Summer
starts for me tomorrow. It doesn’t matter that the experts say summer is
still more than a month away. My summer has always begun the day after the
last day of school. Today is the last day of school for most of the grands (all
but the two who live in a different county). The thermometer says summer too
with temperatures in the mid 80s and climbing according to the forecasters. So, come Saturday, it's summer.
Summer
means days in the swimming pool and on the lake, baseball games, cookouts and
picnics, tomatoes from the garden, lemonade, and ice cream cones. It means
camp. When I was a child camp was limited to scout camp and church camp, but while
the grands’ camp schedule includes those familiar weeks, they will also be
attending soccer camp, football camp, art camp, science camp, and music camp. I
may have forgotten one or two. And
summer means reading. Lazy days at the beach, cool mornings on the porch of a
mountain cabin, and afternoons when putting a toe outside a blessedly air-conditioned
home seems suicidal—all offer long, lovely hours to read.
The
summer before I started to school I read a hundred books. I’d like to read that
many this summer. I only about ninety on my list for summer 2012, and, thanks
to ARCs received, I’ve already read more than a dozen of those. But I’m sure I’ll
discover books not on my list, and I expect there will be reissues of old
favorites that I’ll want to reread. And I anticipate a few ARCs for fall
releases. I’m looking forward to lots of long, hot summer days—and nights—filled
with good books. I’ll let you know after Labor Day if I met my goal.
My Summer Reading List
MAY
May
22
Marriage of Mercy, Carla Kelly
Unbuttoning
Miss Hardwick, Deb Marlowe
Lucky in
Love, Lucky Harbor #4, Jill Shalvis
May
29
Along
Came a Duke, Rhymes with Love #1, Elizabeth Boyle
Charmed by His Love, Spellbound Falls #2,
Janet Chapman
A Gentleman Undone* (Blackshears Family #2),
Cecilia Grant
“A Little More Scandal” (HR), Christies 1.5,
Carrie Lofty
Summer
Days, Fool’s Gold #7, Susan Mallery
Home for
the Summer, Chesapeake Diaries #5, Mariah Stewart
JUNE
June 4
Slow Summer Kisses, Shannon
Stacey
June
5
Unraveling the Past, The Truth About the Sullivans #1, Beth Andrews
Spring Fever, Mary Kay Andrews
Bring
Him Home, Special Forces #3, Karina Bliss
A
Life Rebuilt, Deep in the Heart*, MacAllisters #8, Jean Brashear
Quilt or Innocence (Mys), Southern Quilting #1, Elizabeth Craig
Navy Rules, Whidbey Island #1, Geri Krotow
The Casanova Code, Rake Patrol #1, Donna
MacMeans
Unexpected Family, Sequel to His Wife for One
Night, Molly O’Keefe
Little Night,
Luanne Rice
Bride of the High Country, Runaway Brides #3, Kaki Warner
Sorority Sisters, Claudia Welch, aka Claudia
Dain
Sea Change, Karen White
June
12
Porch Lights, Dorothea Benton
Frank
The
Red House, Mark Haddon
June
19
A Bad Day for Mercy,
Stella Hardesty #4, Sophie Littlefield
Little Matchmakers, Jennifer Greene
June
26
How to Be a Proper
Lady*, Falcon Club #2, Katharine Ashe
First Do No Evil, Blood Secrets #1, Carey
Baldwin
Willow Springs,
Destiny #5, Toni Blake
A Duchess to
Remember, Ministry of Marriage #3, Christina Brooke
Scandal Wears Satin*,
Dressmakers #2, Loretta Chase
The Way Back Home, Barbara Freethy
Thief of Shadows, Maiden Lane #4, Elizabeth
Hoyt
Starlight, Christies #2, Carrie Lofty
Summer Nights*, Fool’s Gold #8, Susan Mallery
Can’t Buy Me Love*, Crooked Creek #1, Molly
O’Keefe
At Last, Lucky
Harbor #5, Jill Shalvis
Ocean Beach, Beach
#2, Wendy Wax
Midnight Promises*,
Sweet Magnolias #8, Sherryl Woods
JULY
July 3
Carolina Home, Dare Island #1,
Virginia Kantra
Moonshell Beach, Shelter Bay
#4, JoAnn Ross
Ravishing the Heiress*, Fitzhugh
Trilogy #2, Sherry Thomas
"It Begins with a Kiss," Eileen
Dreyer (ebook short)
July 10
Size 12 and Ready to Rock*,
Heather Wells Mysteries #4, Meg Cabot
The Great Escape, America’s
Lady #6, Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Don’t You Wish, Roxanne St.
Claire
The Next Best Thing, Jennifer
Weiner
July 17
Some Like It Hawk, Meg
Langslow #14, Donna Andrews
July 19
Burnt Mountain Anne Rivers
Siddons
July 24
A Not so Respectable
Gentleman? , Diane Gaston
July 31
That Thing Called Love*,
Susan Andersen
The Bride Wore Pearls*, Fraternitas
Aureae Crucis #3, Liz Carlyle
How to Romance a Rake, Ugly
Ducklings #2, Manda Collins
Almost a Scandal, Reckless
Brides Trilogy #1, Elizabeth Essex
The Language of Sisters, Amy
Hatvany
Pleasures of a Tempted Lady,
Donovan #3, Jennifer Haymore,
Deception, Kris Kennedy
All Summer Long*, Fool’s Gold
#9, Susan Mallery
Touch of a Scoundrel, Touch
of Seduction #3, Mia Marlowe
Can’t Hurry Love, Crooked
Creek #2, Molly O’Keefe
One Mountain Away*, Goddesses
Anonymous #1, Emilie Richards
Forever and a Day, Lucky
Harbor #6, Jill Shalvis
The Cowboy and the Princess*,
Jubilee #2, Lori Wilde
Catching Fireflies*, Sweet
Magnolias #9, Sherryl Woods
AUGUST
August 7
On Her Side, The Truth about
the Sullivans #2, Beth Andrews
Peril in Paperback,
Bibliophile Mystery #6, Kate Carlisle
Wilder, Chosen Ones #5,
Christina Dodd
Making Her Way Home, Janice
Kay Johnson
Dream Lake, Friday Harbor #3,
Lisa Kleypas
Wedded in Sin, Bridal Favors
#2, Jade Lee
Within Reach, Sarah Mayberry
Blackstone’s Bride, Kate
Moore
The Soldier’s Wife, Cheryl
Reavis
Wild Texas Rose, Jodi Thomas
August 14
My Loving Vigil Keeping,
Carla Kelly
The Inn at Rose Harbor,
Debbie Macomber
August 21
The Prodigal Cowboy, Kathleen
Eagle
The Lovesick Cure, Pamela
Morsi
Hidden Paradise, Janet
Mullany
The Doctor’s Do-Over, Karen
Templeton
August 28
Courting Carolina, Spellbound
Falls #3, Janet Chapman
Blame It on Texas, Hotter in
Texas #2, Christie Craig
A Lady by Midnight*, Spindle
Cove #3, Tessa Dare
The Ugly Duchess*, Happily
Ever After #4, Eloisa James
The Way to a Duke’s Heart*,
The Truth about the Duke #3, Caroline Linden
Nightingale Way*, Eternity
Springs #5, Emily March
When Lightning Strikes,
Whiskey Creek #1, Brenda Novak
Return to Willow Lake, Lakeshore
Chronicles #10, Susan Wiggs
What’s on your summer reading
list?
*Books I’ve already read or
expect to have finished befor May 22.
