4 Books to Read Before the Summer Ends

Now I don’t know about you, but I am obsessed with World War II historical fiction, especially novels set in London. It always amazes me how characters can have so much courage to live their daily lives while bombs are decimating their city.

Dear Mrs. Bird is about good friends Emmeline and Bunty who are the epitome of Keep Calm and Carry On. They are both doing their part for the war effort, volunteering as operators for the Fire Service.

But Emmy has dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent, and when she sees an ad in a London paper, she jumps at the chance to apply, and gets the job. However, the position is not a war correspondent role like she thought it was. She’s actually been hired to be a typist for the Dear Mrs. Bird advice column. And Mrs. Bird is no Dear Abby: she does not want to answer any letters that she deems as Unpleasantness.

And Unpleasantness can mean anything from women who go too far with men or mothers who are afraid to evacuate their children because of the war. And of course, Emmy can’t leave all of these anguished women hanging with unanswered questions and writes them back on the sneak! You have to read this book to find out what happens next!

Elin Hilderbrand has written a lot of books, but this is the first one I’ve read. It’s about a wedding that takes place at a beach house (more like a mansion) in Nantucket, and the maid of honor is found dead. It’s our job as the reader to figure out who is responsible. The story has all the elements that make up a good summer read—a beach town, some romance, family secrets, and more romance. This book will keep you guessing. And it really made me want to go to Nantucket, so if anyone wants to extend an invitation, I will be there ASAP.

I am obsessed with dystopian fiction, except for The Road (by Cormac McCarthy) because it’s too scary and made me cry. Now you might be saying, Sienna, you just told us that the perfect summer read is a guilty pleasure that you can escape into. How can a dystopian fiction novel do that? Well, trust me on this one. You will love An Ocean of Minutes. It’s as if Station Eleven (by Emily St. John Mandel) and The Time Traveler’s Wife (by Audrey Niffenegger) met cute and had a baby. A book baby!

It’s 1981 and a really bad flu has swept through America. Polly and Frank are a couple deeply in love, when suddenly Frank gets the flu and is dying. To help pay for his treatment, Polly agrees to travel into the future as a migrant worker for a company called TimeRaiser. Polly and Frank agree to meet up 12 years in the future. That is the ultimate long-distance relationship! But when Polly lands in Texas after her time-travel adventure, it’s not 1993, it’s 1998. When she arrives, America and what it means to be a country have changed so much, that not only is she finding it a challenge to figure out how to live in this strange new world, or how to return from it, she can’t find Frank.

This book is multilayered and at its essence explores what it means to be an immigrant, without status and money.

Did you love reading Big Little Lies? Are you looking for your next fix until season 2 of the HBO series comes out? Well, then check out Her Pretty Face.

Frances Metcalfe is a stay-at-home mom who is trying to keep her shit together. Her son has some emotional issues and she thought he’d come into his own once he got accepted into the prestigious Forrester Academy. Frances is insecure and desperately trying to fit in with the school parents, but she’s failing miserably. And after her son is involved in a disturbing incident at school, her family is ostracized and her isolation becomes overwhelming.

Frances is surprised when one of the mom’s at the school, Kate Randolph, wants to be her friend. Kate is beautiful, rich, and extremely self-confident. She’s not a big fan of the other Forrester moms either, and the two form a fast friendship.

However, one of these women is not who she seems to be and is hiding a major secret. Her real name is Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer.