Whether you're looking for a steamy romance or a great rib recipe, Adult Services & Marketing Librarian Kristen has compiled a variety of titles for you to enjoy this summer. If you're looking for something different, leave us a comment below with the genre or theme you're looking for and we'll give you a personalized recommendation!

Beach Reads

Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“A self-made Black millionaire invites her three goddaughters for a last Martha's Vineyard summer–at the end of which one will get the mansion. In the first volume of a planned trilogy, Terry McMillan meets Elin Hilderbrand: There are strong Black women in a lovingly detailed coastal Massachusetts location amid clothes, food, and long-kept secrets”–Kirkus

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit Riva are household names in 1983, as much because their father is rock star Mick Riva as for their surfing talent. None of them wanted to live in the spotlight, but, despite Mick taking off long ago, they do…Over the course of 24 hours, the Riva siblings will have to decide if their futures will be driven by the legacies of their parents or if they'll share the secrets that might let them choose their own paths. Structuring the novel to take place over one day and night, Reid (Daisy Jones & the Six, 2019) asks if it's possible to keep only parts of what you get from your parents. Multiple perspectives (including flashbacks to Mick and June's courtship), intricate relationships, spot-on surf scenes, plus a wild party that could only have happened in the 1980s make for a fun summer read that challenges the idea of passing on what we inherit.”–Booklist
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
Library Catalog: Print / CD Audiobook
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
Hoopla: Audiobook
“Schaitkin’s unsettling debut plays with the conventions of the romantic thriller to comment on the uneasy relationship between working-class residents of a fictional island in the Caribbean and the wealthy American tourists who visit it. In 1995, a couple from a New York City suburb and their two daughters, adventurous college freshman Alison and cautious seven-year-old Claire, visit a resort on the island. Alison flirts with two workers at the resort, Clive and Edwin, and takes off with them nightly without her parents’ knowledge to visit a local club, where she dances, drinks, and gets high. One night, she doesn’t return, and her body is soon found on a nearby island. Though suspicion falls on Clive and Edwin, they are not charged with any crime. In present-day N.Y.C., Claire, who narrates much of the novel, recognizes Clive, now a cab driver, from the back seat of his taxi. Obsessed with learning what happened to Alison, she stalks him while neglecting her work and friends.”–Publishers Weekly

Cookbooks

How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flame-Cooked Food by Mark Bittman
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook
“In his signature, overflowingly generous style, Bittman has documented how just about every food can profit from some time on a grill. For serious carnivores, he cooks beef, lamb, and even fish directly atop a bed of blazing coals for perfect charred crust and juicy interior. He gives advice on tastily grilling all sorts of vegetables. Many varied ethnic traditions are included in these hundreds of recipes, and every basic recipe comes with variations to stimulate adventuresome imaginations.”–Booklist

Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus by Yasmin Khan
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook
“Following up her award-winning collection Zaitoun, food and travel writer Khan returns with a vibrant collection of recipes that have helped tell stories of her ancestors and their homelands…Khan creates delicate recipes for classics like pita bread and spanakopita, plus new takes on dishes like moussaka. As in her previous books, Khan shares her insights into the history of each dish, which adds a personal touch. Stunning photographs of each recipe are a focal point of the book's, as are images of kitchens and markets in Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey. Some dishes are simple to throw together, others require more care; all are worth the effort.”–Library Journal
Korean BBQ: Kung Fu Your BBQ in Seven Sauces by Bill Kim
Library Catalog: Print
“Chicago chef Kim’s American-Korean mash-up approach to dining is on full display in this terrific collection of simple but wildly flavorful grilled fare. Born in South Korea and raised in Chicago, Kim grew up enamored of food from both cultures—classic American hot dogs and family cookouts at public parks where Korean food was the star…Readers will be pleased to find that flavor-packed dishes such as honey-soy flank steak, Gochujang Sticky Chicken Crumsticks, and Korican Pork Chops can be ready for the grill in a matter of minutes. Rounding out the offerings are solid sides such as cucumber-onion kimchi, hoisin baked beans with a bacon barbecue crust, and a kiwi-mint sake cocktail.”–Publishers Weekly

From Page to Screen

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Library Catalog: Print
Hoopla: eBook / Audiobook
Read the classic chivalric romance that tells the tale of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from the mysterious Green Knight, who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, Copperfield) stars as Gawain in A24's adaptation, The Green Knight, coming to theaters on July 30th.

