I Know What You Read Last Summer: YA Classics to Read on the Beach
It’s time, once again, for beach reading and I couldn’t be happier! But the perennial question remains: what to read?? Well, there’s nothing tests the quality of a book like time, so here are some classics you should definitely check out on your next beach day!
I Know What You Did Last Summer
by Lois Duncan
Slasher fans, you already know what I’m talking about! Lois Duncan’s classic I Know What You Did Last Summer was the impetus for the iconic film franchise and helped to launch YA as a genre! Doesn’t get much more classic than that! Plus it’s different enough from the movie to keep you guessing, and the thrills are just as chilling today as when they were written!
Code Name Verity
Are you ready for a historical thriller about friendship and sacrifice that will make you cry? Code Name Verity is for you! This epistolary novel starts with British spy Verity in the hands of the Gestapo after her plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France, but soon becomes a story of survival. When I tell you the plot twists would not stop coming in this book, I mean it! Once you’ve finished it, you’re going to want to re-read it immediately!
Maximum Ride
Oh, Maximum Ride! What can I say about this series that was so integral to my own young-adulthood? This high-octane thriller about children with wings (and the evil scientists they’re trying to escape) is the perfect read for your next beach outing! It’s got everything you could want: action, adventure, just a touch of romance! Plus the twists and turns this series takes will always keep you on the edge of your seat (or beach towel)!
Ship Breaker
I cannot describe to you how much I adore Paolo Bacigalupi’s writing, and especially in Ship Breaker! This is an intense, speculative novel that is dark, thrilling, and definitely worth your time! Plus, it’s a National Book Award Finalist! It’s got the perfect mix of beautiful prose and edge-of-your-seat plot and honestly, whenever I see this book on people’s shelves I think better of them.
Jackaby
Gothic murder mystery with a loveable cast, laugh-out-loud antics, and genuinely scary moments? Count me in! Jackaby is the start of this series which features one feisty Abigail Rook determined to make it on her own in New England and R. F. Jackaby, occult and supernatural phenomena expert with a penchant for getting in trouble. Together, they shall solve mysteries, face dastardly villains, and maybe just cause a little chaos!
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
by Laini Taylor
If epic, world-bending fantasy is more your bag, you will adore the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series! Not only is Laini Taylor a wordsmith of the highest order (seriously, I cannot get over her prose), her plots are so meticulously created! They are mind blowing in the best way, and trust me you will not guess where this series goes next! Trust me: go into these books as blind as you can because the journey is SO worth it!
Every Last Word
If you’re not so interested in jumping into a series, and you want a bit of a heartbreaker, Every Last Word is the perfect read! Full of loveable characters, heart wrenching moments of growing up, and a romance that is so real, this book deserves to be on every shelf! And it might not sound it at first, but there is a plot twist that will have you screaming by the end, and it will make you want to reread it ASAP!