Saturday Discussion: Summer Reading Plans

Welp, it’s the longest day of the year as I write this week’s post, which means that summer is well and truly upon us. That means summer reading, but what does summer reading mean?

Obviously, summer reading means different things to different people, but for me, personally, it always, always brings me back to the reading contests that our local library held back when I was but a wee little princess, and the childrens’ room at that library where I eventually got cut off and directed to the adult section. At the time, I thought that was a horrible trick the librarian was playing on me (oh little did I know) and it wasn’t too long after that that I stole The Kadin from my mom’s nightstand, thus sealing my fate as a lifelong romance reader, and, eventually, writer. But more on that later.

For now, I want to keep my reader hat on. It is lovely, with a wide brim to keep the sun off my pages, whether electronic or analog, and talk about what summer reading means to me, this summer, especially. As I write this, it’s the end of a long day, and I don’t have it in me to think up a theme to fit the literally hundreds of books on my TBR list. Which does not include my TBRR (To Be Re-Read) list, and I certainly do not have the will or the energy to put my fingers in my ears and hum la-la-la, I can’t hear you when friends, both in person and online, gush about great new books they’ve just read. Or are reading. Or want to read. Or, as writers know writers, are writing, or have written, or will be writing soon.

What comes to mind most when I think of my own definition of summer reading is a line from the YA novel, Dumplin’, by Julie Murphy. This feels like cheating, a little bit, as I have not yet read the novel, but very much liked the movie adaptation, and the titular heroine’s stance on having a bikini body. Put a bikini on your body. Boom. Mic drop. That’s kind of how I am on the whole subject of summer reading. Read a book. During the summer. Boom. I can say, however, that I did read her unrelated YA novel, Ramona Blue, which does have a summer romance, and liked that a whole lot.

So, what’s summer reading in my neck of the woods? Right now, I am reading Never Too Late For Love, by longtime favorite, Danelle Harmon, which is a bit removed from YA, and contemporary Louisiana, as it has a seasoned hero and heroine, and takes place on the eastern seaboard of the nineteenth century. If you’re a fan of Harmon’s Merrick family, this is the family reunion you’ve been waiting for, as Liam and Annis get their turn at about danged time.

While getting current with a favorite long-running family can be perfect summer reading, so is the other side of the coin, and that’s starting a brand new series by another favorite author. In this case, that’s Elizabeth Hoyt’s new Greycourt series starter, Not The Duke’s Darling, and that’s all I am going to say about that, because this is vintage Hoyt, complete with the fairy tale snippets at the start of every chapter. I love those, and read them every single time. It’s like getting two stories in one.

Of course, those aren’t the only books I’m reading at the moment, and I can’t close out this post without sharing the one book that is going to make summer reading very special for me, this year. My first contemporary romance, co-written with Melva Michaelian, Chasing Prince Charming, will be available from The Wild Rose Press, starting on August twelfth. That leaves plenty of time to slide into the category of summer reading, right?

So, dear readers, I turn it now over to you. What does summer reading mean to you? What’s o your summer TBR? Pull up a chair in the comment section and tell us all about it. There’s room for everybody at this table.

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