Adventuring Through Summer Reading
This season, some of my picks stretch beyond my comfort zone with new writers, cultures, and genres, aka, thrillers. Others feel like coming home with familiar voices, vocation and craft facets, female friendships, romance, and multigenerational relationships. And the constants I’m drawn to in fiction and nonfiction: individuality, discovery, and growth.
Fiction Picks
The Italian Inheritance by Jo Piazza (April 2, 2024) From the publisher: “From bestselling author and award-winning journalist Jo Piazza, comes ‘A Journey to the Boot of Italy, With Murder, Romance and Ricotta’ (The New York Times) about a disputed inheritance and a family secret that some will kill to protect . . .”
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April 22, 2025) From the publisher: “Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.”
The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner (April 29, 2025) From the publisher: “Powerful witchcraft. A hunt for sunken treasure. Forbidden love on the high seas. Beware the Amalfi Curse…”
Betting on Good by Wendy Francis (May 1, 2025) From the publisher: “A Kentucky Derby weekend for two couples tests the high-stakes boundaries of friendship and marriage in a witty, winning, and emotional novel by the author of Feels Like Summer.”
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (May 6, 2025) From the publisher: “A radiant escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and This Summer Will Be Different.”
Beach House Rules by Kristy Woodson Harvey (May 27, 2025) From the publisher: “‘Southern bestselling sensation’ (Katie Couric Media) Kristy Woodson Harvey returns with a delightfully moving new novel about a mother-daughter duo learning to lean on their community of women — and each other — after their world is turned upside down.”
Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza (July 15, 2025) From the publisher: “The #tradwife murder mystery we’ve all been waiting for. From the bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance and the creator of the Under the Influence podcast comes an explosive thriller about two estranged friends, a grisly murder, a sudden disappearance, and the truly shocking revelation that everyone is lying to you about something . . .”
Nonfiction Picks
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (January 17, 2023) From the publisher: “From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us.”
It's Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground by David Litt (June 24, 2025) From the publisher: “A former Obama speechwriter moves to the Jersey Shore and learns to surf with the help of his brother-in-law: a tattooed, truck-driving Joe Rogan superfan.”