29 "Beach Read" recommendations

Special Edition Roundup 07/20/2025

Greetings from Read Max temporary HQ in beautiful Downeast Maine! I’m on vacation until 7/28 and running “greatest hits” content until then, including two “special edition” paywalled roundups.

In this week’s special edition roundup--for paying subscribers only!--I’m putting together a list of all the “beach reads” (defined broadly) that I’ve recommended on Read Max in the past. (An update to a list I sent out last year, featuring 15 new books in addition to the 14 on the list last year.) If you’re looking for engrossing and (relatively) low-effort genre novel for any last-months-of-summer vacation plans, I’ve got 29 books to recommend below, including mystery, crime, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy novels.

If you’re already a subscriber--or if you’re about to become one--you can also check out the master list of Read Max book recommendations here (and movie recommendations here!). It’s newly updated to include all books and movies ever recommended by Read Max as of July 2025.

A reminder, as always: Read Max is 99.9 percent funded by subscriptions. I’m able to treat this newsletter as a full-time job, and even to take vacations with my family, because of the generosity of paying readers. If you’re interested in my recommendations, or even if you regularly enjoy the weekly column, please consider upgrading your subscription for the low price of $5/month and $50/year.

Finally, please note that I may receive a small commission if you purchase books via links in this email. (This accounts for the .01 percent of revenue not generated by subscriptions.)