Summer Beach Reads 2014

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 
On October 3, the movie “Gone Girl” is set to be released. Your mission: to buy, download or by any means necessary, procure a copy of the novel by Gillian Flynn. Published in 2012, the book became a #1 New York Times bestseller and an instant book club favorite. Once the movie version is released, your window of opportunity will be shut forever.  Water coolers, playgrounds and cocktail hours alike will be buzzing with the details.  The beauty of this novel lies in the stunning twists and plot turns you will never see coming. On the eve if her fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne goes missing. The facade of her seemingly perfect life begins to unravel, and you are taken on the psychological ride of a lifetime. Run, don’t walk, to buy your copy. Hide the title with a slipcover, because anyone who has read this book will be dying to ask you, “Have you gotten to the part where...?” 
Review by Ann Hayes

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty 
A 39 year old super mom knocks herself out at her Thursday spin class and wakes up thinking she is 29 and pregnant with her first child.  Alice can’t remember the last 10 years of her life and learns she has 3 children and is in the middle of an awful divorce and custody battle with the man she remembers as the love of her life.   What happened in the last 10 years?  The man she is in love with is yelling at her, her sister doesn’t even like her, she goes to the gym and she hates the gym, she has a moms group and a best friend who no one will talk about.  How can she remember and put her life back together?  If our life is made up of memories what happens when they are gone?  When you wake up to the life you never wanted how do you get the life you loved back?  
Review By Katie Morrison

Heart of Palm by Laura Lee Smith
Local author, Laura Lee Smith’s Heart of Palm is a saga of a native North Florida Family, the Bravo Family, set in St. Augustine.  “Some call them Florida crackers, some call them rednecks. They love to run their trucks in the dunes, their powerboats along the Intercostal or its tributaries; they support the UF Gators and the local Lil Champ. Sometimes they’re in the local jail or ER and sometimes passed out at the fish camp.” – Vermeer Fan.  Through its unique characters like the matriarch Arla, the story allows readers an insightful glimpse into the complexity of life and culture here.

A Hundred Summers 
by Beatriz Williams
Lily Dane’s family has summered in Seaview. Rhode Island for generations.  Set in the 1930’s the story centers around Lily, her former best friend Budgie and Nick, the man they both want for their own.  If you crave a tale about family secrets, love triangles and the tangled webs we weave – and let’s not forget seaside views, this one is for you!

Beautiful Ruins
By Jess Walter
Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins is set in coastal Italy in the 1950s and present day,  beautifully weaving together a modern day search with an epic event in the life of Italian villager.  When a young beautiful actress named Dee Moray arrives to stay at The Hotel Adequate View, everything changes. As the book progresses we find out what happened to these characters over time and how their lives and the lives of so many others were changed as well.  Publisher describes it as “an irresistible romp through Italy in the Technicolor era, when a starlet hooked up with the dashingly drunken Richard Burton and charmed the townspeople in a tiny seaside village”.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls
by Anton DiSclafani  
This coming of age novel set in the 1930s, takes us from the North Florida to North Carolina, as a young girl names Thea Atwell is sent away from home to the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls in North Carolina.  The setting is beautiful and conjure up images of what it was like to live in this time and place.  But the story of why Thea has been exiled is what draws you in and keeps you hooked.  Thea’s actions are sometimes disturbing as her shadow side comes through in this story about dark secrets and youth, and the consequences of our actions.

The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
Honestly, the book is great though sad.  It conveys the hardship of two families, each with teenagers battling cancer.  The romance between the two  teenagers is the heart of the story and even through the most difficult of life’s challenges they have the greatest of times, reminding us that life is short and infinitely precious.  Even if you have seen the movie - the book is worth reading!
Review by Josh Rosenbaum