Summer Beach Reads

Sit on the beach, kick your shoes off and enjoy a good book. We have some personal recommendations for both men and women; it’s your time to relax!

For the Ladies:

1.) A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

Lily Dane returned to Seaview, Rhode Island, with her family after finally getting over a heartbreak that kept her away. She finds an unexpected and unwanted surprise as she returns; her former best friend Budgie and former fiancé Nick are newlyweds and have decided to take up residence in Seaview to restore Budgie’s old family house. The ties that hold Lily and Nick together are too strong to ignore and the two get tangled in memories. As a hurricane begins to brew up the coast, Lily and Nick are trying to confront an emotional hurricane of their own. Do they rekindle their love or do they put it all in the past?

2.) Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

A sheltered young girl, Leila, often struggled to connect with people and make friends at school. She has always felt lonely until the night she discovers a website, Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate. She begins to write a lot on it and finally finds herself. But she also manages to impress the website’s founder, a man named Adrian. He becomes so interested in her that he asks to meet her. When he meets her, he asks if she would like to be a part of “Project Tess”. Tess is a beautiful, witty and damaged woman and Leila will have to learn everything about her because soon, she will have to be her. A novel about stolen identity and lies that we tell ourselves and others. Will Leila weave herself into a nasty web or will it be something she enjoys?

3.) A Light between Oceans by M.L Stedman

After living on the Western Front for four years, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia to take a job as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock. Tom and his wife, Isabel, journey to the isolated island where the supply boat comes only once a season. After a few years, his wife has two miscarriages and one stillbirth. But then she unexpectedly hears a baby crying in the wind. To their surprise, a boat washes to shore with a dead man and living baby. Tom wants to report the body and baby immediately but Isabel insists that the baby is a gift from God. Against Tom’s judgment they claim the baby as their own and name her Lucy. When she turns two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and they are reminded of the body they left behind.

For the Men:

1.) The Broken Places by Ace Atkins

Quinn Colson was a sheriff for only a year before he was faced with the release of a murderer from prison. As the murderer, Jamey Dixon, comes back to their town to preach redemption, the victim’s family can only think of one thing, revenge. The men in prison who were a part of Dixon’s last job, a car robbery, are sure that Dixon will retrieve and take off with the hidden money. They therefore decide it’s best to break out of prison to find him in Jericho. The deputy, Lillie, and Colson face a number of problems when they encounter one more unwelcome visitor, a tornado. Communications down, roads are impassable and prisoners roaming the streets.

2.) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The narrator begins by telling his story claiming that he is an “invisible man” and that his invisibility is not a physical condition but rather a result of not letting others see him. Hiding from the world and living underground, he says that he is to write the story of his life and invisibility. Learn where he comes from and why he is the way he is. You may have read “Notes from the Underground” by Dostoevsky and will find many similarities in the narrators.

3.) The Roady by Cormac McCarthy

A post-apocalyptic masterpiece destined to keep you wanting more. A father and his son are walking around America as they see nothing but a burned and ravaged landscape and ashes in the wind. As the snow falls it is gray and the skies are dark. They are trying to make their way to the coast in hopes that they find something there awaiting them. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the unknown that they are about to face. The story of a journey and imagining a future where there is no hope left.

By Brittany Cassidy