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!

Where the Crawdads Sing / Delia Owens / 384 p.

Kya's story is compelling. She was abandoned by her mother, siblings and father by the age of seven. Kya's strong survival instinct was her only lifeline.  She had so many trials and was wracked with such lonliness, but she survived!  Reading this novel by Delia Owens is an experience not ordinarily felt by the readers of most novels. Our most basic human instincts are revealed and lived by Kya. There is so much to ponder after reading her story. This is, at minimum, a perfect book club discussion novel. I will remember Kya for a long, long time.

The Girl He Used to Know / Tracey Garvis Graves / 291 p.

Jonathan Hoffman and Annika Rose first meet at a Chess Club at the University of Illinois.  Jonathan is at the university to start over from a bad experience at Northwestern.  Annika is studying to be a librarian, is very introverted, shy and awkward with some autistic tendancies. Their meeting eventually evolves into a tender, loving relationship. Jonathan graduates and takes a job in NYC with the plan that Annika will follow after she graduates a year later. Unfortunately, fate is not kind to Annika as she finds herself in a crisis that she can't handle. She drops out of school and discontinues contact with Jonathan.
    A decade later Jonathan and Annika bump into each other. They start to see each other informally. So much has changed and Jonathan realizes Annika has grown into a capable librarian living on her own. Their story takes us through the difficult road back to each other with some very significant bumps along the way - including the fateful September 11, 2001 twin towers tradedy.

When Life Gives You Lululemons / Lauren Weisberger / 343 p.

This is #3 in The Devil Wears Prada series. Three very successful women form a very close bond after circumstances turn their worlds upside down.  Miriam, former lawyer, turned happily married, stay-at-home mom of three finds her new move from NYC to Greenwich, Connecticut is more than she can handle. Her friend Karolina, former super-model, turned wife of senator and presidential hopeful, and also mom to Harry, is jailed on a DUI and becomes the news headline of the nation that will ruin her marriage and reputation. Emily, a snarky, bright, in-your-face handler of the stars, is suddenly dropped by her clients and is in a downward spiral until...Emily convinces Karolina to allow her to handle the negative press and Miriam to handle the legal implications of the DUI. The fictional story is unfortunately plausible in our current political climate, but it is also fairly predictable.

The Friends We Keep / Jane Green / 384 p.

Evvie, Maggie, and Topher have known each other since university. Their friendship was something they swore would last forever. Now years have passed, the friends have drifted apart, and none of them ever found the lives they wanted – the lives they dreamed of when they were young and everything seemed possible.
   Move forward to their 30th reunion when they reunite and delight in being together again.  However, there is a secret that threatens to derail their plans for a happily ever after.
    This is a story about friendship and forgiveness.