Friends, you know I love books. I love sharing my latest reads and favorite finds with you here on Red Shutters, and I LOVE hearing what you’re reading. With this in mind, I have a fun post for you today: a list of summer reads, put together by a number of bloggers (including me), and a giveaway!
Below you can find that list of the 20 Best Summer Books–just in time for the beach days and long vacations–along with a fantastic giveaway for a $250 Amazon gift card and eight (8!) free books. Make sure to enter the Rafflecopter at the end for your chance to score big.
One more thing… we have a fun bonus item: we are giving away 100 copies of This Is How It Always Is
by Laurie Frankel. Read on for details.
20 Best Summer Books:
- Man’s Search for Meaning
by Viktor Frankl. Femme Frugality: “Psychology, philosophy and theology have a way of blending together. In this book, psychologist Viktor Frankl relates his experiences as a prisoner in Hitler’s concentration camps, using it as a way to underpin his philosophy that man can get through anything if he assigns meaning to life. Great for anyone going through a difficult time, or anyone who has detached from organized religion but is still seeking the meaning of life.”
- The Happiness Project
by Gretchen Rubin. Lindsay of See Mom Click: “If you’ve ever felt like the days are slipping by and you’re just trudging along, The Happiness Project is a must-read. Rubin’s writing really speaks to me, the perfect balance of hard facts and science combined with practical wisdom about proactively making yourself happier and living in the now.”
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by Barbara Kingsolver. Wendy of ABCs and Garden Peas: “An inspiring, food-filled story of the Kingsolver family’s adventure as they move to a farm in southern Appalachia and begin living their lives in a way that works with the local food chain. This year’s 10th Anniversary Edition also gives readers a glimpse into how their family has carried their inspiring ‘real food’ journey with them throughout the next decade.”
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A Piece of the World
by Christina Baker Kline. Mikaela Fleisher of
Iris and Honey: “Christina Baker Kline brings an artist and his muse to life in this novel that blends fact and fiction. Based on Andrew Wyeth’s painting,
Christina’s World, Kline gives readers a truly beautiful glimpse into the life of the woman behind the painting.
- Red Water
by Kristen Mae. Kristen Mae of Abandoning Pretense: “An Amazon best seller, Red Water will slither under your skin and stick there. Erotic, raw, and disturbing, and with deeply flawed but relatable characters, Mae’s sophomore novel is a dark, unflinching examination of the psychology of self-loathing and the secret, unspeakable lust for depravity that lies dormant within us all.”
- My Lame Life: Queen of the Misfits
by Jen Mann. Jen Mann of People I Want to Punch in the Throat: “My Lame Life is a great summer read for teens and adults because it’s a funny and endearing book that is entirely relatable!”
- Famished
by Meghan O’Flynn. Meghan O’Flynn: “Famished is a bestselling psychological thriller that explores the darkest parts of the human psyche. Hailed as ‘thrilling, emotional and depraved,’ this novel is one you won’t want to put down.”
- Dinner: A Love Story
by Jenny Rosenstrach. Stephanie of When Crazy Meets Exhaustion: “While not a new publication, Jenny is every one of us: frazzled Mama juggling parenthood and work. When she realizes a family meal is the best shot at quality time with her husband and kids, so begins her journey to make it happen. It’s part cookbook (fabulous, EASY recipes) and part narrative. Witty, relate-able, and educational (I learned how to cook things, you guys!) I was went through Jenny-withdrawal when I finished the book!”
- So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
by Jon Ronson. Shari of Adore Them pick: “Jon Ronson is an incredible author who combines objective observations with his own take on these experiences. For this book he spent years meeting people who had been subject to public shaming. It is fascinating (and horrible) to see how one tweet could ruin someone’s life.”
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The Serpent King
by Jeff Zentner. Kim Bongiorno of
Let Me Start By Saying: “The story is told in alternating voices of three best friends as they begin their senior year: one knowing she is outta there, one being okay with staying exactly where he is because he has his stories to escape into, and one not feeling like he can or is deserving of going anywhere but right where his father’s crimes put him. I felt so many things while I read this, but mostly that I will now read literally anything this author writes from now on.”
- The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince
by Mayte Garcia. Suzanne of Toulouse & Tonic: “I devoured this book about Prince by his ex-wife Mayte Garcia. At first I was afraid it would be exploitive but after reading reviews carefully, I gave it a try. It was so worth it. A great portion of the book is the story of her life. It’s interesting and insightful. The parts of her life she shared with Prince are handled in a respectful but honest way. I feel like I actually know something about this enigmatic man now. I still miss him but for me, it brought a little peace.”
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Redemption Road
by John Hart. Lydia of
Cluttered Genius: “
Redemption Road caught me from page one and had me guessing the entire way through. I don’t generally choose murder mysteries or thrillers, but Hart’s novel has me wanting to find the rest of his books to read more!”
- Everyone Is Beautiful
by Katherine Center. Natalie of a Turtle’s Life for Me: “Everyone is Beautiful is a heartwarming and humorous look at one woman’s journey through marriage and motherhood as she tries to find small moments of personal fulfillment. The epiphanies and insights she gains along the way are told in a light-hearted manner, but resonate deeply in a way that will have you thinking about it months later. I read this with my book club and we found we were bringing it up again even a year later, because it struck such a deep chord with us.”
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Secret Daughter
by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Dani of
Meraki Lane: “I loved this book. It explores so many emotionally sensitive topics – infertility, adoption, motherhood, and interracial marriage – and the author did such an amazing job of jumping back and forth between the United States and India. She described each with such vivid detail, and the story truly encapsulated the meaning of the word ‘family.’ It was an easy, yet complex read, and the ending brought me to tears. I highly recommend this one!”
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The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
by Hannah Tinti. Jana of
Jana Says: “I loved this book. Dark and twisted and violent and a thriller complimented with a father/daughter/coming of age story told between alternating POV and bouncing back and forth in time until it all catches up to itself. It’s so well done and well written and I cannot recommend it enough.”
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Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi. Kimberly of
Red Shutters: “It’s the story of a family, torn apart by slavery. One branch of the family aids in the slave trade in Ghana, later becoming involved in conflict with the British, and finally finding their way to America. The other side of the family is sold into slavery and generations later experience an America of incarceration, poverty, and drug abuse. Despite its challenging subject matter,
Homegoing is captivating, an extraordinary story about hope, connection, and loss. I couldn’t put it down, and when it did end, I was disappointed–I wanted more. That’s the sign of an extraordinary book!”
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The Edge of Everything
by Jeff Giles. Janine of
Confessions of a Mommyaholic: “This is the beginning of a supernatural, romance YA series that struck all the right notes for me. Honestly, think it could be in the leagues of
Twilight or even
Harry Potter as the writing was superb. Plus, the storyline was unique, fast-moving and heart tugging, as well. Therefore, recommend as the perfect summer vacation read.”
- The Sleepwalker
by Chris Bohjalian. Rabia of The Lieber Family: “Lianna’s mom has disappeared. The most plausible explanation is that her frequent sleepwalking took her over a bridge to her death. But on closer inspection, that doesn’t really make a lot of sense. And the good-looking detective assigned to the case is trying to help, isn’t he? So what really happened? I can’t wait to find out!”
- My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
by Fredrik Backman. Anne of Once Upon a Mom: “I haven’t read this one yet but it looks amazing! It’s a story about a quirky kid with an even quirkier grandma who, after her death, leaves a series of letters apologizing to people. I’m looking forward to finding out about all of Grandmother’s secrets!”
- City Mouse
by Stacey Lender. Carrie of Normal Level of Crazy and Meredith of The Mom of the Year: “This defines a beach read for me! So relatable to our own lives as it is all about mom trying to find out exactly where she fits in the in the scheme of suburbia–all that goes along with it. Plus, when a book is described as ‘The Stepford Wives meets Bad Moms’, how can you go wrong?”
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This list of the 20 Best Summer Books you need to kick back with during all the sun-soaked days ahead of us! As promised, the giveaway for a $250 AMAZON GIFT CARD and copies of some of the titles on this list (including Red Water, Famished, My Lame Life: Queen of the Misfits, The Sleepwalker, Homegoing and Redemption Road) is below! No better way to keep your reading stash well stocked and you can use the gift card to grab some other titles that are on your own wish list.
As long as you are 18 or older, live in the continental United States, and enter before June 16, 2017 at 5:30 AM EST, you are eligible to win.
Finally, as promised, we are tickled to be giving away 100 COPIES of This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. I haven’t yet read this novel, but it’s come highly recommended (read a review of it HERE). Thanks to the generosity of Flatiron Books, copies will be sent to the first 100 people who enter the giveaway* (The grand prize winner included! The same giveaway deadline and rules as above apply.)
*Note: Remember each person can gain multiple entries, so don’t assume that all 100 copies have been claimed when the entries total goes over 100.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Thanks for joining us in this kick-off to summer reading celebration with this list of the 20 best summer books. Happy summer and happy reading, friends!
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***Thank you to Flatiron Books, Jen Mann, Kristen Mae, Meghan O’Flynn, Macmillan Publishers, Anchor Books, and Vintage Books for providing copies of the books for the giveaway. All opinions are entirely our own.***
Book photo in second graphic: depositphotos.com, Image ID:9056658, Copyright:belchonock
Last image credit: depositphotos.com, Image ID:13362963, Copyright:coolfonk
About The Author
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Thank you for posting the synopsis of these 20 books! I am always at the library picking up new books like these as well as the ones on the shelves that i might have missed in the past.
Happy reading, Joyce!
I haven’t read any of them and added about half to my Goodreads list! Thanks for this!
Excellent! Hope you enjoy them!