For all those who take more books than clothes on holiday, here are my favourite summer reads.
Two by Two, Nicholas Sparks
I read this last summer and it is still the only book to ever make me cry – this may not be the greatest set up for a great summer read!
Nevertheless, sat by a pool with a cheeky glass of lemonade, reading this beautiful and wonderful story by expert wordsmith Nicholas Sparks, warms the heart.
The book follows the life of advertising executive Russell Green and explores the heart-warming relationship he shares with his daughter. He will stop at nothing to keep her in his life while he navigates the difficulties of single-parenthood and the continuous curveballs in both his personal and professional life.
Villa of Secrets, Patricia Wilson
Another book I read last year which was just the perfect summer read.
Set in the Greek Islands and exploring multiple timelines from the present and World War Two as well as family vendettas and hidden secrets (the book is aptly named), it is the perfect book to get stuck into and you can easily read it within a few hours – as I did!
Rebecca Neumanner’s marriage is on the brink of collapse, her desire to be a mother becoming an obsession when she receives news from her estranged family in Rhodes. This leads to a series of events that uncovers the truth of the past when her grandmother was trapped amidst the Nazi occupation and repairs this broken family.
Another heart-warming book exploring love, loss and the importance of family, enhanced by the trail of intrigue left by the actions of the past – it’s a book that is hard to put down.
The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes, James SA Corey
The first book in The Expanse series that was recently introduced to me by a friend.
Leviathan Wakes follows the scientific journey of how humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, and the Asteroid Belt – but the stars are still out of reach.
The story follows 2 main characters – Jim Holden and Detective Miller – both searching for a girl who could answer their problems.
Holden is an officer on an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew discover a derelict ship called the Scopuli, they suddenly find themselves in possession of a deadly secret. War is coming to the system unless Jim can find out who abandoned the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money – and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and Holden, they both realise this girl may hold the key to everything.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong
Another beautiful book in the form of a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicentre is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity, as well as a discovery of how immersed we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness.
This is Vuong’s debut novel and one that has received critical acclaim from the likes of Good Reads, The Guardian and Penguin.
Summer of Salt, Katrina Leno
One of those books that’s a little bit out there. A cute, lesbian romance set in the peak of summer and thus perfect for the season.
Georgina Fernweh waits impatiently for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has touched every woman in her family. But with her eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.
Over the course of her last summer on the island—a summer of storms, falling in love, and the mystery behind one rare three-hundred-year-old bird—Georgina learns the truth about magic, in all its forms.
