10 Unorthodox Summer Beach Reads For Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans
Summer is in full swing (don’t say it’s almost over!), and with hot weather comes the desire to camp out on a towel in the sand next to the rolling waves. If you’re not near an actual body of water, beachy or otherwise, you can still get that beach read feel by picking up some of these great new summer titles.
While everyone’s ideal beach read can be different, here are a few for science-fiction and fantasy lovers across the spectrum, including books with literal beaches and oceans, books with spicy (or sweet) romance that don’t require too much thinking, and deeper, more literary fantasy that transports you into the story—and away from whatever your own troubles might be while you’re in their pages. (It’s always nicer to witness someone else’s!)
Don’t miss any chances to settle in with a book at the beach (real or imaginary) as the summer months start to fade into the school year! Whether you like your reads light or dark, fluffy or deep, there’s time to dig in and spend hours exploring someone else’s world before your own rushes back in with the tide.
Lore of the Tides by Analeigh Sbrana
After the dreadful betrayal she faced at the end of Lore of the Wilds, Lore, a human who discovered her own magic through her work in a fae library, wakes aboard a ship, with no memory of how she got there. She’s been tasked with helping someone she previously trusted find a magical book, and the journey will take her across—and into—the ocean.
In the first book, Lore grows from a sheltered and oppressed young woman to the wielder of a grimoire who is growing into her own power. In Lore of the Tides, she continues to take up space, and comes more firmly into her own agency. With a central love triangle driving the emotional beats and fully drawn secondary characters, this is duology conclusion brings Lore’s story to a satisfying ending, just right for a day of reading in the sun and sand.
Castle Swimmer by Wendy Martin
The second volume of Castle Swimmer’s graphic novel series from WEBTOON concludes the first story arc of Kappa and Siren, the “Beacon” who completes all the prophecies of the world below the waves, and the prince of the shark people.
While the first book showed the beginnings of a romance between the two young men, Siren’s destiny to kill Kappa in order to end a curse on the shark people keeps getting in the way of true feelings. But rather than complete his duty, Siren becomes determined to free Kappa—and his chance seems to arrive as the second volume opens. Cartoonist Martin follows the pair through a daring (if silly) escape plan and into a complete reversal in stakes. Everything that Siren thought he knew comes into question.
The sweet romance and the determination of both young men to protect each other, forcing them to forge new paths for their futures, is sure to appeal to YA readers and beyond. While these two novels leave room for more adventures in the future, the story leaves at a satisfactory and hopeful place, and these volumes, along with fellow WEBTOON print stories in Nothing Special by Katie Cook and Suitor Armor by Purpah, which have similar romance vibes in the midst of larger fantasy adventures, are utterly bingeable.
Black Salt Queen by Samantha Bansil
Looking for something more island-focused than underwater (and ready to get hooked on a brand new series)? This brand-new tale of court intrigue in an island nation ruled by women is inspired by precolonial Philippine culture.
Queen Hara Duja Gatdula knows that she will soon have to give up the throne; she can control the power of earth, but her magic and strength are fading. Her line of succession is, however, unclear. Her heir, Laya, is fickle, and her rival, Imeria Kulaw, wants to claim the crown for her own family. Among the machinations for who will rule are seeded two love stories—one sapphic and mature, and one young and heterosexual—that will have readers rooting for love to triumph at the end of the day. This one is for readers who want a little more political intrigue to chew on in their fantasy beach reads.
Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim
If serving sea monster for supper is more to your taste than an actual ocean-set adventure, look no further than Roselle Lim’s YA debut, Celestial Banquet.
Cai is a budding chef in a poor town on the Peninsula, determined to both pursue her father’s dream of owning a restaurant and keep the Peninsula independent from the Empress’s forces. Once a generation, the Major Gods hold a competition for the world’s best chefs to compete for Peaches of Immortality, fame, and fortune. The Peninsula’s Minor God, Kama, hasn’t entered in many cycles and is known to be a longshot, even if Cai can convince him to enter her. But with some savvy cooking, and some help from a noble friend, Seon, they enter the competition—while Cai’s childhood friend, Bo, who had dreamed of entering with her, must enter on another team. If that weren’t enough, both Bo and Seon admit feelings for her—when all she wants is to cook and win the competition.
As each dish gets increasingly complex and more dangerous, Cai begins to wonder if the stakes are too high for any of them to survive. Lim’s take on the love triangle has the refreshing angle of a main character who keeps protesting that right now is not the time to figure out their complex feelings, when their literal lives are on the line. (This doesn’t work for her, but readers are sure to be sympathetic to that line of thought.) This Iron Chef meets Hunger Games leaves room for further adventures, but also concludes with a satisfying ending in a world that offers many more stories to tell.
Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon
Surely one of the hottest titles of the summer, this romantasy—originally an in-story joke from a Critical Role campaign and now a full-blown novel on its own—is exactly the kind of brain candy that makes for a perfect beach read.
Set in the world of Exandria, the story features Guinevere, a dutiful merchant’s daughter living under a magical curse, who is on her way to meet her betrothed. Set upon by bandits, she allows the powerful fire spirit that lives within her to save them, but is in turn saved by Oskar, a half-orc blacksmith’s apprentice, en route to visit his mother’s people after her death. Oskar is deeply mourning his mother, and he feels a strong responsibility to keep Guinevere safe, especially when she proves to be a support during his grief. Guinevere has never allowed herself to pursue anything she wants; her whole life is about duty.
