The Sunday before last a roomful of people gathered to participate in a very serious discussion about light reading: what makes the perfect summer book?
Because I put the event together, I made the executive decision that paperbacks make the best reading vehicle on the beach so I invited four authors with new paperback novels out to help us hone in on what we all might want to read over the next couple of months.
Pink Whales by Sara Shukla fills a particular niche of summer reading by taking place between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Shukla said this was a useful framework because it gave her particular beats to hit—from opening day to the Fourth of July fireworks on the beach to the final Labor Day cookout of the season. In the novel, a young family moves to town a on the North Shore of Massachusetts and quickly falls in with the country club set. Shukla said it’s like “Mean Girls” but with beach club moms. It’s filled with humor—lots of spilled drinks and misunderstandings.
Do summer reads need a beach setting? One Last Shot by Betty Cayouette scratches that itch with a predominantly Italian Riviera locale. It has all the trappings of a classic romance novel: two ex-lovers come back together as co-workers for one week on a photo shoot. Can they finally make it work this time? Can they overcome the forces working against them, including their
own insecurities and doubts and fears? It’s a highly enjoyable read with a confident tone, fast pacing, and gorgeous scenery.
Speaking of tone, sometimes beach reads are all about tone. The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel is a coming-of-age story with a light touch that belies all the work put into writing it. Patel described writing a novel a little like erecting a building—a lot of scaffolding has to go up, scaffolding that’s invisible to the reader but is necessary for holding up the story. In her novel, a young woman is expected to carry on the ancestral tradition from her family’s Salem spice shop, but she yearns to follow her own path. It is only when family secrets come to light can everyone heal and move on.
I have found that family secrets are another secret ingredient to a vacation read and all of the books I’ve mentioned so far have some, as does Hanna Halperin’s I Could Live Here Forever. The beach reads I’ve described so far are not for everybody. Some people like something a little, well, darker. I Could Live Here Forever is a love story, but it’s troubled from the beginning. That doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to read. Halperin’s writing sets this book apart. It allows the reader to feel the intimacy and longing inherent in the story.
Summer reading is upon us and it’s perhaps my favorite time of year to read. The only question remaining is where: ocean or lakeside,
hammock or recliner? A very serious discussion for another time.
More Books Like Pink Whales
Summer Stage by Meg Mitchell Moore
The Winner by Teddy Wayne
Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur
Save What’s Left by Elizabeth Castellano
More Books Like One Last Shot
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
Just for the Summer by Abby Jiminez
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
More Books Like The Curious Secrets of Yesterday
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal
Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal
Skunks by Fiona Warnick
Swift River by Essie Chambers
More Books Like I Could Live Here Forever
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Everything’s Fine by Cecelia Rabess
Hannah Harlow is owner of The Book Shop, an independent bookstore in Beverly Farms. Harlow writes semi-regular recommendations for our readers. See more of what she recommends reading at thecricket.com.
