Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Summer is Here (and so are summer reads)!


         
         Browse any bookstore and you’re sure to find enticing covers with “summer” in the titles. Hard to resist, aren’t they? Reading by the pool while listening to the birds sing is one of my favorite things to do on a weekend.

I just finished The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable, and oh my gosh, I loved it. I came to the book having had no idea that Alicia Darr—former lover of JFK—had ever even existed. Her story was fascinating, but I won’t give away the details. I so enjoyed learning about the Kennedy family, Darr’s background as a WWII refugee, and her rise in the 1950s that I don’t want to spoil the surprises. But I found Gable’s novel exquisitely researched and brilliantly structured with past and present threads. For historical fiction junkies and readers of pop culture, this story will be a page-turner.


Then there’s The Myth of Perpetual Summer, just out by Susan Crandall. I’m totally up for a journey back to the 1960s-70s with a coming-of-age tale and buried secrets in a Southern town. This one’s going into my beach bag.

The Summer Sail has also caught my eye. Wendy Francis’s work is new to me, but I hear she appeals to fans of Emily Giffin, so this story about college friends who reunite on a cruise ship is on my TBR list. Cocktails with tiny umbrellas may be in order.

Amy Mason Doan makes her fiction debut with The Summer List. Two old girlfriends, a secret, a lakeside town in California—and a mysterious scavenger hunt. What could go wrong? I’ll be wearing my sunglasses and big-brimmed hat when cracking open this book.

         I recently discovered author Jamie Brenner (The Husband Hour), and so I'm anxious to dive into her latest novel: The Forever SummerIt's the story of a young woman whose life has just fallen apart, and her escape to a beachside B&B where she meets the grandmother she never knew she had.

         Beatriz Williams has a summer novel coming out in July that will be a must-read for me. The Summer Wives shifts from 1951 to 1969, with another character from the Schuyler clan. Can’t wait!

         As I reminisce about my own summers in recent years, here are a couple more titles I lapped up after smoothing on the sunscreen. A girl can never read too many summer sizzlers, can she?

That Summer by Lauren Willig – An old house outside of London, a mysterious heirloom painting, and a woman trying to heal from past tragedy.

The Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe – Sea life, three testy sisters, and the love and lessons of their grandmother.


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