Whether you're napping in a hammock with a book, sitting on a deck with a cold drink, or huddling inside on a rainy day, summer reading means page-turners. And we have them.
Jesse Braddock has made some bad choices. She is now broke in the Everglades with her baby, her baked boyfriend who dreams of YouTube glory as the "Glades Man," and a cache of buried gold ingots. Bait shop owner Ken Bortle also has dreams of viral fame with his "Everglades Melon Monster," aka an unemployed alcoholic named Phil in a fake head. Throw in two violent brothers after the gold, a drug lord, a craven lawyer, a presidential candidate, a wild boar, a Burmese python and, of course, an alligator. This can only be a Dave Barry novel: Swamp Story (Simon & Schuster, $27.99)--a hysterical, zany romp through South Florida in all its weirdness.
One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris (Sourcebooks Landmark, $16.99 paperback) is set eight years after the rape of Sara Lancaster. Sara moved as far away from Savannah as she could. But after her father is hospitalized, Sara returns, with her eight-year-old daughter, to run his bookstore. Her attacker, Daniel, is in prison; his twin brother, David, has changed his name to Jacob; and his mother is a recluse. Jacob has also come back to town--Daniel has leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant. This could be the stuff of melodrama, but not in Harris's deft hands. She explores love, forgiveness and redemption with nuance and compassion.
Millie promised her deceased elderly friend, Rose Nash, that she would track down the nurse Rose fell in love with during World War II, and reunite them, albeit only with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash's Ashes (Berkley, $17 paperback; reviewed in this issue). So Millie begins a trip to Key West, hitching a ride with a cynical writer, Hollis. The journey is replete with quirky characters, misunderstandings, sexual tension, and hilarious dialogue. Woven into this romcom is the lovely, heartbreaking story of Rose and Elsie, and why they parted. Sarah Adler's debut novel will warm hearts with both poignancy and wit.
"Some years ago, in Dodge, I was a sporting woman." Before that, she was a drunkard's daughter in Arkansas. How Bridget got out of Arkansas, wound up at the Buffalo Queen brothel in Kansas, and made her way in the world is a wild ride through the West of the late 1800s. Claudia Cravens has filled her novel Lucky Red (Dial, $27) with a stunning cast, from Bridget's father to the female gunfighter whom Bridget loves. This is a fierce and exciting reimagining of the traditional Western, packed with thrills and wry humor.
What one really wants while relaxing is a good heist caper, and Alex Hays delivers with The Housekeepers (Graydon House, $30; reviewed in this issue). In 1905, Mrs. King is the housekeeper of a grand home in Mayfair, but prior to that, she lived with con artists and thieves. Her hard-won new life vanishes when she is dismissed from her post after she's seen with a footman. Desiring revenge, and some answers about her past, she recruits a gaggle of women, all with particular skills, to rob the mansion of every single possession--on the night of a costume ball. It's unpredictable and fun. --Marilyn Dahl, editor, Shelf Awareness