It’s been a busy summer of reading for both of us, and we wanted to share the highlights so far, and what we are planning to read over these last few weeks of beach and pool time!

Favorite Summer Books

Funny and Wacky

• Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto - What if you accidentally murdered your blind date and then had to enlist your mother and Aunties to help hide the body while they are throwing the biggest wedding of the year? You end up with this hilarious Weekend at Bernies meets The Wedding Planner comedy! - D

• A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin - A struggling reporter goes undercover at a private women’s club (think The Wing) and gets pulled into their mysterious and elite leadership group, where she has to figure out exactly what power they are wielding and where it all comes from. I love Laura Hankin’s books because they are always about women in CRAZY situations, but manage to be sympathetic to the women at the same time. - D

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I thought that the mix of Hollywood glamour and the Malibu surf scene was perfect for a summer beach read, and the way that the plot and timeline were set up kept me reading all afternoon because I had to know what happened next. Plus, the Riva siblings were all gorgeous and compelling in their own ways, and I was dying to get in there and straighten up their love lives. -E

Heartfelt

• People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry - I loved this romance about two best friends who used to go on an epic vacation every year, until they fell out for mysterious reasons. When Poppy convinces Alex to go on another trip with her to Palm Springs, things do not go as planned and through flashbacks we see what happened on past trips to get to this point. - D

• Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney - A story about marriage and friendship, when voice actress Flora discovers a secret that her actor and theater company owner husband Julian has been keeping for years, and that her best friend Margot, the start of a Grey’s Anatomy-type series, knew about. Their relationships are thrown into turmoil over one summer. - D

• What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins - This was a totally random read that I got from the Book of the Month Club and couldn’t have been more happy about. It’s more somber than I would normally pick for a summer read, but I was so drawn to the teenage Evangeline, who finds herself pregnant and alone and forming unexpected friendships, that it kept the book from being too depressing and made it a thoughtful exploration of how we react to tragedy. -E

Nonfiction

• Celebrate Everything by Darcy Miller - This is the most useful and loved book that I’ve picked up all year! If you have any interest in parties, from the most simple to the most elaborate, this book will give you a ton of inspiration and ideas. It has come in handy for everything from children’s birthdays in bathing suits to black tie anniversary celebrations! I cannot recommend it enough. -E

• Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab- I am suffering from major summer burnout right now after saying yes to everything and forgetting to leave any time for myself to rest and recover. I’m so happy with all of the experiences that we’ve had this summer, but I’m also tired and thinking that I need to apply a different strategy towards planning our fall and making sure that I keep a better balance. I’m only a few pages into this book, but it already has me thinking and reprioritizing about how many activities the kids “need” to sign up for and how to keep time for myself to think and be creative and focus on the bigger picture. -E

Coming Next

• The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent - This sounds so fun, about a woman who pretends to be best friend, taking her summer job as a wine-expert at a hotel in the Scottish highlands. - D

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