Ah, summer reading! A chance to escape the worries of work and school and immerse ourselves in . . . whatever tickles our fancy! And yes, I know that many of us, myself included, don’t really get to escape, but having a good book to get lost in, even for a short time, is a gift. Two recently published books provide a radical escape route, and though they’re profoundly different, I loved them both. I’ll turn first to terror. Louise Penny is best known for her Three Pines series featuring Inspector Gamache, but this spring she joined forces with Mellissa Fung to bring us the frightening (and all too timely), THE LAST MANDARIN: A NOVEL. The title says definitively that it’s a novel, but the story might as well have been torn from the headlines (Ms. Penny is scarily good at this) since it involves horribly realistic bad guys and AI. An oximeter reader would have started beeping in alarm as I came close to the end and essentially stopped breathing, but have no fear; you will be both breathing again and shaking your head in amazed wonder when you reach the last page. One recommendation: if the characters don’t grab you when you start reading (I found them a bit cold and unlikeable), don’t abandon ship. Each and every one comes vividly to life as the story slowly unfolds and then accelerates to warp speed.
On the entirely different end of the escape spectrum, RULES FOR THE SUMMER, by Meghan Quinn, is a sexy, ridiculously charming fairy tale served up as delectably as a bag of Doritos and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s delivered in a cotton candy cloud of fun. Some of my high-brow, judgmental friends eschew rom-coms they deem “unrealistic,” but this tale of a small-town American woman (Renley) who is trying to rehabilitate a run-down candy store and a British lord-to-be (Theo) coming together after an online typo leads to a meet-cute, is just what the doctor ordered for our overly stressful lives. RULES FOR THE SUMMER was my first exposure to this prolific and wildly successful author, but it won’t be my last.
Another new-to-me author (I’m always trying to catch up!), Emily McIntire, instantly captured my attention with her FORSAKING MIDNIGHT. This is the second book in her “Defying the Stars” trilogy, but I had no trouble understanding the plot and quickly coming to care for the characters. Not an expert at book labeling, I’d nevertheless call this romance dark-adjacent. There is darkness: Lance is literally caged when he fights before high-rolling and well-heeled villains, but his descent into such turpitude was involuntary and heart-breaking. Genevieve, meanwhile, is coasting in a semi-fog of complacency – working as a barmaid after mysteriously losing her beloved job as a sous-chef, and content, if not happy as the girlfriend of Lance’s childhood best friend. The intrigue and the passion are intense and fast moving, and I can’t wait to read volumes one and three.
DESTINATION FUNERAL, by Paige Harbison, took me on a delightfully extended weekend stay to a family vacation home on Mercy Island, Georgia, with a group of childhood friends who’ve become estranged. They’ve gathered for matriarch Babe’s memorial service, and it’s an extended weekend because Saturday night passes again and again into Saturday morning. Didion has spoken little to her sister, Sammie, or their once good friend, Matt, and not at all to her old boyfriend, Austin, for several years. As they come together initially on Friday evening, the mood is tense, but as Saturday passes repeatedly back to Saturday, old grudges gradually thaw. Babe’s magic works tirelessly to reawaken love among these now jaded adults, and I could have stayed on Mercy Island indefinitely. I was lucky to listen to the audio version of DESTINATION FUNERAL, and the author expertly narrated this wonderful story herself.
I’ve enjoyed every book Annabel Monaghan has written, but her latest, DOLLY ALL THE TIME, is a truly lovely book. At once realistic, heart-breaking, and ultimately transcendent, DOLLY ALL THE TIME chronicles teacher Dolly and her son returning temporarily to her childhood home for the summer to help her father and her special-needs brother during her school break. Soon after arriving, she ends up changing a flat tire for the financially blessed but technologically challenged town scion, Stewart. This is a romance, so don’t waste too much time worrying that the two may never cross paths again. Summery details abound in bumper garden crops, successful fishing hauls, and baseball games, and the bond that develops between Stewart and Dolly’s son is particularly touching. Ms. Monagan is renowned for skillfully deepening relationships between intelligent characters we’d all like as friends and then throwing a wrench into the plot line with such vigor that each time I’ve been flummoxed as to how she’ll fix things. She’s done it again in DOLLY, but as in her other books, the resolution is sigh-worthy and delightful.
One more enchanting escape awaits you in my newest novel, SECOND WHISPER, where words from beyond help Amanda find strength to not only fight evil but also open her heart to a love she’s always kept buried.
About Meg Napier
Meg’s friends during her high school years all expected her romance novels to hit the shelves decades ago, but she foolishly allowed “serious pursuits” to get in her way. Now that her beloved children can feed, clothe, and most importantly, support themselves, she’s free to turn her attention to her first passion – putting words to paper that capture your attention and make your heart sing in quiet joy. Her stories tell most frequently of second chances–in life, love, and sometimes even at rediscovering a soul-mate from a previous life.
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