(photo source)

Beach weather is right around the corner, vacations are in count-down range, kids are out of school, and hopefully RELAXATION is floating to the top of your To Do list. There’s nothing better than delving into a good book, sun on your face, cool drink in hand. This list showcases a wide variety of books, some you will recognize and others are just coming out!

 Summer Reading Suggestions

 (in random order)

At an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren’t taught history, geography, or mathematics—at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science. Students harness the hidden power of language to manipulate the mind and learn to break down individuals by psychographic markers in order to take control of their thoughts. The very best will graduate as “poets”: adept wielders of language who belong to a nameless organization that is as influential as it is secretive.  As two narratives converge, the shocking work of the poets is fully revealed, the body count rises, and the world crashes toward a Tower of Babel event which would leave all language meaningless. Max Barry’s most spellbinding and ambitious novel yet, Lexicon is a brilliant thriller that explores language, power, identity, and our capacity to love—whatever the cost. (Comes out in June)

I’m really excited for this one. The art of persuasion is fascinating to me, and I am interested in books with two narratives,since mine also has more than one. This should be a fast-paced ride! (SEE MY REIVEW)

***

Seventeen-year-old Lauren is having visions of girls who have gone missing. And all these girls have just one thing in common—they are 17 and gone without a trace. As Lauren struggles to shake these waking nightmares, impossible questions demand urgent answers: Why are the girls speaking to Lauren? How can she help them? And… is she next? As Lauren searches for clues, everything begins to unravel, and when a brush with death lands her in the hospital, a shocking truth emerges, changing everything.

I’m also almost done with this book.  I don’t typically read a ton of YA (young adult) but this one is really compelling.  The way its written is very clever and the Nova Ren Suma is a FANTASTIC writer. I’m loving this book.  Also a can’t-put-it-down type of read. (SEE MY REVIEW)

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A time-traveling serial killer is impossible to trace – until one of his victims survives. In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential. He stalks them through their lives across different eras, leaving anachronistic clues on their bodies, until, in 1989, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and starts hunting him back.

This one is really interesting to me because it has similar overtones to the book I wrote, in that it deals with an unusual type of serial killer. It’s supposed to be a well written and gripping summer read. (SEE MY REVIEW)

***

A chilling psychological thriller about a marriage, a way of life, and how far one woman will go to keep what is rightfully hers. Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept. Expertly plotted and reminiscent of Gone Girl and These Things Hidden, The Silent Wife ensnares the reader from page one and does not let go. (Comes out in June)

This one has been compared to last summer’s “Gone Girl,” by Gillian Flynn (see my review here), which I LOVED so I’m really excited about this one. I love psychological thrillers! I’ll be picking this one up as soon as it’s released!

***

Over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

I’ve heard nothing but great reviews of this perfect summer read. Everyone has a first love, and with these two funny and memorable characters, I’m sure its one of those books you won’t forget. (SEE MY REVIEW)

***

An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else. Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

I’ve been waiting for this one!! I LOVED both of Khaled Hosseini’s books (The Kite Runner- my review &  A Thousand Splendid Suns- my review) so I’m really excited to delve into this new story. (SEE MY REVIEW)

***

Sage Singer befriends an old man who’s particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone’s favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses…and then he confesses his darkest secret – he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage’s grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who’s committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren’t the party who was wronged? And most of all – if Sage even considers his request – is it murder, or justice?

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. I’ve almost read every book she’s written, and I’m excited about this one. My favorite thing about Jodi Picoult books is that she chooses these characters that you’ll make a judgement about, and then somewhere in the middle, she will flip everything you THINK you know, and give you a new perspective. I also love legal thrillers, and there is always an trial element in her books. Not to mention, she has a beautiful writing style. I’m sure I’ll love this one as much as all her others.

***

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

I know this wasn’t just released, but I HAD to put it on the list, because if you HAVEN’T read it, it’s fantastic. You can see my review of the book here. This is my go-to book if someone asks me for a recommendation right now. It’s charming and heartfelt and the characters are so real, you’ll feel like you know them. Even though the subject matter is difficult, the book itself is not a downer- in fact it’s really funny all the way through. If you haven’t read this book… pick it up! (SEE MY REIVEW)

***

Two harrowing crashes . . . A vanished rescue plane . . . A desperate fight for life in a frozen, hostile land . . . The quest to solve a seventy-year-old mystery. The author of the smash New York Times bestseller Lost in Shangri-La delivers a gripping true story of endurance, bravery, ingenuity, and honor set in the vast Arctic wilderness of World War II and todayOn November 5, 1942, a U.S. cargo plane on a routine flight slammed into the Greenland ice cap. Four days later, a B-17 on the search-and-rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on the B-17 survived. The U.S. military launched a second daring rescue operation, but the Grumman Duck amphibious plane sent to find the men flew into a severe storm and vanished. In this thrilling adventure, Mitchell Zuckoff offers a spellbinding account of these harrowing disasters and the fate of the survivors and their would-be saviors. Frozen in Time places us at the center of a group of valiant airmen fighting to stay alive through 148 days of a brutal Arctic winter by sheltering from subzero temperatures and vicious blizzards in the tail section of the broken B-17 until an expedition headed by famed Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen attempts to bring them to safety.

I’ve been looking for another true story to love as much as Unbroken (my review here) and I’m hoping to find it in this book! I love tales of heroism, especially against the backdrop of wartime. I’m excited to read about this heroic and epic journey.

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There you have it! Ten ways to get lost in another place and time. Ten ways to relax. Ten ways to live up what summer is all about.

If you’d like to see other books I’ve read or want to read, you can follow me on goodreads. I took the 2013 reading challenge and chose to read 50 books this year.  So far, I’ve read 18, which means I’m two books behind… BUT I am almost done with two, so I’m planning to catch up quick!

Let me know what’s on your summer reading list! What books have you loved lately? Is there a book you would like to recommend to me? I’d love to hear your comments!

See ya Friday!

Brooke