Editor’s Note:  Today is the final day of Chicky’s Hot Summer Reads.  If you’ve been following along, you’ve read this intro a few times already. If so, skip it. If not, read on. It’s fascinating. I swear.  

 

I don’t know about you, but I read a TON in the summer.  It’s probably because all my favourite TV shows are on hiatus (other than So You Think You Can Dance and The Young and the Restless).  It also could be because my kids go off to sleepover camp and I’ve got a lot more time on my hands.  Regardless of the reason, I need to feed my 2-3 book-per-week habit with fantastic reads.

 

I’m sure there are lots of other bibliophiles out there in the same boat. So, I thought I’d do the Internet a favour and compile a list of Chicky’s Hot Summer Reads, as recommended by the publishers. I think we’ll be piling up our nightstands, virtual or otherwise, with these amazing recommendations.

 

Today, my friends at Simon and Schuster Canada are up.  This publisher has been around since Day 1 of my book reviewing ‘career’.  I won an ARC from them, and we’ve never looked back. What a great partnership we have, where they introduce me to some incredible books, and I say thank you.  They also featured me as one of their book bloggers of the month, which was totally cool (although I closed down the blog that they featured).

 

 

Between You and Me

Logan Wade hasn’t seen her cousin Kelsey in person since their parents separated them as kids. In the intervening years Kelsey Wade has grown into Fortune Magazine’s most powerful celebrity. But their reunion is quickly overshadowed as Logan discovers that the secrets that caused them to be wrenched apart so many years ago have insidiously warped into a show-stopping family business. As Kelsey tries desperately to grasp at a “real” life, beyond the influence of her parents and managers, she makes one catastrophic misstep after another. When Kelsey unravels in the most public way, Logan finds that she will ultimately have to choose between rescuing the girl she has always protected and saving herself.

 

Editor’s Note: Celebrity scandal from the authors of The Nanny Diaries.  Mommy wants.  

 

The Next Best Thing

Set against the fascinating backdrop of Los Angeles show business culture, with an insider’s ear for writer’s room showdowns and an eye for bad backstage behavior and set politics, Jennifer Weiner’s new novel is a rollicking ride on the Hollywood roller coaster, a heartfelt story about what it’s like for a young woman to love, and lose, in the land where dreams come true.

 

Editor’s Note:  Reading this one right now. Already learned a new word-showrunner. Stay tuned for review.

 

Freak

From suspense author Jennifer Hillier, whom Jeffery Deaver has praised as ”top of the line thriller writing,” comes  Freak, a sequel to her debut novel Creep. An obsessed and twisted fan of Abby Maddox wants her released from prison–and is willing to keep killing until she is.

 

Editor’s Note:  I’m scared just reading the description.  Ever since I saw the Abominable Snowman when I was six, I’m a total chicken.  

 

The Kingmaker’s Daughter

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the gripping story of the daughters of the man known as the “Kingmaker,” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters Anne and Isabel as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. In this novel, her first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl,Philippa Gregory explores the lives of two fascinating young women.

 

Editor’s Note:  Ah, Philippa. Nuf said. She is the queen of historical fiction, and one of my favourites.

 

Which is your top pick?

 

Also part of Chicky’s Summer Reads:

Harper Collins Canada

Random House Canada

Penguin Canada