Saturday, June 8, 2013

Summer Reading 2013



Officially, the first day of summer is June 21, but all the signs of summer are present and accounted for at my house. It’s a humid 80 degrees with afternoon thunderstorms forecast, the grands are out of school, we’ve already had picnics and cookouts, Braves baseball accounts for a steady stream of conversation, and the summer reading program at the local library is in full swing. Oh, yes, it’s definitely summer here.

My reading calendar is just one more piece of evidence that summer has begun. I have almost one hundred books on my TBR list for June, July, and August. I’ve already read nineteen of them. (See the bolded titles on the list below.) I can tell you that you have some wonderful books coming to bookstores near you this summer. I’m reading Carolina Girl by Virginia Kantra today, and I have another ten books from the list waiting on my Kindle. (See titles marked with an asterisk.) I’ve already reviewed a few of these books. You will see the rest here At Just Janga, at The Romance Dish, or at GoodReads over the summer months.



I’m particularly excited about new books from Susan Crandall (Whistling Past the Graveyard, a coming-of-age story with a nine-year-old narrator set in 1960s Mississippi, set for release  on July 2) and Pamela Morsi (Love Overdue, a romance with a sedate Kansas librarian who is longing to free her Inner Vixen, set for release on August 27). Crandall and Morsi are both authors whose voices I love and whose books always leave me longing for the next one.

Historical romance is my favorite subgenre, and I am eagerly anticipating the summer offerings, especially Manda Collins’s Wicked Widows series which debuts on July 30 with Why Dukes Say I Do and Anna Campbell’s new Sons of Sin novella (Days of Rakes and Roses) on July 2 and novel (A Rake's Midnight Kiss) on August 27. I am also enthusiastically looking forward to the Billionaire Brothers series by Lily Everett (aka Louisa Edwards). This contemporary series, consisting of three enovellas (The Firefly Café, The Summer Cottage, and Island Road) releasing on July 2, 9, and 16, is set on Sanctuary Island and serves as a prequel to the novel Sanctuary Island (July 30), described as a place “where broken hearts come to heal—and where every lost soul will find a home.”  


Every book on this list promises to be a great summer read.

 JUNE



3
Stewart, Mariah
Swept Away (novella)

4
Andrews, Mary Kay
Ladies Night
Burrowes, Grace
Ethan
Carlisle, Kate
A Cookbook Conspiracy*
Dark, Emmie
Just for Today
Gray, Juliana
How to Tame Your Duke
Jacobs, Holly
A Walk Down the Aisle
Kantra, Virginia
Carolina Girl*
Kaye, Robin
You're The One
Marlowe, Mia
Romanced by a Rake
Pickering, Kathleen
The Father of Her Son
Talley, Liz
His Uptown Girl
Thomas, Jodi
Can't Stop Believing
White, Karen
The Time Between

18
Collins, Manda
The Perks of Being a Beauty
Delinsky, Barbara
Sweet Salt Air (HB)
Goodnight, Linda
Baby in His Arms
Jeffries, Sabrina
What the Duke Desires
Wilde, Lori
One True Love

25
Beaton, M. C.
Hiss and Hers (pb of 2012 release)
Brogan, Tracy
Hold on My Heart*
Carr, Robyn
The Newcomer
Grant, Celia
A Woman Entangled
Griffin. Laura
Exposed
Haymore, Jennifer
The Duchess Hunt
Long, Julie Anne
It Happened One Midnight
Mallery, Susan
Two of a Kind
Monroe, Mary Alice
The Summer Girls
Pappano, Marilyn
A Hero to Come Home To
Rice, Luanne
Little Night
Richards, Emilie           
Somewhere Between Luck and Trust
Stone, Jillian
The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter
Terry, Candis
Anything But Sweet
Thayne, RaeAnne
Willowleaf Lane
Wilde, Lori
All Out of Love



JULY








1
DeStefano, Anna
A Sweetbrook Family 

2
Krotow, Geri
Navy Orders
O'Brien, Kathleen
Betting on the Cowboy
Brooke, Christina
London's Last True Scoundrel
Burrowes, Grace
Beckman
Campbell, Anna
Days of Rakes and Roses
Crandall, Susan
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Everett, Lily
The Firefly Café (enovella)
Essex, Elizabeth
Scandal in the Night
Frank, Dorothea Benton
The Last Original Wife
Mulry, Megan
If the Shoe Fits
Rice, Luanne
The Lemon Orchard
Robinson, Maggie
In the Arms of the Heiress

9
Everett, Lily
The Summer Cottage (enovella)
Naigle, Nancy
Wedding Cakes and Big Mistakes*
St. Claire, Roxanne
Don't You Wish (YA)

