Reader's Place: Summer Reading
Summer reading season is in full swing – check out what our adult Summer Reading Challenge participants have been reading and loving this season!
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Library Catalog)
“WOW! Tore through this. This is the best book I have read in a very long time. The depth to the astronomical knowledge in this book was insane. I fell in love with all of the characters (other than Barbara). So beautifully written. I wish I read this on my kindle instead of a physical copy so I could highlight everything in this book. So many profound lines.” - Madison G.
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space. Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates. As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere transports readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love.
The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (Library Catalog)
“This is a family saga, where addiction reigns and everyone pays for it. It is not a long book, but did feel long to me at times although I enjoyed it. The end was a little schmaltzy for me, but sometimes things do work out that way.” - Katie B.
One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they're unable to shake the pull back toward each other in this family saga. Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn't told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn't told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall. When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian's son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family's history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there's still time. Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life, debut that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love.
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Library Catalog)
“A beautifully told story of family, tragedy, redemption. I loved the way I got so attached to the characters. I didn’t want it to end yet yearned to see how it ended.” - Nancy G.
Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth's brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn't realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident. As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel's life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become. A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon (Library Catalog)
“This book actually scared me at times, which is rare for me. I read a lot of thrillers, so I get bored easily, but this book had me on edge the entire time. I had trouble putting it down. Highly recommend.” - Nicolette Z.
A woman returns to the old family home after her sister mysteriously drowns in its swimming pool...but she's not the pool's only victim. When Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it's just another one of her sister's episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother's estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister's things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined. In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives. A modern-day ghost story that illuminates how the past, though sometimes forgotten, is never really far behind us.
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Library Catalog)
“It’s hard for me to put into words how much I loved this book. The history, the strength, the generational struggle to leave legacy for future generations. This is a book I would recommend over and over again. As a daughter/granddaughter of a matriarchal family, I know how strong that connection to your ancestors pulses through your veins. I don’t re-read books often, but this is one I hope to pass to all the daughters for generations to come.” - Isalys C.
Nikki hasn't seen her grandmother in years, due to a mysterious estrangement inherited from her mother. When the elder calls out of the blue with a request for Nikki to visit her in North Carolina, Nikki hesitates for a moment. Mother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on the mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who would become its queen. It sounds like a fairy tale, but the more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Land, the more she realizes how much of her identity and her family's secrets are wrapped up in these hills. Because this land is their legacy, and it will be up to her to protect it before it is stolen away.
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin (Library Catalog)
“Flew through this one in 3 days and loved! Totally up my alley and does what it says on the tin. Pretty light for a murder mystery, but not boring at all. Keeps you in all the way till the end. 4/5 stars!” - Kaitlin O.
Frances Adams always said she’d be murdered. She was right. In 1965, Frances Adams is at an English country fair where a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. It is a prediction that sparks her life’s work—trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet. Nearly sixty years later, Annie Adams is summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is found murdered, just like she always said she would be. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer? As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Library Catalog)
“I loved this book so much! It’s a hilarious and thrilling page-turner about time travel, love, and the way we are shaped by our eras.” - Jody W.
A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all. In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a "bridge": living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as "washing machines," "Spotify," and "the collapse of the British Empire." But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts. Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry's project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.
Run For the Hills by Kevin Wilson (Library Catalog)
“A great, quick read about four children with the same father but different mothers and their journey to find him.” - Nancy G.
An unexpected road trip across America brings a family together in this raucous and moving new novel from Kevin Wilson. Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it's been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it's a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it's mostly okay. Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she's his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all. As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad's previously solitary life on the farm? Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (Library Catalog)
“Stop everything and read this now, you will laugh and cry and your heart will grow a size” - Natalie C.
A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death. At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life. When PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back. Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also thinks he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter who’s adrift in her twenties, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home. This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a fresh shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.
Vera Wong's Guide to Dating a Dead Man by Jesse Sutanto (Library Catalog)
“I LOVE Vera Wong - the character is strong, funny, and kind. The way she solves murder mysteries and the cast of characters she meets makes you wish you were part of the action. I wish I could visit her tea shop - Jesse Squanto is an amazing writer and I can’t wait to read more!” - Danielle P.
Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend. All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful, even if one is slightly bored. Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance. The young woman is looking for a missing friend. Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tilly and Selena's, Vera finds a treasure trove: Selena's briefcase. Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer—who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for. Online, Xander had it all: a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer. The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can't seem to actually identify him. Who is Xander Lin? Nobody knows. Every contact is a dead end. Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents. Vera is determined to solve Xander's murder. After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, and there is nothing she wouldn't do for her future daughter-in-law.
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (Library Catalog)
“A super emotional novel about two friends who have shared life’s up & downs. Then the unimaginable happens to one other friend dying of cancer. Their story begins with humor returning back to the wonderful memories they have shared together- rough patches of partners to uplifting each other as the other friend makes the journey toward death. An honest novel “enjoy life while you have it” :-)” - Milagros V.
A raucous, poignant celebration of life, love, and friendship at its imperfect and radiant best. Edith and Ashley have been best friends for over forty-two years. They've shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan's Island reruns and REM concerts; hickeys and heartbreak; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and children. But now the unthinkable has happened. Edi is dying of ovarian cancer and spending her last days at a hospice near Ash, who stumbles into heartbreak surrounded by her daughters, ex(ish) husband, dear friends, a poorly chosen lover (or two), and a rotating cast of beautifully, fleetingly human hospice characters. As The Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack blasts all day long from the room next door, Edi and Ash reminisce, hold on, and try to let go. Meanwhile, Ash struggles with being an imperfect friend, wife, and parent—with life, in other words, distilled to its heartbreaking, joyful, and comedic essence.
Compiled by Jenny Zbrizher