Does anyone else get excited about choosing the perfect books for their summer hols? That smell of a fresh new book brings me such delight (even though most of mine are now downloaded onto my kindle!). Do you reach for a romance for your days by the sea? A thrilling adventure to match your hike through the highlands? Or a dark thriller for your nights at home? Whether you are planning a blissful beach getaway or a simple staycation at home, hopefully, my list of summer reads will get you in the holiday mood.
Happy reading everyone!
* * *
Mother. Monarch. Murderer. Magnificent.
You are born to a king, but marry a tyrant. You stand helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own.
You play the part, fooling enemies who deny you justice. Slowly, you plot.
You are Clytemnestra.
But when the husband who owns you returns in triumph, what then?
Acceptance or vengeance – infamy follows both. So you bide your time and wait, until you might force the gods’ hands and take revenge. Until you rise. For you understood something that the others don’t. If power isn’t given to you, you have to take it for yourself.
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night their family was forever altered.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already-grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her . . .
She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories.
Perhaps they always had done, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her…
When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B – a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties – she meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share.
Mrs B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?
THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEDIDA
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira lake and he has no idea who killed him.
At a time where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest.
But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.
Reeling from a breakup with her fiancé, Beth can’t face all the happy couples around her at home – and flees to a villa nestled among olive groves on the picture-perfect Greek island of Crete. But, even in this paradise, on the shores of the sparkling Mediterranean Sea, she can’t escape the ringing of wedding bells…
While enjoying a glass of delicious Greek wine at a local taverna, she is surprised when handsome Artemis boldly introduces himself. Though he’s flirty and gorgeous, it becomes clear that he’s had his heart broken too.
As they bond over troublesome exes, she is soon lost in his gorgeous, dark brown eyes… and even though she’s still haunted by what might have been, as her hosts get ready to dance the night away with their guests, Beth starts to wonder if she could open her heart to Artemis.
Until she discovers Artemis has been keeping a secret about his past. Love might be sweeter the second time around, but is this holiday romance worth the risk? Or will Beth be on the plane home as soon as the speeches are over?
What’s on your summer reading list?
This post contains affiliate links. Please read my Disclaimer for more information.
