Greetings Treat-A-Weekers — so I am feeling guilty because I didn’t get a chance to post last week, but forgive me, I was on vacation.  The good news is that said vacation has provided me with the down time necessary to do some beach reading and come up with two awesome suggestions for you all. The perfect beach read, in my opinion, has to be a story without a lot of complicated prose or plot twists — it has to be something relaxing and engrossing with some sort of yummy center.   The ideal beach read must be compelling enough to keep you picking it up despite constant interruptions, but cannot be a page turner otherwise your family or friends will get annoyed with you for not being a joiner.  Summer will be here before we know it so below please find two fiction reads that fit my beach reading criteria.  If you read them, let me know what you think.

The Last Summer of the Camperdowns by Elizabeth Kelly

There was so much about this book that kept me engaged and guessing. I had never read anything quite like it – both serene and suspenseful, sarcastic and sweet, filled with subtle life lessons and no obvious “good guys or bad guys” – at least not initially.  Set during the summer of 1972 against the warm, lazy backdrop of Cape Cod, the happenings in this novel are very far from what you might expect.  What appears to start off as an adolescent coming of age story about Riddle Camperdown, the female adolescent main character of the book, quickly morphs into so much more touching on themes involving marital discord and connection, politics, young love, retribution, murder, money, class, society, the unknowable toll of war and more.  The characters in this book are memorable, multidimensional and so well drawn that the reader starts to feel like she knows them, particularly Riddle’s cynical, seemingly cold-hearted and bored former Hollywood starlet mother, Greer.  And not only are the characters fascinating, but the plot of the story which revolves around Riddle accidentally stumbling on a crime that transpires in her neighborhood will keep you guessing until the very last chapter.

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

So if you are in the mood for some light, and I mean REALLY light reading that is sweet, funny and essentially a modern-day chance encounter love story with humor and heart, The Wedding Date is the beach read for you.  The protagonist in this story, high-powered attorney/chief of staff for the Mayor of Berkeley, Alexa Monroe meets surgeon Drew Nichols in a hotel elevator that has technical difficulties.  Drew is in town for his ex-fiancee’s wedding to his best friend (awkward) and invites Alexa to be his date and pretend serious girlfriend at the wedding on the spur of the moment.  Alexa surprisingly accepts.  Somewhat predictable events ensue, but there are two endearing, unusual facets to this story.  First, there is a lot of eating featured in this book – this is not a couple that watches their carbs and sugar and Alexa did not exercise once in the entire novel (revolutionary!) Second, Alexa and Drew are an interracial couple but the interesting aspect of this is that it is not the focus or even a large part of their story — it adds nuance to it but they are just two individuals with great personalities and careers who happen to fall for each other and their respective backgrounds are just that — back story.  How refreshing!

Enjoy and until next Monday Treat-A-Weekers…

Yours truly,

M