The Beach Reader Recommendations
Winter Book Releases 2025-2026
These are our handpicked feel-good “beach” reads and juicy page-turners for cold days. Cozy up with the hottest romance and thrillers that bring the vacation to your fireplace. You won't want to miss these seasonal reads.
February Picks:
Books & Bewitchment
by Isla Jewell
In this cozy, witchy romcom, a young woman works to turn a run-down small-town video store into the bookshop of her dreams, only to discover a powerful magic that's been lying dormant--and a forbidden love she can't resist.
"There's a welcoming, Gilmore Girls-esque feel to Arcadia Falls, enhanced with just enough fantastical elements. . . . [Books & Bewitchment] is a sweet treat for a cold winter night."--Publishers Weekly
Dutiful and hard-working, Rhea Wolfe lives a simple, if mundane, life with her pet parrot in small-town Alabama. Sure, she may not love her desk job working for an insurance agency. And her on-again-off-again relationship with the local mechanic may not have the fiery passion she's read about in her favorite books. Still, things are stable, which is more than she can say about the two hopelessly immature younger sisters who rely on her.
But when Rhea's estranged grandmother dies, leaving her everything--including a magical heritage Rhea never knew she carried--she finds herself in Arcadia Falls, the quaint mountain town her mother made her swear to avoid at all costs. While the defunct video store she's also inherited needs a serious upgrade, Rhea's lucky that resident handyman Hunter Blakely is more than happy to help--and more than easy on the eyes. If only he wasn't the grandson of her grandmother's sworn enemy in witchcraft.
Yet as Rhea makes plans for the bookstore of her dreams, she learns that her grandmother made a terrible choice, one that could ruin her own chance at happiness. As she gets ever closer to solving the mystery of what exactly is happening, each clue points to Arcadia Falls's magic hanging in the balance. To keep her new home safe, Rhea must step into her enchanted birthright and harness her newfound powers . . . before it's too late.
Hearts on the Fly
by Toni Shiloh
When the game changes, love finds a way to score.
Jabari Hall has spent his entire life chasing victory on the ice--but one devastating hit leaves him benched, not just from hockey but from the future he thought he had. Now, as he struggles with deteriorating eyesight, his well-meaning teammates set him up on a date, hoping it will cheer him up--only the date they choose is none other than Val Elliott, his ex's sister.
Val never expected to be sitting across from Jabari, especially after the way he broke her sister's heart. But when Jabari opens up about his diagnosis, Val's guarded heart softens, and she offers him a listening ear. What begins as a simple friendship quickly turns into something more.
As Jabari navigates life off the ice, he's drawn to Val in ways he didn't expect. With her loyalty to her family on the line and Jabari searching for faith and a new purpose, can they make it to the goal together, or will their hearts wind up in the penalty box?
"This friends-to-lovers romance scores big."--Rhonda McKnight, author of The Thing about Home
A clean and wholesome African American hockey romance featuring forbidden love, friends to lovers, disability representation, and second chances perfect for fans of Christian sports romances, Emma St. Clair, Pepper Basham, and Melissa Ferguson.
The Halifax Hellions
by Alexandra Vasti
From USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti comes The Halifax Hellions: a pair of sexy, hilarious romps in which the most scandalous ladies in London finally meet their match.
From the day of their debut, when Matilda smoked a cheroot and Margo tied a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue, the Halifax twins have flouted convention at every turn. But when Matilda runs off with the dangerous Marquess of Ashford--who has every reason to hate her--she may have gone a bit too far.
Determined to stop Matilda's inexplicable elopement, her sister Margo turns to her oldest friend for help: because if anyone can get her to Scotland in time, it's starchy solicitor Henry Mortimer. But the road to Scotland is paved with secrets. Beneath his buttoned-up exterior, Henry is ardently, wildly, miserably in love with Margo. And Matilda and Ashford's relationship too may not be quite what it seems.
Between salacious engravings, secret identities, and demanding feral cats, nothing about the journey goes as planned. With the Halifax Hellions at the reins, a week in a carriage is exactly enough time to turn the world upside down . . . and, perhaps, find the love stories they never expected.
For the first time ever in print, The Halifax Hellions brings together Margo and Matilda's novellas, along with a swoony new epilogue.
January Picks:
The Magic of Untamed Hearts
by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
After several years stuck as a ghost, Sky Flores learns to reconnect with the living again with the help of her handsome neighbor in this lush romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Witch of Wild Things.
Like her sisters, Sage and Teal, Sky Flores has a touch of magic, and it's caused nothing but heartache. Not only did she disappear into the woods years ago and reappear with no rational explanation, she's also more comfortable talking to animals than to people. Different and misunderstood, Sky is shunned in the small town of Cranberry.
When There Are No More Stars Left to Count
by María Martínez
In the aftermath of the accident that changed her life, one young woman leaves everything behind to search for the father she never knew, and finds the man of her dreams and the found family she's always wanted in the charming streets of Sorrento, from international bestselling author Maria Martinez, for fans of emotional new adult romance.