As the pair travel together (unchaperoned!), their chemistry is a powder keg just waiting to explode—and while a happy ending seems hard to come by, Guanzon follows through on the promise of both spicy encounters and an eventual HEA. Fans of both Critical Role and Guanzon’s Hurricane Wars are sure to love this stand-alone novel, but even if you’ve never encountered either, the story is fantastic on its own and a worthy addition to romantasy bookshelves.
An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward
Looking for a romance that’s more cozy than steamy? Cecilia Edward’s sweet out-of-time fantasy An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating is a witchy rom-com with a Bridget Jones feel.
Thorn Scarhart is a hot mess of a witch in the late 1600s, having just realized that she’s thirty-nine with no romantic prospects unless she enchants a potential partner. As she’s trying to come up with the perfect potion, she ends up accidentally whisking herself, her cat, and a nosy neighbor she turned into a frog (don’t ask) into the modern world.
When one of the historical society members realizes what happened, she quickly secures Thorn a job as an “actor” in her own home, giving the witch a second chance at the life she wanted—and possibly romance through dating apps and speed dating. But as she begins to fall for someone, she realizes that there are hidden truths in her past that she has to face in order to love herself. The hijinks in the novel are charming, and while there are some heavy themes, the pacing and comedy (and talking cats) help keep the story light-hearted and beachy.
Tempest by K. Ibura
Like Thorn, the protagonist of Tempest is on a mission of self-discovery, while also trying to keep the truths she knows about herself secret. Veronique was born with wind powers, something her Mawmaw made her promise to hide from everyone. But when Mawmaw’s health begins to fail, Veronique is sent to live with her mother’s sister, who knows the truth (and doesn’t like it). But while Auntie Eve may want Veronique to keep her powers quiet, her love for Veronique is deep, and soon the teen is fitting into her new family life, learning what it might mean to be normal.
Until, that is, she begins to learn things about her powers, and about other people like her, that upend everything she thought she knew about the world. While the ending of this book makes it unclear if a sequel is coming, the twists and turns make the ride worthwhile, and Veronique is a strong heroine, guiding readers through the storm of her life.
The Library of Unruly Treasures by Jeanne Birdsall
If the beach gets rained out (by a tempest or otherwise!), the next best summer location to head is the library, where you can pick up your next beach book. You might just find something as magical as Gwen Mackinnon in Jeanne Birdsall’s newest stand-alone, middle-grade fantasy novel. While visiting her great-uncle over the summer, where she feels cared for and loved for the first time in her life, Gwen discovers that the library her family built in the 1800s is the home to small, winged people with teal blue hair, who believe she’s destined to become their hero.
Even if you’re not normally a reader of middle-grade novels, this one has strong nostalgia vibes, especially for readers who grew up with Mary Norton’s The Borrowers or Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series—or just Birdsall’s own series that began with The Penderwicks in 2005. The result is a novel that feels fully original and utterly familiar at the same time, like settling back in with an old favorite you’ve never read before. Pick it up for that cozy comfort feel (or recommend it to a middle grade reader in your life) when it hits bookstore shelves in August.
A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury
For readers who like to contrast a bright, sunny beach day with a darker tone in their fiction, Liselle Sambury offers up nightmarish monsters and a secret society with a cult-like belief that only they can stave off the apocalypse. August, a formerly perfect over-achiever, has spiraled into self-destruction since her mother disappeared from their family after the one day that August made a choice to disappoint her.
When August’s college-student brother also disappears, August will do anything she can to get him back. But when it turns out the only person who can give her a lead can literally turn into a monster, she’s thrust into a web of secrets and magic that maybe her mother was training her for all along. August is a prickly point of view character who is nevertheless easy to sympathize with, and Sambury surrounds her with a cast of fully-fleshed characters—some shiny and happy, some earnest, and some untrustworthy—that help build a solid and believable world. Fans of Legendborn who can’t wait for that series conclusion are likely to make this one their next obsession.
Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders
While some readers like to shut off their brains at the beach, others look for smart reads with beautiful language—and they need look no further than Charlie Jane Anders’s return to adult novels, Lessons in Magic and Disaster. Jamie, a grad student in literature at a university in Boston, is worried that her mother, Serena, has stopped living after her wife’s death. Although Jamie’s relationship with Serena has always been tricky to navigate—unlike her relationship with her other mother, Mae—but she’s inspired to try to bring Serena back to life through teaching her magic. Jamie’s been practicing magic since she was a teenager, and though she has always believed she can’t talk about it or it would somehow undermine what she does, she can share it.
But soon, her mother is pushing the boundaries of what Jamie thought possible, in ways that seem to pull at the edges of Jamie’s marriage to her spouse. And when disaster comes, Jamie has to draw on a deeper strength and love to find a way forward. Anders layers Jamie’s story with Serena’s, told in flashbacks, and with the story of Jamie’s dissertation on a mysterious eighteenth-century novel, dovetailing all of them together in a way that makes the whole story complete, as though it couldn’t have happened any other way. Don’t let the academia vibes scare off your summer—dive into this one ready for a full emotional spectrum, knowing that you’ll come out the other side feeling expanded for having read it.
Alana Joli Abbott is a reviewer and game writer, whose multiple-choice novels, including Choice of the Pirate and Blackstone Academy for Magical Beginners, are published by Choice of Games. She is the author of three novels, several short stories, and many roleplaying game supplements. She also co-edits fantasy anthologies for Outland Entertainment, including Bridge to Elsewhere and Never Too Old to Save the World, and edits novels, like the debut paranormal mystery A Promise of Sirens by V.L. Barycz, which came out in July and would also make an excellent beach read. You can find her online at VirgilandBeatrice.com.
