Summer is a prime time for curling up with a great book hot off a good summer reading list.
Reading evokes thought, enlightens the mind, enriches the soul, lifts the heart and takes one to treasured places and descriptive destinations in ways only the reader knows reading can.
Great for fun in the summer sun, porch sitting, or a cool peaceful spot in the shade, keeping company with a delightful-romantic-funny-mysterious selection from a good for summer reading list fills a few moments with imagination and inspiration while taking the reader on a literary summer vacation.
Such a Quiet Place – by Megan Miranda
Suspense on a summer day will come your way with Such a Quiet Place, a tale of murder in Hollow’s Edge, a traditionally quiet and private neighborhood that is until the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett.
Neighborhood resident Ruby Fletcher is convicted of the murder, and the fallout causes a ripple effect throughout the entire neighborhood.
With an overturned conviction, Ruby is back in Hollow’s Edge and the home she once shared with Harper Nash. Now terrified by her former housemate, Harper is torn between fear and a sense of responsibility towards Ruby’s living situation.
Lies begin to surface in Hollow’s Edge about the night of the Truett’s murders. Harper begins receiving threatening notes which leads her to know she must do everything she can to find the truth before the killer strikes again.
Shocking twists and turns keep the reader in suspense, and reading way past your bedtime.
It Happened One Summer – by Tessa Bailey
Piper Bellinger is a fashionable pseudo wild child with a loyal pack of paparazzi constantly on her heels. Too much champagne mixed with one wild and crazy Beverly Hills rooftop party lands Piper in jail much to her “what did I do?” angst and her stepfather’s chagrin. Cut off from family and funds, Piper and her sister are sent to Westport, Washington to run their late father’s dive bar.
Enter sea captain Brendan, a tall drink of seawater who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. Determination drives her to strive to prove to her stepfather and the surly, sexy local she can, and will, make it. In doing so, Piper reconnects with her past, begins to feel right at home in Westport, and crosses paths with Brendan in an opposites attract manner that captures her attention and her heart.
Tessa Bailey’s Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com brilliance combines romance and comedy with small beach-town coziness and tantalizing banter that immediately hooks and enchants the reader.
Powerful poems that celebrate both the beauty and messiness of life, Goldenrod pulls objects from everyday life-a hallway mirror, a rock found in her son’s pocket, a field of goldenrods at the side of the road to reveal the magic of the moment, the contours of daily life, and the beauty found in it all.
Honeysuckle Summer – (Sweet Magnolias Novel) by Sherryl Woods
Courage is a beautiful thing, as Raylene Hammond finds out finding the courage to leave her abusive husband. Despite being taken in by the Sweet Magnolias for safety and healing, trauma leaves her unable to leave the house. When a terrible accident nearly occurs, due in part to her condition, Raylene realizes the time has come to seek help.
Support and encouragement from friends give Raylene the courage to set out on a journey to recovery.
Along the way, she meets an understanding sheriff’s deputy, Carter Rollins, who becomes a supporter of her efforts. He’s even taken to bringing the outside world to her when she doesn’t feel ready to confront it.
A relationship between Raylene and Carter soon begins to bloom, and she must decide if she’s ready to move forward on this part of the journey or if it’s strictly a sweet summer romance.
Fox and I – by Catherine Raven
Catherine Raven receives her PhD in biology, and soon moves into an isolated cottage in Montana where she teaches remotely as well as leading field classes in Yellowstone National Park.
The only regular visitor Catherine has is a fox with whom she develops a friendship.
Pet owners get it, and can attest to the lessons in personal growth, coming to the realization we are never alone when we are connected to the natural world, and how loss can be transformed into meaning through nature, our surroundings, and relationships with animals.
Count the Ways – by Joyce Maynard
New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard pens a mesmerizing story of Eleanor and Cam from first meeting at a crafts fair in Vermont in the early 1970s to the joy of parenting three children, bitterness of tragedy, fallout from infidelity, to truths through redemption.
Lessons in love, holding on and letting go of it fill the pages of Count the Ways is a beautiful, poignant, and deeply compassionate story of home, parenthood, love, and forgiveness.
Escape the routine of a summer day or evening by taking a break for one with a great book selection from a good summer reading list.
