2022 Reading List: May and June
What a line up! A new beach read from Emily Henry! Historical fiction about Dorothy Draper! The third book in the American Royals series!! Plus, books set in so many of my favorite places, Vermont, Mount Desert Island, Boston and more! I promise there is something for everyone on this list and a very fun summer of reading ahead for all of us!
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May
Book lovers by Emily Henry
Publishing Date: May 3
Oooh our annual beach read about literary people falling in love is here! Nora Stephens is a cutthroat literary agent, who agrees to spend a month in a small town in North Carolina with her younger sister Libby.
Libby imagines a rom-coms style small town transformation for Nora, but her older sister keeps running into a rival from the city, who she does not have the warm fuzzies for. I love that we can tell where this book will go, but I want to read it anyways!
Liarmouth by john waters
Publishing Date: May 3
This book might be insane, considering it’s written by director John Waters, who is known for his controversial choices, but it kind of sounds amazing? The heroine is named Marsha Sprinkle, and she is a scammer and thief with a long list of angry friends and family behind her. She’s on the run, with her lies flowing, until one man makes her tell the truth. What follows is a “feel-bad romance” which I kind of think we could all use more of?
Book of Night by Holly Black
Publishing Date: May 3
I love Holly Black’s other work and am excited about this new YA fantasy series! Charlie Hall is famous for bad decisions, only matched by her skill at picking locks and pockets. She works for gloamies - magicians who use shadows to do their dirty work - and use Charlie to steal from each other. When Charlie tries to get away, her desperate sister and sketchy boyfriend pull her back into a web of murder and lies.
The Grand Design
Publishing Date: May 17
Historical fiction about designer Dorothy Draper? Yes please! In 1908, young Dorothy Tuckerman chafes under the bland, beige traditions of her socialite circles. Only the annual summer trips to The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia spark her imagination and an unexpected romance with an Italian racecar driver gives Dorothy a taste of the passion and adventure she wants. But her family intervenes, sentencing Dorothy to the life she hopes to escape. Thirty-eight years later, as World War II draws to a close, Dorothy has has divorced her husband—scandalous—and established America’s first interior design firm—shocking. Now, Dorothy returns to The Greenbrier with the assignment to restore it to something even greater than its original glory.
Rivals
Publishing Date: May 31
BOOK THREE IN AMERICAN ROYALS!!!! We pick up with Beatrice as Queen, Samantha (who is now the heir) in love with Lord Marshall Davis but struggling not to repeat her mistakes, and Nina and Daphne teaming up to protect Jefferson. Beatrice goes to a meeting of global kings and queens and gets a taste of the inner royal circle, and it all just sounds amazing!!
June
It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler
Publishing Date: June 7
A sister drama set around a summer house on Mount Desert Island, one of our favorite places! With the matriarch of the Geller family terminally ill, her estate is all decided on including that she wants their summer cottage in Maine sold with the proceeds split between her three daughters. With the three women struggling with their individual dramas, a charming ex-con enters into their lives complicating everything and changing the family and their relationships.
The Woman In the Library by Sulari Gentill
Publishing Date: June 7
The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning―it just happens that one is a murderer.
Can’T Look Away by Carola Lovering
Publishing Date: June 14
If you have ever been in a toxic relationship, Carola Lovering’s Tell Me Lies spoke to you, and I think her newest books seems to go to a darker place, which I am excited for! In 2013, twenty-three-year old Molly Diamond locks eyes with the dreamy lead singer at a concert in Brooklyn and quickly and deeply falls in love, especially after he writes a hit song about her that puts his band on the map. Years later, Molly has given up writing and is living in Connecticut with her young daughter and her husband Hunter Their life looks picture-perfect, but Molly is lonely and struggling to conceive their second child. When Sabrina, a newcomer in town, walks into the yoga studio where Molly teaches and confesses her own fertility struggles, Molly believes she's finally found a friend. But Sabrina has her own reasons for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly and a new version of Jake's hit song is on the radio, forcing Molly to confront her past.
City of Likes by Jenny Mollen
Publishing Date: June 14
Megan Chernoff is a talented but unemployed copywriter in an identity crisis after the birth of her second child. Seeking a fresh start, she and her family move to New York City, where she meets Daphne Cole-a gorgeous, stylish, well-known momfluencer. To Meg's surprise and delight, Daphne shows an inordinate amount of interest in Meg, showering her with compliments, attention, gifts, and all the perks that come with having a massive digital platform. Before she knows it, Meg finds herself immersed in Daphne's world and reveling in the external validation she gets from her followers who grow daily by the thousands. When Meg realizes she's losing track of what matters most-her relationship with her sons and her husband-the deep cracks in Daphne's carefully curated façade are finally exposed. It's up to Meg to find her way back to her real life.
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
Publishing Date: June 21
Riley Sager writes such great murdery thrillers and this seems like the perfect summer one about a widowed actress who runs away from the press to her family’s Vermont lake house. She becomes obsessed with watching the couple across the lake, Tom a tech titan and former model Katherine. When she saves Katherine’s life, they form a friendship, but Casey gets pulled into their mysterious marriage. After Katherine disappears, she realizes nothing is what it seems.
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