Summer of '69 / Elin Hildebrand / 432 p.

I am very biased since I love Elin Hilderbrand's novels. The Summer of '69 just happens to be the year of my high school graduation. I decided it was the perfect read prior to going to our 50th reunion.
   Each chapter is a line or title of a song from that time period.  So fun and clever!

Summer Secrets/Jane Green/308 pages

Cat Coombs is in her twenties, a journalist and a party regular. She grew up with a distant father and her depressed, American mother in England. She always knew she was a disappointment to her father, but she never knew why. After his death and a particularly bad hangover, her mother reveals a secret that gives Cat hope for a better family life. But her trip to Nantucket doesn't go like she hopes and her life in England goes on. Years later, another trip to Nantucket, this time to make amends, opens up a surprise relationship and leads her back to another one.

I don't know anything about Jane Green, but this book and it's intimate knowledge about alcoholics and AA seems very close to her. I almost wouldn't call it a summer read or beach book just because it's such a heavy subject. But with its focus on relationships and forgiveness, it is just what most people want from summer book.

On the Rocks/Erin Duffy/307 pages

Abby Wilkes is trying on a Vera Wang wedding dress when her fiancé changes his relationship status to single on Facebook and announces that the wedding is off. He's decided he's not ready to be married and accepts a job across the country in Phoenix. The same day her life is falling apart, her sister becomes engaged. Six months later, Abby is still not over the break up and has gained 20 pounds. Her best friend Grace suggests they split a rental in Newport for the summer to help Abby regain perspective and get emotionally ready for her sister's wedding later in the summer. Abby's job as a teacher gives her the opportunity to soak up sun and learn how to date again.


Good summer read in the middle of winter, especially while sitting in the hospital with a recovering spouse!

Island Girls/Nancy Thayer/302 pages

Rory Randall left behind two ex-wives, one current wife, three daughters (one which was adopted) and one small request. The three girls must spend the summer on Nantucket in his summer home in order to inherit it. Jenny, the adopted daughter, already lives there, but Arden and Meg must make the commitment to spend the summer there. The two of them haven't been to house since The Exile when Rory's last wife and Jenny's mother Justine accused Arden of stealing her emerald necklace and forbade both girls to ever visit again. Arden has never forgiven Justine for wrongfully accusing her, and Meg has never understood why she was forced to leave as well. After the accusation, Meg's mother wasn't comfortable having Meg stay in contact with Arden, so the three girls grew up apart.

This is a good beach book that can be read on a lazy Sunday at the end of the summer.

Calling Invisible Women/Jeanne Ray/246 pages

Ever feel like your family takes you for granted? Ever think they hear you but don't listen to you? Do they even see you? Clover Hobart never thought about that much until one morning she woke up and was invisible. But her family didn't even notice. No one, except her best friend, did. She went to the doctor to see what terrible disease makes a woman suddenly disappear, and no one from the receptionist to the nurse to the doctor looked up long enough to notice she wasn't there. What's an invisible woman to do? Find a support group, of course. Then find out what happened to them and how to reverse their invisibility. And maybe save the day a time or two. Because invisibility is a superpower.

This was a delightful read! Jeanne Ray hits it on the head about how people, especially family members, take each other for granted. Clover realizes the things she's been missing too. Very insightful and really just a hoot and a half. Be sure to check out the author's picture on the back jacket flap.

The View from Mount Joy/Lorna Landvik/349 pages

Joe Andreson and his newly widowed mother move to Minneapolis to live with his aunt and so she can get a job to support the two of them. He feels like the odd man out in his new high school until he shows them his hockey skills. Kristy Casey, head cheerleader, chooses him to be her secret boy-toy while Darva chooses him to be her life-long platonic best friend. While everyone else from high school goes off to college and then to other places to live their lives, Joe goes back to the small grocery where he worked during high school. He may be living a "small life" but he's living a full one. Eventually, as owner of the grocery store, he functions as mayor of that small "town."

Finally, a feel good book. This is for anyone who has questioned if they should have done more with their lives. Big lives and careers don't automatically trump hometown happiness. (I must confess total disgust with a certain hometown actor ever since I saw him on Jay Leno and when questioned about being from St. Louis, he said "oh no, I live in New York", and then went on to talk about how he had to "get out of St. Louis" like anyone else who wanted to accomplish anything. Blah.)