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Monday, June 22, 2020

"Summer" Reads




It's officially Summer! Time for sandals, barbeque, pools, and in my case, avoiding the heat by camping out in the a/c. It's also a great time to check out some Summer Reads.




Ruth Cooperman arrives in beautiful beachside Provincetown for her retirement, renting the perfect waterfront cottage while she searches for her forever home. After years of hard work and making peace with life's disappointments, Ruth is looking forward to a carefree summer of solitude. But when she finds a baby girl abandoned on her doorstep, Ruth turns to her new neighbors for help and is drawn into the drama of the close-knit community. The appearance of the mystery baby has an emotional ripple effect through the women in town, including Amelia Cabral, the matriarch who lost her own child decades earlier; Elise Douglas, owner of the tea shop who gave up her dream of becoming a mother; and teenage local Jaci Barros who feels trapped by her parents' expectations. Ruth, caring for a baby for the first time in thirty years, finally reaches out to her own estranged daughter, Olivia, summoning her to Provincetown in hopes of a reconciliation. As summer unfolds and friends and family care for the infant, alliances are made, relationships are tested, and secrets are uncovered. But the unconditional love for a child in need just might bring Ruth and the women of Provincetown exactly what they have been longing for themselves."--Provided by publisher.



Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of a summer when everything changed, in New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand's first historical novel. Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel.



"When seven murder victims are found in a small town, the homicide investigation shakes a small-town sheriff to her core"-- Provided by publisher.



After her father goes to jail, Cady Bennett, twelve, is taken from foster care to spend a summer with her estranged Aunt Michelle, trying to save her failing pie shop.



Brynn heads back home for a fresh start and to lick her wounds. Kinsey, her long-time frenemy, has her own battles and secrets she's keeping from Brynn. Eli, Kinsey's best friend and Brynn's childhood crush, is funny and sexy and has a proposition for Brynn. As the long days of summer wind down, the three of them must discover if forgiveness is enough to grasp the unconditional love that's right in front of them.



"Truett Beverly's hometown needed a doctor, so after finishing medical school, he returned to Bethel Springs. Fighting a secret war with a corrupt lawman wasn't in his plans, but Sheriff Suggs thinks he's above the law and can lynch anyone who crosses him. When Suggs threatens his childhood friend, Truett dons a cape and hood and becomes the Hooded Horseman--becoming the sheriff's 'most wanted' enemy in the process. Celia Wilcox arrives in Bethel Springs, Alabama, in June of 1880. She's come from Nashville to help her sister care for their younger siblings. She hopes only to be on the small farm for the summer, just until her mother recovers from the shock of Celia's father's death. She must return to Nashville if she hopes to fulfill her dream of opening her own dress shop. The lovely Celia catches Truett's eye, and he finds himself wanting to impress her. But she flatly refuses to flirt with him or to fall for his--if he does say so himself--considerable charm. Celia's attraction and admiration for Dr. Beverly terrifies her. What will happen when Sheriff Suggs discovers Truett is the Hooded Horseman? Will Celia's greatest fears come true? Or will she be able to prevent the sheriff from carrying out one last lynching?" -- Amazon.com.



"On a cold December evening, Autumn Spencer's twin sister Summer walks to the roof of their shared Harlem brownstone and is never seen again, the door to the roof is locked, and no footsteps are found. Faced with authorities indifferent to another missing woman, Autumn must pursue answers on her own, all while grieving her mother's recent death. With her friends and neighbors, Autumn pretends to hold up through the crisis. She falls into an affair with Summer's boyfriend to cope with the disappearance of a woman they both loved. But the loss becomes too great, the mystery too inexplicable, and Autumn starts to unravel, all the while becoming obsessed with murdered women and the men who kill them."-- Provided by publisher.



A big-hearted story of a family filled with secrets, and the ways they grow up--and apart--over the course of a single, life-altering summer.



A powerful testament to love and friendship amid uncertain times--a Cold War coming-of-age story in which three best friends confront their fears of the Bomb, Russian spies, bullies, and their role in the tragic event that ushers them into adulthood.hood.



"Before there was 'tourism' or 'leisure time;' before souvenir ashtrays became 'camp' and 'kitsch;' before Goofy Golf became an 'attraction' and today's colossal theme parks could even be imagined, there was 'Beautiful Lake of the Ozarks -- Family Vacationland,' where to this day the ashtrays remain devoid of irony. It was here, at Arrowhead Lodge at Lake of the Ozarks, where Bill Geist spent his summers between high school and college working at this tacky resort. What may have seemed 'just a summer job' became, upon reflection, a transformative era where a cast of eccentric, small-town characters and experiences would make Bill the man he is today. Bill realized it was this time in his life that would shape his sensibilities, his humor, his writing, and ultimately a career searching the world for other such untamed characters for The Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. In Lake of the Ozarks, two-time Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Bill Geist reflects on his coming of age in the American heartland of the Midwest and traces his evolution as a man and a writer, in the summers between high school and college, before he went off to Vietnam and the country went to Hell. Written with Geistian warmth and quirky humor, Lake of the Ozarks takes readers back to a bygone era, and shows how you can find inspiration in the most unexpected places"-- Provided by publisher.


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