By Rachel Burt

Summer’s almost here!  After the year we’ve had, I know everyone is eagerly anticipating a summer of fun and sun.  Whether you’re relaxing on the beach, near the pool, under a tree, or at an AirBnB, you’ll want to have a great book (or two) with you.  Here are some great summer reads that will keep you entertained without being too heavy or making you think too hard.

Contact your local library to check the availability of these or any other titles!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lied if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself?  Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In Matt Haig’s enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

House on Fripp Island by Rebecca Kauffman
A “Whodunnit” and a “Whodied”!  Opening with a murder, this is a taut, page-turning novel of secrets and strife.  When two families—one rich, one not—vacation together off the coast of South Carolina, little do they know that someone won’t be returning home.  Fripp Island, South Carolina is the perfect destination for the wealthy Daly family: Lisa, Scott, and their two girls. For Lisa’s childhood friend, Poppy Ford, the resort island is a world away from the one she and Lisa grew up in—and when Lisa invites Poppy’s family to join them, how can a working-class woman turn down an all-expenses paid vacation for her husband and children?  But everyone brings secrets to the island, distorting what should be a convivial, relaxing summer on the beach.  Those who return from this vacation will spend the rest of their lives trying to process what they witnessed, the tipping points, moments of violence and tenderness, and the memory of whom they left behind.

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
Brit Bennett, New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers,  offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships.  Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing.  The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities.  Years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined.  What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect? 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters.  But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.  Now, Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite―and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling.  He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.  As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.  Look for the TV adaptation on Netflix!

The Guncle by Steven Rowley
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.  So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian.  Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules” ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect.  Quickly realizing that parenting―even if temporary―isn’t solved with treats and jokes, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.  

Rachel Burt is the Director at the Hackettstown Public Library.