A Mom’s Summer Reading List
Summer is the perfect season for escaping with a good book. Whether you are at the beach with the fam, sitting in the camp carpool pickup line, or just enjoying the quiet in your backyard during naptime, reading a good book is a great way to relax and enjoy some “me” time.
Here are a few recommendations from my personal library:
- Pretty much anything from Elin Hilderbrand
I became a fan of Elin Hilderbrand after reading “Silver Girl” a few years ago and couldn’t wait to read her next one. Since that time I’ve read The Beach Club, The Blue Bistro, Beautiful Day, Barefoot, The Island, Summer People, Nantucket Nights, and most recently, Winter Street, but my very favorite is The Castaways.
All set on the charming island of Nantucket, you will fall as in love with the quaint places and features of the area as you do the characters in her books.
- A good mystery or thriller that will keep you guessing
By now, most everyone has read Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, and if you haven’t, get to it ASAP! But there are several other novels in this genre that should find their way onto your nightstand too. Harlan Coben is known for his suspenseful bestsellers, but The Stranger and Six Years are two not to be missed. Built around the disappearance of the main character’s loved one, both novels will make the hairs on your neck stand on end more times than you can count!
Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng are also high on my list, with their age-old whodunnit appeal. I love a good surprise villain, and these two books did not disappoint!
- That book you just can’t seem to put down
Markus Zusak’s I Am the Messenger literally had me up way past my bedtime trying to figure out the ending. And I don’t think I was the only dying to know The Husband’s Secret or What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, a best-selling Australian author who really knows how to tell a tale full of secrets and lies mixed in with a large dose of humor.
No One Knows by J.T. Ellison is another brain-bender with a riveting plot that switches back and forth from past to present, allowing the truth to materialize slowly. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat with every turn of the page!
- Something light and mindless
Sometimes you just don’t want to think, you merely want to be entertained….whisked away to another time and place and made to laugh about someone else’s silly problems. Author Emily Giffin is always a sure thing in this department, and her latest book, First Comes Love, is another beautifully written novel in a long line of books about families, love, and friendship. Other bestsellers from Emily Giffin to add to your list include Something Borrowed, Heart of the Matter, and One and Only.
One of my all-time favorite “beach books” is The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. Actually a collection of linked short stories, this book follows main character, Jane Rosenal, as she maneuvers through issues like sex, love, the workplace, and relationships.
Lastly, The Knockoff, which has been described as The Devil Wears Prada meets Social Network, is a clever novel about the cut-throat world of fashion in the digital age. You will love to hate Eve Morton, the assistant who is vying for her boss’s job….among other things!
