I suspect I’m not the only writer with a TBR (“To Be Read” for those rare unicorns who have not discovered the joy of books ) stack almost as tall as I am. My book reading list is always very ambitious, but life and writing usually get in the way and I usually fall short of my goals. Plus if a book doesn’t suck me in, it takes my twice as long to read. While I do stop reading books I don’t like, I have a feeling I could do that a bit more than I do. But now that I’m an author, I always try to finish every book I pick up because I’d hate for someone to put down any of my books before they give them a proper chance.
I wish I was one of those people who could read four books at once, but I am a serial monogamous when it comes to reading. One book at a time. The most reading I’ve gotten done in one month this year was when I had covid and I was stuck at home. I definitely don’t want that to happen again, but life definitely gets in the way of my reading time!
Here’s a look at my dream Summer TBR. I’ll report back in September and let you know how many I actually read:
The Roughest Draft
by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
This is a pick from my Let’s Get Lit(erature)book club. We’ve struggled to pick books in the past and I completely blame the wine. We often wait until the end of the meeting to pick our next read and end up picking a tragedy when we want a comedy. This book is definitely the right genre so that’s a plus! But I’m only half-way through so I’d better get cracking if I’m going to finish before our meeting on the 29th.
Description: “Three years ago, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen were the brightest literary stars on the horizon, their cowritten book topping bestseller lists. But on the heels of their greatest success, they ended their partnership on bad terms, for reasons neither would divulge to the public. They haven’t spoken since, and never planned to, except they have one final book due on contract.
Facing crossroads in their personal and professional lives, they’re forced to reunite. The last thing they ever thought they’d do again is hole up in the tiny Florida town where they wrote their previous book, trying to finish a new manuscript quickly and painlessly. Working through the reasons they’ve hated each other for the past three years isn’t easy, especially not while writing a romantic novel.”
Daytime Drama
by Sarahlyn Bruck
It’s no secret I love books about the entertainment industry, so this seems right up my alley.
Description: “Soap opera star by day, harried, single mom by night, Calliope Hart’s life is a delicate balancing act. When the network cancels her show, Callie’s world crumbles and she must decide whether it’s more important to fight to save the show or take a risk and start over from scratch.”
Not A Happy Family
by Shari LaPena
Who doesn’t love a story about a dysfunctional family? I’m ready to pack this in my bag on my next trip and lose myself in this nightmarish family saga.
Description: “Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there, and Fred and Sheila Merton certainly are rich. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered after a fraught Easter dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of the siblings is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you’d know.”
The Hive
by Gill Hornby
When I read a review that said “Mean Girls for moms” I was all in! I love books with a dark twist on everyday life. I have high hopes for this one.
Description: “It’s the start pf another school year at St. Ambrose. While the children are buys in the classroom, their mothers are learning sharper lessons. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power…and how to get invited to lunch.”
The Gifted School
by Bruce Holsinger
Do I read books about questionable parenting choices/philosophies to make me feel better about my own choices? Perhaps. But it could just be my love of all tales dark and twisty.
Description: “Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School is a keenly entertaining novel that observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide in a pile-up with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who’ve been a part of one another’s lives since their kids were born over a decade ago, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group’s children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil and long-buried, explosive secrets surface and detonate. It’s a humorous, keenly observed, timely take on ambitious parents, willful kids, and the pursuit of prestige, no matter the cost.”
Nice Girls by Catherine Dang – Another debut novel with rave reviews, this book seems like a perfect beach read. Plus that cover! I know we’re not supposed to judge, but sometimes a good cover seals the deal for me…
Description: “Mary used to be such a nice girl. She was the resident whiz kid of Liberty Lake, Minnesota—the quiet, chubby teen with the scholarship to an Ivy League school. But three years later, “Ivy League Mary” is back—a thinner, cynical, restless failure who was kicked out of Cornell at the beginning of her senior year and won’t tell anyone why. Taking a job at the local grocery store, Mary tries to make sense of her life’s sharp downward spiral.
Then beautiful, magnetic Olivia Willand goes missing. A rising social media star, Olivia is admired by everyone in Liberty Lake—except Mary. Once Olivia’s best friend, Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hides a willful, manipulative girl with sharp edges. As the town obsesses over perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary wonders if her disappearance might be tied to another missing person: nineteen-year-old DeMaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway.
Who is the real Olivia Willand, and where did she go? What happened to DeMaria? As Mary pries at the cracks in the careful facades surrounding the two missing girls, old wounds will bleed fresh and force her to confront a horrible truth.
Maybe there are no nice girls, after all.”
The Assembly
by Natasha Brown
This story looks intriguing and has received amazing reviews. I can’t wait to get started. Plus clocking in at slim 102 pages I have no excuse not to finish this debut novel by the end of summer.
Description: “Come of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment. Go to college, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy an apartment. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.
The narrator of Assembly is a black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend’s family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can’t escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?”
Greenwich Park
by Katherine Faulkner
Another dark and twisty debut novel. Bonus points for being set in the London. I love books set anywhere in the U.K. since that has been my favorite travel destination for years.
Description: “In this “gloriously tangled game of cat and mouse that kept the twists coming until the very last moment” (Ruth Ware, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class.
There, she meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be who doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood. Still, Helen is drawn to her. Maybe Rachel just needs a friend. And to be honest, Helen’s a bit lonely herself. At least Rachel is fun to be with. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences, and distracts her from her fears.
But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen’s not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.”
If you have a book recommendation, drop me a note.
Reading book reviews played a fairly large role in my choosing each book on this list. It wasn’t until I became an indie author that I understood just how vital reader reviews are to unknown authors from small publishers or who self-publish. Please remember to leave a review for the books you read. If writing a review isn’t your bag, just leave a star-rating. Every review legitimizes the book and gives unknown authors a fighting chance to engage with more readers. And I can honestly say each and every review is welcome. Even if someone doesn’t like my books, someone taking the time to leave a review shows a potential reader that someone else thought it was worth spending time and money on. And a lower starred review broadens the spectrum of opinions on a book. Let’s face it, aren’t you a little suspicious of books that only have five star reviews? So thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed RISING STAR and BURNING BRIGHT. Your time and effort is much appreciated.
Happy reading! 🏖📚