Beach Reads for Summer 2015

Whew! Just when you thought I'd never post again (and I kinda thought so too), the urge hits me. Basically I think I was feeling guilty for not producing the third installment in my Hapgoods of Bramleigh series. I've begun it and am currently bogged down in Chapter 11, wanting to knock Hugh Hapgood's head against a wall for not cooperating with the authorial process! (If you don't remember who Hugh is, that would be the older cousin whom Elfrida rejected.)

But enough about my frustrations.

While alternately struggling with and ignoring my beloved Hapgood family, I've also been reading some good books, and I have my annual beach read list for ya because summer is nearly upon us! Here are my top picks by category:

Turgid Victorian:

A handsome, clueless man. A lovely, suddenly impoverished earl's daughter. A murder mystery. A neighbor altogether too adoring of the handsome, clueless man. This book has it all. A fun, Victorian page-turner. Yes the author waxes too moral about her one character's downfall, and you'll want to re-write the end in your head, but I relished this one all the same. And I swear it inspired a portion of the equally turgid 1997 period film Firelight.

Told ya it was turgid

Added bonus of East Lynne: it's free on Kindle and comes in at under 50 hideous typos. Gotta love those old "classics."


Sprawling Family Saga:

Sometimes you need room to move in and with characters and get attached. This Texas tale has multiple viewpoints, covers a sweep of time, and keeps you turning the pages.

Adventure and Grim Death (Nonfiction):

I'd only read one other Lusitania book and loved that one, too. Erik Larson rebounds from In the Garden of Beasts (not my favorite of his) with this exciting account told thoroughly from various perspectives. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll start wearing a life jacket around the house.


Pure Froth and Fun:

This one is an A+++++ for royals fans (which I'm, as Foghorn Leghorn would say).

A fictionalized version of Will and Kate's romance. I enjoyed every page of it. The heroine is American and has a twin sister, and the lovebirds meet at Oxford, not St. Andrews, but everything is seriously recognizable. I really did laugh and cry (or at least tear up) over this one. This is the definition of beach read.

There you have them! So pour yourself some iced tea with mint, put on your sun hat, and grab that pool deck chair because you've got hours and hours and pages and pages to enjoy.