I'm super excited to welcome Amy Allen Clark today, founder of Mom Advice. I've been reading Amy's blog for interesting and practical advice for years now, but my favorite posts are those she does about what she's reading. And now she takes it a step further by interviewing the authors! I highly respect Amy's book recommendations (I'm currently reading We Are Called To Rise on her advice), so I asked her to share a few of her favorite summer beach reads.
Hello, friends! I am so honored to be guest posting today on Hollywood Housewife. I am a big fan of Laura’s work and particularly love her book reviews section since I am such a bookworm myself. Ever since I was a little girl hopping on the bookmobile for my fix around the corner from our home, I have been absolutely crazy about reading.
I love sharing about great books with others so each month I do a monthly round-up of great reads to check out. My favorite section of our site though is our Sundays With Writers series where I (geek out!) and interview my favorite authors about their books. If I’m being honest, that is my favorite part about my job and was the only reason I ever joined Twitter in the first place. Only I would be jumping up and down shouting to my husband that an author talked to me on Twitter and begging these poor people to answer my questions the minute after I finish a book. Yup, I am wondering when a restraining order might happen...
With summer in full swing, today I wanted to share 5 great recommendations for your beach bag that I think you will love. I read a lot of different genres so I am going to give my picks for a chick lit book, thriller, young adult, historical fiction, and science fiction. I am casting a wide net to hopefully catch one of you into a book you never expected to love.
These are the books I would hand you if you joined me at the pool one day.
These are the books that I couldn’t stop thinking about after I finished.
I hope they move you in that way too!
The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel
I am a big fan of books that explore the what-if’s in life and this one does it beautifully and was charming from the first page to the last.
When Kate loses her husband in a tragic accident she finally feels like she can move forward in a new relationship twelve years later. When her husband begins to visit her in her dreams though, she begins to fall into an alternate universe where the lines between reality and imagination are blurred.
One of my favorite movies is Sliding Doors and this book reminded me so much of that movie. Harmel truly explores what it takes to move forward in life without forgetting your past.
In this story, Kate blames her lack of sleep on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she’s really ready to move on. Is Patrick trying to tell her something? Attempting to navigate between dreams and reality, Kate must uncover her husband’s hidden message. Her quest leads her to a sign language class and into the New York City foster system, where she finds rewards greater than she could have imagined.
This is the best piece of chick lit I have read this year and would highly recommend for anyone who needs a little reading escape! I have been telling everyone to escape with this one and I keep hearing how much they loved it too. It’s one I would be packing in my beach bag this summer, for sure!
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
I believe that this is the book that everyone is going to be talking about this summer, particularly because Reese Witherspoon is going to be producing this one into a film. With Reese behind it, you know this is going to be big!
Much like other thriller books, I don’t want to give away the plot too much so that you have the satisfaction of discovering the twists yourself. Ani is a girl who never has the ability to fit in at her prestigious private school, no matter how many brand name clothes her mother buys her. When Ani intrigues the popular kids, they decide to invite her in and Ani discovers, maybe it was better to have never been a part of the group at all. In a horrible turn of events, she finds solace in another kid at school that will, ultimately, change the destiny of the school and the kids in it forever.
The book flashes back to Ani’s painful teen years and then alternates chapters as they film a documentary about what happened at their school and how much happier Ani is now that she is working at a high-profile magazine, beautiful, thin, and has the guy of her dreams. Of course, things are never as good as they seem and getting to the root of why Ani is so unlikable helps the reader to connect more as the story progresses despite the excruciating shallowness and weight obsession of this woman.
With just the right amount of sass to balance the darkness of this book (think Gillian Flynn for how dark we get), this read is a quick page-turner that I can’t wait to see adapted into film.
Jessica graciously joined me for an interview so after you finish it, be sure to check out her story behind the story. She was very gracious and candid about our culture of slut shaming, a strong theme in this book about a high school teen who just wants to fit in.
Walking on Trampolines by Frances Whiting
This is one of those books that you think will just be a quick escape, but ends up being a beautiful story with endearing characters that you think about long after you close the final pages. It reminded me a little bit of Kristen Hannah’s Firefly Lane, as it really talks about the bonds of friendship between two girls.
This coming-of-age story follows their friendship and then the consequences of them both falling for the same guy…which sounds so simple, but relationships are never simple, are they? Thankfully, it was just so much more than that and really built around a cast of flawed characters, the bonds & love of our family, first loves, true loves, and how friendships between unlikely people can reshape your destiny. You see the characters grow up as you flip the pages, as the story carries them right into adulthood.
There were some really great themes in this one and it is the kind of book that reminds you of your own coming-of-age story and the friendships that can endure those tumultuous years. The theme seems simple, but the story was not. I highly recommend this one and I recommend sharing it with your best friend.
Frances Whiting also joined me for an interview and once you finish it, be sure to peek at that. Her publishing house brought to life a really unique theme in Whiting’s book that I absolutely loved. One of the character’s mothers sews her own dresses and she has certain dresses she wears for each of her moods. They brought these dresses to life in illustration and after you read the book, it is such a treat to see Rose’s beautiful dresses in picture form. It really adds to the beauty of this special book!
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
I’m not even going to lie; this novel is absolute perfection from start to finish. Never a lag, never a dull moment, audible gasps at shocking plot twists, a steamy sordid love affair…friends, THIS is unbelievable. Now as a disclaimer, the love affair lies between two women so if you don’t want to read that, then continue on with your life. That being said, it is tastefully done and the love affair scene is more Snow Flower & the Secret Fan rather than that cheap stuff in 50 Shades of Grey. I could not put this book down and actually bought it for my Kindle (due to its whopping 596 pages in length), and kind of already want to reread it again so I’m thankful I invested in this one.
Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a “baby farmer,” who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.
One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.
With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways…But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.
As a reader, you are taken on a Dickens-esque roller coaster ride with plot twist after plot twist. I could not put this down and can’t wait to dig into more of her books now that I finally know what all the fuss is about. This book was amazing!
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Do you ever pick up a book completely outside of your normal genre and find yourself completely swept away in a world you never dreamed you would escape to? It happened a couple of times for me with The Hunger Games series and Twilight series, just to name two types of books that I never thought I would love. If you would have asked me if I would have fallen head over heels in love with a book with a plotline firmly planted in science fiction with a zombie apocalypse theme or even just another dystopian thriller (a genre I had grown very tired of), I would have probably laughed at you.
No, this is not your typical beach read recommendation, but that is exactly why I had to share it. Let’s shake things up a bit.
All the descriptions of this book state that Melanie is simply a special girl. You don’t know what makes her special until you dive in and discover the girl and all her gifts.
That’s it. I’m not telling you anything else. You have to read it.
This book is wildly imaginative, suspenseful, and leaves you wondering who you should be rooting for as the story develops. I really, really loved this book. Unfortunately, it is just the kind of book that you shouldn’t talk about so that each reader can go on the journey with this child and find out just what makes her so unique. It’s a book that you will want to finish and share with friends. It reads like a movie and is just the type of literary adventure I would recommend if you have been in a reading slump. This book is being turned into film as we speak so read it before you watch it (because the book is always better!)
After you finish this one, dive deep into our exclusive interview with M.R. Carey about his amazing book. It was one of my favorite interviews I got to do this year!
Thank you all for the opportunity to share a few of my favorites here this week! Feel free to give me a follow on GoodReads if you want to share about books together! xo
