Inspire Great Reading for Summer 2018
One of the best pleasures and activities for the summer season, at least for me, is sitting outside with a refreshing glass of lemonade and a good book in your hands. You watch the colors in the sky transform from a light blue to vibrant red, yellow and pink colors--and you listen to the crickets and wait for the lightning bugs to emerge.
That's summer, and there are five phenomenal reading suggestions for this season. All of these books are challenging readers, tell beautiful and enticing stories, and are perfect companions for the summer season.
Enjoy my selection of the best books on the market right now--because they're so worth it.
1. "Her Pretty Face" - Robyn Harding
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| Robyn Harding's "Her Pretty Face" (photo/Simon & Schuster). |
Frances Metcalfe has never been very good at being a sociable mother. She avoids the other mothers at school--the ones who are too snobby and don't want anything to do with her. She tries to fit in, but she fails. Being a stay-at-home mom to her son is her job--no, her life. But, she can't help but feel depressed every time she arrives at his new elite private school, Forrester Academy.
After a disturbing scandal rocks the entire school, Frances knows it will be impossible to make friends with the other moms.
Well, that's the case until she meets Kate Randolph. Kate is everything Frances wishes she could be and more--beautiful, wealthy, composed, and powerful. They form an unlikely friendship over their mutual dislike of the other moms at the school.
But a startling secret threatens to destroy their friendship--because one woman is not who she seems. She's actually a murderer, but who is it?
In Robyn Harding's newest novel, Her Pretty Face, these two women are spun into a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal. And the whole time, readers will be asking: Who can we trust? And, who is the real murderer?
2. "Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over" - Nell Painter
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| Nell Painter's "Old in Art School" (photo/Amazon). |
In her new memoir, Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over, acclaimed historian Nell Painter describes what it's really like to start over on your life when you're at the age when you're, according to society, supposed to relax and enjoy your retirement.
Painter explains that she found meaning in the artists she always admired. In addition, she considers the statements she frequently received from her peers, including, "You will never be an artist." Who defines what "an artist" is and all that belongs to that identity?
In her bold and frank memoir, Painter finally answers the questions she has been putting off her entire life. But for readers who need a little "pick-me-up" this summer, you'll be interested in a surprising tale of someone who transitioned from academia to art--at the age when everyone thought she could never do it.
She proved them wrong, didn't she?
3. "That Kind of Mother" - Rumaan Alam
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| Rumaan Alam's "That Kind of Mother" (photo/Amazon). |
That's why she reaches out to the one nurse at the hospital who offers to help her, Priscilla Johnson. Priscilla becomes Rebecca's nanny, and the two form a close friendship.
But when Priscilla dies unexpectedly in childbirth, Rebecca doesn't know how to cope without her best friend, but she does know one thing she has to do: adopt Priscilla's child as her own. She will raise both children as her own, but she wasn't expecting the many challenges of raising a child who is not her own race.
Knowing society will treat her two children differently, Rebecca becomes the mother she never thought she could be in Rumaan Alam's newest novel, That Kind of Mother. Alam has crafted another novel about the lives we choose, and the lives that are chosen for us.
4. "Girl With a Gun: An Annie Oakley Mystery" - Kari Bovee
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| Kari Bovee's "Girl with a Gun" (photo/Amazon). |
Are you a fan of historical fiction? If you are, then this is the next book you need to read!
Kari Bovee's debut novel, Girl With a Gun: An Annie Oakley Mystery, brings readers a new adventure starring everyone's favorite Western sharpshooter, Annie Oakley.
After being offered a position in Buffalo Bill's Wild Wild West show, Annie finally has the opportunity to save her family's farm. But then tragedy strikes: her Native American assistant is found dead in her tent. When the local coroner claims the death was from natural causes, Annie becomes skeptical and decides to set out to solve the mystery of just what happened.
But then another murder happens...and then her horse is stolen. Annie has no idea what's going on, but she's determined to get to the bottom of the case. She sets out on an adventure with a courageous reporter. What follows is a thrilling novel about one determined cowgirl, who will stop at nothing to solve the mystery and clear her good name.
5. "The Kiss Quotient" - Helen Hoang
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| Helen Hoang's "The Kiss Quotient" (photo/Amazon). |
Helen Hoang's debut novel, The Kiss Quotient, is your classic love story: a girl who doesn't get dates, so she hires an escort to teach her everything she needs to know about dating.
What makes Hoang's novel different is that her protagonist, Stella Lane, is a widely successful mathematician, but she also has recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has no problem figuring algorithms, but she has never mastered kissing. She never really wanted to kiss.
But, as usual, this changes when she hires an escort to teach her everything she's been missing. But Stella didn't anticipate an unlikely friendship between the two and the fact that she craves for more than just a no-nonsense partnership.
Take Hoang's novel along with you to the beach and you won't be able to put it down!
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These are only five reading recommendations for the Summer 2018 season. There are many other phenomenal books being released this season, and I definitely recommend taking every opportunity you can get to read as many books as possible. Talented writers are emerging, and I can't wait to see what they accomplish.
Read on.
-KJL-
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