Sunscreen, hand-held fan and refreshing beverage of your choice? Check, check and check. Permission to leave the world behind, albeit briefly? Granted. A sizzling summer read that feels like the literary equivalent of sinking into cool water on scorching hot day? Awaiting you — almost certainly on bended knee, and with a naughty twinkle in its eye — in the roundup below.
With happy endings and high-velocity page-turning guaranteed, these are our eight best summer beach reads for 2025.
Great Big Beautiful Life
Emily Henry
Berkley, 544 pages, $41
If you’re looking for the ultimate blend of heart and humour, look no further than the genius behind “Beach Read,†the No. 1 bestseller that kicked off a new golden age of the genre when it was published in 2020.
“Great Big Beautiful Life,” by Emily Henry, Berkley, $41.Â
This time, Emily Henry whisks us to coastal South Carolina, where a reporter has stumbled onto the scoop of the century: After decades out of the public eye, an infamous heiress is looking for someone to write her memoir — and it’s going to be juicy. (Cross the tragedy of the Kennedys with the wallets of the Vanderbilts and spritz in some Evelyn Hugo-era Hollywood intrigue.)
There’s a small problem. The reclusive heiress is auditioning someone else at the same time, giving them both a month to prove who’s the right fit to tell her story. Naturally, said rival is irritating and attractive in equal measure, with a rumpled charm that would be irresistible if he didn’t stand between our heroine and her big break.
You’ll love this if you liked: “People You Meet on Vacation,†“Funny Story†and anything else by Henry, the thinking woman’s romance writer.
Spice level: Low. A few steamy moments, but this one’s all about the banter and the slow burn.
Tropes: Grumpy man, sunshine woman; the one-bed trope, but instead of a single place to sleep, they’re stuck on a tiny island and can’t help bumping into each other.
Consider Yourself Kissed
Jessica Stanley
Doubleday Canada, 336 pages, $26
Sometimes you can suspend your disbelief and believe that fairy tales really come true. Other times, you need a book that’s clear-eyed about the limitations of human relationships while still managing to tell a joyful story that affirms our faith in love, even the imperfect sort.
“Consider Yourself Kissed,” by Jessica Stanley, Doubleday Canada, $26.
If you’re not in the headspace for a gloriously fantastical tale of happily ever after, may we introduce you to Jessica Stanley’s charming, wise debut novel? Set across the years of a long-term relationship, it tells the story of an Australian woman who moves to London to escape a predatory boss and quickly falls in love with a Mark Darcy-esque Englishman. With wit and gorgeous prose, Stanley takes us through the stages of their relationship — and all the life that happens along the way, including grief, growing apart, even a trial separation — to tell a story that is somehow all the more romantic for feeling so realistic.
You’ll love this if you liked: Helen Fielding’s “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy†and its pitch-perfect mix of light and shade.
Spice level: Low. A pinch of cayenne, but honestly, you’re more likely to cry than anything else.
Tropes: Bookish-but-also-hot British man.
An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating
Cecilia Edward
Saga Press, 320 pages, $25.99
Finding love in 2025 is baffling enough when you aren’t a late medieval witch who accidentally brewed a true love potion that catapulted you forward several centuries and directly into the path of a cute-and-kind man who looks as though he’s about to trap your feline familiar (who journeyed with you) for nefarious purposes, but turns out to be a vet who provides charity medical care for stray cats.
“An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating,” by Cecilia Edward, Saga Press, $25.99.
Delightfully daffy — but with a deeper message about how real love often comes when you’re not trying to cast a spell in order to manipulate the world into thinking you’re something you’re not — this is a bewitching beach read that gets bonus points for a heroine who is closer to 40, not the standard 28 (which is the new 23).
You’ll love this if you liked: “Practical Magic†by Alice Hoffman.
Spice level: Mild. It’s G-rated enough that you can listen to the audiobook on a drive with your ultra-conservative Aunt Pearl Clutcher.
Tropes: Time travel, like “Outlander,†but much, much breezier in tone and with way fewer burning of witches.
A Dance of Lies
Brittney Arena
Random House Canada, 448 pages, $38
Once upon a time, Vasalie was King Illian’s favourite dancer, his “Jewel†whom he showered with gifts and shared late nights, long conversations and more than one yearning glance with. Then, she was framed for a murder she did not commit and thrown into a cell, the king not lifting a finger to save her.
“A Dance of Lies,” by Brittney Arena, Random House Canada, $38.
Two years later, Vasalie — broken by captivity and isolation; barely able to walk, let alone dance — is summoned and given a choice: She can spy for the king at a gathering of rulers, or she can die. Despite the damage done to her physically and mentally, Vasalie seizes her chance — and finds herself caught up in a dark game of revenge, courtly intrigue and mysterious prophecies. And the most dangerous part of all? The feelings she develops for someone we won’t name because it’s a spoiler, sorry.
Not only is this a particularly beautifully written romantasy, it’s got a lovely backstory: Brittney Arena lives with several chronic illnesses and wrote this book as a “declaration that our limitations do not define our worth or limit our ability to live wonderfully romantic and impactful lives.†Bring on book two …
You’ll love this if you liked: “A Court of Thorns and Roses†by Sarah J. Maas.
