Beach Life and Lake Life Inspired Reads
Last week I was talking to my friend Tiffany over at Lake Life State of Mind and it dawned on me, what better time to start a beach read than in the middle of winter when you’re craving that summer vacation? I grew up in south Georgia and traveled to visit my grandparents on the west coast of Florida several times a year. My summers were spent either, beach side, lake side, or river side. While I love climbing mountain peaks, a sunny seaside vacation can’t be beat for rest, relaxation, and recharging. Inspired by this thought, I scoured the internet to bring you a list of some of the best beach, lake life, and Florida inspired books.
Whether you’re a romance reader, mystery buff, sucker for a good cry, or itching for that slice of Florida, I think you’ll find several reads to love in this list.
#1 Beach Read by Emily Henry
A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really
#2 Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
Olivia Bellamy has traded her trendy Manhattan life for a summer renovating her family’s crumbling holiday resort. Tempted by the hazy, nostalgic memories of summers past – childhood innocence and the romance and rivalries of her teens – it’s the perfect place to flee after her broken engagement. But what began as an escape may just be a new beginning…As Olivia uncovers secrets buried thick with dust, one by one her family return, their lives as frayed at the edges as the resort.
#3 Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Cross Creek is the warm and delightful memoir about the life of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings—author of The Yearling—in the Florida backcountry.
Originally published in 1942, Cross Creek has become a classic in modern American literature. For the millions of readers raised on The Yearling, here is the story of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s experiences in the remote Florida hamlet of Cross Creek, where she lived for thirteen years. From the daily labors of managing a seventy-two-acre orange grove to bouts with runaway pigs and a succession of unruly farmhands, Rawlings describes her life at the Creek with humor and spirit. Her tireless determination to overcome the challenges of her adopted home in the Florida backcountry, her deep-rooted love of the earth, and her genius for character and description result in a most delightful and heartwarming memoir.
#4 Florida by Lauren Groff
The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida—its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind—becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence. Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. With shocking accuracy and effect, she pinpoints the moments and decisions and connections behind human pleasure and pain, hope and despair, love and fury—the moments that make us alive.
#5 To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway’s Classic Novel About Smuggling, Intrigue, and Love
To Have and Have Not is the dramatic story of Harry Morgan, an honest man who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair.
Harshly realistic, yet with one of the most subtle and moving relationships in the Hemingway oeuvre, To Have and Have Not is literary high adventure at its finest.
#6 Orchard Beach by Stuart Woods
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods delivers a riveting thriller that introduces his first female protagonist, Deputy Chief of Police Holly Barker.
Forced into early retirement at thirty-seven, smart, attractive, and fiercely independent Major Holly Barker trades in her bars as a military cop for the badge of deputy chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida. But below the sunny surface of this sleepy, well-to-do island town lies an evil that escalates into the cold-blooded murder of one of Holly’s new colleagues.
Books for the Young or Young at Heart
#7 Drops of Sunshine by Tricia Copeland
“Rainbows, campfires, and music, what more could you want in a summer read? Pick up Drops of Sunshine to find out what makes these campers so special!” – Amazon review
Set at a lakeside summer camp, Drops of Sunshine explores how a teen deals with her drama-filled life. Sixteen year-old Nina takes a lifeguarding job in Wisconsin as an escape. But the more she tries to ignore her issues, the harder it becomes to deal with them. Can a summer with rainbows, s’mores, and some very special campers add a drop of sunshine to her life? Find out in Drops of Sunshine!
#8 Paper Towns by John Green
Set in Orlando…
Who is the real Margo?
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew…
#9 Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
The very first Famous Five adventure, featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, not forgetting tomboy George and her beloved dog, Timmy! There’s a shipwreck off Kirrin Island! But where is the treasure? The Famous Five are on the trail – looking for clues – but they’re not alone! Someone else has got the same idea. Time is running out for the Famous Five, who will follow the clues and get to the treasure first?
I was introduced to Tiffany by a friend and instantly fell in love with her tank top, tan line style. If you love laid-back style, decorating, discovering fun menus, or finding new ways to stay inspired, head over to Tiffany’s website at www.lakelifestateofmind.com.
Share your best book reads in the comments!
Happy reading! Tricia
You found my weakness–books, books, and more books! I was just telling my husband we need another bookshelf. I brought 5,000 books with me when we moved and swore I would just go to the library. Well, that didn’t work–and I need more shelves! Love this list–I’m especially intrigued by “Cross Creek.” I love biographies and I haven’t heard of this one, but I did read “The Yearling” to my kids when they were young. Thanks for an inspiring post!
Sharlene – You are very welcome! I just re-organized my books on my shelf and they are now two tier deep. = no more space… ACK! So excited you liked the list!