Summer Reading

Two young, single professionals spend the summer on Martha's Vineyard, intending to figure out the what's-next in their lives in the immensely enjoyable rom-com Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay (Wait for It; Paris Is Always a Good Idea). Samantha "Sam" Gale, a chef, leaves her restaurant job when she is passed over for a promotion. She agrees to stay with her teenage half-brother, Tyler, at the family home on Martha's Vineyard, where he is entered in a summer robotics competition at the local library.

On the ferry en route to the island, Sam inadvertently knocks into Bennett "Ben" Reynolds, sending the book he's reading overboard. This meet-cute proves an auspicious beginning. Sam has cleverly hidden her dyslexia, a neurodivergent condition which has long impacted her life. Ben, a lover of words and books, has taken a librarian temp job for the summer on the island in the hope that, while he's there, he can locate the father he's never known. After Sam and Ben cross paths again via Tyler's library program, the two strike up a friendship that turns to romance. The two champion each other: Ben helps Sam write a cookbook that compiles the recipes of her beloved Portuguese grandmother--recipes she's committed to memory--and Sam encourages Ben in the search for his father.

Is it possible to identify, retrieve, and restore missing pieces in life? And if so, how do such discoveries change relationships? McKinlay's breezy, pleasure-filled escape probes these questions and more, while happily entertaining romance readers along the way. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

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