15
Foley, Gaelen
My Notorious Gentleman

16
Everett, Lily
Island Road (enovella)

23
DeStefano, Anna
Three Days on Mimosa Lane

30
Andersen, Susan
Some Like It Hot
Ashe, Katharine
How to Marry a Highlander
Collins, Manda
Why Dukes Say I Do
Cornick, Nicola
The Lady and the Laird*
Everett, Lily
Sanctuary Island
Jordan, Sophie
How to Lose a Bride in One Night*
Linden, Caroline
Love and Other Scandals*
Mallery, Susan
Three Little Words
Novak, Brenda
Home to Whiskey Creek
Ranney, Karen
The Devil and Clan Sinclair*
Robinson. Maggie
Lady Anne's Lover*


AUGUST








1
Kelly, Carla
The Double Cross

6
Andrews, Beth
What Happens Between Friends
Altman, Kathy
Staying at Joe's*
Beverley, Jo
Seduction in Silk
Burrowes, Grace
Once Upon a Tartan
Drake, Laura
Her Road Home
George, Lily
Healing the Soldier's Heart
Johnson, Janice Kay
From This Day On
Lee, Jade
What the Bride Wore
Quinn, Tara Taylor
Second Time's the Charm
Ross, JoAnn
Castaway Cove
Scott, Regina
The Courting Campaign*
Warner, Kaki
Behind His Blue Eyes
Willig, Lauren
The Passion of the Purple Plumeria

13
London, Julia
Homecoming Ranch
Macomber, Debbie
Rose Harbor in Bloom

20
Allen, Louise
Rumors: Scandal Comes to Wimpole Hall
Ashley, Jennifer
The Untamed MacKenzie
Greene, Jennifer
The Bonus Mom (HSE)
Stuart, Anne
Never Kiss a Rake

27
Ashe, Katharine
I Married the Duke
The Arrangement
Mary Balogh
Campbell, Anna
A Rake's Midnight Kiss
Carr, Robyn
The Hero
Castle, Jayne
Deception Cove
Chapman, Janet
For the Love of Magic
Kramer, Kieran
Say Yes to the Duke
Macnamara, Ashlyn
A Most Devilish Rogue
Morsi, Pamela
Love Overdue
Neville, Miranda
The Ruin of a Rogue
Putney, Mary Jo
Sometimes a Rogue



Will you be reading this summer? At the beach? 
At the mountains? At home with the airconditioner on low?
What books are you most eagerly anticipaing?




8 comments:

Jane said...

I'll probably go visit my cousin in Michigan, so I'll definitely be bringing my books with me. I remember reading a couple of Susan Crandall's romantic suspenses.

Debbie S said...

I have probably 30 or 40 books pre ordered on my ereader. Some of the ones I am most looking forward to include Ruthie Knox' release next week,Julie Ann Long's new book, and Susanna Frasers, along with the new Jo Beverly and Mary Jo Putney.
And I was just blown away by how good Tessa Dare's new book was. To my mind its the best of her Spindle Cove series.

Quantum said...

Everywhere I go I carry an mp3 player loaded with audio books. You never know when the next storm will force you to take shelter in England!

There are just so many books and authors that I'm trying to catch up with. My next romance read will be Sophie Kinsella's 'Wedding Night' and on the fantasy front I'm all set for Robin Hobb's 'City of Dragons'.

Waiting in the wings I have Jean Brashear's 'Texas Heroe's' collection and I'm still hoping to start Manda Collins books which are now available in the UK.

Janga, I'm relying on you to skim La crème de la crème from that huge list of books so that I can be transported to those dreamy spires of excellence without all the leg work!

irisheyes said...

The DH and I have already escaped for a few weekends to our cottage. He likes to play in the water and I like to sit on the shore and read! So I'm very excited about all the new releases coming my way.

I'm really trying to reign in my book spending, though. I'm going to have to be pickier than I've been in the past. It's kind of funny too cause I'm unconsciously setting up book buying habits - some authors I'll by in ebook format and others I want the paperback book.

I'm always excited about catching up with all the series I'm following - Robyn Carr, RaeAnne Thayne, Virginia Kantra, Mary Balogh, Tessa Dare, and Brenda Novak are just some of the authors that have me totally hooked! LOL

That Billionaire Brothers series by Lily Everett looks good, Janga. Since they're enovellas it will probably be easy on the pocketbook too!

Janga said...

Jane, I don't read a lot of romantic suspense, but I love Susan Crandall's. She's one of the authors whose style and voice I like so much that I am willing to follow her into any genre. Well, probably not vampires, but most anything else.

Janga said...

Deborah, we share many favorite authors. I too loved Tessa Dare's Any Duchess Will Do, and I've already read and reviewed the new JAL, which is wonderful. And my review of the new MJP will be posted at The Romance Dish nearer pub date. I'm not a fan of kidnapping plots, but I loved the book, kidnapping and all.

Janga said...

Q, I'm delighted that you are finally able to read Manda's books. They are definitely winners--and I'd say that even if she were not a friend. I'm interested in what you think of Brashear's Texas Heroes.

Janga said...

Irish, the Everett novellas are $1.99, so all three will be less than one print mass market pb. A great price! I try to be disciplined in my book buying too, but it's not easy. I'd be lost if I didn't get so many as ARCs to review. Of course, I end up buying a lot of those in one format or the other anyway. :)