7 Poolside Reads for Summer

There’s a very specific kind of book that belongs by the pool. It is not the literary fiction sitting on your nightstand making you feel guilty. Poolside reads need to forgive you. It needs to let you put it down to referee a cannonball contest, reapply sunscreen, or take your own dip, and then let you pick it right back up without flipping forty pages to remember who anyone is. No sprawling casts. No sentences you need to reread three times. Just good pacing and a story that keeps moving while you do too.

Here are seven books I’ve read by the pool, on the pool deck, and occasionally with one eye still on the pool and loved.

1. Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

This is the popcorn thriller of popcorn thrillers. Short chapters, the kind that whisper “just one more” every time you think about getting up. Jack and Grace are newlyweds living what looks like a perfect life, except no one in their neighborhood has ever seen Grace without Jack. The community starts to wonder what’s really happening behind those closed doors, and so will you. It’s not a shocking twist machine, it’s just an easy, satisfying slide into someone else’s unsettling marriage, exactly what you want when you’re only half paying attention anyway.

2. Sandwich by Catherine Newman

A fair warning on this one: if you are not in midlife, you may want to skip it. This book lives and breathes the specific hormonal chaos of perimenopause and menopause. If you haven’t been there yet, a lot of it just won’t land. For those of us who have, it’s a quick, funny gut-punch of recognition. Rocky is staying in a Cape Cod house with her grown children and her aging parents, smack in the middle of the “sandwich” years. I saw myself on the page more than once not because I’d act the way she does, but because often times I want to.

One honest note: I’m fairly middle-of-the-road politically. I don’t love it when an author’s personal politics show up in a way that feels bolted onto the plot rather than woven into it. A couple of conversations in this book felt that way to me. It didn’t ruin the read. I still gave it four stars and still recommend it, but it’s worth knowing going in.

3. The Lido by Libby Page (title has changed)

This one is just beautiful, and there aren’t nearly enough books with an older woman at the center of the story. Rosemary’s whole world is shifting underneath her in this small London town: her husband has passed, the library she worked at has closed, her favorite restaurant is now some trendy bar she doesn’t recognize. And now the Lido, the community pool that’s been the backdrop of her entire life, is about to be sold off to a developer. A young journalist comes to cover the story and ends up uncovering Rosemary’s whole history, including how she met her husband at that very pool. It’s heartwarming without being saccharine, this poolside reads felt almost too on the nose in the best way.

4. Happy Place by Emily Henry

If you want poolside reads with a cute cocktail in hand, this is it. Harriet and Wynn have been the couple for years except they secretly broke up, and they haven’t told their close friend group. So when everyone gathers for their annual vacation, Harriet and Wynn fake it: same cottage, same room, same “we’re fine” act. You already know where this is going because it’s a romance, but that’s half the fun. Light, easy, and exactly the kind of will-they-won’t-they that doesn’t ask much of you besides showing up.

5. My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Don’t take this one too seriously, it’s not meant to be taken seriously. Short, dark, and genuinely funny in that pitch-black comedy way. Ayoola is the golden child: beautiful, beloved, and somehow always ending up with a dead boyfriend. Her sister Korede is the one who quietly cleans up the mess every time, sisterly loyalty and all. Things get complicated when the man Korede has feelings for starts asking about Ayoola instead. It’s quick, it’s a little twisted, and it’s an absolute blast by the pool.

6. Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Amy has the picture-perfect life: cookie-cutter neighborhood, a book club, a diving-instructor side gig, a happy family. Then Roux moves into the neighborhood; a little sultry, a little unpredictable, and clearly hiding something herself. The catch is that Roux seems to know something about Amy’s past, something Amy has worked very hard to keep buried from everyone around her. What follows is a slow-burn cat-and-mouse game between two women who are each trying to pull information out of the other while protecting their own secrets. Full disclosure: I genuinely don’t remember the twist anymore, but I remember loving it enough to give it four stars which might just mean it’s time for a reread.

7. Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

This is the one exception to my “nothing too intense” rule, and it earns its place. Two families meet on a cruise, both with kids around six to eleven, and what starts as a relaxed Central American excursion turns into every parent’s worst nightmare when the kids get separated from the adults. Normally a premise like this would be a hard pass for me, it taps directly into a fear I’ve carried since my own kids were small, even now that they’re nearly grown. What makes it work is the structure: the story moves between both sets of parents and the kids themselves, so you’re never trapped in just the terrified parent’s point of view. You’re with the kids too, watching them handle an impossible situation, and that perspective makes an unbearable premise bearable. I wouldn’t call it “fun,” exactly. I’d call it propulsive, you simply have to know how it ends.

What’s Next on the List

That’s my lineup of seven poolside reads for this summer, easy to pick up, easy to put down, and easy to get pulled right back into. I’d love to know what’s in your pool bag this year, so tell me what you’re reading or what you’ve already finished.

Other blog posts you may enjoy:

Book & Snack Pairing: Behind Closed Doors + Trader Joe’s Hot Honey Popcorn