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The summer of 2020 is going to be a very different summer, for sure. It’s already the end of May and I have no idea what I’ll be doing when school gets out in a couple weeks. What I don’t want to do is stay home the entire time! Eventually I suppose I’ll figure something out, but the one thing I know I can count on is plenty of summer reading. Whether I’m at home or away books are always my constant companions and that’s even more true in the summer when time is on my side. For many of us spring reading has been tough, really tough. Maybe it was the books, but more likely it was us and the season of quarantine and coronavirus. Hopefully, all of us will have much better luck with the books in this year’s Summer Preview!
June Releases
The Second Home by Christina Clancy (debut)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (6/2)
Length: 352 pages
The Draw
– A summer home on Cape Cod.
– A dysfunctional family story.
– told from multiple perspectives.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Publisher: Riverhead Books (6/2)
Length: 352 pages
The Draw
– I loved Bennett’s debut, The Mothers (my review).
– Multi-generational family story.
– Twins, one vanishing to live a life passing as white.
The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine (debut)
Publisher: Hogarth (6/16)
Length: 336 pages
The Draw
– A “secret” daughter’s story
– At 17, she no longer wants to be a secret.
– A propulsive coming-of-age story.
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (6/16)
Length: 432 pages
The Draw
– Wonderful beachy, Nantucket setting.
– Excellent reworking of a “Same Time Next Year” story.
– Fabulous on audio! (I’ve already listened to it.)
Thin Girls by Diana Clark (debut)
Publisher: Harper (6/30)
Length: 368 pages
The Draw
– Story of very close twin sisters.
– Examines anorexia, body dysmorphia, body image.
– Roxanne Gay was the author’s thesis advisor.
July Releases
Bonnie by Christina Schwarz
Publisher: Atria Books (7/7)
Length: 352 pages
The Draw
– A fresh take on the infamous Bonnie Parker.
– Childhood of hopes and dreams in West Texas.
– Bonnie, before and after Clyde!
Craigslist Confessional by Helena Dea Bala (debut)
Publisher: Gallery Books (7/7)
Length: 256 pages
The Draw
– I’ve read very little nonfiction this year.
– The idea of JUST listening to people.
– Confessions of 40 people who wanted to be heard.
The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg
Publisher: Knopf (7/7)
Length: 352 pages
The Draw
– Well-loved European author I’ve yet to read.
– I need a psychological thriller in my summer.
– This, “…a woman’s revenge is a brutal but beautiful thing.”
Mother Daughter Widow Wife by Robin Wasserman
Publisher: Scribner (7/7)
Length: 336 pages
The Draw
– Fan of Wasserman’s debut, Girls on Fire (my review).
– Talk of a psychological, but literary novel.
– A woman’s lost identity.
The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell (debut)
Publisher: Penguin Press (7/7)
Length: 320 pages
The Draw
– Story told in a single day.
– The super’s daughter in an Upper West Side co-op.
– Told from perspectives of both father and daughter.
Want by Lynn Steger Strong
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (7/7)
Length: 224 pages
The Draw
– That cover!
– A woman at the very edge of falling apart.
– This book is getting A LOT of great buzz.
You Again by Debra Jo Immergut
Publisher: Ecco (7/7)
Length: 288 pages
The Draw
– Woman sees her younger self, over and over.
– Begins to follow this person.
– Psychological thriller for a mid-summer break!
The Loyalties by Delphine de Vigan
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (7/21)
Length: 192 pages
The Draw
– Loved her last book, Based on a True Story (my review).
– This French author always delivers the dark and unexpected.
– The facades of four characters are stripped away.
Afterland by Lauren Beukes
Publisher: Mulholland Books (7/28)
Length: 416 pages
The Draw
– A pandemic leaves the world nearly devoid of men.
– A mother’s fight to protect her son.
– “… feminist high-stakes thriller.”
August Releases
The Boys’ Club by Erica Katz (debut)
Publisher: Harper (8/4)
Length: 416 pages
The Draw
– It’s a legal thriller.
– A woman torn between home, work and power.
– Office politics to the max.
Luster by Raven Leilani (debut)
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (8/4)
Length: 240 pages
The Draw
– A darkly, funny debut.
– An open marriage – with rules.
– A young woman involved and in over her head..
The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey
Publisher: Harper (8/11)
Length: 272 pages
The Draw
– Three teenage siblings find an injured boy.
– Coming-of-age in the shadow of violence.
– Blurbed by L. King, C. Lombardo, K. Wilson, and E. Wetmore.
A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne
Publisher: Hogarth (8/11)
Length: 464 pages
The Draw
– Come on, it’s JOHN BOYNE!
– An epic story spanning 2000 years.
– Brothers destined to meet over and over again.
The Glass Kingdom by Lawrence Osborne
Publisher: Hogarth (8/18)
Length: 304 pages
The Draw
– A young American flees to Thailand.
– She brings a suitcase full of money.
– A military coup disrupts her plans.
When These Mountains Burn by David Joy
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (8/18)
Length: 272 pages
The Draw
– Trusted author of The Line That Held Us (my review).
– Three unlikely men unite.
– Drug crisis in North Carolina mountains setting.
Which summer releases are you most looking forward to?
SUMMER PREVIEW PIN ⇓
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Woohoo, your summer list! I’m hoping summer will be a great reading time, even if we’ve been sheltering in place for such a long time. I miss travel … but might wait till fall. Will you do a road trip to Montana? I know it’d be good to get out. So many of these are new authors to me so I’ll have to wade thru which ones to get. Of these, perhaps I’m most curious about Brit Bennett’s new novel since I read her first one. Sometimes the 2nd novel … determines if the author is the real real deal, eh? Enjoy your time off, when you’re done!
I think I will make it to Montana some time this summer. I’ll probably drive. Besides that, I don’t have any definite plans yet, but i DO need to get out of here!
I already finished The Vanishing Half and liked it every bit as much as The Mothers.
So many of these look good, Susie. I’m hoping that reading or listening to some summery books out on the deck with a cold drink will make me feel like I’ve had a little getaway. I’ve got my eye on 28 Summers to start with.
I loved 28 Summers! I listened to it and found it great on audio. Enjoy your summer reading, Katie. Reading on the deck sounds perfect.
I didn’t know John Boyne had a new book coming out. I shall have to look out for this one.
I’m just hoping that I get more into a reading mood than I have ben so far this year…..
Reading has been tough for a lot of people. It was in the beginning for me, but I’ve recovered and read quite a lot recently.
And the John Boyne…so exciting!
What a list! Great picks – thanks.