With only a few weeks of summer left there’s still time to get some good beach reads in and often the best time for beach reading is September when the crowds have gone back to school and work. Here’s my annual list with links to my Goodreads reviews plus a link to last summer’s Beach Blanket books, (a bonus if you are a library patron like me is there won’t be a waiting list for last years).
My number one favorite award of this year goes to The Perfect Couple – by Elin Hilderbrand……set on Nantucket it was the perfect beach book…..so engrossing you never want it to end and you won’t even notice the waves sweeping that dead body out to sea.
The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Perfect Beach Read. Her best book yet, the usual island fare with the added twist of a murder mystery. After a dead body is found floating in the water the morning of a fancy wedding all the guests and family members are suspects. Intricately plotted, the characters and descriptions are so real you will feel like you just spent a week on Nantucket. If you take this book to the beach you will not look up once it is so engrossing…..I could hardly put it down. I hope she does more murder mysteries…..looking forward to her new winter series.
Here’s another good domestic drama. I had grown tired of Joanna Trollope lately but this one definitely held my attention.
An Unsuitable Match by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A thought provoking novel about late-in-life marriages, complete with spoiled millennials, an attractive but penniless suitor, and a divorced people-pleasing protagonist who attempts to keep everyone happy but herself. It’s an intriguing premise, and like the title, a totally unsuitable match. If the book had ended any other way I might have been tempted to boycott all her future books. Fortunately, although love is blind, with age comes wisdom. I used to be a big fan of Joanna Trollope but have found her books lately to be a bit of a struggle, I couldn’t even read The Soldier’s Wife, but this restores her to what she does best, a nice Jane Austen-like drama about the tangle of family relationships.
Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? Mary Higgins Clarke never disappoints. Can be read in one sunny afternoon.
I’ve Got My Eyes on You by Mary Higgins Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not as suspenseful as her usual, I guessed who did it and why about a third of the way through, but it was still a good read from the Queen of Mystery. She is still churning them out at age 91 but lately I have been preferring her Under Suspicion (fall) series with Alafair Burke.
For a more in depth psychological thriller, Clare MacIntosh is a good choice. While I enjoyed her spring release LET ME LIE it wasn’t as good as I SEE YOU, which I read last October and which had me deleting all the personal pictures on my social media accounts.
I See You by Clare Mackintosh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A murder mystery thriller perfect for reading on Halloween night in those lulls between handing out the candy…..ok maybe not such a good idea. Guaranteed to have you double checking all the locks before you go to bed, and I personally ended up deleting all personal pictures from social media. I liked the fact that the characters were flawed, which made the ending so much more delicious – a real treat.
You’re at a cottage and it’s raining so you browse the bookshelves for gems other people might have left behind. SLEEPING MURDER, Agatha Christie’s last book written in 1976, is the reason why they call her the original Queen of Mystery. (80 books, over 1 billion sold). Miss Marple may be a bit dated and the descriptions tame by today’s standards, but it’s still a masterful plot. While I had never read much AG, other than Murder on the Orient Express where I already knew the ending, this kept me enthralled on a rainy afternoon and I finished it the next day at the beach in brilliant sunshine.
These are all by female writers, so here’s one for the guys. A thought-provoking read about the origins of the universe and the future of artificial intelligence. Dan Brown always tells a good story – book contains the usual steady stream of chase scenes where Professor Langdon is on the run from the bad guys and accompanied by a beautiful much younger woman. Dream on Dan.
Origin by Dan Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A good read – Professor Langdon is back, the usual cloak and dagger, church versus science, fast paced suspenseful affair. But why does he always seem to be running from danger, in every chapter, usually with an attractive much younger female? I guess it makes for good movie rights. The book got off to a great start, but then kind of sagged in the middle, but I had guessed the ending by then. The plot line was simpler than some of his other books, but I learned some interesting facts about artificial intelligence and the big bang theory – see title.
A Canadian find and locale. The Lightkeeper’s Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol (plural – not be be confused with similar titled books). I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this book, but it was mesmerizing. A five star read. Good for a trip to a cabin in the northern wilderness.
The Lightkeeper’s Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In her acknowledgements, this first time author thanks her writing group for encouraging her to take the giant leap to send her work out there. I’m so glad she didn’t keep the manuscript in her sock drawer because this is a marvelous book, by far the best novel I have read in awhile. Somewhat reminiscent of The Light Between Oceans, but with an Ontario locale as the lighthouse island is set in northern Lake Superior. The author who lives in Thunder Bay, grew up sailing in the area, and has done extensive research to keep the story authentic for the time period – it is set in the 1930-40’s. It is a beautifully crafted book, wonderfully plotted, well written, good characterization, with a perfectly satisfying ending. Why doesn’t something like this win the Giller prize? The author also thanks a ninety-four year old light-keeper’s wife who said wistfully after reading the book that she felt like she was back on the island. That was how I felt too – totally immersed in this other world, and really like the author acknowledged, there is no greater compliment than that for a writer.
So put your toes in the sand, open a cold drink and start reading. Don’t forget to wear sunscreen.
While purple and green are not colors that I would ever have thought of for a garden bench, the combination was eye-catching, and I believe the homeowner was ahead of the trend, or maybe I was two years behind as usual. It wasn’t something I thought would work in my predominately pink garden, but I did steal their idea for the birdcage with the ivy flowing from it. 
(Check Michael’s end of summer sale for birdcage bargains). My ivy did not fare as well being exposed to too much sun, so this year I tried wave petunias which also did not do well either in the small space. Maybe next year a fake ivy plant from the thrift store? Would anyone notice?
It can be a mixture of both dark and lighter shades as in this Purple Iris belonging to a neighbor. I bought two clumps of this at the horticultural plant sale in May anticipating next spring. 
Or it can be a pale lavender shade as in this Russian Sage, 
and Rose of Sharon. 
The Russian sage has been in for five years now and is thriving at over three feet tall. It is drought resistant. The Rose of Sharon, eight years old and covered with blooms every year, was another wise choice. 
Then there were the mistakes. Not every shade of purple is attractive. These foxglove seedlings from the farmer’s market came up a fuchsia color I did not care for at all as I was expecting a rosy pink. 
lovely in it’s own way but clashing with the bubblegum pink of the rose bush beside it. It’s unfortunate these two fuchsia friends could not be together but one is in the side yard and one at the back. Some days I swear I will never buy anything again unless it is in flower and able to speak the truth. 
I suspect the rabbits who lounge in my backyard in the evenings have been munching them for desert. (They were upset because they couldn’t get at all those glorious carrots in 
I was pleasantly surprised to see how much purple I actually have in my garden, but as every gardener knows there is always room for more and that neglected corner was telling me to buy a purple clematis to go with the lime green cart, and to think it all started with a garden tour…..
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