Beach Reads
Once July finally comes along, summer seems to start setting in. By now you are in a routine of beach days, bay swims, ice cream nights and everything in between. It’s a fun time to be on the island when the days are usually filled with sunny skies and the water starts to warm up for the season. If you happen to have some down time, and here’s hoping you do, this is the perfect opportunity to dive into a good book. Here are the most-anticipated beach reads of the summer that you must have in your beach bag!
“28 Summers” by Elin Hilderbrand
Mallory Blessing is dying. She leaves her son, Link, a slip of paper with a phone number that she wants him to call. On the other end of the line he finds Jake McCloud, the husband of Ursula DeGournsey, the frontrunner in the 2020 presidential election. Link is confused as to why his mother wanted him to call Jake and how she even knew Jake at all. But Mallory and Jake have a past that began in 1993 when Mallory inherited a cottage in Nantucket from her aunt. Jake was a friend of her brother and she met him when he came to Nantucket for her brother’s bachelor party. Jake and Mallory formed a bond that takes them through the next 28 summers. One weekend a year isn’t enough, or is it? “28 Summers” shares the romance and the heartache that a one-weekend-a-year affair can bring and how it complicates the lives of everyone they love.
“Girls of Summer” by Nancy Thayer
After going through an incredibly difficult divorce, Lisa Hawley is very happy living on her own. She raised her children Juliet and Theo and now that they are grown up, Lisa spends her days as the owner of a popular boutique in Nantucket. When Lisa needs help with her house, she reaches out to Mack Whitney, a handsome contractor who is also a single parent. The two begin to get close and Lisa realizes she might actually learn to love again. But Juliet and Theo are worried that Mack is going to hurt their mother. With trouble happening in their own lives, they decide to come to Nantucket for the summer. Juliet finds herself interested in Ryder Hastings, a handsome entrepreneur, which she tries to deny given her rocky love life. Theo is taken with Mack’s daughter, Beth, but they have a past to overcome if anything is going to come out of it. Lisa, Juliet and Theo find themselves trying to decide if what they are experiencing is just your typical summer romance or the start of something more.
“What We Inherit: A Secret War and a Family’s Search for Answers” by Jessica Pearce Rotondi
In 1943, Edwin Pearce jumps from a bomber over Germany. He is declared MIA until his parents discover he is actually a POW. He survives in the prison camp for almost three years before finally coming home. Ed’s oldest son Edwin “Jack” also joins the Air Force. In 1972, his plane vanishes over Vietnam and decades pass with no word on his fate. In 2009, Ed’s granddaughter, Jessica Pearce Rotondi finds a box belonging to her late mother that includes letters, CIA reports and newspaper clippings that bring to light new details about her Uncle Jack who disappeared in Laos in 1972. What begins as a journey across Southeast Asia in search of the truth ultimately brings Jessica closer to her mother and the mysteries of a secret war.
“The Last Resort” by Marissa Stapley
Johanna and Ben seem to have a picture-perfect marriage, but in reality they hardly even know each other. Shell and Colin fight constantly over his being a workaholic and her feeling like she isn’t a priority. Both couples decide to attend an intensive therapy program at The Harmony Resort located on the Mayan Riviera. Run by the celebrity power-couple doctors Miles and Grace Markell, the resort is supposed to offer the chance for couples to repair their relationships. After being there for a period of time, it seems that this resort is not at all what they thought it would be and neither are Miles and Grace. They’re hiding something and both couples are going to find out what. When a deadly storm traps everyone on the resort, all bets are off and no one gets off without being forever changed.
“On Ocean Boulevard” by Mary Alice Monroe
Caretta “Cara” Rutledge hasn’t been home to Sullivan’s Island in Charleston, S.C., for 16 years. A lot has changed and happened over that time and Cara is coming home for her second wedding. She isn’t the only one beginning again. Cara’s niece Linnea has come home to the Island to start a new career. Linnea’s parents are putting everything they have on a new home being built on Ocean Boulevard. Excitement is in the air until a devastating illness brings everything to a stop. The Rutledge family has to find a way to come together to overcome what life has dealt them. On Ocean Boulevard reminds readers that there is unfathomable strength in love, family, tradition and legacy.
“Big Summer” by Jennifer Weiner
Daphne Berg and Drue Cavanaugh were the best of friends until a big fight ended that six years ago. They haven’t spoken since and Daphne refuses to even follow her on social media. Out of nowhere, Drue walks back into Daphne’s life asking her to be the maid of honor at what is shaping up to be the wedding of the summer. Drue was the one who always had everything she wanted, except for a lot of friends. Daphne was the pushover that was happy to be at Drue’s side. Things have changed and Daphne isn’t the same person she used to be. She loves her life and has a successful career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Daphne isn’t sure that letting Drue back into her life is a good move, even if it comes with the chance to spend a weekend at a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. Drue begs until Daphne just can’t say no. One weekend might be all it takes for the girls to realize what’s really important in life.
