Three Good Summer Reads!

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer.

Since I'm always looking for new authors and new books to try, I thought you might be too. 

Here are three "beach reads" you might enjoy:

The first book I read was The Lost Girls by Heather Young. I loved this book! It's a beautifully written mystery about the devastating power of family secrets. Secrets whose effects are felt for generations to come. It's a tale of sisters, of love, of loss, and of redemption. that takes place in a remote Minnesota lake house over four generations.  I simply didn't want this book to end!

The second book I read was extraordinary. It was The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. I finished it three days ago and still can't stop thinking about it. In fact I was on my computer until 2:00 a.m  this morning reading about the real women who inspired the book.

The Lilac Girls is a work of historical fiction which takes place during World War II. It tells the stories of three young women between 1939 and 1959 - one a New York socialite, one a Polish prisoner at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, and one a German doctor.  The characters become very real and their stories eventually intertwine as the unforgettable plot unfolds. If you enjoyed Kristen Hannah's The Nightingale, The Lilac Girls is a book you will love.  It is still haunting me.

The most recent book I read was the new novel by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, The President Is Missing.  Although I love thrillers, I don't generally read James Patterson anymore since he has started using "co-writers" to collaborate on his novels. But this time, since his co-writer was Bill Clinton, and since I'm a political junkie, I made an exception.

The President Is Missing was not in the "haunting"/"I'll remember it forever"  category of  The Lost Girls and The Lilac Girls, but it was a suspenseful mystery and a page-turning summer read. It's a tale of cyber-terrorism that feels all-too-real. The story is told in the first person with the President as the narrator. The plot twists are vintage James Patterson but the narrator's voice is classic Bill Clinton. A fun read!

I hope you have the chance to do some reading for enjoyment this summer and that, if you read a really good one, you'll pass your recommendation along to me!

Happy Reading!

This post is linked to:
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage