Beach Reads: Take the Beach Reads Challenge

Take the Beach Reads Challenge

It’s hard to believe another summer has come and gone. I hope that you are able to relax and enjoy the Endless Summer that September usually brings us. This is my favorite time of year. The weather is perfect, the ocean is warm and the crowds are getting smaller. With the school year starting, I try to encourage my kids to try something new. So, I am going to challenge you to do the same. If you usually read romance, try a thriller this time around. If fiction is your thing, maybe a new nonfiction book will get your attention. Here are my favorite titles from each genre so far this year. Whatever book you choose, I hope you have the chance to enjoy it with your toes in the sand!

Mystery

“Crime Scene” by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman

Clay Edison used to be the town’s star athlete. Now he is the deputy coroner examining each body that crosses his path. All he has to do is decide whether the person died from natural causes or if foul play was involved. Thankfully, motive and investigations aren’t on his radar. That is, until Walter Rennert is found dead at the bottom of his stairs. At first, the cause of death seems easy – alcohol and a bad heart are to blame. But Rennert’s daughter is sure her father was murdered and she persuades Clay to take a second look. His investigation takes him down a road he never imagined and into a past filled with scandal, violence and murder. When Clay discovers Rennert’s colleague died the same way, he begins to think Rennert’s daughter is right. Written by a father-son team, Crime Scene will have you second-guessing if you locked the door!

Thriller

“Are You Sleeping” by Kathleen Barber

When Josie Buhrman’s father was murdered 13 years ago, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister, Lanie, betrayed Josie in a way she never thought possible. Josie has spent the last decade trying to escape her past and forget her family. Now living in New York with her partner Caleb, Josie finally has a place to call home again. Except, she’s living a lie. Caleb doesn’t know a thing about her past and even the last name she gave him is false. When a reporter starts talking about the case again, everything in Josie’s world begins to fall apart. Then her mother dies unexpectedly and Josie is forced to return home and confront the past she has been running from.

Romance

“The Light We Lost”

Jill Santopolo Lucy and Gabe met when they were seniors in college on a fateful day that changed everything in their lives. Together they decide they want to do something important and for their lives to matter. When they cross paths again a year later, it seems as though fate has again intervened. But then Gabe is sent on assignment to the Middle East while Lucy is working in New York. The next 13 years take them on a journey of love, jealousy, betrayal, desires and, of course, fate. Are they meant to be together? If not, why can’t they forget each other even when they are worlds apart? There is no love like your first love, but it isn’t always meant to last forever.

Nonfiction

“The Rules Do Not Apply” by Ariel Levy

Ariel Levy is a portrait of resilience and strength. Her story is one to remind all of us that even the perfect plans can get unraveled and everything you thought your life might be, might not. Growing up in Larchmont, N.Y., Levy was raised to be a modern woman: a woman who could fight her own battles, achieve her own dreams and a woman who would never be dependent on a man. Levy had her dream career as a successful writer for The New Yorker magazine. She fell in love and got married when she was 28, but that road was more difficult then she ever imagined it could be. With the help of a sperm donor, she was finally on the path to motherhood until she suffered a miscarriage while on assignment in Mongolia. Heartbreak after heartbreak, Levy persevered and found a way to come out stronger every time. In “The Rules Do Not Apply,” Levy tells her own story, hoping to help others who have found themselves in a life they didn’t plan on, to rise above the bad times. Although her memories are more painful than one would like to admit, Levy credits them for helping her become the person she is today.

Fiction

“The Address” by Fiona Davis

“The Address” is addictive – you will have a hard time putting this one down. Part of the story is set in 1884 when Sara Smythe lands a once-in-a-lifetime job at a prominent New York apartment house called The Dakota. Theodore Camden is one of the building’s architects and lives there with his family. Sara isn’t only interested in the career opportunity, she is happy to take any chance to see more of Theo. The second part of the story is set in 1985. Bailey Camden is fresh out of rehab looking to start over. Although her grandfather, Theodore Camden, left behind quite a legacy, none of that helps Bailey since there isn’t a genetic connection between the two. Camden’s biological great-granddaughter, Melinda, is set to inherit everything. She offers to let Bailey oversee the renovation of her apartment at the Dakota. What Bailey finds in the basement there just might change everything they had been told about the past.

Biography

“Stronger” by Jeff Bauman, Bret Witter

If you were to see a photo of Jeff Bauman, you would recognize it immediately. In 2013, Bauman was at the finish line of the Boston Marathon cheering for his girlfriend, Erin, when the bombs went off. A photo of Bauman in a wheelchair circulated around the world and he became the face of the Boston attack. Thirty hours later, Bauman woke up in the hospital after several surgeries to save his life. He woke up without his legs and wasn’t able to speak. The first thing he did was ask for a piece of paper so that he could write down what the suspect looked like, giving the police the breakthrough they needed to find the terrorists. In “Stronger,” Bauman describes in grueling detail everything from that fateful day to the FBI investigation, to his painful and lengthy rehabilitation process. Bauman is a stellar example of courage and perseverance. His story will resonate with everyone who reads it.