8 summer reads to get lost in...

I just LOVE sitting pool side, at the beach or on the patio on a warm and sunny day and getting completely lost in a great book.  It is one of the most delicious way to spend a summer day.  Here are 8 books I have read recently that make for really great summer reads…

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman… This historical fiction set in a mental institution is a real page turner as the story line bounces between the present and the past. With themes of love, family and redemption with a touch of mystery thrown in, this story line will suck you in quickly.   

Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal… You will get lost in the South with this civil-rights era story set in New Orleans.  One part The Help and one part Secret Life of Bees you will soon wish Fannie and Queenie were your family too.

Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin… An honest look at motherhood on the Upper East Side of New York City.  This pages practically turn themselves in this book. I equally loved the peek into the lives of New York City mothers and could also find many parallels to motherhood regardless of location in this book.

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore… Set in an idyllic family summer compound in Vermont… one minute you think you are reading a book about a girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" trying to become an insider in this new world. The next minute you realize there is way more mystery beneath the surface.  This is absolute favorite read in a while! I highly recommend.

Paris, He Said by Christine Sneed… When a wealthy art dealer offers a young beautiful starving artist a chance to live and create art in Paris, she says yes.  Through the eyes of Jayne, Paris is beautiful and full of opportunity but is it what she really wanted? This book asks the question, what happens when our dreams come true?

Charleston by Margaret Bradham Thornton… A writer returns to her roots in Charleston and the city is brought alive on the page with fancy parties, old lovers and Southern charm.  This is one of my favorite reads about Charleston to date.  Truly a great book to get lost in.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber… This book is so mind-blowing and just plain strange.  That said, I adored every moment of it. A young pastor is offered to travel to space to live on a planet that is being colonized.  His experiences and daily interactions with the natives in nothing short of bizarre.  This book still haunts my thoughts.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins… If you haven't already - read this. It's creepy and addicting and the ultimate summer read.  I am desperately hoping they make this into a movie, like probably everyone else that has read it.

Have you read any of these? What other summer "get lost in" books do you recommend?

43. Book Review: Mariana (2014)

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

Synopsis

Julia Beckett believes in destiny, settling into her rustic new home, Julia encounters haunting remnants of a beautiful young woman who lived and loved there centuries ago. It's seems Mariana has been waiting for Julia. 

 Review

I am now officially a Susanna Kearsley fan for life.  Similar in mood and readability as The Winter Sea, Kearsley effortlessly blends historical fiction and love into an absolute page turner.  These characters are instantly lovable and the scenery is so well written I absolutely felt like I was right in the action.  After I finished this book all I wanted to do was start another book by the same author.  Also the end has a very sweet twist that I loved.  I highly recommend this book!

Other books you may like…

anything by Susanna Kearsley

anything written by Kate Morton

40. Book Review: The Vacationers (2014)

The Vacationers: A Novel by Emma Straub

Synopsis

For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated. 

 This is a story of the sides of ourselves that we choose to show and those we try to conceal, of the ways we tear each other down and build each other up again, and the bonds that ultimately hold us together. With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole. 

 Review

I would call this book part family saga, part coming of age and part spying on a family during their family vacation.  As modern "literature" is these days, it was predictable and borderline sophomoric - but as far as beach reads or quick reads go, this one was a success.  I felt like the characters were a bit stereotypical, but also lovable at the same time so the author redeemed herself there.  This book is like your favorite rom-com.  Definitely pack it for your next weekend away - preferably somewhere warm!

Other books you may like…

One Plus One: A Novel 

  What Alice Forgot

39. Book Review: The Winter Sea (2014)

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Synopsis

History has all but forgotten...In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown. 

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write. But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her…

Review

I originally picked this book up a few years ago to read and just couldn't get into it - I have no idea why! I started again from the beginning and just flew through this book this time around. I loved every single page!  I could feel the sea air on my face, picture Carrie's cozy little cottage and loved the gentle unfolding of the two love stories as well.  This is historical fiction at it's best.  This is a great fall or winter read when you can snuggle up with a cup of tea by the fire and devour a great book.  I would be curious if Kearsley's other books are this delicious.  Have you read any others by this author?

