The 10 best summer books for your 2023 beach trips

polygon.com:

The first day of summer might not be until June 21, but warmer weather and longer days mean you can spend more time outside in the sun enjoying a good book.

What you consider to be a “beach read” or what you bring to the pool is totally up to you. It could be a gripping thriller, a swoon-worthy romance, or anything in between. The most important thing about a good summer read is that it should be a book you don’t want to put down (even if you really need to put on another layer of sunscreen).

So grab your sun hat, your pool floaties, and your SPF, and take a look at the Polygon-flavored summer books below.

If Riley Sager is the king of summer thrillers, then it’s fair to say that Emily Henry, with titles like Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation already under her belt, is the uncontested queen of summer romance novels. Equal parts sweet and spicy, her latest novel, Happy Place, is a second-chance romance with a plethora of classic tropes — fake dating, there’s only one bed, etc. — that will have you squealing in delight and sighing dreamily in equal measure.

Alternating between past and present timelines, Happy Place explores a tightly knit group of friends who have spent each summer together at a cottage in Maine. Things are a bit different this time around, though. The cottage is tragically up for sale, and Harriet and Wyn, while outwardly still a perfect couple, have yet to tell their friends that they broke up five months ago. In order to have one last perfect week with their friends, Harriet and Wyn strike a deal: They’ll put aside their differences and share one of the cottage’s guest bedrooms. To make matters infinitely more complicated, romantic feelings are rekindled as their time together comes to a