Looking for a quick getaway?
Take a trip to the Islands this summer with these gorgeous and page-turning escape reads.

Island Romance:

Secrets in Summer by Nancy Thayer

Memorial Day weekend means that seasonal visitors have descended on the glamorous island of Nantucket. For year-round resident Darcy Cotterill, it means late-night stargazing and heading to the beach to meet her new summertime neighbors. But the last person she expects to see staying next door is her ex-husband along with his new wife and stepdaughter.
Darcy must also navigate the highs and lows of a new romantic relationship with local carpenter Nash Forester even as she becomes smitten with handsome vacationer Clive Rush, a musicologist in town to write a book and visit family. It all adds up to one memorable summer when flirtations flourish, family dramas play out, and scandalous secrets surface.

The Rocks by Peter Nichols

This romantic page-turner is propelled by the sixty-year secret that has shaped two families, four lovers, and one seaside resort community.
Set against dramatic Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, The Rocks opens with a confrontation and a secret: What was the mysterious, catastrophic event that drove two honeymooners apart so suddenly and absolutely in 1948? And how did their history shape the Romeo and Juliet–like romance of their (unrelated) children decades later?
“[What] smart, sexy summer lit is invariably made of . . . has all the requisite romance and intrigue of good melodrama—and its settings are so postcard-gorgeous you can almost taste the sea spray and cold horchata—but there’s real wit and substance in his storytelling. Think of it as a beach read you’ll respect in the morning.” —Entertainment Weekly

 The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner

Castellamare is an island far enough away from the mainland to be forgotten, but not far enough to escape from the world’s troubles. At the center of the island’s life is a café draped with bougainvillea called the House at the Edge of Night, where the community gathers to gossip and talk. Spanning nearly a century, through secrets and mysteries, trials and sacrifice, this beautiful and haunting novel follows the lives of the Esposito family and the other islanders who live and love on Castellamare.
“Banner’s four-generation saga is set on an island near Sicily, where myths of saints get served up with limoncello at the Esposito family’s bar. . . . Consider this dreamy summer read your passport.” People

Trouble in Paradise:

The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Matthew King was once considered one of the most fortunate men in Hawaii. His ancestors were financially and culturally progressive–one even married a Hawaiian princess, making Matt a royal descendant and one of the state’s largest landowners.
Now his luck has changed. His two daughters are out of control. And, Matt’s charismatic, thrill-seeking, high-maintenance wife, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident.
As Matt gathers her friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation made worse by the sudden discovery that there is one person who hasn’t been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair, quite possibly the one man she ever truly loved.

Siracusa by Delia Ephron

Beach Cover Ups:

Camino Island by John Grisham

Death on Nantucket by Francine Mathews

When a body is discovered near Steps Beach, Nantucket police detective Meredith Folger is called in to investigate. The timing couldn’t be worse: It’s the Fourth of July, and tourists are arriving in droves to celebrate on Nantucket’s beaches, so the police force is spread thin. On top of that Merry is planning her wedding to cranberry farmer Peter Mason, and her new boss, an ex-Chicago police chief with an aggressive management strategy, seems to be trying to force her to quit. Merry can’t conclude the Murphy investigation quickly enough for him.
As she grapples with a family of unreliable storytellers—some incapable of recalling the past, and others determined that it never be known—she suspects that the truth may be forever out of reach, trapped in the failing brain of a man whose whole life may have been a lie.

Blinded by the Light:

Beautiful Animals by Lawrence Osborne

Island Life:

Island People: The Caribbean and the World by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *