I’m a bit of a book nerd. I love to crack open a book and smell the pages. That, to me, is book heaven. I know, it’s a little weird, but I’m sure you’ll crack open a book or two this summer. Just remember to smell the pages.
I’ve already read (actually listed to via audiobook) a couple of these books on my Summer Reads list – The Girl on the Train and Where’d You Go, Bernadette. They were really good! I’m glad I read/listened to The Girl on the Train before the movie came out!
1. The Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins
This psychological thriller is told in the first-person perspective of three women – Rachel, Megan, and Anna. Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. As the train passes by the suburban homes, she begins to watch the same couple, a couple she calls Jess and Jason. Their life seems perfect, as opposed to her life, which is in shambles. Rachel is a self-destructive alcoholic, and divorced from Tom, who is now married to Anna. The plot thickens when Rachel, who is riding the train to the city, sees Jess kissing another man who is not her husband. I won’t spoil the plot any further. Just know this… the lives of these three women are forever intertwined.
2. The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
This novel features three best friends who get the chance to return to the year they turned forty, a year that altered their lives, and they get the opportunity to change their future.
3. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
This novel “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.”
4. My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich
This unforgettable novel is about a woman with a secret who travels to New York City on a determined quest to buy a special dress that represents everything she wants to say about that secret… and herself.”
This book pays homage to Paul Gallico’s 1958 classis Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris, starring Angela Lansbury. If you haven’t seen the movie, then rent it after you read this book!
5. Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
This was a great book to listen to and I would recommend anyone who has the time to listen to it instead of just reading it (but reading it is OK too). “Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend, and simply, Mom.” Then Bernadette disappears and Bee begins to compile email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence in order to find her Mom. To find out where Bernadette went, and if they found her, you’ll have to read the book.
6. The Two of Us by Andy Jones
“Falling in love is the easy part. What matters most is what happens next…”
Fisher and Ivy fell in love and after just 19 days, they knew they were meant to be together. Over then next 12 months, they discover that falling in love is one thing, but staying there is an entirely different story.
7. The One We Fell In Love With by Paige Toon
Phoebe is caught between a rock and a hard place – settle down or get married, or return to the French Alps to pursue her passion? Eliza is in love with someone who is no longer hers, and probably never was… and her dream of becoming a musician is going down the drain. Rose is out of a job and out of a boyfriend. To make matters worse, she has been forced to move back in with her mother. But these girls do have one thing in common. Angus. They one they fell in love with…
8. Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner
I really like everything that Jennifer Weiner has written, and I’m looking forward to reading this book.
Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are 8-years-old when they meet in an ER waiting room. After sharing a moment in the waiting room, Andy is taken back into the ER and Rachel is sent back to her hospital bed. They think they’ll never see each other again. Over the course of three decades, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, “until they are finally given the chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they’ve been running toward each other all along.”
9. The Singles Game by Lauren Weisberger
Lauren Weisberger is the author of The Devil Wears Prada and Revenge Wears Prada. Her new novel is a dishy tale all about a beautiful tennis prodigy who, after changing coaches, and suddenly makes headlines on and off the court. This novel brings us a behind-the-scenes details from all the Grand Slam tournaments as the main character, Charlotte “Charlie” Silver navigates the tennis world as well as the tabloid world.
10. First Comes Love by Emily Giffin
Emily Giffin is the author of Something Borrowed, which was made into a movie starring Kate Hudson and Gennifer Goodwin. In Emily’s newest novel, we meet a pair of sisters who find themselves at a crossroads. A family tragedy splinter the sister’s bond, but on the anniversary of their tragedy, they two sisters must not only confront the issues that divided them, but come to terms with their own choices.
What is on your summer reading list? Leave your reading suggestions below so I can add them to my list!
Yours Truly,
Vanessa
**The links and book descriptions are from Good Reads. Each book title link will take you to Good Reads.