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My reading tastes can pretty much be summed up in two categories: Chick-lit (surely there’s a more PC term – someone fill me in!) and suspense novels. Not that I don’t enjoy something deeper every now and then but nine times out of ten, these are what I’m reaching for! Another fun fact about me is that I usually have a suspense novel going on audio-book (borrowed from the library) and something lighter in actual book form. I’m a huge chicken and if I have to read something scary I usually can’t bring myself to do so and will stop. Now that I think about it that may be why this book terrified me to no end. I read it in actual book form on vacation a few years ago. #lightbulb
To me, summer is the best time for those easy, breezy chick-lit dramas and books get quadruple the points from me if they are set at the beach! Take me to the beach all summer long – at least in my mind! Here are six books I loved diving into this summer:
The Secret to Southern Charm by Kristy Woodson Harvey
I’ve been a huge fan (and friend!) of Kristy’s for years and have had the pleasure to be on the launch team for each of her books. I have seen The Secret to Southern Charm ALL over social media and blogs this summer and it makes me so happy! SSC actually the sequel to this book and to say I loved it is an understatement! It’s about a grandmother, mother, three daughters and their families and all the drama that comes along with a big family of sisters. Not that I know anything about or can relate to big families at all. 
This book follows one character as she faces cancer, one with a dark family secret, one who’s husband is MIA in Iraq, one who is trying to heal her marriage after being hurt in the worst way, and one who is just young and trying to find herself! It is just the right amount of fun and beachy mixed with the serious. Highly recommend! (Ps. You can find all Kristy’s books here.)
When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger
Yes, yes, YES to one of this summer’s most popular reads! Gosh I loved When Life Gives You Lululemons so much. If you were an original Devil Wears Prada fan (15 years ago!!!) you are probably in a stage of life (aka deep in adulthood) where you will love seeing what Emily is up to now. She is a famous publicist living in LA and after being burned by a couple of huge clients she moves to Greenwich, Connecticut to help two of her best friends get through some bad press. It’s SO good. The end was tied up a little to nicely to be totally believable, in my opinion, but the rest of the book is so good I can totally ignore that fact. High recommend again!
The Royal Treatment and The Royal Wedding by Melanie Summers
I promise I’m not one of those people who HIGHLY RECOMMENDS every book I read, I just happen to have put all the really good ones at the top of this post, ha! But guys, I LOVED THESE BOOKS SO MUCH. The third installment, The Royal Delivery, came out a few weeks ago and I’ve been stalking my library almost daily to see if they have the audio-book format yet. This series starts with a royal family who are losing loyalty from their people and a blogger who makes a living talking about how awful and over-privileged they are. The royal family invites the blogger to live in the palace for a few weeks to see if they can change her mind and of course, a love story unfolds from there. These are such fun reads! If you are into royal things and light-hearted reads these books are for you, I promise.
First Comes Love by Emily Giffin
I really want to be a person that just LOVES Emily Giffin, but her novels are so hit or miss for me. I thought First Comes Love was just ok. It took me forever to get through because I own it and would put it down for a time as my name came up for books on hold at the library. So maybe that contributed? I also just couldn’t relate to the characters that much. First Comes Love is about two sisters who’s family was ripped apart by the tragedy of their brother’s death years ago and the lasting effect it has had on all of them/their relationships. One sister is unhappily married to a wonderful man (her deceased brother’s best friend) who adores her and the other sister has never been able to get close to a man enough to find a husband for the family she desperately wants so she is exploring the in vitro process on her own. Neither of those things are bad or wrong by any means but I just didn’t like the characters very much as people which makes them hard to sympathize with. Have you all read this? Am I totally off base? Tell me your thoughts!
High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews
Lastly, the new release of another one of my favorite authors, Mary Kay Andrews! I wouldn’t say MKA is hit or miss, because there have been many more hits than misses, but honestly her last several have fallen short for me. Including this one. Whomp whomp. It’s more mystery based and just not the MKA that I love. Give me all the silly but strong female protagonists who mess things up than put them back together, please.
Books I Skipped: The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah. I tried so hard to get into this book, but I just couldn’t! I think it was the setting and time period. Just not something I can relate to very much. Maybe I’ll try again this winter because a lot of you said to stick with it and it will get better.
Whew! What a summer, right? We still have our beach vacation coming up in a few weeks where I hope to fit at least a couple books in between the car trip and nap times. Tell me your favorite summer reads so I can stock up! I’m reading this book right now and it took me a while to get into but I’m glad I kept going because I am HOOKED.
I didn’t add any of the suspense novels I’ve read recently to this list because it made the list double in size so I’ll share those next week some time. (I shared my tips on how I make time to read in this post if you are interested!) Have a great one, friends!
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