Are you looking for a great summer read to take on your vacation/staycation this year? Don’t worry, we’ve done the looking for you. Here are our August 2022 reading recommendations.

Our list is a mix of summer romances, biographies/memoirs, and mystery/action thrillers with a couple of cookbooks thrown in to help you enjoy the rest of your summer. Enjoy!

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub – Alice is turning 40. For the most part, she’s happy with her life, but her father is ill. His illness is causing her to question if there’s anything missing from her life. When she wakes up in her childhood bedroom in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday, she’s most surprised by her healthy vibrant father. She’s getting a chance to relive the past and wondering what she should change and what will happen if she’s brave enough to make some changes.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – Florence is a ghostwriter for a successful romance novelist until a bad break-up leaves her literally at a loss for words. Her new editor, a dazzlingly handsome man, refuses to give her an extension. Florence retreats to her home to write but receives news her father has passed away. She returns to the small town she left behind and her family’s mortuary business. Though happy to reconnect with old friends and see her family, Florence still feels her town has nothing to offer, until a dazzlingly handsome ghost appears on the porch of the funeral home. It’s her dazzlingly handsome editor. Why has he appeared to her? Is her book his unfinished business? Is he destined to haunt her until it’s finished?

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart – This is the prequel to We Were Liars. “Welcome to the Sinclair family. They were always liars.”

The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn – Georgina has a perfect life, a wonderful marriage, great friends, and a successful career at a prestigious law firm. Everything is perfect until she walks in on her husband and a junior associate in a compromising position. A messy divorce could threaten her five-year plan, a Georgina comes up with another plan to save her marriage. She and her husband will become swingers! What could possibly go wrong?

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Astine – Luz Lopez is a tea reader who takes in laundry to help make ends meet. She’s left to fend for herself after her brother is run out of town by an angry white mob. Luz begins to have visions that transport her back to the lost territory of her ancestors. She begins to relive the history of her family and sees the ways they were threatened and robbed of their lands. How can she save her family stories, so people will not forget?

A Map for the Missing by Belinda Huijuan Tang – Tang Yitian has been living in America for almost a decade when he receives an urgent message from his mother in China begging him for help. His father is missing, and no one is doing anything to find him. Tang quickly realizes he will have to return to the life and culture he left behind to find his father. He turns to the one person he can trust. Hanwen was the love of his life, but he was forced to leave her behind when he left for America. Together they try to unravel the government bureaucracy that’s blocking their search. Tang learns his father may not be the man he thought he knew.

Mean Baby by Selma Blair – The first stories Blair ever heard of her childhood were of a snarling almost rabid baby who wreaked havoc on her household. She bit her sisters, got drunk on Passover wine, and demanded constant attention. Even after she grew up and became a successful actress and model, Blair felt darkness deep inside. When she began experiencing painful tingling sensations and feeling like her skin was on fire, she began self-medicating with alcohol. Her life plunged into chaos until she received a devastating Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. It became the turning point of her life and her salvation. Blair confronts her demons with humor and sincerity in this intensely personal memoir.

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl – Grohl was approached many times about writing a memoir or letting someone else write it for him. He decided if his story were going to be told, he would be the storyteller. He recounts stories about growing up in Virginia obsessed with becoming a musician - leaving home at 18 to go on tour, Kurt Cobain and  Nirvana, the Seattle music scene,  Foo Fighters, marriage. family, fatherhood, the people he met along the way, and the places he’s been.

Scenes from My Life by Michael K. Williams and Jon Sternfeld -  Williams died just before he finished writing this memoir. On these pages, he lives. Williams speaks candidly about his life, from his childhood in East Flatbush and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction and the bar fight that left his face with his distinguishing scar. He was proud of his acting accomplishments, the roles he accepted, and the characters he brought to life, Omar Little in The Wire, Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire, and his Emmy-nominated roles in HBO’s The Night Of and Lovecraft Country. He also felt a strong connection to his home in Brooklyn and worked as an activist dedicating his life to working with social justice organizations and his community. He helped at-risk youth find their voices and take charge of their own destinies.

What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline – The title is a statement not a question and I find that so interesting. Jason Bennett is an average law-abiding citizen and family man until his car is hijacked, and his family is threatened. The Bennetts must enter witness protection, a program designed to protect informants in criminal cases, not an average family who was just coming home from their daughter’s field hockey game. With their lives turned upside down, Jason has to take matters into his own hands to save his family.

The Fiber-Fueled Cookbook by Will Bulsiewicz, M.D. – Dr. B. is a leading gastroenterologist. This cookbook is loaded with healthy fiber-rich plant-based recipes with a targeted plan to help overcome food sensitivities and improve your gut health without being overly restrictive.

Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior by Jane Esselstyn and Ann Crile Esselstyn – 125 plant-based recipes from a mother and daughter celebrating the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.