Welcome to the Summer Reading Extravaganza! Our goal today is to get a bunch of reading ideas to help pass these hot summer days!
So we’re asking…what’s your favorite beach read or what’s in your beach bag? Here are our answers:
LEAH:
Anything by Mary Higgins Clark would be a great beach read for me. I like her books for easy reading because her mysteries always get me hooked, they are clean, and usually not too graphic, morbid, or heavy.

For moms of young children looking for a humorous read, this is a great book! Its about a group of moms who communicate with each other as part of an email loop. It has some great characters who go through circumstances all moms of young children can relate to. Its nice to feel that you are not alone!

be sweet by Diann Hunt. This one is acually going in my beach bag in the next couple weeks. I haven’t read it yet, so no review yet, but be watching for one in the next month of so. I love the cover and it is a story about sisters which I always enjoy being as how 1) I have a sister, and 2) each of my daughters has 2 sisters and I am very interested in anything I can do to help them become friends. I haven’t read anything by Diann Hunt, but this one looks good. I’ll let you know!

This one – No Love Lost by Lynn Bulock – will also be going in my beach bag. (Lucky me, I’ll be going to the beach a couple times in the month of July! The perks of living in a tropical country!). This one is a murder mystery – a Love Inspired Suspense book. I’m hoping the story will be engaging and the plot unique enough to help me pass those long hours of lying in the sun and listening to the waves while sipping on some tropical fruit drink – oh wait, I have 3 kids. Well, hopefully I’ll be able to get some reading in once they finally pass out for the night! I love mysteries and this one looks good – again, I’ll let you know!

SALLY: Well, this is a great time to talk about this because I just filled it! I have five new books I plan to read in the next three weeks.

1. Between Sundays – by Karen Kingsbury – This book deals with the world of professional football. A retiring 49ers player promises his dying son a super bowl win. The hope of this win lies in an up and coming new player. The information on amazon.com says that the needs of foster care children are interwoven into the story and readers may be convicted to take some action in this regard.

2. The Shack – by William P. Young – I just HAPPENED to pick this book up at Sam’s Club not knowing anything about it. All of a sudden I keep hearing about this book. I’m told it’s life changing. The story is about a family who had their daughter abducted during a family vacation and find she may have been brutally murdered. It seems to deal with the hard questions in life such as “where is God when it hurts.” I can hardly wait to read this, but I’m forcing myself to save it a few more days.

3. I ordered two books by Tim Downs an author I also just learned about. The titles are: Shoo Flypie and Chop Shop. These books are also murder mysteries with a Christian world view. I heard the author on Family Life Today and it sounds like a great series. These are called the Bug Man Series. The main character is a forensic entomologist who helps solve murder mysteries – do we see a pattern in the books I plan to read?

4. The last book I want to read in the next couple weeks is “By Reason of Insanity” by Randy Singer. I love, love, love his books! This book is about an attorney who specializes in the insanity defense. The back cover has five sentences:

A series of unsolved murders.

A woman who knows too much.

A lawyer in over his head.

Sometimes, insanity is the only way out.

Sounds like my kind of book!!!

Just to even things out a little – I just finished reading three books about the Amish and Debbie Macomber’s “Twenty Wishes.” All of these books were slice of life enjoyable books which I will elaborate on later.

AMY: I’ll admit it! I love a good lighthearted book! I have a few recommendations and then I’ll also tell you what I plan to read!

If you love chick lit (like me) the best in Christian chick lit is Susan May Warren’s Josey series. Everything’s Coming Up Josey and Chill Out Josey are available now, while Get Cozy Josey is coming out this summer. I also love Camy Tang’s Only Uni. For general market chick lit, I really love Sophie Kinsella. Can You Keep a Secret and The Undomestic Goddess are both available in mass market paperback, so you can pick them for a reasonable price.

I’d also recommend any of the Heartsong Mysteries Presents books. I haven’t read them all, but so far I’ve noticed that they are pretty light hearted and fun.

Now as far as what I’m looking forward to? I recently acquired The Host by Stephanie Meyer which looks interesting. I’m also really looking foward to A Mile in my Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson (I have to admit I really love that title), Daring Chloe by Laura Jensen Walker, and Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (they wrote The Nanny Diaries)

Looks like I’ve got a busy summer of reading ahead of me!

Now it’s your turn! Just write up a post on your blog about books you’re going to read this summer or give us some recommendations of some favorites you’ve read in the past! Feel free to add pictures and be as creative as you want in your post. Just make sure you link back to this post so that your readers can come find more suggestions themselves! Then come back here and leave a link in the Mr. Linky with the link to your post (and NOT your general URL) Remember you get an entry into the contest pool if you participate in today’s activity! Happy Reading everyone!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 am

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