5 Books to Jump-Start Your Summer

All it takes is two warm days and I'm ready for summer. I'm not alone, right? And since I'm thinking summer, I'm also in the mood for beach reading. I know, I know--May has barely begun, and here I'm already dreaming of vacation. I bet you are too. So grab your sunscreen and flip flops and one of today's recommended books: it's time to jump-start your summer fun.

• August and Everything After by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski (Sourcebook Fire, May 1): Even three years after her best friend died in a car accident, Quinn is still having trouble feeling steady. Maybe a summer living with her aunt on the Jersey Shore will give her the space she needs figure out her future. Romance and music may offer a way to happiness . . . or has Quinn set her heart on the wrong guy? Summer love mixed with more serious themes will keep you turning the pages.
• Beach House Reunion by Mary Alice Monroe (Gallery, May 22): Take a trip to the Lowcountry and walk the beaches of historic South Carolina with three generations of the Rutledge family. Although officially part of Monroe's Beach House series, this book can easily be read as a standalone. Two women in different stages of life and facing different problems, set up house at their family beach house: Cara a late-in-life single mother and fairly recent widow is having trouble transitioning to her new reality, and her baby-sitter niece is feeling lost now that she's out of college. Strong themes of ecology, relationships, and family wind their way through Monroe's latest.
• The Endless Beach by Jenny Colgan (William Morrow, May 22): Set on an island off the coast of Scotland, this is a story of second chances and the strength of family as well as good friends and maybe even romance. Colgan is well-known for her believable characters, vivid settings, and good food (there's a cafe involved), and her stories are the perfect lazy Saturday escape. Pour a mug of tea and arrange a plate of biscuits (cookies); then settle in for an engrossing small-town tale.
• The High Season by Judy Blundell (Random House, May 22): Oh what joy to have the perfect Long Island beach house and oh what sorrow to have to rent it for the summer season. Ruthie and her teenage daughter, Jemm, are unprepared for all they may have to give up when their beautiful tenant seems take possession of not only their house but also of major chunks of their lives. This may be the summer of Jemm's coming of age and Ruthie's unraveling . . . or maybe it's a call to dig deep and find that inner strength.
• The High Tide Club by Mary Kay Andrews (St. Martin's Press, May 8): A wealthy ninety-something woman seeks advice from a young, struggling lawyer: Can she will her private Georgia island to her three best friends? Seems simple enough, but the friends have been estranged for decades and the millionaire dies before signing the documents . . . and then there's the little problem of a long-ago murder. Good plotting and great characters are the hallmarks of Andrews's summer reads.