The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn
Library Catalog: Print / Large Print / CD Audiobook
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
Hoopla: eBook / Audiobook
“Child psychologist Anna Fox, the unreliable narrator of Finn’s gripping first novel, lives out one of the classic films that she loves so well—Hitchcock’s Rear Window. In this modern update, the agoraphobic Anna hasn’t left her Manhattan townhouse in more than 11 months. When she’s not observing the neighbors and photographing them with her digital camera, she’s watching movies, playing chess, and counseling other agoraphobics via an online forum. Then her obsession with the new family across the park begins to take over…The secrets of Anna’s past and the uncertain present are revealed slowly in genuinely surprising twists.”–Publishers Weekly
The film adaptation starring Amy Adams as Anna Fox is out now on Netflix.
Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook
Hoopla: Series
“The latest entry in the postapocalyptic survivalist fantasy stakes has a peculiar sentimental streak in it. Gus, an almost parodically naïve young boy with antlers sprouting from his forehead and a taste for chocolate, is one of the few children born after some kind of manmade catastrophe. Following the death of his Bible-thumping father, the only other person he's ever known, he's rescued from hunters by a hulking, rifle-toting man called Jepperd, who promises to take him to a sanctuary for kids like him (and slaughters the refugees from Clichéd Dialogue University who get in their way en route). But could Jepperd be more than he seems?”–Publishers Weekly
Season 2 is out now on Netflix.

Romance

Beach Read by Emily Henry
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“While romance author January Andrews is staying, temporarily, at her recently deceased father's secret beach house, she's stunned to realize that her neighbor is Augustus Everett, her graduate school nemesis turned hotshot author of bleak literary fiction. Although she has a fast-approaching deadline, January is struggling to write a new “happily ever after” story when her own heart is broken. Augustus is in research mode for his next book, interviewing people about a suicide cult. One night, the two make a deal to each write the next book in the other's genre. To prepare, Augustus will bring January along for his research, and she'll take him on outings that inspire romance.”–Booklist

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“Eva Mercy is a single mother and a best-selling paranormal romance author with a serious case of writer's block. Shane Hall is an acclaimed novelist recovering from addiction, and he happens to be the boy who turned Eva's world upside down in high school. After Eva and Shane cross paths for the first time in years at a literary event, they can't seem to keep away from each other. Can the older, wiser Eva and Shane work through their fiery chemistry and the ghosts of their pasts?”–Library Journal
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook
Hoopla: Graphic Novel
“Bronx native Juliet Palante lands her dream internship in Portland, Oregon, the summer after her freshman year of college. In 2003, the 9/11 attacks are a recent memory, mixtapes are in full effect, and Juliet comes out as a lesbian to her Puerto Rican family the night before she leaves town. Bearing the pain of her mother's disapproval, Juliet bravely moves forward (pa'lante!) in hopes of self-transformation with Harlow Brisbane, author of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind–Juliet's beloved ‘magical labia manifesto.' Curious and open, Juliet plops into Harlow's white hippie world of polyamorous lesbians and feminism while she questions her purpose as a brown-skinned, curvy, asthmatic, Puerto Rican lesbian.”–Kirkus

Travel

World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“Woolever, longtime cowriter with the late Bourdain (1956–2018), knits together an impressive food-obsessed travel guide based on her conversations with Bourdain. Flitting from Argentina to Bourdain’s beloved Vietnam, the narrative captures Bourdain’s appreciation of everything from Oaxacan sauces to New York City’s Barney Greengrass restaurant (‘If God made anything better, he kept it for himself') and the ‘awesomeness' of Hong Kong’s night markets.”–Publishers Weekly

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“Actress and TEDx speaker Locke movingly describes the process of grieving and finding solace during three summers in Italy after the death of her husband. As a 20-year-old college exchange student in Florence in 1990, Locke, an aspiring actress, fell in love with chef Saro. His traditional Sicilian family disapproved of their interracial relationship (she is black), yet the couple married after a two-year long-distance relationship, eventually moving to Los Angeles, where they adopted a daughter; during a trip to Sicily two years later, the families reconciled. Saro, who had been battling a rare form of cancer for a decade, died in 2010; Locke spent the next three summers in Sicily with Saro’s mother making family recipes, experiencing the close-knit community, and embracing the wisdom of generations.”–Publishers Weekly
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad
Library Catalog: Print
OverDrive & Libby: eBook / Audiobook
“Jaouad, a columnist who chronicled her battle with cancer in the New York Times, expands on her experience in her debut memoir…Jaouad is adroit at describing the conflicting emotions she wades through, including rage, guilt, fear, longing, defiance, and gratitude. She befriends other cancer patients along the way, including a radiant artist named Melissa, who refuses to let her terminal diagnosis prevent her from traveling to India. Jaouad's relationship with a loyal boyfriend ultimately doesn't survive the years-long ordeal, but she finds a creative outlet through her column. Her writing attracts a multitude of readers and fellow survivors whom she seeks out on a 100-day road trip across the country when her health stabilizes. “–Library Journal