Ah, summer. Whether you’re working on your tan or catching some Z’s, a good book is always a great addition to throw into your beach bag. If you’re looking for something to read as you lounge on the sand, here are some great choices! And if you’re stuck at home this summer, worry not! These books also do well on solid ground!
Make sure you sign up for our Summer Reading Program, which runs from June 10 to August 10, for a chance to win some amazing prizes!
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Even though Khai Diep is sure that his autism prevents him from feeling big emotions like love and grief, his mother is much less convinced. In a last-ditch effort to find someone for him, she travels back to Vietnam, where she invites single mother Esme to America to woo Khai. Esme, who has never met her American father, jumps at the opportunity to build a better life for her family. But as she and Khai get to know each other, Khai realizes that he might not be as emotionless as he once thought.
Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Providing a hidden glimpse into the other side of paradise, Here Comes the Sun follows Jamaican Margot as she sells her body to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school and shield her from the same fate. As plans for a new hotel resort are revealed, Margot’s entire community is threatened, and she is offered the chance to finally be financially free. As she reconsiders the things that matter most to her, Margot must also confront the many demons in her past.
Run Away by Harlan Coben
Financial bigwig Simon Greene’s world was rocked when his 21-year-old daughter, Paige, ran away to begin a downward spiral of drugs and abusive men. Years later, when he happens upon her in Central Park, he can’t stop himself from doing everything in his power to save her from the dark world in which she’s trapped herself. But the deeper he goes, the more he puts his family, life, and reputation at risk. Still, he can’t stop himself from doing everything he can. But will it be enough?
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
At a highly competitive performing arts school, two young students, David and Sarah, fall in love. Their relationship goes mostly unnoticed, and is subtly manipulated by their drama teacher. At first things between the two are great, but eventually things turn sour. Fourteen years later, it is revealed that what happened to David and Sarah is not all that it seems. As the plot moves forward, it becomes less and less apparent who to trust in this tangled web of truths and lies.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
As maid of honor, Olive Torres is willing to do just about anything for her twin sister, Ami. Except, of course, make nice with her sworn enemy (and best man) Ethan Thomas. But when the entire wedding party comes down with food poisoning, Olive and Ethan (the only two left unaffected) are sent off on the couple’s once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon so it doesn’t go to waste. As they pretend to be in newly-wedded bliss, the two discover that they might not hate each other so much anymore.
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
When Greer Kadetsky first encounters feminist icon Faith Frank, it is at a lecture during her freshman year of college. Greer is immediately inspired by Frank, and manages to land a job with her after graduation. As she makes a name for herself and begins to make a difference, Greer’s personal life begins to implode, and she finds herself struggling to balance her demanding job with the needs of her best friend and longtime boyfriend.
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
Best friends Frances and Bobbi have always been inseparable, and their time studying and performing poetry in Dublin has only strengthened that bond. But when they meet the older, worldly couple Melissa and Nick, both find themselves drifting apart, with Frances starting a secret affair with Nick and Bobbi receiving a life-changing diagnosis that leaves her dumbfounded. As the two come to grips with their choices, they must make some of their first big life decisions.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
For those searching for their next epic fantasy post-Game of Thrones, look no further than Marlon James’s new Dark Star trilogy. In this stunning first installment, James introduces us to Tracker, a hunter with a supernatural talent to track by scent, as he joins a ragtag group of adventurers hired to find a missing boy. As their journey begins, the party is attacked by strange, malicious creatures, and they find themselves wondering just what it is about this missing boy that is so special.
High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews
When struggling attorney Brooke Trappnell is summoned to the private island of the reclusive heiress Josephine Warrick, she has no idea what to expect. She surely doesn’t expect the dying woman to ask her to track down the descendants of a long-lost group of female friends known as the High Tide Club, but nonetheless that is the task she is given. As Brooke begins to dig deeper into Josephine’s past to reunite the group, she uncovers a secret that just might turn someone into a millionaire.
Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
A stunning tale of found family and resilience, Clock Dance follows widow Willa Drake as she takes on the journey of a lifetime. Just as she is beginning to come to terms with the fact that she will never be a grandmother, Willa accepts a spontaneous offer from a stranger to look after a woman and her young daughter in Baltimore. Before she knows it, Willa is moving across the country to help a family she has never met, and discovers that sometimes it’s the family you choose that matters most.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones and the Six were the biggest rock band of the 1970’s, with the unstoppable mix of Daisy’s powerhouse vocals and the crooning tones of Billy Dunne. In true rock n’ roll fashion, the band was secretly just as much into sex, drugs, and mayhem as they were into their music, leading to their inevitable breakup. Written as a faux memoir to this fictional band, Taylor Jenkins Reid perfectly encapsulates the wild and dirty world that was old school rock n’ roll.
Leading Men by Christopher Castellani
Writer Tennessee Williams was one of the most beloved writers of the twentieth century, and his relationship with longtime partner Frank Merlo endured until Merlo’s eventual death from lung cancer. In this novel, Castellani fictionalizes the pair’s life together, detailing the couple as their lives are changed by a chance encounter with an actress at a party thrown by fellow author Truman Capote. Told from Merlo’s perspective, the novel pays a respectful homage to both men.
Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey
In a world where magic exists openly, Ivy Gamble has come to resent the mysterious powers of mages like her twin sister, especially since Ivy is proud to have absolutely no magical abilities. Instead, she makes a mundane living as a private detective, keeping her safely out of the magical world. But when a professor at the magic school her sister teaches at is brutally murdered, Ivy is tasked with solving the case, forcing her into the underbelly of intrigue and power she has spent her whole life avoiding.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
In her inspiring memoir, this former First Lady details how Michelle LaVaughn Robinson from the South Side of Chicago became Michelle Obama of the White House, and the many lessons she learned along the way. From her empowering advocacy for women and girls to her nationwide initiative to inspire healthier living, Michelle Obama has laughed, cried, and danced along with all of America. You won’t want to put her spectacular story down.
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
For fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, this innovative novel from Leni Zumas imagines a world in which women’s reproductive rights have become highly criminalized and illegal. In this difficult political terrain exists a small Oregon town, where five women are each connected and torn apart by their own pregnancies. As a radical herbalist from the woods is viciously prosecuted, each of these women must come face-to-face with their own choices and decide which part they want to play in their stories.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Circe, a mythical Greek sorceress, is most known in the modern world for her year-long affair with Homer’s Odysseus (and her vengeful transformation of his crew to pigs). This story reimagines Circe as a misunderstood daughter of a god, unaccepted by her fellow Olympians but feared by the mortals with whom she has taken refuge. Featuring appearances from famous Greek characters like Icarus and the minotaur, this book is a great treat for any fan of Greek mythology.
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
Anna Fox is an agoraphobe: she doesn’t leave her New York City home, instead drinking wine and spying on her much more interesting neighbors. She pays particular attention to the family that has just moved in across the way: the idyllic trio of a mother, father, and their teenage son. One fateful night, Anna witnesses a brutal murder. Or, at least, she thinks she does. As she struggles to investigate the gruesome crime, Anna begins to wonder if all is really as it seems, even in her own head.
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Korede loves her sister Ayoola, even if her tendency to murder her boyfriends is exasperating. In this dark comedy thriller, Korede has become accustomed to cleaning up the messes, literally and figuratively, of her homicidal sister. But when the man Korede has been pining after for years asks her for Ayoola’s phone number, she finds she can no longer be an accomplice to her sister’s crimes, and instead must face the horrors Ayoola has caused.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
In this fresh twist on the murder mystery genre, Aiden Bishop begins his night as a guest at the lavish memorial party of the Hardcastle family for their murdered son. By the end of the evening, their daughter, Evelyn, is murdered. Each successive morning, Aiden relives the same day in the body of a different party guest, tasked with finding the killer. If he doesn’t, Evelyn dies all over again. The catch? He only has eight days, and Evelyn is running out of time.
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
If you could find out the exact day you will die, would you want to know? This question haunts the four Gold children, who snuck out to visit a psychic in the summer of 1969 and each learned the details of their own demise. For the next fifty years, the four siblings find themselves unable to forget what they have learned. As they grow older, the information pushes them all in different directions, each reacting differently to the disturbing news of how their lives will come to an end.