{"id":52456,"date":"2024-06-27T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=52456"},"modified":"2024-05-29T16:18:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T21:18:29","slug":"summer-fiction-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/summer-fiction-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Fiction Reads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is here! To celebrate the official first day of summer on June 20th, I put together a list of fiction books with summer in the title. (Stay tuned for a list of romance books with with the same theme!) Whether about making new friends, investigating a tragic death, or shaking up a small town, these picks will have you thinking about what how you want to spend your summer.<\/p>\n

These titles are all owned by Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions are provided by the publisher.<\/p>\n

fiction<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jackpot Summer<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Elyssa Friedland<\/p>\n

After the Jacobson siblings win a life-changing fortune in the lottery, they assume their messy lives will transform into sleek, storybook perfection\u2013but they couldn\u2019t be more wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n

The four Jacobson children were raised to respect the value of a dollar. Their mother reused tea bags and refused to pay retail; their father taught them to budget before he taught them to ride a bike. And yet, now that they\u2019re adults, their financial lives are in disarray.<\/em><\/p>\n

The siblings reunite when their newly widowed father puts their Jersey Shore beach house on the market. Packing up childhood memories isn\u2019t easy, especially when there\u2019s other drama brewing. Matthew is miserable at his corporate law job and wishes he had more time with his son; Laura\u2019s marriage is imploding in spectacular fashion; Sophie\u2019s art career is stalled while her boyfriend\u2019s is on the rise; and Noah\u2019s total failure to launch has him doing tech repair for pennies.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Noah sees an ad for a Powerball drawing, he and his sisters go in on tickets while their brother Matthew passes. All hell breaks loose when one of the tickets is a winner and three of the four Jacobsons become overnight millionaires. Without their mother\u2019s guidance, and with their father busy playing pickleball in a Florida retirement village, the once close-knit siblings search for comfort in shiny new toys instead of each other.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not long before the Jacobsons start to realize that they\u2019ll never feel rich unless they can pull their family back together.<\/em> – Berkley<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Mockingbird Summer<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Lynda Rutledge<\/p>\n

In segregated High Cotton, Texas, in 1964, the racial divide is as clear as the railroad tracks running through town. It\u2019s also where two girls are going to shake things up.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the last summer of thirteen-year-old Corky Corcoran\u2019s childhood, and her family hires a Haitian housekeeper who brings her daughter, America, along with her. Corky is quick to befriend America and eager to share her favorite new \u201cgrown-up\u201d novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. America\u2019s take on it is different and profoundly personal. As their friendship grows, Corky finds out so much more about America\u2019s life and her hidden skill: she can run as fast as Olympian Wilma Rudolph!<\/em><\/p>\n

When Corky asks America to play with her girls\u2019 softball team for the annual church rivals game, it\u2019s a move that crosses the color line and sets off a firestorm. As tensions escalate, it fast becomes a season of big changes in High Cotton. For Corky, those changes will last a lifetime.<\/em><\/p>\n

Set on the eve of massive cultural shifts, Mockingbird Summer explores the impact of great books, the burden of potential, and the power of friendship with humor, poignancy, and exhilarating hope.<\/em> – Lake Union Publishing<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Seven Summer Weekends<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Jane L. Rosen<\/p>\n

When a Zoom disaster upends Addison Irwin\u2019s decade-long career at a posh Manhattan advertising agency, things look bleak for the thirty-something mid-western transplant. But an unexpected inheritance from an aunt she barely remembers\u2014a property on Fire Island, complete with guest house and artist\u2019s studio\u2014changes everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

While debating whether to stay or sell, Addison learns that she\u2019s also inherited her aunt\u2019s list of eclectic guests, tying her to the island for seven summer weekends. Eager to convince Addison to keep the house rather than let a new buyer build a monstrosity in its place, the neighbors welcome her to their laid-back community. Well, all except the moody guy next door, who seems intent on glowering his way through life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Steadfast in her path since college, Addison is determined not to let this detour on Fire Island throw her off track. But soon, between the revolving door of weekend visitors and the up-and-down relationship with her neighbor (and his adorable dog), she finds herself in unfamiliar territory. Should she try to pick up where she left off\u2014or embrace entirely new possibilities?<\/em> – Berkley<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Summers at the Saint<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Mary Kay Andrews<\/p>\n

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as \u201cthe Saint.\u201d If you grew up coming here, you were \u201ca Saint.\u201d If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were \u201can Ain\u2019t.\u201d Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn\u2019t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss\u2019s son. Now, she\u2019s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help\u2014including the daughter of her estranged best friend\u2014Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.<\/em><\/p>\n

Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew\u2019s warmth, humor, knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart.<\/em> – St. Martin’s Press<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Summer We Started Over<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Nancy Thayer<\/p>\n

Eddie Grant is happy with her life and her work as a personal assistant to Dinah Lavender, one of the most famous and renowned romance authors in the business. But being a spectator to notoriety and glamour isn\u2019t as fulfilling as she once thought. Thankfully, Eddie has the perfect excuse for a vacation: Her hardworking younger sister, Barrett, is opening her gift shop on Memorial Day weekend, and could use all the help she can get.<\/em><\/p>\n

But going home to the beautiful island of Nantucket means facing the family\u2019s difficult past. Shortly after the death of Eddie and Barrett\u2019s brother, their mother left them and their father made the spontaneous decision to buy a small farm. Eddie stayed there for only a year before her family\u2019s grief threatened to consume her as well, and had been living in Manhattan ever since. Now that she is back, Eddie must face all she left behind: her father\u2019s increased eccentricities, which has led to a house bursting at the seams with books; her sister\u2019s resentment over Eddie\u2019s escape; and a past love connection, one that is still undeniable and complicated, all these years later. But the Grant sisters are nothing if not resilient and capable, opening a used bookstore in their father\u2019s abandoned barn to manage his hoarding, and navigating the discovery of a long-buried family secret that will change all of them forever.<\/em> – Ballantine Books<\/p>\n

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More 2024 Summer Fiction Reads!<\/span><\/p>\n