Other books you may like…

The Secret Keeper: A Novel

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

37. Book Review: The Fortune Hunter (2014)

The Fortune Hunter: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin

Synopsis

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse. 

 Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National—until he meets Charlotte Baird. A clever, plainspoken heiress whose money gives her a choice among suitors, Charlotte falls in love with Bay, the first man to really notice her, for his vulnerability as well as his glamour. When Sisi joins the legendary hunt organized by Earl Spencer in England, Bay is asked to guide her on the treacherous course. Their shared passion for riding leads to an infatuation that jeopardizes the growing bond between Bay and Charlotte, and threatens all of their futures.

Review

I absolutely adored this book.  It solidified and reminded me of my love for historical fiction and was quite a delight to read after having read some books I haven't cared for much.  The story line moved at a steady pace with absolutely lovable characters and rich imagery. I almost felt like I was watching this in movie form rather than reading it, the author brilliantly painted her landscape.  I highly recommend this book if you too are a historical fiction lover.

Other books you may like…

The American Heiress: A Novel

The House at Tyneford: A Novel

34. Book Review: The Steady Running of the Hour (2014)

The Steady Running of the Hour: A Novel

Synopsis 

A QUEST NOVEL and a historical tour de force, The Steady Running of the Hour unravels a tale of passion, legacy, and courage reaching across the twentieth century. 

 In 1924, the English mountaineer Ashley Walsingham dies attempting to summit Mount Everest, leaving his fortune to his former lover, Imogen Soames-Andersson—whom he has not seen in seven years. Ashley’s solicitors search in vain for Imogen, but the estate remains unclaimed. 

 Nearly eighty years later, new information leads the same law firm to Tristan Campbell, a young American who could be the estate’s rightful heir. If Tristan can prove he is Imogen’s descendant, the inheritance will be his. But with only weeks before Ashley’s trust expires, Tristan must hurry to find the evidence he needs. 

 From London archives to Somme battlefields to the Eastfjords of Iceland, Tristan races to piece together the story behind the unclaimed riches: a reckless love affair pursued only days before Ashley’s deployment to the Western Front; a desperate trench battle fought by soldiers whose hope is survival rather than victory; an expedition to the uncharted heights of the world’s tallest mountain. Following a trail of evidence that stretches to the far edge of Europe, Tristan becomes consumed by Ashley and Imogen’s story. But as he draws close to the truth, Tristan realizes he may be seeking something more than an unclaimed fortune.

Review

I absolutely loved this book from the get-go and about half way through I couldn't put the book down at all - I even stayed up until 2am reading one night. I can't remember the last time I did that.  The two stories lines make for a definite page turner and my curiosity about the mystery that the story presents is irresistible.  I would have loved a little more involved ending… the book ended so abruptly!  But regardless this is a gorgeous book and one I won't soon forget.

Other books you may like…

The Signature of All Things: A Novel

Flight Behavior: A Novel

Any book by Kate Morton who is a genius with double story lines like this book!

32. Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind (2014)

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Synopsis

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Review

Let's start with the bad and get to the good about this book… this book took me forever to read and as a "quick reader" it caught me off guard a bit. The first half of the book was slow moving and with a lot of names and characters to keep straight (a character chart would have been very helpful!).  But that is the only bad about this book.  The mystery was well played out and parts of it were fun to guess. The writing is absolutely stunning, creating gorgeous dialogue and inner dialogue with the characters and a rich setting in which the mystery took place.  I would recommend this book, but with the caveat that the beginning is slow so you have to be able to stick to it.  

I love books about books… so in that regard this story did not let me down.  Mysterious libraries, old abandoned mansions, love letters, plenty of twists and turns and unrequited love make for a great read.  This would be a great winter or fall read… curl up on a cold and cloudy day and become absorbed into Daniel's world.

Other books you may like…

The Book Thief  

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel