New York beaches might not be open this summer, but that doesn’t mean beach reads have been canceled (you just might have to read them on a nice sunny bench somewhere else). Take a look at some of the hottest releases of summer: a mix of juicy page turners, thrillers and fun romps.
Friends and Strangers
J. Courtney Sullivan (fiction, Knopf)
After decades in New York City, Elisabeth and her husband have just moved to a small New York town. A new mom, Elisabeth is struggling to acclimate to her new life while keeping constant tabs on the Brooklyn Moms Facebook group back home (as for the moms in her new town, she can’t decide whether to befriend or mock them). She begins a friendship with her babysitter, a college student struggling with debt. Extremely timely.
Barcelona Days
Daniel Riley (fiction, Little, Brown)
Whitney and Will took a “timeout” from their long-term relationship before taking the next step to engagement. They decide to give each other three “hall passes”; on the last night of a summer trip to Barcelona, they’ll sit down and tell each other about it. But when a volcano erupts, grounding travel in Europe, they find themselves trapped in Barcelona, befriending a strange, vaguely sinister new couple, and mulling the direction their relationship has taken.
He Started It
Samantha Downing (fiction, Berkley)
Ever go on a road trip from Hell? This family has, twice. From the author of “My Lovely Wife” comes this dark and dirty thriller about a group of siblings and their significant others, all on a trip to collect on their late grandfather’s estate. Grandpa had a sick sense of humor: Before they collect, they must all embark on this cross-country car trip that harkens back to a terrible trip taken in childhood.
Survivor Song
Paul Tremblay (fiction, William Morrow)
Massachusetts has been overrun by a rabies-like virus with a terrifyingly short incubation period of about an hour. Once people are infected, they roam through the streets, trying to bite as many people as possible. A total page turner.
The Party Upstairs
Lee Conell (fiction, Penguin Group)
A sharp debut novel about a day in the life of a New York City building. The super’s daughter — who grew up in the basement of the Upper West Side co-op — is back home, newly graduated from college, with no job having materialized despite plenty of student debt. Her friendship with a girl “upstairs” — privileged Caroline — unearths long-held class tensions and issues of privilege.
The Heatwave
Kate Riordan (fiction, Grand Central Publishing)
Sylvie Durand has been called back to her family home in the South of France. It’s a place that evokes bad memories, and she’s hoping to sell the house quickly and be done with it. But as she wanders the village with her teenage daughter during the summer heatwave, the past rears its head.
The Golden Cage
Camilla Läckberg (fiction, Knopf)
Faye has been the perfect Swedish trophy wife to Jack, who made billions while Faye kept their beautiful Stockholm home and raised their daughter. But when Jack callously divorces her and remarries his mistress without paying her a cent, Faye decides it’s time for some glorious revenge. A fabulous, frothy novel.
Under Pressure
Robert Pobi (fiction, Minotaur Books)
A series of high-tech explosions has terrorized New York City, including a blast at the Guggenheim Museum which kills 702 people who were attending a private tech event. Was there one target in the crowd, or was it random? Lucas Page, a former FBI agent and astrophysicist, steps in to help his imperiled city.
Rodham
Curtis Sittenfeld (fiction, Random House)
What if Hillary had never married Bill? What if they had a serious relationship at Yale Law School and then went their separate ways? That’s the premise of this fascinating novel, which kicks off in 1971 and imagines a young HRC eventually breaking up with Bill and embarking on a career and a political life of her own.
The Last Trial
Scott Turow (fiction, Grand Central Publishing)
Book 11 in the Kindle County legal thriller series, this latest from the bestselling author takes us inside the courtroom once again. This time, it’s for Alejandro “Sandy” Stern’s last trial, as he defends his friend Dr. Kiril Pafko against a murder accusation.
Want
Lynn Steger Strong (fiction, Henry Holt)
Elizabeth has two kids, a husband, two jobs, a PhD, and a bankruptcy filing to her name. Their New York City lives are filled with bills they can’t pay and people making way more money than they are. As she tries to figure out how to move forward, she gets back in touch with a childhood friend who is navigating uncertain times herself.
Filthy Beasts
Kirkland Hamill (memoir, Avid Reader Press)
Kirkland Hamill’s childhood was half-fabulous, half-desperate. His mother and his siblings are exiled from New York society following his parents’ divorce. They bounce from New York City to upstate New York and back to his mother’s native Bermuda, all the while striving for a WASPy glamour in the face of a negative bank account. Shades of “Grey Gardens.”
Big Summer
Jennifer Weiner (fiction, Atria Books)
Daphne and Drue “broke up” as friends 6 years ago, and Daphne — ever the loyal sidekick — has moved on, thriving in her career as a plus-sized Instagram influencer. Then one day Drue resurfaces in her life, asking her to be the maid of honor at her Cape Cod wedding.
The Voter File
David Pepper (fiction, GP Putnam’s Sons)
In this political thriller, investigative reporter Jack Sharpe is down on his luck. Fired from his high-profile gig, he’s now freelancing intermittently. When a woman named Tori Justice gets in touch to tell him about a stunning election hack, he begins tracking down the story, desperate for a good scoop.
