I just finished my last summer book club poll for my work book club before we move into spookier genres for the Halloween season! If youβre trying to figure out your end of summer book club read, Iβve got 5 recommendations spanning from summer romances to mysteries, thrillers, and contemporary fiction! Check them out below!
Same Time Next Summer β Annabel Monaghan
Official Blurb
Beach Rules:
Do take long walks on the sand.
Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.
Do NOT run into your first love.
Samβs life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancΓ©, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her familyβs Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But thereβs no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?
You Can Trust me β Wendy Heard
Official Blurb
Summer and Leo would do anything for each other. Inspired by the way each has had to carve her place in a hostile and unforgiving world, and united by the call of the open road, they travel around sunny California in Summerβs tricked-out Land Cruiser. Itβs not a glamorous life, but it gives them the freedom they crave from the painful pasts theyβve left behind. But even free spirits have bills to pay. Luckily, Summer is a skilled pickpocket, a small-time thief, and a con artistβand Leo, determined to pay her own way, has learned a trick or two.
Eager for a big score, Leo catches in her crosshairs Michael Forrester, a self-made billionaire and philanthropist. When her charm wins him over, Leo is rewarded with an invitation to his private island off the California coastline for a night of fabulous excessβ¦
The Many lives of Mama Love β Lara Love Hardin
I have so many thoughts on this memoir! Read my spoiler-free review here!
Official Blurb
No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighborsβ credit cards.
Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly finds the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the βshot caller,β showing that jailhouse politics arenβt that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.
Georgie, All Along β Kate Clayborn
Official Blurb
Longtime personal assistant Georgie Mulcahy has made a career out of putting others before herself. When an unexpected upheaval sends her away from her hectic job in L.A. and back to her hometown, Georgie must confront an uncomfortable truth: her own wants and needs have always been a disconcertingly blank page.
But then Georgie comes across a forgotten artifactβa βfriendficβ diary she wrote as a teenager, filled with possibilities she once imagined. To an overwhelmed Georgie, the diaryβs simple, small-scale ideas are a lifelineβa guidebook for getting started on a new path.
Donβt Let Her Stay β Nicola Sanders
Official Blurb
It seemed only five minutes ago that Richard went to the station to pick up Chloe, and now they were here. I was so excited. Finally, I would meet my stepdaughter for the first time, and Chloe would meet her baby sister Evie.
Richard was over the moon that his daughter wanted to come back into his life. βYouβll love her,β heβd said, beaming. βSheβs very sweet. She just had a wobble about me marrying again, but thatβs over now.β
Well, she was going to find out she had nothing to worry about. Iβd been fantasising non-stop about the two of us becoming close. I had visions of us baking together while Richard was at work, chatting about her boyfriends, her studies, what kind of job sheβd like to do. I would be someone she could rely on, someone she could talk to when she would have spoken to her mum if sheβd still been alive.
Anyway, letβs just say things havenβt quite worked out that way.
Whenever weβre alone, Chloe makes it clear that she hates me. But in front of her father, sheβs a perfect little angel. Richard says Iβm not giving her a chance, but he doesnβt see what I see. I donβt trust Chloe, and I certainly wonβt leave her alone with Evie.
Because I know something isnβt right with Chloe, and I will do everything possible to protect my family.
Before itβs too lateβ¦
Farewell Thoughts
Let me know if you read any of these books on your own or for a book club β in the comments or over on Instagram! If you liked this book club recommendation list for the end of summer, Iβd love for you to share this post!