If I Could Turn Back Time by Beth Harbison July 28th

Meet Ramie, like most 30 year old women she is at that point in her life when she wonders if she made the right choice and took the right path. She is transported back to her teenage life and gets to look at it with her adult wisdom, but she can’t let on to the people in her life that this is the second time around or she might change her future. Warm, funny and touching, Watching Ramie figure out the big parts of her past and decide what she truly wants was touching and heartfelt and we all want to relive the good memories from time to time, just maybe not so literally right?

It’s You By Jane Porter

I loved this novel.  An unlikely friendship between two women who have loved and lost allows them both to settle the past and it allows Allison whose life has been adrift since her fiancee’s death to put her life in order and once again look toward the future, but before she does she must help her friend and pay tribute to her past since she is unable to do so herself.  A journey of the heart that touches everyone involved and the reader has a front and center seat for the journey.

 

Circling the Sun A Novel by Paula McLain July 28th

The new novel from the author of The Paris Wife.  This time we are swept along in the anything but ordinary life of Beryl Markham.  We travel with her in Kenya, London, The U.S. and many other beautiful locals as her life seems to always have a new direction for her.  Detailed locations make us feel like we are there as Beryl travels the world with us in tow.  A story about going after what you want and finding a few good friends to travel with.

 

Bennington Girls Are Easy: A Novel by Charlotte Silver July 14th

Cassandra and Sylvie are ready to take their newly minted Bennington degrees and tackle the world, but the world has other things in store for them in this funny and charming tale.  We get to ride along as both girls try to navigate the world they are part of not the world they were prepared for.  The results are just as you would expect funny, heart breaking and real.  A great read about friendship and life lessons.

Alive by Scott Sigler July 14th

Imagine a world where you know absolutely nothing about yourself except your name.  That is what happens to M.  She wakes in a strange place in a coffin and the only reason she knows her name is because it is on the foot of her coffin.  Along with the other survivors M must figure out how to survive, where they are and why.  A dystopian novel with a puzzling twist, Alive will keep you turning the pages and the wheels in your brain until the last page.

A Time for Friends: A Novel by Patricia Scanlan July 14th

I adored this story about Hillary and Colette, two unlikely friends who manage to stay together through thick and thin.  Colette is the daughter of two busy lawyers who can have anything she wants except her parents time and attention.  Hillary lives in a warm laughter filled home that is more modest, but her parents always have time for her.  As the girls grow up and move into adult hood Hilary marries a man she loves and makes a good life for her family, Colette follows in her parents footsteps and marries a man with huge social ambitions which keep her away from her daughter and keeping up appearances at all costs.  When Colette’s world falls apart in a matter of hours, it is Hilary who picks her up and tires to get her back on her feet, but at a terrible price.  Along with our leading ladies we also meet the families and then there is Jonathan, Hilary’s friend and business partner who is also searching for a way to have the life he wants.  A touching story about friends, good and a bad, old and new, and the importance they have in our lives.

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

I think this one may have been out for a bit, but I just finished it recently and it is a great book about family and sisters. Maia and her sisters were all adopted and raised by their father Pa Salt, when he dies unexpectedly he gives each daughter a map location for where her life began and Maia heads off to find out about her past and figure out her future. She uncovers the history of her birth family and we are taken with her as she untwists the last few generations. She is able to meet one family member and read letters from others, but Maia’s past like everyone’s is not what she expected.

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens July 7th 2015

Those Girls is the story of three sisters who escape their tough love father only to land in a deeper darker place, but eventually they find a new start and try to build a happy life, but the past is not done with them it lies just beneath the surface simmering until it pulls them back in and they can finally put it to rest and move on.  I found the dynamic between the sisters who love each other very much despite all they have been though.  The bond between them and their determination to build a better life made them so real and honest.  I do have to say that this story has lots of dark elements to it,but seeing the love between the sisters reminds us that even in a rough life there are rays of sunshine and hope.

The Soul of Place: A Creative Writing Workbook: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci by Linda Lappin July 14, 2015

For those of us who have wondered how a writer makes a place seems so real, or for those of us who write and want to make our places feel more autentic Linda Lappin gives us great insight and exercises to make the places our characters inhabit feel real through looking at simple things in our own day to day lives and our pasts. One example has the writer revisit a house from their past and examine it room by room using memories and photographs if possible. There is lots of variety in these exercises and each section is carefully thought out and introduced. A great read for those of us who want to create memorable places.

The Summer of Good Intentions By Wendy Francis July 7

I adored this book.  It touched me and made me cry which confused my ten year old.  Maggie, Jess and Virgie return to the family summer cottage for another summer of fun and memories, but this summer will be like all the others and none of the others at once.  Jess is trying to balance between the job she loves and her marriage which needs her time and effort even more than work does, Maggie is about to face having all her children in school and she isn’t sure she is ready for the solitude just yet, and Virgie who has always been on the fast track to the top is starting to wonder if the top is really what she wants.  Each of the sisters brings their problems in their luggage and try to leave it but life has other plans for them including shuffling their divorce parents and dealing with Geo Mom’s new boyfriend.  A touching story of life, love and choices.  This is clearly a great beach read, but if you are too busy put it away for a rainy day and have a summer flash back.