The Comeback
Ella Berman (fiction, Atria Books)
Teen star Grace Turner disappeared at the high point of her career, her whereabouts a total mystery even to the paparazzi who used to track her. Now she’s back in Los Angeles after her year of self-imposed exile, and trying to come to terms with her abusive former mentor, Able Yorke.
28 Summers
Elin Hilderbrand (fiction, Little, Brown)
Mallory Blessing has left her son explicit deathbed instructions, with a slip of paper that contains a phone number. Turns out, it’s for Jake McCloud — whose wife, Ursula, is the frontrunner in the US presidential election. How do Mallory and Jake even know each other? It all started in Nantucket, in the summer of 1993.
Tom Clancy: Firing Point (A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel)
Mike Maden (fiction, GP Putnam’s Sons)
Jack Ryan Jr. is vacationing in Barcelona when he has a chance meeting with an old friend, Renee, in a cafe. Minutes after he leaves, the cafe is destroyed by a suicide bomber. As she dies in Jack’s arms, she says one word that could be a clue to the whole disaster: “Sammler.”
Stray
Stephanie Danler (memoir, Knopf)
From the bestselling author of “Sweetbitter,” Danler turns her eye on her own dysfunctional family, including a meth addict father who abandoned them when she was 3 and an alcoholic mother who had a brain aneurysm.
Midnight Sun
Stephenie Meyer (YA, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
If you loved Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, this one’s for you. The much-anticipated addition to the hugely popular Twilight series now tells sparkly Edward’s side of the story.
A Decent Family
Rosa Ventrella (fiction, Amazon Crossing)
In the town of Bari, all the locals refer to Maria De Santis as “Malacarne,” the bad seed. Growing up in squalid conditions with small-minded neighbors, Maria allows herself to dream big — beyond the confines of her village. Great for fans of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series.
Show Them You’re Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels, the Year Before College
Jeff Hobbs (nonfiction, Scribner)
From the bestselling author of “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” comes this deeply moving, lively book that follows four teenage boys the year before college. Two boys go to Beverly Hills High School; the two others attend an LA public school with 700,000 students in the district. A nuanced exploration of young men on the verge of adulthood.
The Lions of Fifth Avenue
Fiona Davis (fiction, Dutton)
In 1913, Laura Lyons is married to the superintendent of the New York Public Library, a post that allows them to live within the great building. But when she applies to Columbia Journalism School, her world opens up, bohemian Greenwich Village beckons — and soon she starts questioning everything about her domestic situation.
Blacktop Wasteland
SA Cosby (fiction, Flatiron Books)
Beauregard “Bug” Montage is a reformed getaway car driver, now an honest mechanic, good dad and affectionate husband. But when his new life starts to fall apart, he gets drawn back into a life of crime.
The Vacation
T.M. Logan (fiction, St. Martin’s Press)
At first, the vacation to the South of France seems like a dream come true, as Kate and her three best friends gather at a villa to celebrate Kate’s birthday. But soon after they arrive, Kate discovers illicit text messages between her husband and someone named “CoralGirl” — and she’s pretty sure it’s one of her best friends.
When She Was Good
Michael Robotham (fiction, Scribner)
From the bestselling author of “Good Girl, Bad Girl” comes this page turner about Evie Cormac, discovered hiding in a secret room at the scene of a grisly crime. Criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven is getting close to tracking down Evie’s dark past — leaving her wondering if some secrets are better left buried.
Rockaway: Surfing Headlong into a New Life
Diane Cardwell (memoir, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
One day, trying to make sense of her life in the wake of a divorce and the death of her father, Diane Cardwell took the A train to Rockaway. She bought a small bungalow, found a surfing teacher, and threw herself into a new life in the wake of loss and grief. A moving memoir about reshaping your own destiny.
The Pull of the Stars
Emma Donoghue (fiction, Little, Brown)
In Dublin, 1918, the Spanish Flu is at its height and nurse Julia Power is working at an understaffed hospital, in a maternity ward where young expectant mothers are quarantined together. From the bestselling author of “Room.”
Sex and Vanity
Kevin Kwan (fiction, Doubleday)
From the bestselling author of “Crazy Rich Asians” comes another glittering romp, this one a delicious love triangle. While vacationing in Capri, Lucie Churchill can’t decide between her WASPy fiance or George Zao, a man she finds herself drawn to, despite hating him at first sight.
Party of Two
Jasmine Guillory (fiction, Berkley)
When Olivia Munroe has moved to LA to start her own law firm, she isn’t looking for love. But then she meets a handsome stranger in a hotel bar and they have a flirtatious conversation. She finds out he’s a charismatic junior senator — and in the days that follow, he makes it clear he’d like to see her again. Guillory’s modern romance novels are like treats for the soul, and her latest is no exception.
The Boys’ Club
Erica Katz (Harper)
Alex Vogel has her Harvard Law degree and is ready to take the corporate world by storm as she starts in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Manhattan law firm Klasko & Fitch. She starts out vowing that nothing will change between her and her good-natured long-term boyfriend, but it’s not long before she’s seduced by the money and energy of the firm — and her coworkers. Already optioned to Netflix.