Spring break is not only for college kids. If you are anything like me, you’re spending the downtime with a good book, maybe on the beach or at a hotel pool (but more likely soaking up the sun on your porch). I’m not the only editor on staff with a long “to read” pile, who uses any vacation time to catch up on new books. If your stack isn’t already about to topple over, here are a few recommendations from the Southern Living book worms.

Hot Air

To kick things off, I will start. Hot Air is the definition of a fun time. The plot is kooky (it hinges on a hot air balloon trip gone awry) and centers on four characters all with “J” names (Jonathan, Joannie, Julia, and Johnny), which is a little confusing but also charming. The story explores topics that dominate all of our lives, including money, marriage, and power but with an easily digestible humor that makes it all go down easy.

The Wedding People

“I’m only 34% in, but I love it.” says Meghan Overdeep, Senior Staff Writer. Associate Editor Katie Akin also recommends the novel. She jokes that, “I just went on a wedding weekend trip with college friends and one of the husbands was reading that just so he had something to talk to his mother-in-law about.” The plot centers on a unexpected wedding guest who forms a bond with the bride who’s wedding she is “crashing.”

One-Star Romance

“There’s more depth in this book than you expect out of a rom-com, and it doesn’t follow the traditional structure. My friend who is usually more critical of rom-coms was a fan of it too. It hit the mark for me because platonic love and romantic love are both at play, and my best friends mean just as much to me as my husband does. Just be prepared to hate the main character at the beginning of the book. She goes on a journey of self discovery and you have to wade through that with her,” says Katherine Polcari, Associate Editor.

The Paradise Problem

“There were definitely some things I didn’t like in this story, but ultimately I loved that it was a gushy escapism love story with a few good nuggets on chosen family (are you sensing a theme here?),” says Polcari.

Thank You For Listening

“It’s a romance novel about an audiobook narrator written by an audiobook narrator and narrated by the same audiobook narrator. I should say it does follow traditional romance novel structure, but in a cheeky way. Despite following a traditional romance novel structure, I like how deftly the author introduces the love interest. It tows the line between an ideal and the reality of life. love, and work, and when all of that falls away the resulting story is still really beautiful, charming, romantic, and touching,” says Catherine Jessee, Assistant Digital Editor.

You Should Be So Lucky

“This book has the classic grumpy-sunshine trope, but with a sports reporter and the baseball player he is ghost writing for. It’s set in the 1960s, so they also can’t be public with their relationship without consequences. While obviously this means some of the book focuses on the struggle that gay men went through at that time, it also focuses on a lot of the love in their lives. And there should be more happy silly LGBTQ+ rom-coms in my opinion,” says Polcari.

God Of The Woods

“This is a fantastic whodunnit mystery that takes place in a summer camp in the Catskills. I grew up going to summer camp in the South, and it felt really lived in. The cast of characters is incredibly detailed and charming, plus the plot is juicy. If you are fan of Severance or White Lotus, this book invokes the same curiosity and psychological thrill,” says Jessee.

The Seven Year Slip

“I love when a romance novel is about a writer, book author, or publisher because it feels like there’s inside information. In this case, the main character is a book publicist that falls for her super Southern roommate who is a chef in New York City, and there’s a fun time travel element. It’s campy but fun,” says Jessee.

We Solve Murders

“The Thursday Murder Club is a great cozy mystery series. They are slower reads and take a second to get into, but I love the characters. The author of the series, Richard Osman, just came out with We Solve Murders, and I was a big fan of it, too. My poor husband had to listen to the whole thing on audio when we went to the beach, and then had to sit there with me while I debated my feelings on the ending of it,” says Polcari.

The Guest

I’m going to close out this list with another of my own recommendations. Although “new” is relative (the book came out two years ago), it’s the latest novel by an author I absolutely love. The Guest is the definition of a page-turner. It follows a woman, a grifter of sorts, who travels to the Hamptons with her rich boyfriend and becomes stranded when he kicks her out. You follow the main character, Alex, as she scrambles to extend her stay, the entire time wondering if (and perhaps secretly hoping that) she gets caught. She is a tough antihero that Cline’s writing somehow makes you root for and also loathe.