After a car collision ends her career as a ballet soloist with the National Dance Company in Madrid, 22-year-old Maya Rivet finds herself abandoned by her vindictive grandmother to mourn her past life alone. When she discovers some vintage photos in an old music box, Maya musters the courage to travel to Sorrento, Italy, in search of the man she suspects is her birth father.
Most Eligible
by Isabelle Engel
The Bachelor meets Funny You Should Ask in this laugh-out-loud rom-com debut about a journalist who goes on reality TV only to find her country music star one-night stand is the host.
Georgia Rose is not going on the hit reality dating show Love Shack to find love. She's there to write a killer exposé on the producers, which will guarantee the journalism job of her dreams. But when Georgia's unforgettable one-night stand from the year before, country singer Rhett Auburn, steps into the Malibu mansion as the season's new host, all of her carefully crafted plans unravel.
Her Beautiful Life
by Brianna Labuskes
The truth of one woman's private life reveals the terrifying depths to which people will go to deceive in a twisting novel of suspense from USA Today bestselling author Brianna Labuskes.
When journalist Holland Tate is granted an interview with Catriona Bouchard, her former best friend turned mega-popular tradwife, she jumps at the chance to also possibly rewrite their bitter ending. But at the Bouchards' gated compound, what she finds is not the independent woman she once knew. Cat may have six beautiful children and be married to the man she calls the love of her life, but she's a ghost of her former self.
Woman Down
by Colleen Hoover
In this twisty thriller from New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a frustrated author looks for her muse in a remote hideaway, but what she finds defies all expectations...and reality.
Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she's been uninspired to write ever since.
Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It's Petra's last-ditch attempt to save her career--and herself.
Then he shows up.
The Storm
by Rachel Hawkins
HURRICANE SEASON CAN BE MURDER - A January 2026 Indie Next Pick - "Sexy and full of surprises, The Storm is an ideal curl-up-by-the-fire read." --Real Simple
St. Medard's Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that's survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.
December Picks:
The Mating Game
by Lana Ferguson
Two wolf shifters reluctant to love discover there's no fighting the call of the wild in this steamy romance by USA Today bestselling author Lana Ferguson.
Contractor Tess Covington has spent her entire life as a regular non-shifter human, so after she lands in the Denver ER with flu-like symptoms, it comes as a complete shock to be told that, no, she's not sick--she's actually a late-presenting omega wolf shifter. With her family in dire financial straits and a contract for her own television show on the line, she can't afford not to complete the renovation job she came for. And given that her newly emerged wolf is in danger of going into heat, she'll just have to do her best to follow the doctor's advice to keep away from alpha shifters.
The Heir Apparent
by Rebecca Armitage
An irresistible modern fairy tale about a British princess who must decide between her duty to her family--or to her own heart.
It's New Year's Day in Australia and the life Lexi Villiers has carefully built is working out nicely: she's in the second year of her medical residency, she lives on a beautiful farm with her two best friends Finn and Jack, and she's about to finally become more-than-friendly with Jack--when a helicopter abruptly lands.
In Your Dreams
by Sarah Adams
A homecoming to Rome, Kentucky, sparks a new romance--and lots of drama--between two old family friends, from the New York Times bestselling author of When in Rome, Practice Makes Perfect, and Beg, Borrow, or Steal.
Madison Walker left Rome, Kentucky, determined to make it in the culinary world. But after years of chasing success in New York, all she has to show for it is her shattered confidence and a desperate need for a fresh start. Coming home isn't part of the plan--until an unexpected job offer lands in her lap: the head chef position at a new farm-to-table restaurant in her hometown. The only catch? It comes from James Huxley, owner of Huxley Farm, her brother's best friend.
Southern Living 2025 Annual Recipes
by Editors of Southern Living Editors of Southern Living
Cook up delight with more than 350 top-rated recipes--every single recipe from a whole year of Southern Living magazine--created by the skilled chefs and entertaining experts at Southern Living.
For decades, Southern Living Annual Recipes has collected every recipe from an entire year's worth of the magazine into a single, complete volume.
Not just for subscribers and fans, Southern Living 2025 Annual Recipes is for home cooks everywhere who are searching for helpful cooking advice and delicious new recipe and entertaining ideas to delight all who visit their table. We believe this volume will become the most practical and inspiring cookbook in your kitchen.
Yours for the Season
by Uzma Jalaluddin - Mindy Kaling
For an ambitious attorney and a rising-star chef, a cross-cultural fake romance takes an unexpected detour in a heartwarming and funny novel by the author of Much Ado About Nada and Ayesha at Last.
When Sameera Malik and Tom Cooke meet at a ho-hum holiday party, neither is looking for romance. Sameera's working ridiculous hours at her law firm and healing from heartache while navigating a recently resolved family estrangement. Tom's hustling to turn his social media stardom into a real career while fending off his family's demands to give up his chef dreams and move back home. The two share a few laughs and a samosa-making lesson and go their separate ways.