By Lorie Ham
It’s summer and it’s hot! Time to pack up and head to the beach with a good book—or if you can’t get out of town, curl up on the couch, crank up the AC, and play ocean sounds on your noise app. Here are just a few suggestions for your beach reads this summer.
If you enjoy a good romance, Emily Henry is the author everyone is talking about these days and she released a new book in April called Funny Story. Book blogger She Reads calls Henry the “queen of the beach reads” in her list of Best Beach Reads Summer of 2024. Other books on her list are Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang, and Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan—the author of Crazy Rich Asians.
Here is a little about Funny Story (published by Berkley): Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
If you love books, especially eBooks, BookBub is the website for you. You can sign up for free, tell them what your book preferences are, and get an email every day with discounted and free eBooks. You can also get recommendations from authors and friends. Their list of must-read mystery and thrillers for this summer include What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris, Some Murders in Berlin by Karen Robards, You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto, and the book a lot of people are talking about, Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell.
Here is a little about Love Letters to a Serial Killer (published by Berkley): Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. It’s the perfect outlet for her pent-up frustration and rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first. Until William writes back.
If you love mysteries CrimeReads is another good resource and on their list of 7 Great Debut Novels that came out in June is once again Love Letters to a Serial Killer. The list also includes Death in the Air by Ram Murali and Holy City by Henry Wise. If you prefer your mysteries on the lighter side The Book Girls Guide has a list of summer cozies set on the beach which include Beaches, Bungalows, and Burglaries by Tonya Kappes, and Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies by Catherine Mack. You can find some great lesser-known mysteries over in Kings River Life Magazine’s mystery section.
Here is a little about Beaches, Bungalows, and Burglaries: Hi. I’m Mae West. No. Not the actress. If you would’ve told me year ago that I was going to be broke and penniless after my husband took everyone to the cleaners after he pulled off one of the biggest Ponzi schemes, leaving me a run-down campground, a set of camper keys, before he escaped prison and when the FBI came to the campground to see if I helped him escape, then the no good you know what floated up to the top of the lake in that campground making me the number one suspect, I’d said you were lying.
Another mystery novel that was just released this June is the second book in my book series, the Tower District Mysteries, set in the Tower District of Fresno, California. One of You takes place during a Halloween mystery event in the Tower District called Mysteryfest. One of the authors is murdered and local P.I. Stephen Carlucci and his cousin, entertainment podcaster Roxi Carlucci, set out to find the killer and keep them from killing again—all while trying to keep the Mysteryfest going.
If your tastes lie more in the sci-fi/fantasy genre Winter is Coming has a list of 15 fantasy and science fiction books to read this summer. Realms of the Mind has a similar list and both of them have Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky on their lists.
Here is a little about Service Model (published by Tordotcom): When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
Whatever your reading tastes, there are plenty of choices out there for your summer 2024 reading! Many of these books can be found at your local library, or purchased in most of the usual places such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or if you prefer to support indie bookstores check out BookShop.org.
What are some books you are looking forward to?
