There is still time to dip into Summer Reading

 There is Still Plenty of Summer Left to Win Some Great Prizes!

Log into our Summer Reading Club at www.communitylibrary.org/src
and tell us about the hero of your favorite story!

What I Remember Most by Cathy Lamb

Grenadine Scotch Wild has only vague memories of the parents she last saw when she was six years old. But she's never forgotten their final, panicked words to her, urging Grenadine to run. The mystery of their disappearance is just one more frayed strand in a life that has lately begun to unravel completely. One year into her rocky marriage to Covey, a well known investor, he's arrested for fraud and embezzlement. And Grenadine, now a successful collage artist and painter, is facing jail time despite her innocence. With Covey refusing to exonerate her unless she comes back to him, Grenadine once again takes the advice given to her so long ago: she runs.  But even far from everything she knew, Grenadine is granted a rare chance, as potentially liberating as it is terrifying--to face down her past, her fears, and live a life as beautiful and colorful as one of her paintings. (Publisher Summary)

French Coast by Anita Hughes

Serena lives a life of luxury. Everything is perfect, from the bows in her hair right down to the Gucci pumps on her feet. This perfect life includes her dream job at Vogue's San Francisco office and her boyfriend, a polished politician. When offered a writing assignment in Cannes interviewing the legendary former French Vogue editor, Yvette Renault, she cannot believe her good fortune. Ready to spend a month on the French beaches, she arrives only to discover that her good luck may be running out. With a family drama unfolding back home and emotions running high, Serena does her best to cope with changing circumstances. Thanks to the help of her new friend, Zoe, Serena also embarks on a new journey of self-discovery and learns what love and loyalty really mean. (Booklist Reviews)

Imaginary Things by Andrea Lochen

Andrea Lochen's Imaginary Things, as ethereal as it is familiar, explores the spaces between the known and the imagined, where enchantment sometimes takes hold. It's an intriguing story about a harried young mother who retreats to the safety of home, only to be confronted with the forgotten, mysterious forces that lurked at the edge of her childhood. (ForeWord Magazine Reviews) Twenty-two-year-old single mother Anna Jennings moves to her grandparents’ home for the summer with her four-year-old son, David. The sudden appearance of shadowy dinosaurs forces Anna to admit that she can see her son’s active imagination. Frightened for David’s safety, Anna struggles to learn the rules of this bizarre phenomenon, but what she uncovers along the way is completely unexpected: revelations about what her son’s imagination truly represents and dark secrets about her own childhood. (Publisher Summary) 

Summer Lovin'

One Summer by Elin Hiderbrand

One Summer collects two beloved Elin Hilderbrand classics, filled with double the sun, sand, drama and romance that fans love. The Blue Bistro and The Love Season. (Publisher Summary)

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

In 1962, a young Italian innkeeper meets an American starlet in a little drama engineered by her conniving publicist. Fifty years later, the innkeeper follows his heart to Hollywood to find her. (Library Journal Reviews)

The Summer Wind by Mary Alice Monroe

Raising her autistic child alone after being abandoned by her husband, Dora, who for years played the role of a perfect wife in a loveless marriage, spends a stormy summer of healing and self-discovery with her half-sisters and grandmother. (Publisher Summary)

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Stranded on an uninhabited island after their private plane crashes, thirty-year-old Anna Emerson and sixteen-year-old T.J. Callahan, her tutee, struggle to survive and, as the months pass, slowly fall in love. (Publisher Summary)

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Her teenage life turned upside-down by her parents' divorce and her father's relocation out of state, Ronnie Miller remains bitter three years later when her mother urges her to spend a summer with her father. (Publisher Summary)

The Reef by Nora Roberts

Tate Beaumont, a beautiful student of marine archaeology, finds adventure, danger, and passion when she reluctantly joins forces with diver Matthew Lassiter and his uncle to find a legendary jeweled amulet said to be lost at the bottom of the sea. (Publisher Summary)

Best Summer Beach Reads of All Time!

Check out the best summer beach reads according to Alex Posey (editorial curator at Scribd and Mallory Farrugia (Sbribd's editorial director):

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

Lacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take the NYC art world by storm. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to keep climbing the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness. Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallel the soaring heights--and, at times, the dark lows--of the art world and the country from the late 1990s through today. (Publisher Summary)

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Follows a young Italian innkeeper and his almost-love affair with a beautiful American starlet, which draws him into a glittering world filled with unforgettable characters. 

The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet: the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 . . . and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later. (Publisher Summary)

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

In the grand spy-tale tradition of John le Carré…comes this shocking thriller written with insider detail known only to a veteran CIA officer.

Drafted against her will to serve the regime of Vladimir Putin as an intelligence seductress, Dominika Egorova is assigned to operate against first-tour CIA officer Nathaniel Nash, with whom she engages in a charged effort of deception and tradecraft before a forbidden attraction threatens their careers and the security of America's most valuable mole in Moscow. (Publisher Summary)

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. (Publisher Summary) The Vacationers by Emma Straub An irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca. For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated. (Publisher Summary) Click here to read the full article.

