The hot weather and the high humidity have been turning my brain to mush for the past week or so. I set aside last week’s mainstream reads because I couldn’t stay focused on them. I’ll come back to them when the weather lets me.
Assuming that the trend will continue this week, I’ve chosen three books that should be fun reads that I can focus on. Two of them were Amazon First Reads for July so their formal publication date is 1st August. One is part of a go-to series that I’ve been holding back for an ‘All I Need Is Fun’ day. Together, the three of them sound like a set up for a joke: ‘A grandmother / granddaughter Roadtrip, a humorous thriller, and a comic time travel novel walk into my imagination and…’
I’m hoping for distraction, an occasional smile and maybe the odd outburst of mirth.
‘She’s Up To No Good’ by Sara Goodman Confino (2022)
Four years into her marriage, Jenna is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce. With time on her hands and her life in flux, she agrees to accompany her eccentric grandmother Evelyn on a road trip to the seaside Massachusetts town where much of their family history was shaped.
When they hit the road, Evelyn spins the tale of the star-crossed teenage romance that captured her heart more than seventy years ago and changed the course of her life. She insists the return to her hometown isn’t about that at all—no matter how much she talks about Tony, her unforgettable and forbidden first love.
Upon arrival, Jenna meets Tony’s attentive great-nephew Joe. The new friendship and fresh ocean air give her the confidence and distance she needs to begin putting the pain of a broken marriage behind her.
As the secrets and truths of Evelyn’s past unfold, Jenna discovers a new side of her grandmother, and of herself, that she never knew existed—and learns that the possibilities for healing can come at the most unexpected times in a woman’s life.
Sara Goodman Confino teaches high school English and journalism in Montgomery County, Maryland, where she lives with her husband, two sons, and miniature schnauzer, Sandy. She published her first novel For The Love Of Friends in 2021. She’s Up To No Good is her second novel.
‘Kismet’ by Amina Akhtar (2022)
Lifelong New Yorker Ronnie Khan never thought she’d leave Queens. She’s not an “aim high, dream big” person—until she meets socialite wellness guru Marley Dewhurst.
Marley isn’t just a visionary; she’s a revelation. Seduced by the fever dream of finding her best self, Ronnie makes for the desert mountains of Sedona, Arizona.
Healing yoga, transcendent hikes, epic juice cleanses…Ronnie consumes her new bougie existence like a fine wine. But is it, really? Or is this whole self-care business a little sour?
When the glam gurus around town start turning up gruesomely murdered, Ronnie has her answer: all is not well in wellness town. As Marley’s blind ambition veers into madness, Ronnie fears for her life.
Amina Akhtar is an American novelist currently based out of Sedona, Arizona.
Before becoming a full-time novelist, she spent over fifteen years as a fashion writer and editor, working at Vogue, Elle.com, Style.com, NYTimes.com, and NYMag.com.
She published her first novel #FashionVictim in 2018. Kismet is her second novel.
‘Hard Time’ by Jodi Taylor (2020)
A time slip in Versailles, problems in the Ice Age and illegal time travellers in need of rescue. Must be a job for the Time Police.
Luke, Jane and Matthew are back and ready to cause havoc – inadvertently or otherwise – in their latest adventures
Jodi Taylor is an English novelist, originally from Bristol but now based in Gloucester.
After spending twenty years as a facilities manager in for the Yorkshire library service, she realised her dream of becoming a writer by self-publishing her first novel Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book One in 2013. It received hundreds of five star reviews and sold several hundred thousand copies, getting her a book deal with Accent Press.
She has now published twenty-five St Mary’s novels and novellas as well as eight other novels in three other series.
Mike Finn's Fiction 
They look interesting! Looking forward to see what you think of them. Happy reading!
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Thank you. I’ve read two of them so far and they haven’t disappointed. I’ll post reviews soon.
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