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Book Give-Away, Best Beach Bag Books, Substack Live Event

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Hello, Pep Talkers…

In this Newsletter

- Announcement of Book Give-away

- Best Beach Bag Books Recommendations

- Substack Live Announcement- Friday, May 22 at Noon PT

It’s time for my annual Best Beach Bag Books list. For over 20 years, I’ve been putting together a summer reading list for grown-ups. Long before I started writing books, I was reading books. My approach to summer reading varies based on where I am in my life and what the summer holds. Some years, it’s all sunny and funny. Other years, it’s a couple of long family sagas that I can sink into. Some summers, I play catch up on classics I’ve missed. For 2026, thisyear’s BBBB theme is Hitting the Road! There are lots of lists out there, but this one will take you places. Made for your road trip, beach vacation, lake house retreat or European folly. Maybe your headed out on a cruise or sightseeing historical spots. Or are you in the mood for not one, but two art heists in Paris stories? I’ve got you covered with historical fiction, contemporary fiction, romance and one non-fiction title. Plus, three from my backlist which are set in excellent summery locales.

Enjoy Best Beach Bag Books 2026. And keep scrolling for a Bookclub in a Box Give-away!

Some highlights for me:

Intrigued by cruises but don’t want to catch a deadly virus? Two books on the list are ship-worthy! The Shippers by Katherine Center is trope-heavy delight with sharp dialogue, lots of heat between the main characters and just plain fun like all Katherine Center’s books. American Fantasy by Emma Straub puts. A little literary fiction in your summer. Set on a cruise that features a 90s boy band and the women that love them, this one hits some deep notes but with LOL lines.

Hello, New England. Never change: Virginia Hume writes clean, crips prose about complicated lives and Liberty Island, set in Maine in the early 1900’s is for all the girls who went to camp there and miss it. (Me.) A sweeping Saga! Also digging deep in Julie Gersetenblatt’s newest historical fiction, The Stargazer of Nantucket, A mother-daughter adventure on a clipper ship to China. Meticulously researched with a. swift plot and pirates!

Things Happen on Vacation… like murder and mysteries. I love Laura Zigman’s voice, her rick prose and her sharp dialogue. In The Author Weekend, Zigman takes us inside the world of an aging, bestselling author, her ambitious assistant and an ill-fated retreat for fans. Loved this one. And the Queen of Beach Reads, Mary Kay Andrews is back with Road Trip, a tale of two sisters, a family mystery and road traip around Ireland to solve the issues of the past. Sharp as always.

People go to Paris … and more things happen. Loved the mystery around the Louvres Heist? Who didn’t? Jo Piazza had already submitted her take on art heists in Paris when the Louvres went down. The Parisian Heist is out in July. Dream of meeting your dream man on a flight to Paris? Then The Missed Connection is for you! Tia Williams is so good at writing sexy, romantic tales and this one does not disappoint. Imagine an international manhunt for the seatmate of your dreams. If you like both art heists and meeting the man of your dreams on a flight to Paris, I humbly recommend Lost and Found in Paris which has BOTH!

Dream Coastal Locales for the Win

Spending the summer playing tennis on Balboa Island, California sounds swell, doesn’t it? Yes please. Nicola Harrison, who has a magic touch with historical fiction, brings a story of love, loss and friendship to life in The Island Club. Meanwhile in North Carolina, Kristy Woodson Harvey, a maestro at writing about contemporary adult relationships, romantic and otherwise, brings it all together in Summer State of Mind.

Every Summer Needs a Wedding Debut author Lavanya Lakshmi delights with Leave and Come Back in this tale of a chaotic wedding, a complicated family and a plot that rivals any Bollywood movie. How fun. And did someone say wedding? Abigial and Alexa Save the Wedding is out in paperback now! My social satire of the wedding industrial complex.

Here is the list at bookshop.org, a retail website I prefer that supports independent booksellers. If you order from this site, I make a small commission. (Which I use to buy more books!) I like the concept of bookshop.org and the convenience of creating the book lists here. But take this list to your favorite indie, your library or wherever you prefer to buy books.

Book Give-Away

Win a Book Club in a Box! I’m giving away some key elements for a great summer book club: six copies of my 2020 bestseller and classic summer read, The Sweeney Sisters, plus cocktail napkins and other preppy swag and the opportunity to do a Zoom book club with me in August or September. How to win? Smash these buttons to like this post and comment on this post with your pick for a Best beach Bag Book. Deadline to comment/like is Tuesday, May 26^th at Noon PT. I’ll pull one name and we’ll set it up!

Substack Live

To celebrate the paperback release of Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding, I’ll be doing a Substack Live on Friday, May 22 at Noon PT to talk about my Best Beach Bag Books list and a few other bookish, summery things. Join me.