Summer Reading List

Happy summer babes! I have been done with exams for a little over a week now and I've found great company in a few books since I've been off school. Since I don't start my internship until late next week (more on that later!), I've been reading as much as I can not only because I don't have much else to do (lame, but true) but because I know once things start to pick up speed for the summer I'll be finding myself with less time on my hands to just relax and read. I shared a few reading updates in blog posts last summer and in the last few days on Insta Stories, so I thought it would only be appropriate to put together a formal blog post chatting about what I've read and what I want to read in the next couple of months!

Since last Monday, I have already read three books and I just started a fourth last night. I love to read and it makes me so happy to have a bit of time where the only things on my to-do list are reading my book and taking my dog for a walk. Of course, I should probably go on a few runs in between and find the motivation to unpack my bags from school, but that'll happen eventually... In the meantime, I started a Goodreads account that you can follow if you're interested in keeping up with my summer reads!

For the most part, I enjoy fiction books and "summer beach reads" during the warmer months. I like to keep it pretty light, so you won't see any deep, intellectual books on this list. Who's the same way?

FAITHFUL // The first book I read last week was Faithful by Alice Hoffman. I read this post on Carly's blog and Faithful stuck out to me as one of the books that I needed to get my hands on! I absolutely loved this book and really connected with the main character's struggle to find what ultimately made her happiest, and I was rooting for her all the way through, just like Carly mentioned. It's essentially the story of a young woman who's best friend has been in a coma since high school, and she both blames herself and feels the need to live her life a certain way after the event. I loved experiencing her development throughout the book and I really found myself sucked into the events of her life in New York and beyond.

FORTUNE'S DAUGHTER // After Faithful, I wanted a similar book, so I read Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman. This one was still a great read and very easy to get into, but I didn't love it as much. I think I just found it a little dark, and I couldn't quite relate to the characters as much as Faithful. The story is about a young woman who finds herself pregnant by her toxic boyfriend, and an older woman who experienced her own challenges with children and can read people's fortunes. The story is about how the two connect, and how their different lives have a lot more in common underneath the surface.

THE IDENTICALS // The book I most recently finished was The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand. You guys, this book might just be a new all-time favorite. It was so good!!! The story is about identical twins, one who lives on Nantucket and the other on Martha's Vineyard. My favorite character is the daughter of the twin who lives on Nantucket, because she is a sixteen year old girl who reminds me a lot of who I thought I wanted to be when I was sixteen. The twins have a horrible relationship but the story really develops why that is and how they need each other more than they thought. I loved the setting on the different islands, and each character's persona and life was so interesting and exciting. I absolutely loved this book and it inspired me to pick up another book by Elin Hilderbrand afterwards.

THE CASTAWAYS // I am currently reading the Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand right now. I am just about 40 pages in, but I love it already. Like her other books, this one is set on Nantucket, and it tells the story of two parents that die in a sailing accident, and the consequential effects their deaths have on the island, their friends, and their children. Like I said, I am only starting it, but so far, so good!

THE ISLAND // Up next, I picked up The Island by Elin Hilderbrand at the library. I love how her stories are set on the islands of the East Coast, because that is one of my absolute favorite places in the world! This plot involves a Nantucket wedding that gets called off, and I am a sucker for a good wedding-related book. I can't wait to read it!

A few more books on my list after that: 

Call Me By Your Name // (i've heard such good things about the movie!) Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks' duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

Commonwealth // One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them. 

The Arrivals // It's early summer when Ginny and William's peaceful life in Vermont comes to an abrupt halt. First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood - only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.

An American Marriage // Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

What's on your summer reading list?

xoxo