Summer 2015 preview

I've been ordering fiction and mystery titles for this summer since before last Christmas, and let me tell you, that's a really long time to hold back from sharing with my fellow readers! That said, I've now given myself an enough tougher choice: what to share with you in this preview. I'm going with those titles that I am personally most excited about, so your mileage may vary.



June

Second Life, by S.J. Watson. Watson's first novel, 2011's psychological thriller Before I Go To Sleep, was an international bestseller and award winner. Fans, myself included, have been waiting rather impatiently for more from this gifted author, and will finally be rewarded just in time for summer. Second Life follows a woman who, as she investigates the circumstances surrounding her sister's violent murder, finds herself caught up in a dangerous game with a stranger online that may cause her to lose everything she holds dear. A novel of the dark secrets people keep, Second Life is already a bestseller in the UK. It's already on my list of must-reads this summer.


July

Circling the Sun, by Paula McLain. If you didn't read McLain's novel, The Paris Wife, a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage, then you are absolutely missing out. The good news is that you have time to go back and read that while waiting for her new book, Circling the Sun, to be released at the end of July. Set in 1920's colonial Kenya, this new novel focuses on another strong female character, Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, author of the classic memoir Out of Africa. The novel is getting lots of advance praise, including love from fellow authors like Jodi Picoult and JoJo Moyes. I'm expecting this to be a hit not just with readers of historical fiction, but also with book clubs. Don't say I didn't warn you.


August

We Never Asked for Wings, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Diffenbaugh is the author of the 2011 bestselling novel The Language of Flowers, which has been a particular favorite of book clubs for the last few years. For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. Being billed as a novel of hope and hard choices, this new novel is sure to be a reader favorite.



I'll be back on Thursday to share what I've been reading this month. In the meantime, happy reading!