Spice level: Medium. Green chili with the seeds scraped out, as in just a few hot-and-heavy kisses, but not nearly the sort of action you’d see in, say, “Fourth Wing.â€
Tropes: Forbidden romance with a splash of enemies-to-lovers.
Till Summer Do Us Part
Meghan Quinn
Bloom, 432 pages, $28.99
This book has a wonderfully silly premise: Newly divorced Scottie works at a golf putter manufacturer where everyone is married and obsessed with their spouses. To fit in, she pretends to have a husband.
“Till Summer Do Us Part,” Meghan Quinn, Bloom, $28.99.
As lies tend to do, this snowballs into her recruiting her best friend’s brother — who has nothing better to do now that he’s sold his app for zillions — to join her for an eight-day couples camp run by her boss’s therapist husband. Cue the forced-proximity tingles, amplified by the fact that Wilder Wells is not only up for anything, but he’s also perceptive, kind and has a lip piercing that makes Scottie (frustratingly, thrillingly) weak at the knees.
As with all Meghan Quinn books, it’s very funny, with just the right amount of heart to ground it from absurdity.
You’ll love this if you liked: “It Happened One Summer†by Tessa Bailey.
Spice level: Scotch bonnet.
Tropes: Fake dating, although in this case it’s pretending to be a long-term married couple with a host of fabricated issues. Its amplified by some classic forced proximity in their camp cabin and kitted out with various erotic accoutrements prescribed by their therapist to help save their relationship.
Off Menu
Amy Rosen
ECW Press, 280 pages, $24.95
If you want a book that feels like diving into a buffet stacked with everything you love, immediately pull up a chair to the glorious smorgasbord served up by Amy Rosen, one of Canada’s most talented food writers, making her romance debut.
“Off Menu,” by Amy Rosen, ECW Press, $24.95.
Our heroine is Ruthie, a professionally adrift 20-something who inherits a nice chunk of change when her beloved grandmother (and noted dispenser of life advice, like “Never buy green bananas, and never wear banana yellowâ€) dies in a Jet Ski accident. It’s enough money for her to quit her job and follow her bliss — that would be food — all the way to a year studying at ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s French cooking academy. On her first day, she’s partnered with Jeff, a dreamy musician who irritatingly has a girlfriend who has the temerity to be both pretty and nice. The fallout from this — and all the hijinks in between — are told to us by Ruthie, chatting away Bridget Jones-style in her diary.
The real love story here, of course, is the food. Whether Rosen is shouting out fictional ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ spots — pistachio sandwich cookies from Cafe Forno, tofu with garlic sauce from Legendary Asian — or writing about dishes Ruthie prepares so vividly the smells practically waft from the pages, this is a book filled with good eating. Come for the giggles and mishaps (accidentally icing a carrot cake with cocaine!), stay for a lemon meringue pie made with tea biscuits and condensed milk that sounds so easy and delicious you actually wrote down the recipe to try this weekend.
You’ll love this if you liked: “Julie & Julia†by Julie Powell.
Spice level: Habanero, but only in small, infrequent doses.
Tropes: Unrequited love.
The Summers Between Us
Noreen Nanja
Random House Canada, 368 pages, $26
If you’ve already gobbled up (even reread) this year’s Carley Fortune (very good, maybe even her best yet), we’ve got just the Canadian debut to fill that emotional-romance-on-a-cottage-country-lake-shaped hole in your heart.
“The Summers Between Us,” by Noreen Nanja, Random House Canada, $26.
“The Summers Between Us†is the story of first love’s second chance after a 15-year separation, told as a nuanced exploration of the cross-cultural differences that can sometimes make people go their separate ways. In this case, that means Lia — the high-achieving daughter of immigrant parents — dutifully dating someone her mother approves of, while secretly pining for the boy that she fell for during long, heady teenage summers at her cottage. She never thought she’d return there, but life has other plans — and that boy from Pike Bay turned into a rather dreamy man.
You’ll love this if you liked: “Every Summer After†by Carley Fortune.
Spice level: More sweet and yearning than spicy and steamy.
Tropes: Your classic “we fell in love as teenagers, but fate forced us apart and now here we are as adults who never quite got over that cataclysmic first love.”
“Only Between Us,” by Ellie K. Wilde, Simon & Schuster, $25.99.
Only Between Us
Ellie K. Wilde
Simon & Schuster, 416 pages, $25.99
We couldn’t compile this list without a sports romance. First draft pick on our roster? Canadian phenom Ellie K. Wilde’s latest instalment in her series set in the small town of Oakwood Bay.
This time, our heroine is a former WAG desperately trying to save her family’s business and smart enough to realize that fake-dating one of the hottest football players of the century could be her ticket to turning things around. This scheme has something in it for our hero too, as he’s trying to make a comeback and could use a bit of good publicity.
We really aren’t spoiling anything when we say things get complicated — feelings develop between two people who pretend to be married while being secretly attracted to each other (what a plot twist) — and, also not a shocker if you’ve read her other work, pretty hot.
You’ll love this if you liked: Tessa Bailey’s “Fangirl Down.â€
Spice level: What they refer to on romance subreddits as “explicit door open†— meaning trés, trés chaud.
Tropes: Fake dating.
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