Top 10 Summer Beach Reads

Our first read on our list comes from the mind of Maya Motayne who takes her readers on a magical, thrilling fantasy rollercoaster as a Royal Prince must join forces with a ruthless thief named Finn Voy who can literally metamorphose into anyone she likes. As Voy is threatened into stealing a treasure from the royal palace by a powerful crime lord who has the means to rob her of her special abilities, moral questions are asked and ultimately answered in a tale that will make it very difficult to put down.

Our next tale is one that describes the personal journey of growth and achievement, as the main protagonist and high school student Emoni Santiago struggles against adversity and poverty to realise her ambition of becoming a professional chef. This is a story that shows the value of staying true to oneself, as Emoni, with the support of close friend Abuela, strives to make her dream a reality. Her talent is obvious, but will she make it? You’ll have to read this beach pageturner to find out!

Next on our list is a story of an amazing boy who talks to the animals but whose ridiculed by the others in his town for being different. Cursed with a hump on his back, ‘Boy’ feels he is far from special until he becomes the servant of a shadowy figure called Secondus who arrives on the scene.

The tumult of the Cuban revolution is the backdrop for this tale of honour, ambition and difficult choices. Beatriz Perez is recruited by the CIA after losing her considerable wealth during Fidel Castro’s rise to power. Her task is to infiltrate Castro’s inner circle, which is a mission not without its dangers, but one she is willing to take on in her quest to reclaim everything taken from her. In the end, she has to choose between her country, a blossoming romance, her past and her future. An epic story that will keep you enthralled to the end.

If you’re a fan of romantic comedies, then you are very much like Annie, the central figure of ‘Waiting for Tom Hanks’. To say she’s obsessed with rom-coms is something of an understatement, as they’re what she bases all her relationships around. She’s literally waiting for her Tom Hanks to arrive in a truly serendipitous way (a la Sleepless in Seattle), but try as she might, her Mr Right never materialises.

The Gifted School is a fictional glance behind the veil of a newly opened make-believe school for extraordinary children and how a close-knit group of friends and their parents end up at each other’s throats in a bid to get ahead. Careers, marriages and sibling relationships are put under enormous strain in this intriguing and often humorous look at the changing priorities that people experience when fame and fortune are on offer and the simmering resentment that ensues when people don’t get what they want. Subterfuge, backstabbing and double-dealing are in plentiful supply in this wonderfully entertaining and keenly observed read.

Set in 1980s Brisbane, Boy Swallows Universe is a fantastic tale of romance, crime and destiny, as a young man tries to make sense of the world. After losing his father to illness and his mother to prison, Eli finds himself living as the stepson of a heroin dealer and being babysat by a well-known local criminal.

Detective Ivy Gamble has spent her whole life without magical abilities and she’s perfectly happy…or so she says. She’s completely fine with the fact that her estranged sister Tabitha, who happens to be her twin, has magic running through her veins..or so she says. Ivy Gamble knows deep down inside that she’s lying to herself and everyone around her.

Anyone who has ever pondered the point of existence and struggled to find their place in the world will relate the story of Eat Pray Love lead character Liz Gilbert. She finds herself as a 30-something, married, with a successful working life and trying for a baby, with the sudden notion that she doesn’t belong there and that it’s not at all what she wants.

The last beach read on our list is one that will be familiar to many thanks to the hugely successful Stephen Spielberg movie. Whilst most people know how the story ends, it’s still a great book that surprisingly few people have read and it’s one that explores the story in a way that the film only touches upon.