💬Friday Thread: What Upcoming Summer Books Would You Preorder?
And what have you been reading lately?
Hello! I’ve found myself excitedly researching and planning my summer reading this week and thought maybe you’re doing the same. I love summer reading, especially the planning of it. I’m a seasonal reader, so summer reading for me typically includes stories that have a summer vibe. Maybe they have beach or lake settings1, involve other people’s summer vacations/getaways, or are straight up thrillers which is a genre I love reading in the summer.
When I started researching upcoming summer book releases, I came across several that interested me—titles I don’t have advanced copies of but want to read them as soon as they’re published. I decided to place preorders for a few of them and those are the books I’m sharing with you today. What prompted me to preorder (something I don’t often do) these particular books— they are the ones I want asap; I don’t want to wait for the holds to come in on Libby2. I’m now eagerly anticipating their release and arrivals on my porch! Fingers crossed these preorders pay off and end up being reads I love, but either way, there’s something about anticipation that elevates my summer reading.
For today’s question and discussion, if you haven’t actually preordered any upcoming summer books that’s perfectly fine, we want to know the books you think sound so good that you feel you must read them asap, so you would preorder them. We’ll also be chatting about what we’ve been reading lately and I have a VERY backlist book to share that left me stunned…and in tears.
The Books I’ve Preordered
Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh - June 3 from Flatiron Books
Jia Song has always been destined for greatness. As the daughter of Korean bodega owners, she promised herself that she would have every Fifth Avenue luxury when she grew up, and it is all finally within reach. She has just made junior partner at her prestigious Manhattan law firm and she is about to score the ultraluxe gold-on-gold Birkin bag of her dreams. So when her boss asks her to sit in on the hush-hush family implosion of a high-level client, she accepts without hesitation
The Park family’s net worth is estimated at a billion dollars, and their megasuccessful Korean beauty brand has shaped the culture for the past two decades. But the patriarch is filing for divorce while his wife is dying, and their three children can’t stop snapping at one another. With both the family fortune and legacy under threat from the worst kind of scandal, it’s up to Jia to set things right—and she only has a month to do it.
As Jia sorts through the lies and subterfuge, chasing the truth across the globe on private jets, she finds herself falling for this broken, badly-behaving family in ways she can’t quite explain. But it is also becoming clear that the Parks are hiding dark secrets
What interests me… The NYC, globetrotting aspect combined with tons of money and the lifestyles of the rich and famous aspect caught my attention. Plus, anyone hiding dark secrets will get me every time
What the blurbs say….
“Fans of Crazy Rich Asians, Schitt’s Creek, and White Lotus will get more than their fix of backstabbing and danger. A delectable and drama-filled thriller.” —Kirkus (STARRED review)
“I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun reading a book!” —Nicola Yoon
A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan - June 24 from Doubleday Books
A debut set over the course of one sunbaked summer vacation, a family is pulled into a web of mysteries that the younger daughter sets out to solve. A tense, page-turning debut of childhood, innocence, and evil.
At ten years old, she catches more than her parents and older sister suspect. Over their summer break, her mother plans to finish her novel, her father wants to grill and watch cricket, and her fifteen-year-old sister hopes to catch the eye of a local lifeguard. With everyone around her distracted, she teams up with a new friend to solve a mystery that haunts this vacation community: they'll close the case of what happened to Charlotte, a child who was presumed drowned two years earlier.
But things aren't quite as they seem, and as the children look for clues, they inadvertently dislodge information they wish they'd never uncovered. Are her parents happy together? Is her sister putting her trust in the wrong people? Is their vacation rental as safe as it seems? And when someone else goes missing, the family find themselves at the center of an urgent police investigation.
What interests me… The cover, title, it’s a debut I predict will be under the radar, and a seaside family vacation with a mystery sold me
What the blurbs say….
“Dappled in sand and shadow, A Beautiful Family is part coming of age story, part taut thriller, part travelogue, perfectly transporting the reader not only to summer holiday on the New Zealand coast but also to that magical age between childhood and adolescence when the world starts to reveal its dark secrets and everything is more complicated — and, yes, beautiful — than it has seemed. Jennifer Trevelyan’s immersive debut is atmospheric and aching.” –Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of Family Family
“This novel, part mystery and part Bildungsroman, is gripping; every chapter brings an unexpected twist, further complicating and deepening each storyline.”—Kirkus Reviews
My Sister and Other Lovers by Esther Freud - August 5 from Ecco
The story of two sisters who couldn’t be more different and the great love that holds them together throughout a tumultuous youth
For as long as Lucy can remember, she’s been caught between love for her rootless mother and devotion to her fierce and exacting sister, Bea. From their peripatetic childhood to their restless teenage years she’s been forced to make a choice between two very different ways of approaching life.
But as the girls come of age and embark on their own experiments—in love, drugs, work, motherhood—Bea is at risk of drifting further and further away. Can their loyalty to each other transcend the damages of a past that feels almost too dangerous to examine?
What interests me… I’ve loved mother/daughter, sister stories in the past. Mother in the Dark by Kayla Maiuri , Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, and Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato were all 5 star reads for me
What the blurbs say….
'Slender, perfect and sparkling ... I'm stricken with love for this book' Meg Mason
'Freud brings us directly inside the beating hearts of her characters. I loved this' Miranda Cowley Heller - author of The Paper Palace
Too Old for This by Samantha Downing - August 12 from Berkley
A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left…Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her. Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends.
When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that. But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her
What interests me… I loved For Your Own Good by this author. In fact, I read/listened to that over a hot summer weekend and had the best time, so I think this could be my thriller hit for this summer. This new one has a solid 5 star rating on Netgalley out of 160 ratings/reviews which I rarely see.
What the blurbs say….
"Samantha Downing is one of the most daring and original thriller writers in the business. She hits another home run with Too Old for This, one of the twistiest thrillers in years and featuring as unique and intriguing a protagonist (or villain?) as you’ll ever meet. Combining tension with heartbreak and laugh-out-loud wit, Too Old for This is a fast and thoroughly satisfying read."
—David Ellis, New York Times bestselling author of Look Closer
"So this is what Samantha Downing does best: makes the reader cheer for murderous women. Too Old for This is twisty, funny and downright dastardly - and I loved turning every single page to see just how far Lottie Jones would go. An incredible read!
—Rachel Howzell Hall, New York Times bestselling author of The Last One
Other People by Celia Dale - August 28 from Daunt Books
**I preordered this from Blackwell’s
It is summer in small town Havenport. Protected from the world by her devoted mother, fifteen-year-old June is content and completely self-absorbed. Her biggest concern is where she will be holidaying this year. When June's father reappears after twelve years in Australia, she is thrust abruptly into a different life: new house, town, school. She soon suspects that she does not know the full story about her father, and when she meets Tony Townsend, he and his London life suddenly promise a glamorous and alluring alternative.
What interests me… I’ve never heard of this book, the cover grabbed by attention, I LOVE coming of age stories, I want to know what secrets the father has in his past, the mention of London and who is this Tony guy- could he be older? is he a celebrity or movie star? The vibe feels like this Tony could be bad news….
Shop on Bookshop.org
Question Time
What upcoming summer books would you preorder?
What have you been reading this week?
If you’re reading this in email, click itsbooktalk.substack.com to comment and join the conversation!
If you’re looking for a community of avid, thoughtful readers look no further! We’d love to have you join us for weekly book discussions and readerly connections.