Need a new pile of books to get you through the dog days of summer—or help remind you of summer as the case may be? We’ve got the pages you’ll want to read on the dock, in 
the hammock, on the deck, or snuggled inside with the AC blasting. We’ve got summer reads, brazen beach reads, books to read in the breeze, hot thrillers, we’ve got it all, and here they are.
Beach Reads: Summer Books to Help You Through the Heat
Summer Books to Read on a Maine evening with a Sweatshirt On….
The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
In 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island as a schoolgirl from the margins of high society, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. Miranda’s new stepsister is eager to draw Miranda into the customs of society. But beneath the island’s patrician surface, there are really two clans: the summer families with their steadfast ways and quiet obsessions, and the working class of Portuguese fishermen and domestic workers who earn their living on the water and in the laundries of the summer houses. In the landmark summer of 1969, Miranda returns as a renowned Shakespearean actress. On its surface, the Island remains the same even if it means uncovering every last one of the secrets that bind together the families of Winthrop Island.
Jenny Bell has escaped her troubled past. Now she is one of a dozen artists invited to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s prestigious artists’ colony. As the summer shimmers on, and the competition between the artists grows fierce as they vie for a spot at Tiffany’s New York gallery, a series of disturbing occurrences suggest someone knows enough about Jenny’s childhood trauma to expose her. Jenny’s past and present are thrown together in a desperate moment, that will threaten her promising future, her love, her friendships, and her very life.
Hot Psych Thrillers To Read in Air Conditioning…
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house. And he’s promised today will be the best day ever. But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really? Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. You will never forget Paul.
Girls Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
For estranged friends Ashley, Natalie, and Lauren, it’s time to heal the old wounds between them. Where better to repair those severed ties than on a girls’ getaway to the beautiful paradise of Tulum, Mexico? But even after they’re reunited, no one is being completely honest about the past or the secrets they’re hiding. When Ashley disappears on their girls’ night out, Natalie and Lauren have to try to piece together their memories, while also reconciling their feelings of guilt. Maybe their secrets run deeper and more dangerous than one of them is willing—or too afraid—to admit. This book is SO good!
Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone
A double life with a single purpose: revenge. Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her job. She’s the kind of woman middle manager Steven likes—meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven. It’s time for Jane to dig out everything that matters to Steven. So she can take it all away. Just as he did to her. You won’t be able to put this one down.
The Brazen Beach Reads
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
This novel is both heartwarming and sexy as hell novel perfection. Stella Lane has Aspergers and begins quest to learn about love, ok actually sex, written by an author with autism. Did I mention that this book is both sensitive and fabulous and ridiculously HOT? It also perfectly conveys the power differential when the woman has money, a lot of money, and the man does not. Read the book and try to get Michael tattoo out of your mind. Stella will stay with you long after you finish this book.
Set in modern day Oxford, Mississippi, on the Ole Miss campus, Rush is a story about women from both ends of the social ladder discovering their voices and their empowerment. Cali Watkins possesses all the qualities sororities are looking for in a potential new member. But her resume lacks pedigree. If anyone discovers the dark family secrets she’s hiding, she’ll be dropped from Rush in an instant. For twenty-five years, Miss Pearl—as her “babies” like to call her—has been housekeeper and a second mother to the Alpha Delt girls, even though it reminds her of a painful part of her past she’ll never forget. Brimming with heart and hope for a better tomorrow, Rush is an uplifting novel universal to us all.
Andrea Peskind Katz is an avid reader, a brazen book reviewer, and founder of the book blog Great Thoughts and The Great Thoughts’ Great Readers Book Salon on Facebook.
