Do you read romantic fiction set on the beach? Do you remember something when you read these beach romances? A memory, perhaps? Or a favorite family vacation?
I write in multiple genres, but where contemporary Christian romance is concerned, my story world stretches from big cities to small towns, and from mountains to the beaches. I do enjoy writing about coastal living. As such, one of the settings for my romantic books is the beach. The beach towns I have in mind and write about are usually on barrier islands, with nearby coastal cities.
So why do I write beach romance?
(A) Nostalgia.
I grew up on a tropical island, with its laidback lifestyle and cottages by the sea. My high school yard backs up to a sea wall. We took Girl Scout hikes along the island beaches. We had retreats by the ocean. Island life is my cup of tea.
However, since I left my childhood island, went to college, and worked in a metropolitan city, I’ve been landlocked for thirty five years. At the back of my mind is the nostalgia of my hometown, living ten to twenty minutes from the beach, and the tropical island life. So what is an island girl to do?
Well, I put them in my novels. My beach romance story world largely stems from my memories of all the beaches I’ve been to, the island life I grew up in, and all the things I want to see in a beach town.
My Savannah Sweethearts series is set in the coastal city of Savannah, Georgia, and on the beaches of Tybee Island, about fifteen minutes away from downtown Savannah. A number of my book characters live on Tybee and commute to work in Savannah. I have completed this 11-book series, but they are all still fresh in my mind.
Comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of Tell You Soon (Savannah Sweethearts Book 2), set in these two places.
My Seaside Chapel series is set on St. Simon’s Island, about an hour south of Savannah. Even though the media has dropped the apostrophe in the island name, I still keep it in my story world. This is a long series combining contemporary Christian romance and romantic Women’s Fiction, and the novels will take me several more years to complete. I started writing this series in 2005, so what’s a few more years!
(B) Vacation Feel.
I don’t know about you, but while I love the mountains in the fall season, I consider the beach my vacation place. There’s something about traveling to a beach and taking it easy. In my Vacation Sweethearts series, I take my readers to the Bahamas in the Caribbean and to the beach town of Key Largo in south Florida.
Is the beach a happy place for you? If you go on a beach vacation, what do you usually do? Do you hang out on the beach all day and work up a tan? Do you cycle on the beach or swim in the pool?
Do you read a lot of books when you’re on a beach vacation? I used to lug around hardcover novels from the local library. Boy, they were heavy. I would set aside luggage just for books to read on vacation. These days, I stuff my Kindle app with ebooks. I call them my vacation TBR. Unfortunately, I have a ton of books yet to be read. I guess I need more vacation!
(C) There, Not Here.
In general, I do not set my stories in the same small town I live in. Since I do not use a pen name, I prefer to separate my personal life from my professional life. However, I do set a number of books in the big city of Atlanta, whose metropolis is miles in diameter, and includes my small town. That way, I have a certain freedom to create a new city block or add a fictitious street or restaurant. Or even another small town!
Beyond Atlanta, I set my beach romance stories in Savannah, Tybee Island, or St. Simon’s Island. Or some other fictitious towns I have created, such as Seaside Island, which I placed to the north of St. Simon’s Island and Jekyll Island. For faraway places, I might add a whole new island, such as Moss Cay in Smile for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 1).
If I do live on the beach some day, watch me start a new series set in some mountain town somewhere LOL. Or in a place with a snowy winter. Actually… Well, I’ll save that book news for another day. Here’s a visual sneak peek:
What about you? What makes you choose to read a certain beach romance over another?
Do you only read beach romances set in certain places? For example, west coast or east coast (USA) or international (name a country)? Or do you read any beach romance set on any beach, regardless of whether it is in New Zealand or Australia or Hawaii or France or…?
Giveaway: Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of Tell You Soon, a Christian beach romance with a side of suspense. This giveaway ends on Monday (August 23, 2021). I hope you’ll enjoy reading the story of private investigator Ming Wei and real estate agent Sabine Hu in this Asian-American romance.
Free Beach Romance: Ask You Later (A Savannah Sweethearts Prequel) is also set in Savannah and Tybee Island. You can get this ebook novel for FREE via BookFunnel. On Tybee Island, artist Leon rents a beach house that his mother would have liked to live in had she been alive. Across the bridge in Savannah, he meets the daughter of the gallery owner who doesn’t like his folk art sculpture. Should he try to persuade her to appreciate his artwork? Hmm.
