The Rumor, by Elin Hilderbrand is a captivating beach read. I've read several books by this author and have loved some while others I have not enjoyed much. The Rumor is one I enjoyed and recommend if you're looking for a gossip-type novel. It's a great summer read that will grab your attention from the first to last page.

Dining and Driving with Cats - Alice Unplugged, by Pat Patterson is a story of a lovely romance with a man who's love for Alice comes through on every page. And of course, as the title indicates, cats are included in the story too! The book is about an actual road trip the couple took with their two cats. They travel/vacation from Mexico, across the United States with nothing but a Honda, their two cats, pet carriers (and supplies: litter boxes, cat food, etc.) and their own suitcases. Along the way they stop and meet a lot of interesting people (they even take the cats into restaurants to dine with them!). We peek inside of the lives of how the couple met and how they are truly connected and dedicated to each other. The story is not only a romance, it is also a story of travel and of inspiration.

Whether you're heading to the beach for a relaxing vacation or enjoying a quiet evening at home, be sure to check out these fantastic Must Grab Beach Reads (both fiction and nonfiction options)! Which have you read? Which books will you be adding to your "to read" list?

Without further ado...our 2017 list of Must Grab Beach Reads is below!

Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand is a story about two families, the Carmichaels and the Grahams have gathered for a wedding in Nantucket. The bride's late mother left behind a Notebook. The Notebook contains specific wedding instructions (covering every detail of her youngest daughter's wedding). The book dives into the lives of many guests; guests who lives and relationships are crumbling in many ways. The book explores the meaning of marriage and what it means to be faithful and to honor our commitments, despite the various obstacles life throws our way.

KNOWING HOW IT ALL ENDED, I wish I would have been brave. But I was a coward. For someone whose head was always spinning with words, I had lost them all in that moment. It was the moment I lost him. A moment of impact that would forever change the lives of many, myself included. I’d allowed myself to be stolen away by a pair of blue eyes that cut to my core and tanned skin that sung melodies to my heart, in exchange for summer romance. My first love. My first kiss. My first rebellion. My first sense of what it meant to really be alive. My first heartbreak. My first, everything.
What is it about first loves that makes us feel we can move mountains? What reason does a first love have for staying deep within us, forever? I’m still not sure I can answer those questions, even now. Even after so much time has passed. If there is a scientific reason for love, I don’t want to know. I just want to remember how I felt. How he made me feel. I want to hold on to the person I was when I was with him, and the person he was when he was with me. We were great. We were something. Because we were in love.

Psychiatrists say we – yes you, too – tend to use sound bites and phrases to describe hardships in our lives. When someone asks if I have a sibling, for example, I always reply with “I had a younger brother. He passed away when I was twelve.” We use our sound bites to prevent ourselves from feeling wounds of the past. The deeper the wound, the more practiced and compact the sound bite. We don’t want to go there again. Automatically repeating the verbiage we’ve practiced protects our inner selves from much of the pain. I use sound bites to explain him. Although I mostly avoid talking about him at all costs. The wounds of my first everything are thick with roots that sink deep below the surface.

But something recently changed. And if you really want to know what happened that summer, I’m ready to go there. I’m ready to feel again. I’ve clung to the pain of that summer for so long, I’d forgotten what happy felt like. It’s taken me until now to realize I wouldn’t have felt so much pain if the good hadn’t been so amazing. I’m letting go of the sound bites. Not that anyone’s been asking lately. But that’s okay. No one has to ask. It’s my story, after all. And there are only two people who can tell it. Brink Edwards and me. Because it was our love that was my first. It was our love that taught me everything that matters. And it was our love that broke my heart into a million pieces. Pieces that I’ve just now decided to gather.

No one wants to hear a generic love story. And so I promise, I will dive deep. I promise I’ll share with you what really happened that summer. I’m willing to bet you’ve had a summer like this yourself. If you haven’t, maybe you’re about to have one. If you have, don’t let yourself forget it. Don’t use sound bites to cover up what real love made you feel. The greatest loves most often have the most tragic endings. I think it’s because when you know real love, the loss of it is unbearable. I bet you still remember the song that was playing on the radio the first time you made-out in the back seat of a car. I bet you broke curfew a time or two when you were with the one that made your heart race. I know this because love is the thing that binds us all together. Across ages, across nations, across religions, we all know what it feels like to love and to be loved. If we don’t have it right now, we’re longing for it. If we’re lucky enough to have it, we’re holding on for dear life because love is the only thing worth fighting for in this world. I just wish I would have realized this all those years ago; that summer. Time stands still for no one. Not even for the greatest love in the world. Nope. The world keeps spinning and we’re left to our own devices. We’re left to figure it out. We’re left to decide how we want to live this one precious life. What I’ve always wondered is, if love is such a powerful force, why are most of us so terrified of it?

I’m not a psychiatrist or a love doctor of any kind. I’m just an aging woman who has known love and lost love. A woman who is still grappling with what was and coming to terms with what is. I’m a person who stops and wonders if he ever thinks of me, even if only for a fleeting moment. Am I as ingrained in his memory as he is in mine?

No one wants to hear the ramblings of an older woman, so I’ll go there with you now. I’ll take you back to when I was sixteen, thin and beautiful. It was a time before technology, before texting, emails and cell phones. I’ll toss out the sound bites and tell you what really happened. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll see yourself in us. If you’re lucky, you’ll realize when you have true love in your life before it’s too late. Because if you realize it too late, you’re bound to live with a hole in your heart. An ache in your chest. And you’ll always wonder, what might have been. Promise me you won’t let yourself wonder. Promise me you’ll live. To truly live, is to find love.

You, is Caroline Kepnes debut novel. The fiction book is an alarming look at how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, especially in today's digital age. When aspiring writer, Beck strolls into a local New York bookstore, she has a chance encounter with Joe, who works at the store. After purchasing her books, Joe Googles Beck's name (from her credit card information) and begins following her on social media, which lets him know everything he needs to. He begins having "chance" meetings with Beck (knowing where she'll be from social media posts) and he "invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck's life".

Looking for a good thriller book? Check out our 10 unputdownable thriller books! Which books have you read? Which books would you add to the list?