Fun summer reads, for the beach and beyond
A beach read isn’t necessarily for the beach. That’s good news for all of us who are wisely avoiding beaches this summer, because of crowds or sun exposure.
The beach read is essentially a romantic-comedy in book form: a cheerful, probably sundrenched tale of love, friendship, misunderstandings, great sex and good outfits. (Or good sex and great outfits, depending on the book.) It’s a genre I’ve been intending to investigate. Early summer 2020 seemed like just the time to immerse myself in a few new (or new-in-paperback) love stories.
When I heard “Sex and Vanity” by Kevin Kwan (Doubleday, $26.95) was coming out, my mood brightened considerably — Kwan, author of the “Crazy Rich Asians” trilogy, writes about the foibles of the ultrarich with the slyest of wit. Here, he’s channeling E.M. Forster, if Forster were a high-end internet shopper: “Sex and Vanity” is inspired by “A Room with a View,” with its young heroine, Lucie Churchill, visiting Italy for the first time and finding — after complications — love.
“Sex and Vanity” is ultralight entertainment, and reading it is like walking through a cloud of perfume: It dissipates quickly but it’s lovely while it lasts. Those who know Forster’s novel, and/or the Merchant Ivory film of it, will enjoy the parallels, and Kwan’s descriptions are often a delight: Lucie’s snobbish fiance Cecil speaks in an accent described as “vaguely Central Texas meets Draco Malfoy meets pretentious French auctioneer.”
“The Heir Affair” by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (Grand Central Publishing, $28) is a sequel to the authors’ previous novel “The Royal We.” Cocks and Morgan, the masterminds behind the screamingly funny fashion website Go Fug Yourself, are royal whisperers of a sort: Their first book, about an American commoner who falls for and marries a British prince, came out a year before Meghan Markle first stepped out with Prince Harry. (In the acknowledgments in “The Heir Affair,” the authors thank “the universe for giving us a royal psychic hotline.”)
It’s a little harder to get lost in “The Heir Affair,” as now-married couple Nick and Bex struggle with the reality of being royals — you can’t read it without thinking of the real thing, and the book feels overlong. But the characters remain utterly charming, particularly the couple’s circle of friends, and the book is ultimately a sweet referendum on love’s ability to conquer all.
More unexpected, and thus fresher, is Casey McQuiston’s “Red, White & Royal Blue” (St. Martin’s, $16.99 paperback), whose premise seems to be summoning an immediate romcom movie adaptation: Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the president of the United States, has a bantering rivalry with England’s Prince Henry until the two, in classic fashion, fall into bed and into love. It’s a surprise for Alex, who at 21 is still figuring out his sexuality — and a surprise for his mother’s administration, who discover the secret relationship after photos are leaked.
All this makes for some energetic page-turning. Alex and Henry are, in the way of all the best rom-coms, quite winsome, and the issues they face are both universal and unique. Bring on the movie version (it’s reportedly in early development).
Fake romances are popular in beach reads: the meetcute setup in which a couple pretends to be together for some almost-plausible reason, and then finds themselves falling in love. I read a couple of sweet variations on this theme. “Island Affair” by Priscilla Oliveras (Zebra Books, $15.95) takes place in sunny Key West, where social media influencer Sara has headed for a family vacation — but when her unreliable boyfriend Ric announces he’s not coming, Sara clamps her eyes on handsome local firefighter Luis, and asks him to pose as Ric (who her family has never met) for the week.
“Take a Hint, Dani Brown” (Avon Books, $15.99 paperback), the latest saga of the Brown sisters from British author Talia Hibbert (“Get a Life, Chloe Brown”), introduces a wonderfully tart heroine: Danika, working on her Ph.D. on post-slavery race and gender issues, who finds herself in a couplegoals hashtag situation when handsome security guard Zafir Ansari rescues her from a workplace fire drill. (He is, unbeknownst to her, a once-famous former rugby star.) Why it takes Dani the entire book to figure out his adorableness is beyond me, but I loved spending time in her world, which features a warm circle of sisters and female friends.
Finally, if you thought this roundup could resist a book that is actually called “Beach Read” (by Emily Henry; Berkley, $16 paperback), you are quite mistaken. Its premise is another that’s romcom ready: Two writers — literary fiction author Augustus Everett and romance writer January Andrews — find themselves living in adjoining beach houses for a summer, both struggling with writer’s block. What to do? A challenge: He’ll write a romance, she’ll write a Serious American Novel, and they’ll each spend the summer schooling each other in their genres.
Even for a beach read, this feels pretty far-fetched; it feels like a lesser Meg Ryan/ Tom Hanks movie that never got out of development. A discussion of Meg Ryan, however — Gus is annoyed by her face; January adores the way she pronounces “horses” during “Sleigh Ride” in “Sleepless in Seattle” — is one of the book’s funnier moments.
During dark times, there’s enormous pleasure in immersing yourself in uncomplicated happy endings. May you find many of them yourself this summer, on or off the beach.