Whether your summer plans include a trip overseas, a family reunion, lengthy weekends at a campground, road trips, or simply relaxing on your front porch, I hope you enjoy the pleasure of wonderful beach bag novels.
This is the perfect beach read by Laura May. As a graphic designer, Julie manipulates what the eye cannot see, yet her life and her relationship with her lover Mark remain banal no matter how she looks at it. Till she meets Ann, who is a successful STEM professional. Ann is also beautiful and charming. Julie can’t deny that they had chemistry during their chance meeting. The flame is undeniable as their past and present collide once more in Barcelona. When tragedy strikes, Julie must choose between her love for Ann and her loyalty to Mark. Is it possible for pure love to survive when the timing is off?
Evelyn Hugo, a reclusive and aging Hollywood movie star, is finally ready to reveal the truth about her spectacular and scandalous life. No one is more surprised than Monique herself when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the position. Why did she choose her? Why are you doing this now?
Monique is summoned to Evelyn’s opulent apartment and listens intently as the actress explains her story. Evelyn tells a story of relentless ambition, unexpected camaraderie, and a great forbidden love from her arrival in Los Angeles in the 1950s to her choice to quit show business in the 1980s, and, of course, the seven spouses she had along the way.
A pool is the epitome of summer. Rosemary Peterson has spent her entire life in Brixton, London, but things are changing.
A local property developer is now threatening to close the lido, an outdoor pool where she has swum every day since it opened. Rosemary avoided the wreckage of World War II at the lido; it was here that she met her husband, George; and it was here that she found community during her marriage and after George’s death.
Twentysomething Kate Matthews has recently relocated to Brixton and is feeling really lonely. She used to be a talented writer, but now she writes for her local paper and covers uninteresting stuff. That is, until she is given the task of writing about the lido’s closure. Kate’s pool portrait soon focuses on a single woman: Rosemary.
The novel about a performing arts school in the 1980s by Pulitzer Prize nominee Susan Choi is passionate, compelling, and constantly engaging. It’s well-written, and it has a meta element that makes us wonder why we turn to fiction in the first place—to escape reality or to expose it? Choi cleverly incorporates these thought-provoking themes into a young love story with a memorable plot twist.
Casey Fletcher kills time by observing Tom and Katherine Royce, the gorgeous couple who live across the lake, through a pair of binoculars and numerous bottles of bourbon. Tom, a tech innovator, is a force to be reckoned with, and Katherine, a former model, is stunning.
Casey saves Katherine from drowning one day on the lake, and the two form an unlikely relationship. However, as they get to know each other better—and as Casey watches—it becomes evident that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as flawless as it appears. Casey suspects Tom of foul play after Katherine mysteriously vanishes.
This summer, which beach bag books are you most looking forward to?
Guest post written by Jane Hurst
