Summer Series: Beachside Romance Reads

By: Samantha Eng, Copy Cutie 

credit: cityofroundrock (Flickr)For us in the northern hemisphere, August is notoriously the hottest month of the year. Why not sync our media and mojo with the heat that only summer can provide? Don’t be shy to bring our summer series beachside; our lists celebrate the words between the pages, sheets and soda straws.

Huddle under the umbrella and curl up on a plush towel. These beachside romance reads will welcome the wind in your hair and make you wonder, Maybe there is something more than just sunscreen re-application. Whether summer started hopeful with the possibility of a summer fling or has already went sour due to a summer split, our top five book choices will re-awaken the romantic! 

Twilight 

Probably the only time this cast will see the sun, this oldie but goodie summer must-read for 2010 … and 2011 … is still relevant now. The modern fantasy fairytale based on Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet takes a new form with Edward and Bella, the lion and lamb who made the vampire romance explode into mainstream. With the second half of Breaking Dawn debuting on November 14, there’s no time like the present to brush up on the saga before opening day!

Hunger Games 

While some readers fell in love with the romantic triangle of Katniss, Peeta and Gale, others fell in love with the strong-willed nature of the 16-year-old female protagonist in a fight for survival. The page-turning trilogy pays tribute to characters that must survive against poverty, starvation and oppression in a new world, but amongst the post-apocalyptic rubble, love always finds it’s way.

Game of Thrones

With an eight-person narrative, we guarantee this novel (or if you dare, series) offers enough romance — and sex — to satisfy any libido, male or female. Blood, sex and strategic war strategies, this novel finds balance amongst the Stark family or bastards, their romances, and arrangements.

Women 

Cleverly branded as dick-lit, the romance novel from a male perspective quickly gives chick-lit a run for its money. Women by Charles Bukowski is the ideal guy romance read: a novel following a male author’s dissatisfaction with an endless string of failed flings. But fear not, ladies: this is not hell, and beer will not be served. This man actually knows his prose.

Everything I Learned About Love, I Learned From Romance Novels

Still unsure why brilliant women clamor to read romance novels? Then figure it out the easy way and read this tell-all book from a romance writer herself. She’s been there, done that …  and she’s got the badges to prove it.

Add to sour list and tell us your favorite beachside romance reads! After all, can’t go wrong with a book on recommendation!