Happy reading!
USA Today bestselling novelist Jan Thompson writes clean and wholesome multiethnic contemporary Christian romance with elements of women’s fiction, Christian romantic suspense with an air of mystery, and inspirational international thrillers with threads of sweet Christian romance. Join Jan's mailing list for her latest book news: JanThompson.com/newsletter
I don’t have a favourite beach to read. I do like Hawaii partly because I have been there. I think the actually premise and blurb is what helps me decide. I live about a country hour away from the ocean. We use to go to the beach for church picnics every year a choice of 2 small towns. it was always fun. one of the beaches I had a holiday at with some neighbours. I was there about 5 days and we camped at the caravan park. We went swimming each day and spent time on the beach.
In Hawaii I would walk along the beach and I would watch the sunsets but I didn’t go swimming in the beach.
A few years ago an aunt invited me to spend a week in a beach hut with her family … in Chile the beaches are windy and the water is cold so unless it is very hot in summer I don’t go swimming, that Once I just got my feet wet and collected conch shells. I read the saga “lunar chronicles” by Marissa Meyer there are young fantasy books with clean science fiction … there was no internet there so you had to read for entertainment.
It was pretty funny, With my cousin we took several naps … we like to sleep and one night there was a shaking (we were a little scared).
Hi Jan! This retiree and traveler has set her toes in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. In June with our oldest son and family we visited Virginia Beach to take a Dolphin Cruise, since my 7 year old granddaughter is enthralled with dolphins. I have also been to beaches on the Wakayama prefecture, Japan.
For most of my life I have lived in a resort community in SW Michigan. We have lots of sandy beaches with beautiful romantic sunsets. I have visited beaches on both sides of Lake Michigan, since I lived in the Chicago area in the 1980s. Also visited beaches on Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Due to my med, I no longer can tolerate heat and excessive sunshine, so I prefer shady inland Michigan lakes. Michigan has over 11,000 inland lakes.
This German American avid reader will read stories, set around the globe – United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. I also read a variety of genre. Hope Callaghan writes cozy mysteries – several series set in Michigan and her Made in Savannah series mentions Tybee Island. Best wishes and Happy Writing.
I love to go to the beach and read a book. There is something so soothing to me listening to the waves. How exciting that you grew up on a tropical island.
All that sounds fun! I do like memories of vacations. One of my aunts live in Hawaii and she loves it there. They have spectacular vistas!
Nice to go camping. We don’t have a trailer/RV at this time, but I’ve stayed in cabins at parks and it’s so much fun. I prefer not to do it in the summer because there are many bugs and insects here.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
Was that an earthquake? I would be scared too! Otherwise it sounds like you had a great time!
Several years ago we went on a beach vacation in Florida during the off season. The nice thing about that is the cost of rental was low. The bad thing is that we went during the storm season (that was why we got a discount LOL). And we ended up in a heavy tropical storm that beat at the roofs and walls all night long for hours and hours. It was as though the house was going to wash out to the ocean. It was quite scary. Thank God we made it home fine.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
I love reading beach romances. There’s something about the beach that takes me out of regular life and offers the expanse of a vacation. Everything slows down at the shoreline, so even water can make one feel the flow while watching waves and ripples.
I don’t live far from the beach, but I rarely go! I’ve had melanoma, so while I like the beach, it really doesn’t like me! I’m a FL native, still living on the Space Coast, which means I live in Brevard County, the county just north of me is Volusia, where Daytona Beach is. I don’t care where a book is set, and I don’t go looking to see if they’re set in the mountains, at the beach, or wherever before I buy. I just buy books by authors I like, and ones recommended by authors I like! I’ve read Laurie Larsen’s beach series, and others.
Fun! Looks like you’re a world traveler and have gone to most of the continents. Is Antartica on your list? I know of people who took cruises to Antartica. That sounds fun but IDK if I can tolerate the cold.
A dolphin cruise sounds fun. I’m yet to go on one, but I’ve seen whales and seals when I was on ships. A memorable view for me is watching swans on the river in Germany. Have you been back to Germany lately? The countryside is lovely. Hope to return to Europe some day.
