Top 5 Tuesday // Summertime Reads

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly tag hosted by Bionic Book Worm! Please head over and check out her blog!

This week’s topic is summertime reads! I’m not usually one who reads a ton of books that feel summer-y. For me, my favorite types of books to read during the summer are women’s lit mystery. Below are my top 5 favorite summertime reads! 

 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton 

This is actually one of my top favorite books of all time. The mystery completely enveloped me very early on and I read the entire 600 page book in 2 days. Which is VERY quick for me!

 

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

I picked up The Silent Sister on a whim one evening when I was browsing a local thrift bookstore. I had never heard of Diane Chamberlain before, but she’s become one of those authors I can rely on to deliver an intriguing story! I loved that this story has a very subtle but obvious queer story line and I really loved the ending.

 

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

This is basically the epitome of a summer read to me. I grew up watching (and loving) the movie and eventually decided to read it. I’m so glad I did! As we are all aware, books are better than the movie! It is a bit of a difficult read because of all the racism in it, but there’s also so many beautiful parts.

 

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale is a very similar type of book as The Forgotten Garden. Both set place in contemporary times, with flashbacks to a different era. These type of books are honestly like crack to me. I adore when our protagonist has to put the pieces of a mystery together through old letters or, in the case, the stories of a dying women. This book can be slow at times, but is definitely worth the read.

 

Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden 

Strawberry Summer is the only book on the list that is explicitly set in the summer. It also differs from the rest of this list because it isn’t women’s lit or mystery. It’s a straight up romance. But not a ‘straight’ romance. It’s a romance between two women and we get to see how their relationship grows and shifts over the course of several summers.

 

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I’ve been told by several people that some of these books are boring, but they’re some of my favs. I know they’re not the typical YA books everyone seems to love (rightfully so), but they really are great and I hope you guys are willing to give them a shot!!