A short end-of-summer reading list to wrap the season up nicely ☀️
I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for summer to be over.
Sorry summer, you’ve been fun, but it’s time for you to take a hike. For a few months. Please don’t come back right away.
Summer can be particularly brutal here in Atlanta, we’ve got the heat and we’re 4+ hours from the coast (yes, it’s one of the many things I miss about living in Boston). This means that come August (just kidding, it’s probably June/July for me), we’re ready for a change of pace.
There is one thing, specifically, that I love about summer though. And, it’s summer reading! I’ve read about 15 books this summer, which is a little on the slower side compared to my typical reading speed. I suppose moving will do that to you. There were so many books I set aside to read this summer that I haven’t gotten to, so I’m making myself a little end-of-summer reading list to plan to get to them before fall rolls around.
This shortlist is comprised of both new releases and backlist titles that I think you’ll enjoy, too! Here’s what’s on my list.
My end-of-summer reading list
Very Nice
By Marcy Dermansky
Rachel Klein never meant to kiss her creative writing professor. Zahid Azzam never planned to become a houseguest in his student’s sprawling Connecticut home, but he does. Becca Klein never thought she’d have a love affair so soon after her divorce, but when her daughter’s professor walks into her home she does, and the affair is…a very bad idea.
The Paper Palace
By Miranda Cowley Heller
It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace”–the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn’t forever changed the course of their lives.
The Guncle
By Steven Rowley
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is honestly a bit out of his league.
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
By Elyssa Friedland
A family reunion for the ages when two clans convene for the summer at their beloved getaway in the Catskills–perfect for fans of Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel–from the acclaimed author of The Floating Feldmans.
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island
By Colleen Oakley
Piper Parrish’s life on Frick Island—a tiny, remote town smack in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay—is nearly perfect. Well, aside from one pesky detail: Her darling husband, Tom, is dead. When Tom’s crab boat capsized and his body wasn’t recovered, Piper, rocked to the core, did a most peculiar thing: carried on as if her husband was not only still alive, but right there beside her, cooking him breakfast, walking him to the docks each morning, meeting him for their standard Friday night dinner date at the One-Eyed Crab. And what were the townspeople to do but go along with their beloved widowed Piper?
Love Scenes
By Bridget Morrissey
Acting like she’s in love with her handsome nightmare of a co-star–in a movie directed and produced by her complicated Hollywood royalty family–is Sloane’s job. But what happens when the lines between script and reality get blurred?
Shop the summer reading guide
If any of these sounds up your alley, grab them from Bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores!
What you might have missed 👇
- We bought a house! She’s a sweet little shotgun in the heart of Atlanta. I think you’ll like her, too!
- This blog right here is getting a MAJOR makeover soon. I cannot wait to show you what we’ve been whipping up!
- I’m starting a bookish podcast with my friend, Megan! More on that real soon.
What’s on your end-of-summer reading list?
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