Summer Downtime for Mamas: 7 Books to Add to Your Beach Bag by Diane Hayes
It's summer, so it means more free time for mamas.
This month brings the start of the sunny season, which means it's time for all the beach books! Because friends don't let friends travel to the beach without a book in their bag, we have the perfect page-turner for you, whether you're in the mood for a swoon-worthy rom-com or a meaty mystery.
Here's a list of books to add to your bedtime reading and downtime!
Julie, a graphic artist, is the main character of Laura May's first LGBTQ romance book. Julie's life and her relationship with her partner Mark are routine in every way. That is, until she meets Ann. Ann is a kind and caring woman who works as a web developer. Julie's feelings for Ann are undeniable. The flame is genuine as their history and present reunite in Barcelona. When tragedy strikes, Julie must choose between her love for Ann and her loyalty to Mark. Will the passage of time fracture true love? You'll discover it in The One Woman.
Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
A cult-based romantic comedy? In her first fiction novel since 2015's The Clasp, Crosley created the crossover we didn't know we needed. Lola, a 38-year-old lady from the Lower East Side of New York, frequently runs into her ex-boyfriends because of her internal hesitation about getting married to her fiancé. But it's not a coincidence that her best friend, a former magazine editor who has become a mystical guru, seems to have a stake in how her romantic life turns out.
Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson
Does Dolly have any limitations? James Patterson and Dolly Parton collaborate to tell the tale of, what else, a rising artist. Only she has a secret, and she worries that it might come back to haunt her.
Fiona And Jane by Jean Chen Ho
Since they were in the second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen have been best friends. Throughout their adolescent years, they have survived unsatisfying romantic relationships and carried the scars of their families' turbulent pasts with them. Fiona was predestined to depart because of her unforced beauty and ferocious ambition, which Jane both adored and feared in equal measure. Jane stays in California and mourns her estranged father's sudden death, alienating an overly concerned girlfriend in the process. Meanwhile, Fiona relocates to New York and takes care of a sick friend while ending a relationship with an opportunistic lover. The women drift in and out of one other's lives due to distance and betrayals.
The Mutual Friend by Carter Bays
A broad cast of characters are followed as they negotiate life, love, loss, ambition, and spirituality in this debut novel from the co-creator of How I Met Your Mother. They do it without ever glancing up from their phones.
Alice Quick has to report to work in 2015, after all. She is twenty-eight years old, grieving the loss of her mother, making ends meet as a nanny, and has recently been evicted from her apartment. She can start pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor if she can only get her act together and register for the MCAT, but in the age of distraction, the distractions are so distracting. There is also her tech-rich brother's conversion to religion. The emotional collapse of his picture-perfect wife. The adventurous spirit of her erratic new roommate and naturally, love.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Eva Mercy, a best-selling author of erotica and a single mother, feels under constant pressure. An award-winning novelist known for his seclusion and mysticism named Shane Hall unexpectedly appears in New York.
Sparks ignite when Shane and Eva suddenly cross paths at a literary gathering, raising the Black literati's eyebrows as well as their long-buried traumas. Nobody is aware that fifteen years ago, teenage Shane and Eva fell madly in love for one insane week. They may be acting as if they don't know one another, but they can't deny their chemistry or the fact that they have been writing to one another in secret in their books for years.
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
In Riley Sager's suspenseful book, a widowed actress retires to her secluded lake house in Vermont in an effort to avoid the spotlight. She becomes utterly enamored with her neighbors who live across the street, whose marriage appears to be less than perfect. Although the plot is well known, Sager yet makes it seem completely original.
Diane Hayes is a writer and blogger from Houston.