA book to top off your summer beach reading. I’m going to leave it at that.

Let me know what you’re bringing to your next beach (or pool) trip!