14 Perfect Summer YA Reads to Pack in Your Beach Bag

Louna is helping out at her mom’s wedding planning business this summer, but after her first relationship ended tragically, she’s given up on love herself—that is, until girl-magnet Ambrose enters the picture.

In this upbeat romantic comedy, Dimple has her entire life figured out—but so does her mom, who wants her to find the perfect Indian husband. So when Dimple’s family arranges a marriage with Rishi, Dimple is totally against it. Rishi, on the other hand, is totally ready to tie the knot.

When Keeley accidentally swaps cell phones with Talon, an obnoxious boy at her school who has just left for football camp, they reluctantly agree to forward each other’s messages until they’re able to trade back again. But as they get to know each other through their texts, they begin to fall in love—until Keeley realizes Talon is hiding a secret that will make their relationship impossible.

Theater nerds, this one’s for you. Sixteen-year-old Finley Price is a fabulous director who dreams of joining the prestigious Mansfield Theater—but the only person who believes in her is her best friend Oliver. But when teen movie stars Emma and Harlan Crawford move across the street, Oliver’s attention shifts to Emma. Will Finley get the courage to step into the spotlight?

This seriously addictive mystery is billed as Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast Club. When five students walk into detention, Simon, the outcast who is also the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app, never makes it out of the classroom. Everyone else is a suspect. (Ooh, juicy.)

In her stiflingly small Maine town, Darcy Prentiss has a reputation as the local “slut.” So when her ex-best friend goes missing, everyone suspects she has something to do with it. But underneath the surface, there’s a lot more to Darcy than anyone could possibly know.

Don’t tell anyone, but Eliza is the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea, a wildly popular webcomic. But when she meets a boy who encourages her to live a new life off the internet, everything she’s worked so hard for begins to self-destruct.

This gorgeous retelling of Swan Lake is the story of Princess Evelayn, who can finally access her magical powers on her 18th birthday. But while her mother, the queen, works to keep the kingdom safe, the corrupt king of the Dark Kingdom is plotting to destroy them. It’s up to Evelayn to uphold the balance between dark and light.

Desi Lee is a textbook overachiever—but even though she’s confident and smart, she turns into a nervous mess when she talks to boys. So she studies the Korean dramas her dad is obsessed with, and uses the techniques she sees on TV to become a flirting expert (with hilarious results, of course).

This modern-day Romeo and Juliet story is probably the heaviest book on this list, but we promise it’s worth your beach time. Michael’s parents take him to anti-immigrant rallies to protest the refugees flooding into the country, and he doesn’t think anything of it—until he meets Mina, a Muslim refugee from the other side of the protest lines.

She’s fearless, she’s a Hurricane Katrina survivor, she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family and she has blue hair. But when Ramona’s childhood friend Freddy returns and rekindles her love of swimming, he also makes her begin to question her sexuality.

OK, pack a tissue for this raw, emotional novel in your beach bag. Lucy is all ready to spend the perfect summer with her boyfriend, working at her childhood Bible camp. But when her mother’s cancer returns, Lucy starts to question her faith and takes solace in her team of vibrant, diverse coworkers.

Yay, it’s a surprise follow-up to Han’s best sellers To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. (If you haven’t read the first two yet, time to catch up.) Lara Jean Song is back for her senior year, but as she gets ready for college, she realizes it might mean leaving her boyfriend, Peter, behind.

We’re not gonna lie, the unicorn dude on the cover sold us. But inside is an equally funny and sweet story about Sam, who broke up with the only other eligible gay guy at his school two years ago. So with the help of his ex-Catholic-turned-Wiccan best friend (yep), he creates a list of traits he wants in a boyfriend and burns it in a cemetery at midnight on Friday the 13th. Bam, three perfect guys emerge. How will Sam choose the perfect one for him?