I mentioned this is my last post - I’m taking every Friday off in July so it’s a whole month of 3-day weekends!! I haven’t really taken any time off yet this year, and since travel is all but eliminated for the rest of 2020, I’ve decided to use my paid time off (I always use ALL of it) and take in some weekend relaxation. My long weekend plans primarily involve me taking a good book to the beach and laying in the shade while I enjoy the sunshine around me. Obviously I have a lot of books in my library queues but I’ve bought quite a few this year, including some pre-orders, and I’m sharing them today!
Take a Hint, Dani Brown (Talia Hibbert) : I read Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life Chloe Brown late last year and absolutely loved it! So when I found out that she was writing another book around the second sister, Dani, I was IN for the pre-order!!
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits--someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.
When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it's an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Suddenly, half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae--and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?
Dani's plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf is secretly a hopeless romantic--and he's determined to corrupt Dani's stone-cold realism. Before long, he's tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.
The easy lay Dani dreamed of is now more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?
Party of Two (Jasmine Guillory): I’ve DNF’d a Jasmine Guillory book before but I gave her another shot last Christmas with her book Royal Holiday, and was so charmed that I pre-ordered her newest book Part of Two.
Dating is the last thing on Olivia Monroe's mind when she moves to LA to start her own law firm. But when she meets a gorgeous man at a hotel bar and they spend the entire night flirting, she discovers too late that he is none other than hotshot junior senator Max Powell. Olivia has zero interest in dating a politician, but when a cake arrives at her office with the cutest message, she can't resist--it is chocolate cake, after all.
Olivia is surprised to find that Max is sweet, funny, and noble--not just some privileged white politician she assumed him to be. Because of Max's high-profile job, they start seeing each other secretly, which leads to clandestine dates and silly disguises. But when they finally go public, the intense media scrutiny means people are now digging up her rocky past and criticizing her job, even her suitability as a trophy girlfriend. Olivia knows what she has with Max is something special, but is it strong enough to survive the heat of the spotlight?
Sex & Vanity (Kevin Kwan): I devoured the entire Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, so pre-ordering Kevin Kwan’s latest was a no-brainer.
On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can't stand him. She can't stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can't stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really can't stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte. "Your mother is Chinese so it's no surprise you'd be attracted to someone like him," Charlotte teases.
The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fianc , Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiance , the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world--and her heart.
Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.
The Heir Affair (Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan): I’ve read all the Fug Girls’ books and they are VERY enjoyable. This is the long-awaited sequel to The Royal We and I, for one, am SUPER excited to get my hands on it.
After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca "Bex" Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world's judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.
But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they'd placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick's brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten -- nor forgiven.
The Mall (Megan McCafferty): I’ve read all of Megan McCafferty’s books as well, so when I heard she was releasing a book, set in the 90s, about a MALL, I needed no further information.
The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after.
But you know what they say about the best laid plans...
Set entirely in a classic "monument to consumerism," the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places.
American Royals II: Majesty (Katharine McGee): Clearly, I love reading books about royals. It’s a thing, I’m not ashamed of it. Book I of American Royals was very enjoyable, and you definitely to read that before you read this book, so it’s a good time to catch up before this one is released in early September.
Power is intoxicating. Like first love, it can leave you breathless. Princess Beatrice was born with it. Princess Samantha was born with less. Some, like Nina Gonzalez, are pulled into it. And a few will claw their way in. Ahem, we're looking at you Daphne Deighton.
As America adjusts to the idea of a queen on the throne, Beatrice grapples with everything she lost when she gained the ultimate crown. Samantha is busy living up to her "party princess" persona...and maybe adding a party prince by her side. Nina is trying to avoid the palace--and Prince Jefferson--at all costs. And a dangerous secret threatens to undo all of Daphne's carefully laid "marry Prince Jefferson" plans.
A new reign has begun....
The Idea of You (Robinne Lee): This was my #1 book of 2019, and no, I have NOT stopped talking about it. I just re-read this book again, and it was everything it was the first time around and more. Please don’t judge this book by its literal cover, and just read it already. It was recently on a list of Must-Read books by Oprah Magazine and on Skimm, so if you don’t believe me, believe the “experts”.
Solene Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of an art gallery in Los Angeles, is reluctant to take her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band. But since her divorce, she's more eager than ever to be close to Isabelle. The last thing Solene expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.
What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate and genuine relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solene and Hayes navigate each other's worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways in Paris and Miami. For Solene, it is a reclaiming of self, as well as a rediscovery of happiness and love. When Solene and Hayes' romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solene must face how her romantic life has impacted the lives of those she cares about most.
You can find the complete list of all my 2020 Summer Beach Reads here. Make sure you’re following along on Instagram to see what I’m reading and my quick Instagram reviews!
What are you reading this summer? Let me know in the comments below!!