Quick Summer Reads

With less than a week until Labor Day, there is not a lot of time left for reading on the beach..with that, here's a list of quick summer reads! Run to the Community Library to borrow a copy today!

Return to the Beach House by Georgia Bockoven 

Eight people share their lives, loves and secrets at a warm, and welcoming shore cottage, including photographers Matthew and Lindsey and widowed Alison and her college-age grandson in this sequel to Another Summer and The Beach House.

The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert

Bay's mother, Nan, has kept lots of secrets from her, and when Nan meets up with her estranged friends Mavis and Ruthie, the secrets just begin to be revealed.

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

After her dying mentor leaves her a mysterious list of 100 names, journalist Kitty Logan tries to locate the people and uncover their connections in this new novel from the author of P.S. I Love You.

The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons
Four friends who used to meet for an annual summer beach vacation drift apart after one of their group tragically dies but reconvene years later.

Perfect Beach Reads

Check out Redbook magazine's picks for the best beach reads this season! From "sexy escapes" to "tearjerkers" and "compelling sagas," they have covered every interest! Click here to view the online article.

Summaries (from left to right)

1. Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich: "when fate conspires to have three very different women move into the same SoHo apartment building, they soon discover that having their carefully planned lives fall to pieces might be the best thing that could happen to them." (Publisher's Summary)

2. Bought by Anna David: "working on press lines while dreaming for a more substantial job and a well-connected boyfriend who will facilitate her entry into the Hollywood social scene, aspiring journalist Emma Swanson endeavors to launch her career by writing a story about a cavalier beauty who shamelessly prostitutes herself in exchange for gifts and celebrity." (Publisher's Summary)

3. The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow: "her enviable life having ended, Molly Marx now finds herself led by an unorthodox guide in the afterlife, where she can observe the friends and family she left behind and, as she watches them try to investigate her mysterious end, Molly relives her past and learns the fates of those she cherished most (and least)." (Publisher's Summary)

4. Pretty in plaid : a Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Phase by Jen Lancaster: "the author offers a humorous look at her life and wardrobe, recounting her less-than-virtuous stint as a Girl Scout, colorful family gatherings, her fashion faux pas at a sorority rush, her climb up and down the corporate ladder, and her success as a writer." (Publishers Summary)

5. Perfection: a memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz: "a young widow profiles the seemingly idyllic family life she shared with her husband and young daughter in New York City, her devastation over the pulmonary embolism that abruptly ended her husband's life, and her shocked discovery that he had been unfaithful to her throughout their marriage." (Publisher's Summary)

6. Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman: "a family drama and coming of age story follows the lives of three sisters who create a magical world on their street to escape a tragedy that has changed them forever." (Publisher's Summary)

7. Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan: "a sparkling debut novel: a tender story of friendship, a witty take on liberal arts colleges, and a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the opportunities in the world, but no clear idea about what to choose." (Publisher's Summary)

8. The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi: "Zaki Shirazi, a young Pakistani in a household dominated by his mother and grandmother, is close to his female cousin, Samar Api, but while Samar's reckless teenage behavior brings consequences for her, Zaki is free to explore the world, only later reflecting on the true meaning of happiness." (Publisher's Summary)

Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro

An unlikely group of parents and children from New York City vacation together at a beach house on Long Island over Labor Day weekend in Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro. Friendships crumble and alliances break as the characters try to keep their insecurities and oddities at bay. The book covers all of the complex dilemmas that modern day urban families face these days, from romance and friendship to parenting and class tension to wondering...is this as good as it gets?

"Fierro's first novel captures the complexity of forging new friendships and redefining lives as contemporary parents. Although largely unsympathetic, her characters are meticulously drawn, the situations emotionally charged. Readers, especially young parents, won't be able to look away from the train wreck of urban family dysfunction on display here." (Booklist Reviews)

New Beach Reads

Plan on heading to Smith Point Park this weekend?  Stop by the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library on your way to check out one of these great new beach-bum reads.

• I Couldn't Love You More by Jillian Medoff - Enjoying a fulfilling if precariously balanced life with her partner, daughter and two stepdaughters, Eliot Gordon finds her children and everything she has worked for threatened by the arrival of her long-lost first love and a shocking chain of events.
• The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Doran Barbieri - Humiliated by her husband's infidelity, forty-year-old Nora Keane, married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts, takes refuge with her maternal aunt on Burke's Island off the coast of Maine.
• Skinnydipping by Bethenny Frankel - A tale loosely based on the author's early adulthood follows the experiences of a struggling actress and outspoken businesswoman whose ambitions lead her through several high-profile relationships.
• Beach House Memories by Mary Alice Monroe - A tale set in the 1970s American South shares the story of Lovie Rutledge, who reflects on a summer during which a beach vacation to escape her unfaithful, disdainful husband culminates in a fateful romance with a handsome biologist.
• Barefoot in the Sand by Roxanne St. Claire - When she decides to build a hotel on Mimosa Key after a hurricane destroys her home, Lacey Armstrong is distracted from her goal by architect Clay Walker, who is in desperate need of a job as he tries to get his life back on track.