8 Sizzling Summer Reads
Choosing your next read requires a quick mood check: Do you want something light and frothy or serious and engaging? These top picks will satisfy every craving from the shallow end to the deep. By Tiffany Blackstone,REDBOOK.
The After Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazier
Hannah Bernal has problems: Her husband just died, she's about to lose her home, she just got her daughter kicked out of school-oh, and she's suddenly seeing ghosts. When it comes to bubbly reads with a big gulp of heart, The Starter Wife author Grazier never disappoints.
Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
The latest pseudo-insider story from duo behind The Nanny Diaries takes on A-list Hollywood meltdowns from a personal assistant's point of view. It's like being a fly on the wall in Britney Spear's mega mansion.
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Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox-semi-recluse, genius architect and PTA pariah- is on the lam, and her teen daughter Bee is determined to unravel the wacky events leading up to her quick getaway. Semple stirs just enough raw emotion into this madcap adventure to make it crazily believable.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Nick Dunne's wife disappears, sparking a media frenzy led by a Nancy Grace-style cable news host. His story is fishier than day-old sushi and her diary paints him in an unflattering light. But is he a killer? Dark yet funny with a devious twist, this is everything that made Flynn's Sharp Objects a bestseller-but better.
Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel
Computer whiz Sam Elling found his soulmate using an algorithm he created for a matchmaking website. When he uses the same technology to create a virtual version of her late grandmother, he realizes that their happily ever after never has to end. If you like your love stories modern, clever, and a little weepy (think One Day), you will adore this.
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The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Eleven-year-old Julia wakes one morning to find that the Earth has begun to slow. Over the course of a year, she struggles with a world thrown into chaos along with the ordinary heartbreaks of growing up. This haunting debut has forged an unexpected but amazing new genre: the coming-of-age-apocalypse tale.
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A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
Estranged from her son and husband, 30-something Jinx has retreated from the world. When a family friend shows up unexpectedly, she's forced to face the role she played in her mother's death fifteen years earlier. Fans of British psychological thrillers, à la Ruth Rendell, will adore this lyrical debut, which was nominated for three of the U.K.'s top literary prizes.
The Cost of Hope by Amanda Bennett
In this poignant memoir, financial journalist Bennett attempts to determine the cost of trying to save her beloved husband's life before he died of cancer. Part love story, part expose of the absurdities of the American healthcare system, Bennett will open your eyes while filling them with tears.
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