2022 Summer Reading Guide: Page-Turning Novels
These are the titles that are so compulsively readable, you’ll stay up way too late reading (good thing there is no school tomorrow!) or maybe even hope your roadtrip lasts just a bit longer.
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
Hannah Hall married Owen Michaels a year ago. Now he’s disappeared, leaving only a note with two words, “Protect her.” The “her” in the note is Owen’s teenager daughter Bailey who does not care for her stepmother at all. But they’ll have to work together as the FBI gets involved and it quickly becomes clear that Owen isn’t who his wife or his daughter thought he was. But Hannah isn’t one to walk away from the mystery – she’s going to get to the bottom of it, no matter how many twists and turns she finds ahead of her. This is a PERFECT summer read.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This is the book that kicked off my personal summer reading last summer and I couldn’t get enough of this family story that just kept getting better and better. Every year, the four Riva siblings host an epic end-of-summer party and it draws a massive crowd thanks to their own celebrity status as surfers/supermodels/photographers, plus their dad’s notoriety as one of the most legendary singers of all time. But this year, all four of them are nervous about the party for their own reasons. One way or another, it’s going to be a night to remember. Nobody tells a story like Taylor Jenkins Reid and this might be her best yet. (Full review here)
Nanny Needed by Georgina Cross
I blew through this thriller on a single airplane ride and then I had to tell my husband about it in great detail because I could not stop thinking about it! Sarah Larsen is desperate for a new job and when she finds a notice for a nanny position in her building’s lobby, it feels like a golden ticket. And when she lands the job with the wealthy NYC family, she’s ecstatic enough to overlook the red flags that start popping up almost immediately, like the mother who never leaves the apartment on her own or the mystery of the former nanny. This one was just spooky enough to be fun without being actually terrifying.
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
I had this young adult mystery series on my list for several years and finally earmarked it to listen to during October last year. I blew through all four books in a few weeks. Stevie Bell is a true-crime lover and the crime that most intrigues her? The kidnapping at private school Ellingham Academy nearly a century earlier. The school was designed for bright young thinkers but shortly after it opened, the founder’s wife and daughter were kidnapped and the crime was never solved. Now she’s a student at Ellingham and she’d love nothing more than to figure out what happened all those decades earlier. Except. . . the mystery doesn’t seem to be staying the past where it belongs, when a student turns up dead. Be aware that the first book ends on a total cliffhanger – the three books are basically one story split into thirds (the fourth book DOES stand alone).
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
This twisty thriller was just at the edge of my creepy tolerance and I loved every second of this story of a couple who win a weekend away in Scotland and hope a change of scenery will save their crumbling marriage. But when they arrive at the church-turned-hotel and find it empty, it’s clear that there is more to this trip than meets the eye. How did they win this trip, anyway? With jumping timelines and multiple narrators, the twist in this one completely surprised me. I read a paper copy, but I’ve heard the audio version is terrific too (the husband’s parts are read by the beloved Richard Armitage).
If you’d like a copy of the entire Summer Reading Guide to print or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come straight to your inbox!