Here are some suggestions to read this summer - long books, beach reads, mysteries, etc. I haven't read any of the 6 books I've highlighted.
1. I've had this book by Ken Follett - Fall Of Giants -now paperback- on My Reading List for a couple of years now. Loved Pillars of the Earth & the sequel but I have to gear up to read a LONG EPIC NOVEL! I think summer is a perfect time to start this long read. The other two sequels are out if you enjoy the story and want to continue on! It is in paperback. No pressure if you don't want to read it.
Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)
Ken Follett’s magnificent new historical epic begins, as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.
A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits.…An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House.… A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy.…And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution.
From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again.…
2. Here's a new beach read! This will be released May 19 - hardback - If you don't want the hardback this fun author has other good reads out in paperback such as Hissy Fit, Deep Dish, Little Bitty Lies, Fixer Upper, etc. Nothing literary - just lots of fun!!
UPDATE: DONT' BUY THIS BOOK IN HARDBACK - NOT WORTH IT! JUST OKAY - I WOULD RECOMMEND FIXER UPPER INSTEAD!!
Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews
Beach Town
Greer Hennessy is a struggling movie location scout. Her last location shoot ended in disaster when a film crew destroyed property on an avocado grove. And Greer ended up with the blame.
Now Greer has been given one more chance—a shot at finding the perfect undiscovered beach town for a big budget movie. She zeroes in on a sleepy Florida panhandle town. There’s one motel, a marina, a long stretch of pristine beach and an old fishing pier with a community casino—which will be perfect for the film’s climax—when the bad guys blow it up in an all-out assault on the townspeople.
Greer slips into town and is ecstatic to find the last unspoilt patch of the Florida gulf coast. She takes a room at the only motel in town, and starts working her charm. However, she finds a formidable obstacle in the town mayor, Eben Thinadeaux. Eben is a born-again environmentalist who’s seen huge damage done to the town by a huge paper company. The bay has only recently been re-born, a fishing industry has sprung up, and Eben has no intention of letting anybody screw with his town again. The only problem is that he finds Greer way too attractive for his own good, and knows that her motivation is in direct conflict with his.
Will true love find a foothold in this small beach town before it’s too late and disaster strikes? Told with Mary Kay Andrews inimitable wit and charm, Beach Town is this year’s summer beach read!
3. Madam President by Nicole Wallace - hardback - Haven't read any by her - looks good! Saw this book on the list for people who like Scandal and I just watched the Scandal season finale last night so I'm ready for a good thriller read!
UPDATE - JUST OKAY - DON'T BUY IN HARDBACK!
Madam President (Charlotte Kramer, #3)
With Madam President, current cohost of The View and former White House Communications Director Nicolle Wallace returns with an electrifying portrait of three powerful women on a day that will change the country forever.
Charlotte Kramer, the forty-fifth President of the United States, has done the unprecedented in allowing a network news team to document a day in her life—and that of her most senior staff. But while twenty news cameras are embedded with the president, the unthinkable happens: five major attacks are leveled on US soil. Her secretary of defense, Melanie, and her press secretary, Dale, must instantly jump to action in supporting the president and reassuring the country that the safety they treasure is in capable hands.
But secrets have always thrived in President Kramer’s White House. With all eyes on them and America’s stability on the line, all three women are hiding personal and professional secrets that could rock the West Wing to its very foundations…and change the lives of the people they love most.
With an insider’s sharp eye and her trademark winning prose, Nicolle Wallace delivers a timely novel of domestic and political intrigue that is impossible to put down. (less)
4. Below is the book that Kim & Cindy are reading and loving! I just bought it for Dan. I think it's available in paperback.
Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
Eric Blehm (Author)
Product Details
When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he would die that night in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan—but he was ready: In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the worst happened, he wrote, “I’m not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my spirit from me.”
Long before Adam Brown became a member of the elite SEAL Team SIX—the counterterrorism unit that took down Osama bin Laden—he was a fun-loving country boy from Hot Springs, Arkansas, whose greatest goal had been to wear his high school’s football jersey. An undersized daredevil, prone to jumping off roofs into trees and off bridges into lakes, Adam was a kid who broke his own bones but would never break a
promise to his parents.
But after high school, Adam fell in with the wrong crowd, and his family watched as his appetite for risk dragged him into a downward spiral that eventually landed him in jail. Battling his inner demons on a last-chance road to redemption, Adam had one goal: to become the best of the best—a U.S. Navy SEAL.
An absorbing chronicle of heroism and humanity, Fearless presents an indelible portrait of a highly trained warrior who would enter a village with weapons in hand to hunt terrorists, only to come back the next day with an armload of shoes and meals for local children. It is a deeply personal, revealing glimpse inside the SEAL Team SIX brotherhood that also shows how these elite operators live out the rest of their lives, away from danger, as husbands, fathers, and friends.
Fearless is the story of a man of extremes, whose courage and determination was fueled by faith, family, and the love of a woman. It’s about a man who waged a war against his own worst impulses and persevered to reach the top tier of the U.S. military. Always the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignments, Adam’s final act of bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice.
Adam Brown was a devoted man who was an unlikely hero but a true warrior, described by all who knew him as fearless.
5. This book is being billed as "The Perfect Summer Read" - lots of buzz about this book. From reading reviews - sounds like the main character is a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and the girl from Gone Girl - and we won't like her.
UPDATE: I DIDN'T LOVE THIS BOOK - BUT I DID STAY UP TIL 2 AM TO FINISH!! WAS GOOD BUT NOT AS GOOD AS GONE GIRL. I probably liked it better than Girl on The Train.
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Kroll- hardback - new release
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
HER PERFECT LIFE IS A PERFECT LIE.
As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.
But Ani has a secret.
There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.
With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first appears.
The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?
6. Christian author Karen Kingsbury is always an easy read with a good message- newest is
Angels Walking. Paperback.
Product Details
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes the first in a brand-new series about second chances—a dramatic story about a washed up baseball player, the love he left behind, and the miracles that might save them both.
When former national baseball star Tyler Ames suffers a career-ending injury, all he can think about is putting his life back together the way it was before. He has lost everyone he loves on his way to the big leagues. Then just when things seem to be turning around, Tyler hits rock bottom. Across the country, Tyler’s one true love Sami Dawson has moved on.
A series of small miracles leads Tyler to a maintenance job at a retirement home and a friendship with Virginia Hutcheson, an old woman with Alzheimer’s who strangely might have the answers he so desperately seeks.
A team of Angels Walking take on the mission to restore hope for Tyler, Sami, and Virginia. Can such small and seemingly insignificant actions of the unseen bring healing and redemption? And can the words of a stranger rekindle lost love? Every journey begins with a step.
It is time for the mission to begin…
(What I have read recently and LOVED new release The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos. I'm reading A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler - good but not my favorite. Loved The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Loved YA new release Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. My favorite book I've read this year is All the Light We Cannot See - by Anthony Doerr.)
Here's some reading lists to get some summer ideas: You will have to cut & paste links
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/51265/20150512/best-beach-reads-summer-2015.htm
http://www.possessionista.com/2015/04/what-to-read-this-summer-possessionista-book-recommendations.html
http://media.bookbub.com/blog/2015/05/14/9-books-to-read-if-you-love-scandal/
12 hours ago
This Week's Top Book Club Picks:
1. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
2. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
4. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
5. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
6. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Fan Page (Official)
7. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
8. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
9. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
10. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Rising Stars: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
