Summer Reading List Preview

Our complete Summer Reading List won’t launch until the beginning of June, but here’s a sneak peek at a few titles in bookstores now that would be perfect for Memorial Day weekend. As always, we suggest reading them by the pool, on the beach or at least in the tub.

The Cherry Cola Book Club
by Ashton Lee

With its corrugated iron siding and cramped interior, the Cherico, Mississippi, library is no Antebellum gem. But for young librarian Maura Beth Mayhew, it’s as essential to the community as the delicious desserts at the Twinkle, Twinkle Café. Which is why Maura Beth has founded the Cherry Cola Book Club – a last-ditch attempt to boost circulation and save her job.

Looking for Me
by Beth Hoffman

A Southern novel of family and antiques from the bestselling author of “Saving CeeCee Honeycutt,” Beth Hoffman’s latest releases May 28 and features Teddi Overman, who’s found her passion for furniture in a broken-down chair left on the side of the road in rural Kentucky. She learns to turn other people’s castoffs into beautifully restored antiques and eventually opens her own shop in Charleston. But her new life is interrupted when signs emerge that her brother may be alive. Teddi is drawn home to Kentucky in a journey that could help her come to terms with her shattered family and find herself at last.

The Lost Husband
by Katherine Center

Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for—Dear Lord!—two whole years, and I’m writing to see if you’d like to be rescued. The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who—after the sudden death of her husband, Danny—went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road.

The Sassy Belles
by Beth Albright

There are only two seasons in Tuscaloosa, Alabama — football and waiting-for-football. When Lewis Heart, football announcer and voice of the Crimson Tide, vanishes after an impromptu romp with Vivi Ann McFadden at the Fountain Mist Motel, Vivi does what any Southern woman would do: call her best friend, Blake O’Hara Heart, attorney-at-law. With the town gossip swirling around them, Vivi and Blake are determined to find out what happened to Lewis and clear Vivi’s reputation. Releasing May 28, this is the debut novel of former “Days of our Lives” actress and Tuscaloosa native Beth Albright.

Topped Chef: A Key West Food Critic Mystery
by Lucy Burdette

Hayley Snow loves her job as the food critic for Key Zest magazine. She’d rate her life four stars, until she’s forced into the spotlight … and another murder investigation. Hoping for some good publicity, Hayley’s boss signs her up to help judge the Key West Topped Chef contest. Stakes are high as the winner could be the next cooking-show superstar. Hayley shows up for the filming only to find Sam Rizzoli, big shot businessman and owner of the restaurant she just panned in her first negative review, on the judging panel with her. When Rizzoli turns up dead, the police assume his killer is one of his business rivals. But Hayley wonders whether someone is taking the contest a little too seriously.