Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists: Beach Reads

A delightful Caribbean-set novel about an ambitious designer of apocalyptic video games with a strategy for (almost) everything who discovers what happens when her best-laid plans go off course.
(Description from catalog)

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . . --Description by NoveList

Mia Crawford is responsible to a fault. She has to be. Between her high-demand job and taking care of her grandmother and her cats, she has little time for anything else. What time she does have, she pours into reading. Now, forced into taking a long-overdue vacation, she finds herself on a luxurious private island where she just might have a chance to reinvent herself—for a little while, anyway.
(Description from NoveList)

Emma Townsend can sum up her situationship with hot-as-hell romantic red flag Finn Hughes in one word: almost. They almost dated in high school. They almost hooked up after college. They almost took things too far one magical night. Their whole story is one series of "almosts" and "nearlys," and now they just kind of can't stand each other. Like, at all. But this weekend, one of their mutuals is getting married . . . and Emma and Finn will have to pretend they don't remember how disastrous it was the last time they were in a room together.
(Description from catalog)

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity. Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of strangers. (Description from NoveList)

Even though literature teacher Maggie Adair loves her life at the prestigious Downey House boarding school on the gloriously sunny, windy English coast, but lately she's feeling restless, lured by the promise of a different life back in her Scottish hometown.
(Description from NoveList)

Eddie Winston is 90 years old. He has lived and he has loved, but he has never been kissed. Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead. And it is here that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life. When Bella learns that Eddie is yet to have his first kiss, she resolves to help Eddie Winston finally find love and bring Eddie Winston to the moment he has waited for all his life.
(Description from NoveList)

When her husband of a year disappears, Hannah quickly learns he is not who he said he was and is left to sort out the truth with just one ally - her husband's teenage daughter, who hates her.
(Description from catalog)

Twenty-something Frida Rodriguez comes to Paris in 1991, relishing the city's butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent. But when she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, she receives more than just the book she requests. A friendship begins that will redefine the person she thought she wanted to become.
(Description from NoveList)

A mother-daughter duo learn to lean on their community of women—and each other—after their world is turned upside down.
(Description from NoveList)

In this intricately woven tapestry of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance, 15-year-old Nick Chen, who cannot shake the feeling his mother is hiding something, sets out to find his biological father--a journey that raises more questions than provides answers.--Description by NoveList

As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, Linus Baker spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they're likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren't the only secret the island keeps. (Description from catalog.)

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever. Now a bestselling author, Helen has even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels. Grant has done everything possible to move on from the past. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors that he just can’t pass up. When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past - and themselves - might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.--Description by NoveList

Forced by to attend his sister's wedding to seduce a woman with money and get his family out of debt, Rufus, the future Earl of Greshambury, finds their plans--and their reputation--going up in flames when a secret tryst and tragedy become known, revealing a shocking twist.--Description by NoveList

When his 100-million-dollar inheritance comes with a catch--he must be happily married for five years, Liam Weston, the uptight heir of a grocery chain, turns to his secret not-so-ex-wife Anna Green, a feisty, foul-mouthed artist, to fake their relationship and convince his one-percenter parents they're in love.--Description by NoveList

While Beth is proud of her Malibu beach shop, Surf Sandwiches, she's even prouder of her charismatic brother Rick, who rose from foster care through surgical residency. She makes subs, he saves lives. Life takes a turn for the happy after she finds out Rick is dating her new best friend, Jana. Then Jana’s handsome brother adds even more sparkle to Beth’s days...and nights.
(Description from NoveList)

Joan Goodwin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, dreams of going to space after seeing an ad for NASA’s space shuttle program. Selected in 1980, she trains at Johnson Space Center with fellow candidates. As they prepare for their first flights, Joan finds new passion and love, questioning her place in the universe.
(Description from NoveList)

From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor comes a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer.
(Description from catalog)

Every time she meets a new man, Daphne Bell receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it--the exact amount of time they will be together; usually she is right, but when she meets Jake, her whole system is thrown for a loop.--Description by NoveList

What if you could take a vacation to your past, without the filter of memory? What would you give to go back in time and relive your youth, in person, with the people who shared it? On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likesher job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But something is missing.
(Description from catalog)