What Are We Reading This Summer? Staff Picks Edition!

“Much like the protagonist, Max, in Nicola Dinan’s DISAPPOINT ME, I find myself filled with Millennial panic as 30 looms overhead. But Dinan has crafted a poignant, special story about complicated love, race, and queerness that ultimately fills the reader with hope.”

“I’m reading Baker’s brilliant bildungsroman for Bryant Park’s Reading Room Summer Classic Book Club and look forward to moderator, librarian Chasity Thomas’s thoughtful insights.”

“Samantha Downing is so good at writing characters who are messed up and somehow still lovable. Lottie’s a small-town grandma with a sharp tongue, a shady past, and a real knack for getting away with murder. She’s technically retired… but some habits die hard.”

“THE COMPOUND is the ideal summer read—a perfect blend of dystopian fiction and reality television. What’s not to love?”

“I hope Hal Ebbott is here to stay. I started reading this not knowing what to expect, but wow. The characters and dialogue are so real, frustrating, and addicting. AMONG FRIENDS dives into uncomfortable conversations revolving around a shocking event of violence and the inevitable trauma that follows between two close families and the friendships between them. Highly recommended for your own reading or for your book club.”

“How perfect that ATMOSPHERE proves to be quite the atmospheric listen as well. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing, and the voices of Julia Whelan and Kristen DiMercurio— plus a heartfelt author-read note intimately describing the inspiration and research that went into this book—fully immersed me as listener immediately from blast-off. Ahem, I mean, immediately from the moment I pressed play on this gripping space and rocket ship romance story. I recently revisited a planetarium that I used to go to on field trips as a kid—and I love reawakening that childhood curiosity and realization that we are never too old to dream about space travel. But unlike an astronaut, a book (or audiobook) is the only way I plan to travel to the stars!”

“A grand mansion on a private island. Family drama. Romantic tension that crackles like a summer thunderstorm. Rich people behaving badly is one of my favorite genres!”

“I’m using summer to catch up on some books I missed —with all the buzz around THE FROZEN RIVER, I had to pick it up. It is definitely a breakout book for Ariel Lawhon! A perfect blend of historical fiction and thriller, just right to cool me off while reclining on the beach!”