I’ve never been to Michigan but I hear it’s cold in the winter. But those lakes — WOW! Glad you live in a resort. I like resort areas. They are so much fun!
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
I do like to read books on the beach too! I agree abut the waves. They’re something else.
I also like to read my Bible in the early mornings on the beach when there are very few people around.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
Glad you like beach romances!
I totally agree that “everything slows down” for sure! We were at the beach in April, and what a contrast time felt like when we go back to our own house and back to work and back to our daily life. Instead of driving there, we flew to save time, so it felt more like a real vacation.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
I hear you about being careful with the sun. That’s something I am concerned about whenever it’s summer time here. Even though I don’t burn easily, I can burn if I stay in the sun too long without sunblock.
I love the Space Coast! I enjoyed our field trip to the Kennedy Space Center when my son was young. Drove through Cape Canaveral and down south to Cocoa Beach. (We have gone further than that to Key Largo, where I set one of my novels.)
One of my favorite beaches used to be New Smyrna Beach, but after the big storm in the 1990s when half the beach was washed out, we haven’t returned to that area. But I also like Daytona, Ponce Inlet (where the lovely lighthouse its) and then north on Jacksonville Beach.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
I actually live pretty close to some beaches, about an hour drive but I don’t go that often. I don’t really have a preference on where a book is set, I just like to read :)
I’ll read a book set anywhere.
I love to read too!
I guess that’s the same as over here. I might be in the metro area, within an hour of several places, but I don’t have time to go to those places either.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
Same! I do have preferences for the beach, but I will read books set in the city and mountains and everywhere else as well.
Reading on the beach right at the edge of the water with the waves lapping at your feet is the best. We lived on Amelia Island for 12 years. I really didn’t take advantage of reading there as often as I should have. I walked there a lot, but I usually only read when we had company who wanted to go to the beach.
I love visiting beaches and reading books set there is a nice way to be able to visit even when I’m at home in the midwest without a beach in sight. My first choice would be southern east coast beaches or international locations but I’m really not very picky.
Beach gal here and reading a book on the beach is heaven.
Hi, Jan!
I love the emotional feel of the beach. As a photographer, there is something special about catching the sun on the waves or the spray against the rocks. Moonrise on the Atlantic coast is another treat.
I also like kites at the beach. Unfortunately, mine have sat in the closet for far too long. Like Trudy, I am fair-skinned and the sunshine is no friend. And since we lived inland when I was growing up and we never vacationed at the beach, there is no nostalgia for me.
I’m like you and Lori R. Listening to the waves is so soothing. Sometimes, when I need to block out surrounding sound while I’m at the computer, I will put on my headset and use a white noise generation program. One of my favorite choices is Waves at the Ocean. SO good.
I’ve enjoyed several of your beach books including Ask You Later. Still have more in the TBR pile! Here’s to beaches in heaven where sunburn (and worse) will never be a problem!
I don’t have a favorite beach read, I did read Ruby of the Sea and I loved it, I also read Sister of the Undertow and I loved it also. I will for sure be hoping that you do write a book about mountains , I love, love to stay in a cabin in the mountains, we are over due for a stay , God willing some day my family and I will go back and relax in a cabin in the mountains. Have a great weekend and stay safe. I enjoyed reading your post.
I do enjoy books with beach settings, but I prefer to vacation in wooded mountains. The heat and bright sun are not my friends.
I have never been to Amelia Island but I heard it’s beautiful. I’ve been to Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine, though. I love Florida! I also like the Georgia coast, where I set a lot of my books.
I hear you. When I lived on a resort island, I didn’t always go to the beach either! There was too much else to do. But I went to the beach there more often than I did living in metro Atlanta. Of course, this is because the nearest beach from where I am now is five hours away!
Yes, I agree about “visit” – IMHO reading about places I’m not in at the time is interesting. If the author can paint a realistic picture of the place, then I find it fascinating to read. I remember reading a novel about LA and jotting down some places I need to remember the next time I’m over there because the author said he used real streets and places.
OTOH I remember reading a novel set in the Atlanta area where I live, and I was like — wait a minute, that’s not how the weather is over here or that’s not how life really is. So it can be risky for authors to write about places they might not have been themselves.
Otherwise I’m not a picky reader either!
I agree totally!
Thank you for your comments. I’m also waiting for the beach in heaven! IKR re: UV rays.
I remember when we traveled a bit before the pandemic, and we would take photos along the Oregon coast. My hubby had the big camera and zoom lenses and setup but I had just a handheld camera. We are both amateurs. But I think photographers who can capture the essence of the places they go are just super gifted.
Thank you for reading my books. I hear you about TBR. I am collecting more books than I ever will be able to read maybe in the next 5-10 years! Nowadays they are ebooks, because we don’t have enough space in our house for paperback books. They could fill up walls and walls…
Thanks again for your comments. Have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you! I love cabins in the mountains, especially in the lovely fall season when the weather is not so hot. I’m in the south and we battle mosquitoes LOL so the cooler months are better for walking in the great outdoors.
For now, I have one novel set in log cabins in the Great Smoky Mountains. You can find it in Kindle Unlimited: Reach for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 2). I have more coming. :-)
Thank you again for your comments. Have a great weekend!
I hear you about the heat and sun! One time we decided that it will be cooler in the fall. So we drove to the beach on Thanksgiving week. Well, the temperature was 45F in the day and we were freezing and nobody went in the ocean. It would have been less chilly in September/October on the Georgia coast.
Thank you again for your comments. Have a great weekend!
Thank you, Jan for the free book. I am not picky when it comes to beach reads. I just love being transported to the beach and ocean. I live in Ohio so going to the beach is not an easy endevour for me. I do live close to Lake Erie, but it is not the same as the ocean. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
I am not the best camper I prefer a cabin to a tent but as a 14 year old it was ok and here the beach is always cooler than inland and we don’t have the humidity like parts of America or even the coastal parts of Australia closer to the Tropic of Capricorn and above. (Inland is normally quite dry heat). Where we went Robe is normally a lot cooler and being next to the beach we got the cool breeze. I don’t like the Mozzies but thankfully they are not as bad here as in some places.
Living in the mountains of rural WV I have only been to the beach a few times. I’m not picky about a beach read. Thank you for sharing.
Jan. Only been to3 continents (north America, Europe and Asia). Nine count irises – Canada and 7 European countries and Japan). Covered my bucket list, so Antarctica is not on my bucket list. last time I was in Germany was 2009. I like 4 seasons, so especially in retirement don’t mind the cold. This retiree Tolerates the cold better than the extreme heat.
Thank you for your comments. I’ve been to Ohio, so I know it’s landlocked, but it does have rivers and lakes. I hear you re: lake not the same as the ocean. I think one of the reasons is the salt air :-)
I hope you enjoy reading the book. I had fun writing Ask You Later. We are revisiting Simon’s Gallery in Time for Me (in the Save the Date box set releasing in less than a month).
Thanks again for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
I like vacationing in the countryside too. Once we rented a log cabin in the woods and it was lovely. I like small towns and the fresh air in the countryside.
We usually drive a long way through the countryside to get to places, and it’s a pleasant drive. I haven’t been to WV yet but it’s on my bucket list to visit every state. Have to wait until the pandemic is all truly over.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful weekend!
Australia and New Zealand are on my bucket list, but not Antartica either!
I can handle more cold now than I used to, but I still prefer the summer months when I can go around in sandals and tee shirts. I start taking out my goose down coat in October just in case I need it LOL. But over here in Georgia, it rarely snows. But we get cold ice and sleet, usually in January. Brrrrr!
I also prefer a cabin. When I was a teenager, a tent was fun. Now I’m like, I need doors and windows LOL.
Australia and NZ are on my bucket list. Some day (when the pandemic is really over) we might be able to travel again. For now, it’s staycation for us, and at most we do day trips, no more. The world is such a lovely place and there are so many countries I would like to visit. I keep adding countries to the list!
We usually go to the beach as a family.
I love beach! It’s my getaway place. The sound of waves crashing soothes me.
I love beach reads! I’m not too particular about where the beach is.
I’m not picky. I’ll read a book set on any beach because thanks to quarantine it’s been forever and a day since I was able to visit one, and I really miss it.
