3 Late Summer Books to Read #MondayBlogs

by Susan Roberts

August is one of the hottest months of the year so if you are staying in the air conditioning to keep cool, I have reviews of three recent books for you.  One is a romance, one is historical fiction and the third is dystopian fiction.  Enjoy!
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Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber

July 2018; Ballantine Books; 978-0399181252
audio, ebook, print (352 pages)
women's fiction

You can always depend on Debbie Macomber to bring her readers enjoyable books with great characters and romance. She certainly provided all of those in her new book Cottage by the Sea. Her newer books are more than just romance - in this book, she discusses teenage pregnancy and abuse, both physical and mental.

After Annie's entire family dies in an accident, she is unable to move ahead with her life. She can't work and she is unable to find any happiness in life. Then she realizes that she needs to find somewhere in her life that made her happy in the past. When she visits the seaside village where she spent time in the summers when she was a kid, she feels the first contentment that she has in months. She gets a job, rents a house and becomes part of the community. She finds that by helping other people with their problems, she is able to find happiness in her life. She realizes that she now has a new family - the people she cares about and who care about her.

This was a quick read and a perfect book for a hot summer day at the beach or pool.

Buy Cottage by the Sea at Amazon

Tiffany Blues by M.J. Rose 

August 2018; Atria Books; 978-1501173592
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); historical

This was a lovely book - painted throughout with vivid colors and characters in sharp contrast to the black and white world that the main character lived in during the first part of the book. It's my first book by MJ Rose and certainly won't be my last.

Jenny Bell is 24 and a struggling artist in NYC. Her roommate Minx, a talented sculptor, fills out applications for both of them to go to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s prestigious artists’ colony for several weeks to paint at his quiet beautiful estate. When Jenny first goes to the retreat, she only paints in black and white and uses no colors despite the suggestions of Louis Tiffany. It is apparent that she's hiding some big secrets in her past from everyone. As the summer progresses and she begins to relax, it begins to appear that someone knows about her past and wants to expose it. Jenny tries to start seeing the color in the world but this new threat causes her to fear that she will lose her friendships and her new love when they find out about her past.

This is a beautiful well-written novel with an interesting storyline and great characters. I enjoyed reading it and highly recommend it.

Buy Tiffany Blues at Amazon

Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah

August 2018; Delphinium; 978-1883285760
ebook, print (256 pages); dystopian

In a future world, due to illness and war, the population is dying out. To circumvent this problem, the men in charge decide that women's ONLY goal is to bring new babies into the world. To accomplish this, each woman is required to have multiple husbands. The husbands treat their wife well and buy her whatever she wants but her main goal is to become pregnant and bring new life into their world. What the new rulers of this world chose to ignore is that they have taken something vital from women - FREE CHOICE. This novel is about a group of women who refuse to follow the rules and live underground in secret. They come out at night to provide the one thing that men can no longer get - comfort and care - not sex but comfort and intimacy without sex.

This is a well-written story about life in a patriarchal society with absolutely no rights for women. The main characters are well written and the plot about the underground group going against government rules makes it a very interesting story. Even though this is NOT one of my favorite genres, I'm very glad that I read this book and I think it's going to stay with me for a long time.

Buy Before She Sleeps at Amazon

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads,  or Twitter.

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