Beach Reads
It seemed like the winter just took forever to end this year. While I spent a whole lot of time being the taxi driver for my kids, I was also fortunate enough to spend some time in front of the fireplace reading great new titles! There have been a lot of terrific books published recently, some from authors we love and others from debut authors. While it’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to decide what books are worth picking up, let me help. These were some of my favorites that you don’t want to miss!
“Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
Set in the early 1960s, “Lessons in Chemistry” is a lesson itself about equality and change. Chemist Elizabeth Zott is busy working with an all-male team at Hastings Research Institute when Calvin Evans, a brilliant, Nobel Prize-nominated scientist, falls in love with her … well, with her mind, that is. A few years later, Elizabeth is a single mother and star of a popular cooking show. She has an unusual approach to cooking and it turns out that not everyone is happy with it. While Elizabeth is teaching women how to cook, she’s also teaching them it’s time to challenge the status quo. Funny and eye-opening, you’ll enjoy the group of characters that “Lessons in Chemistry” introduces you to.
“Mad Honey” by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Olivia McAfee left her hometown in Adams, N.H., for Boston, where she was married to a cardiothoracic surgeon and raising their son, Asher. When her husband reveals a darker side, Olivia goes home and is now staying in the house where she grew up and running her father’s beekeeping business. Lily Campanello also relocated to Adams with her mom, for her senior year of high school. A new start is exactly what Olivia and Lily both need, and their paths cross when Asher starts falling for Lily. Everything changes when Olivia gets a phone call informing her that Lily is dead, and Asher is a suspect. Olivia desperately wants to proclaim her son’s innocence, but she isn’t naïve to the fact that she has seen her husband’s temper in Asher many times. As time goes on, she realizes that Asher has hidden more from her than she realized … but is he capable of murder?
“Things We Never Got Over” by Lucy Score
Naomi skips out on her wedding and heads to Knockemout, Va., to rescue her estranged twin, Tina. Unfortunately, Tina is the same evil person she used to be and she takes Naomi’s car, her money and leaves behind her 11-year-old daughter, the niece who Naomi didn’t know existed. Knox doesn’t deal well with drama or high-maintenance women, except he feels that he should help Naomi; after all, her whole life just fell apart. Now if she could just stop getting into trouble, he can go back to his peaceful life. But when the trouble turns into real danger, the stakes have changed.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her 18-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound more than 30 years earlier. Tova forms a friendship with Marcellus, a grumpy giant Pacific octopus who lives at the aquarium. Marcellus loves playing detective and will not stop until he finds out the truth of what happened to Tova’s son. Sometimes we need to revisit the past to help us figure out the future.
“Now Is Not the Time to Panic” by Kevin Wilson
At 16, Frankie Budge is a loner who aspires to be a writer. She is just trying to get through another summer in Coalfield, Tenn., when she meets Zeke, a talented artist and an outcast just like she is. Together they make an ambiguous poster with a phrase that seems to leave a lasting impression on anyone who sees it. When these posters start appearing all over town, people begin to panic. No one knows who is making them and the rumors are flowing. Soon the mystery spreads further than their town, with people wondering if there are kidnappers or Satanists out there threatening them. Twenty years later, a journalist is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996, and she calls Frances Eleanor Budge to see if she knows anything about it. Will the truth lead her to trouble or finally set her free?
“Flight” by Lynn Steger Strong
Henry, Kate, and Martin are grown siblings planning to spend the Christmas holiday together with their families at Henry’s house in upstate New York. This will be the first Christmas they are not spending at their mother’s Florida house and the first without their late mother. With a full house, tensions rise and old resentments come to the surface as they try to navigate life without their mother and decide what to do with their mother’s house, their only inheritance. When a local mother and her daughter need help, the siblings need to put their differences aside and find a way to work together.
