Everywhere you look magazines and online book blogs/news sites are screaming "FABULOUS BEACH READS THAT YOU NEED TO READ NOW!" Okay okay it's summer, lets get the party started but lets also make one thing clear. You do not have to classify a book with a lone woman standing in front of the shoreline looking forlorn or wrapped in a blanket as a beach read.
I promise.
In gathering up beach/summer reads for my book group, I included all genres. I mean, I can't see my one friend who reads Fantasy basking in the Belmar sun while reading Castaway by Elin Helderbrand. No. So, that is the law here, every book has a spot on the beach this summer. Even that cold. damp, chilly Dickens has a place on a towel next to a bottle of sunscreen.
Many of you are not near a beach. And I will tell you that living on the West side of Jersey forty-five mintues from the closest beach isn't what I do every day. I can be just as content reading on my deck in my favorite chair. Close to a bathroom and the fridge, it's all good.
You do not need a beach to read beach/summer reads to feel the power of summer reading.
I promise.
Here are some good reads for the summer:
I can't wait to start this series by John J. Higgins.
Book One
Description from Amazon:
Even a match made in Heaven can go awry. THE ARCHANGEL JARAHMAEL AND
THE WAR TO CONQUER HEAVEN is the epic three-part story of the Creation
of the Universe, told from the perspective of the Angels themselves. The
first book of the trilogy, "In the Beginning," describes the initial
creation and the establishment of the Seven Heavens and the Nine Orders
of Angels, but it also tells of the first Humans, Lillith and Adam.
Although they are quite literally a match made in Heaven, free will
wreaks havoc with destiny when Lillith falls in love with the Archangel
Jarahmael. Can love, as the very essence of the almighty's Universe,
survive free will? Or will love, when exposed to an untethered will, rip
the Universe apart, pitting Good against Evil in a battle for all?
Lots of buzz on this book
Description from Amazon:
HER PERFECT LIFE IS A PERFECT LIE.
As a teenager at the
prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public
humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a
glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancĂ©, she’s
this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.
But Ani has a secret.
There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her,
something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface
and destroy everything.
With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores
the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and
introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been
protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first
appears.
The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?
There is nothing like an Elin Hilderbrand book in the summer! My pick this year was Silver Girl (think Ponzi scheme by husband, he goes to jail, wife runs to Nantucket with an old best friend who is still mad at her from the mysterious past. So far I love it as much as I have loved all her books.
Description from Amazon:
Nantucket
writer Madeline King couldn't have picked a worse time to have writer's
block. Her deadline is looming, her bills are piling up, and
inspiration is in short supply. Madeline's best friend Grace, is hard at
work transforming her garden into the envy of the island with the help
of a ruggedly handsome landscape architect. Before she realizes it,
Grace is on the verge of a decision that will irrevocably change her
life. Could Grace's crisis be Madeline's salvation? As the gossip
escalates, and the summer's explosive events come to a head, Grace and
Madeline try desperately to set the record straight--but the truth might
be even worse than rumor has it.
Enjoy your summer, book friends, start today!