I love your reasons for writing them, but I’m also really excited for that sneak-peek :)
I have no where specific that in a book has to be but an beach stories are nice. I have a lovely memory from the beach which is my husband & I 3rd Anniversary married & we took our daughter to a surprise trip to Brockville beach & her favourite animal is ducks & she fed them & got to swim with the babies. We walked a lovely park & got piles of photos as well as photos of 1000 islands.
My memory is when I got married & we had our honeymoon which was on the lake & walked to the beach to swim with my wife. We had a ball!! Then went to a water park before going home. We both love beach stories from anywhere.
I love beach reads. It lets your brain go on vacation!
I always take several books on vacation. I enjoy reading lots of different genres.
I love living a 5 minute drive from my local beach or 10 minutes to my favorite beach in Cannon Beach (Haystack Rock). I grew up in Illinois so being near the ocean is wonderful!
Don’t enter me Jan because I have read this book already (and loved it). I do enjoy your beach books :-)
I haven’t been to the beach in ages, but there is something magical about the sound of the waves and how the sky and the ocean just kind of meld into each other. I enjoy books set near or in beach towns, its like a vacation in a book.
I’ve enjoyed all of the Christian beach reads I’ve read for some reason or another. I haven’t found one I don’t like!
I love beach reads, Jan. Though I live near a manmade beach and a lake, I never made it to the ocean until I was in my thirties. It was hurricane season at Galveston TX and the water was brown and churning with seaweed that ripped at my ankles, but I waded the shore and picked up shells, loving every minute. About 4 years ago, we went to Corpus Christi TX. The was was blue and perfect, but I didn’t find shells. My next beach destination is Surfside Beach TX. It’s supposed to be the best shelling beach in TX. We have family in TX, so that’s why I plan beach excursions there. It’s about the shells for me. I love them and want to bring every one I see home, though I already have an endless collection. I wouldn’t want to live on the beach though. I don’t think you could live on the beach and have good hair days and I’m an ex-hairdresser.
I like family vacations too!
I love the beach too! Beaches do look like a proper vacation place, don’t they!
Same here. I write about beaches I know, but some day I’d like to travel to more beaches — when it’s safe to do so post pandemic.
Thank you very much! I’ve already started writing the first book in the series…
I hope you can go to the beach again soon. Even though I went in April, I miss it already!
Thanks again for your comments!
That is wonderful! I’m glad you had a fun family vacation. Those photos will remind her later on and maybe some day she’ll bring her own kids to the same beaches for the memories.
Thank you for your comments. Have a wonderful week!
That sounds like a nice honeymoon memory. Glad you had a wonderful time!
Thank you for your comments!
That’s a great way to describe it! That means when I write my beach novels, I’m on vacation. And I have to admit that it feels like a working vacation a lot of times — except when the deadlines loom. Haha!
I also do read a lot of genres — more genres than I write, in fact. For example, I sometimes read cozy mysteries, and I do not write that genre. It’s fun to bring a lot of different genre books to the beach!
Thank you very much. So glad you enjoyed TELL YOU SOON and my other books.
That’s cool that you are so close to the beach! We drove through Cannon Beach some years ago, and we stopped to take photos. We also drove along the coast. The whole area is so beautiful.
Thank you for your comments! Have a wonderful week!
That’s a great way to put it re: “vacation in a book” – It is, for sure! I can hear the ocean now as I type this. I am five hours away from the beach at this time :-)
Thank you for your comment! Have a wonderful week!
That’s wonderful! I’m glad you love to read books by Christian authors. That’s awesome!
Sounds like you had a great time on the beach! I do love the beach a lot. Not only do I like to write about it, I really love the atmosphere near the ocean. I think a lot of it has to do with growing up by the sea.
Texas is on my bucket list! I have only flown through a TX airport to get elsewhere, so never had a chance to stop and check out the state. I am looking forward to visiting some day when the pandemic is over or at least under control.
Yes, the wind does blow your hair every which way. I usually tie up my hair so that I can at least see in front of me LOL. Or I wear a sun hat of some sort to keep the hair together. Also saltwater does a number on your hair, so it needs to be properly washed off. IDK much else about hair care!
Thanks again for your comment. Have a wonderful week in the Lord!
I enjoy reading beach reads based on beaches I’ve visited. It helps me to visualize the story more. So for now I am enjoying Charleston area beaches, NC, and Florida. One day I hope to explore the west coast!