A Summer Romance of Reading

Now that we’ve had the first big holiday weekend of the season checked off, it’s time to focus on summer reading selections.

Since romance is a popular category this time, I thought that I would highlight a trio of recent releases from my book mail(no chatty computer choices!) on this subject, starting with one that I am reading right now:

Moira MacDonald’s debut novel, Storybook Ending, is mainly in a Seattle bookshop called Read the Room(great store name btw!), where shy Alice decides to take a chance and leave an anonymous note for bookstore clerk Westley in an used paperback.

The only trouble is that the note winds up with Laura, a single mom stopping in to get a book club pick. She also assumes that the note is from Westley and starts a note by note conversation with who she thinks is a potential dating partner.

Alice follows suit and Westley has no clue about any of this, particularly as he’s being pleasantly distracted by a film company using the bookstore to make a high brow romcom and the movie folk even ask him to play a bit part.

So far, this book is a sheer delight, brimming with Nora Ephron energy and charming characters who would love to emotionally eavesdrop on-it’s being released today and definitely a must read for book lovers out there!:

Already available at a bookseller near you is The Wedding Menu by Letizia Lorini, which has a tasty second chance at love flavor to its fiction.

A year ago, Amelie thought her life and culinary career was in perfect balance  until she ran into Ian, a guy who hates weddings, at a marital event. That chance encounter made enough of an impression on her that Amelie hopes to run into him again as she heads to his hometown for a cooking conference.

More than love is on the line as Amelie’s professional life is in need of a comeback but Ian happens to be part of the family that has a rivalry with her own kin. Can she redeem her formerly good business name and still  have a heartfelt connection with Ian?

Lorini does have a new novel coming out this June(With a Cherry on Top) as well but who says you can’t double your reading pleasure with more than one sweetly spicy romance read? Especially when it is wedding season after all:

Speaking of spice, I just received a new edition of Sophie Jordan’s Marked by Moonlight , a novel with quite a bit of paranormal passion to it.

Claire Morgan was just a modest school teacher until a strange run-in with what she thought was a dog after dark , changed her life in more ways than one.

According to newcomer Gideon March, she’s been attacked by a werewolf and if the curse isn’t broken by the next full moon, his duty is to destroy her. However, the mutual attraction between them is a strong motivator to save Claire from this dire fate.

This is the first in a series and since I haven’t read Jordan before, it looks well worth a try. Paranormal romance and I have been on an extended break for awhile now so maybe it’s time for a page turning reunion:

Of course, there will be many new books to slowly sip down during the heat of summer in various fictional flavors but romance is pretty much the prime sweet treat there for sure.

Hopefully, we might get a suitable romantic movie as well but even if there’s not one playing nearby, there is bound to be a good book to quench that particular thirst on your shelves; maybe a classic iced tea of Jane Austen goodness for just such an entertainment emergency?: