Light fiction/vacation reads, volume 2

Both before and since I've had a blog, people ask me for book recommendations all the time.  I'd say the category of books I'm asked to recommend most often is light fiction, often to read on vacation.  Early on I wrote posts on both what to read on vacation and on light fiction, and I've also written about summer-themed books.  Since it has been a while, and since Memorial Day weekend is about to come kick off the summer season, seemed like a good time to suggest a few more books for your light vacation reading consideration!

Here are my latest recommendations:

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld - This modern day re-telling of "Pride and Prejudice" was one of my top 10 books of 2018.  It combined Curtis Sittenfeld's knack for bringing flawed yet sympathetic characters to life with Jane Austen's proto-chick lit plot.  So much fun to read!  (Bonus recommendation - if this book spurs your interest in reading more "Pride and Prejudice" re-tellings, you can also check out Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal which sets the P&P story in present day Pakistan; I started reading it on my winter vacation this year.  Not as good as "Eligible" but it was a fun read.)

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgenstern - Another book from my top 10 books of 2018, and I actually read this one on my 2018 summer vacation.  This is one of those chick lit books with heart, about an American college student abroad who falls in love with the fictional prince of England.  It was a perfect vacation read, light and fun and I couldn't put it down.  And I'm super-excited that apparently a sequel to it will be coming out in 2020!

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman - This was such a funny book, kind of a comedic satire of modern mom life about a mother of two older kids who reluctantly becomes the class mother for her youngest's kindergarten class, and it includes her snarky e-mails to the class.  If you've ever been a class mom or PTA volunteer, and/or rolled your eyes at overenthusiastic e-mails from those people, you will relate to this one!  A sequel to this one, "You've Been Volunteered," comes out in July and I can't wait to read it!

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Not sure this one exactly fits the "light fiction" bill - Taylor Jenkins Reid's excellent earlier chick lit books really are lighter than this one.  But it is  definitely a book that benefits from reading it quickly and  therefore would make a good vacation book since you're more likely to have time to read it!  Plus it's my number one book so far of 2019.  It's written in the unusual format of an oral history, but of a totally fictitious 1970s band.  I absolutely adored it - you can read my 5 star review for more.

Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win by Jo Piazza - I read this novel last summer and really enjoyed it.  It's about a well-off female executive from humble beginnings who leaves her Silicon Valley life behind to move back with her husband and small kids to the small town in Pennsylvania where she grew up and run for Senate against the racist, sexist good old boy who has held that Senate seat for many years. Although it's written in a breezy, almost chick-lit style, it's actually a thought-provoking book with a lot to say about politics, marriage, and feminism. 

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That being said, I know not everyone wants to read contemporary women's fiction on vacation.  I personally like to read a mix of genres on my vacations, and I've written several posts on what I read on various of my vacations since starting this blog (see here, here, here, and here.)  You can also check out my top 10 lists both past and present, and my posts on various specific genres that interest you.  Or hit me up for a personalized book recommendation!

Must Read Authors Part 2 - Authors I'm Still Catching Up On

Last month, I wrote a post on some of my most favorite, must read authors.  Just to make the list a little shorter, since there are so darn many authors that I follow avidly, I set the condition for myself that to be included on the list, I had to have read ALL of the books published by that particular author.  But making this condition left out some authors who are really quite dear to me, so today I'll share with you another list of must read authors!  This time, it's authors who I love but I'm still working on reading all of their books.  These are authors whose new books will pretty much automatically go on my to read list - either ones I absolutely can't wait to read, or in some cases definitely plan to read sooner rather than later - but I'm still working on catching up on their back catalog.  So let's dive in!

Anticipated books of late spring/ early summer 2019 (May/June)

I know that technically summer doesn't begin until June 21st.  But just like summer movie season started last weekend with Avengers: Endgame (awesome movie!), I feel like summer reading season kind of starts early too.  As the weather starts getting warmer, it seems like the publishing world just explodes with books.  And since there are an absolutely ridiculous number of books coming out between May and August that I want to read, I thought I'd start with a post just covering the early ones - May and June - and then in a few months I'll update you on books coming out in July and August!  Some of these I already discussed in my blog post on anticipated books of 2019, others you might be hearing about here for the first time.