The Top 10 Beach Reads of 2013

Whether you're a historical fiction fanatic or a chick-lit devotee, our list of awesomely addictive new books will keep you turning pages through Labor Day. Kick back and get carried away. By Tiffany Blackstone and Hannah Hickok, REDBOOK.

Blue Plate Special
"Often, when I come up against anything painful or difficult, my mind escapes to food," writes bestselling author Kate Christensen. No wonder for much of her life she has been obsessed with two things: Finding the happiness that was missing from her childhood, and what she was going to eat/cook/serve next. Recipes of dishes that have nurtured her soul as much as her body dot this memoir like rich pats of butter. Fans of The Glass Castle will devour the book in one sitting.

The Bone Season

Even if Shannon weren't a mere 22-years-old and this, the first in a seven-part series, weren't snapped up for six figures and the movie rights already bought, you'd be hearing a lot about this magical dystopic tale. It's 2059, ghosts exist, and people with special mental powers are being sent to a top-secret prison. Paige, a rare kind of voyant, must figure out how to save herself-and possibly the world. It's the Harry Potter/Hunger Games fix you've been craving.

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Forever, Interrupted
More shocking for Elsie Porter than meeting her soul mate, getting married and being widowed, all in six short months? Finding out that her husband Ben never told his mother about her. You'll laugh, weep and fly through each crazy-readable page, as the polar opposites help each other begin to navigate a new life without the man they both loved.

Loyalty
Fina Ludlow, the newest hard-driving fictional P.I., has a mean left hook and isn't beyond using a short skirt to get some important information. When one of her brother's is suspected of murdering his wife, she must decide what's more important: uncovering the truth or protecting the ones she loves. This thriller has more heart than dead bodies-although there are some of those, too.

The Engagements

Sullivan is a master at relationship dramas that cut to the bone emotionally. In her third novel, she follows five characters over the span of six decades-including one based on the ad exec who invented the "A Diamond is Forever" tagline-each of whom is loosely connected by one engagement ring, to explore the changes in gender roles and family values that have shaped the way we view marriage today.

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The First Affair
Jamie McAllister is an intern at the White House-who happens to be having an affair with the president. You've heard the taped phone conversations and read the depositions of the real story on which this novel is based. But the latest fly-on-the-wall read from the authors of The Nanny Diaries will make you see it all from a whole different angle. You'll be as enthralled as you were watching it all unfold on TV-and maybe even surprised where your sympathies ultimately lie.

The Skull and the Nightingale
How far would you go to inherit a fortune? Set in 18th century London, this scandalous drama centers on 26-year-old Dick, an orphan who becomes a pawn in a social experiment masterminded by the mysterious godfather on whom he is financially dependent. Racy love triangles, drunken exploits and Dick's ever-changing moral boundaries make this one steamy thriller.

The Smart One
As fate would have it, all three Coffey siblings have screwed up royally at love or life and moved back home. As they fight to get back on their feet-and over who does the dishes-Close wields the same spot-on humor and empathy that made her debut novel, Girls in White Dresses, a hit to show the ways that we can all be better to ourselves and each other-and ultimately, that asking for a do-over is not admitting defeat.

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The Virgins
This newest addition to the "boarding school novels we love" category mixes the unsettling drama of A Separate Peace with the sexual juiciness of Prep. Aviva is Auburn Academy's newest student-a fiery, fragile beauty who captures all the boys' attention, but only reciprocates the affections of equally vulnerable Seung. The dark twist of an ending will haunt you for days.

You Are One of Them
Sarah Zuckerman is just 13-years-old when her former best friend Jenny dies in a plane crash. Ten years later, when Sarah receives a mysterious letter claiming that it might all have been a hoax, she sets off to Moscow to uncover the truth. Holt imbues her haunting coming-of-age story with the taught atmosphere of a thriller, all the better to remind us that the fall out of losing a friendship, whether for reasons tragic or mundane, is always powerful.

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