After reading through publisher notes, sample chapters, and entire books (books that delayed me from writing this post because I couldn’t put them down!!), I am excited to present my summer reading list.

This eclectic list includes several thrillers, some environmental dystopia, a drama about love in Hollywood, new WWII fiction, long-lost stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and more. I have covered all my reading personalities and thus included something for everyone. I will update this post with links as I read these books and add my own reviews.

You can click on the titles or pictures for more information or to buy the book from Amazon. Happy summer reading!



Here’s what I’ll be reading this summer and why these particular books caught my attention (the publisher’s notes and testimonials are in block quotes):

The Force: A Novel

This – a cop novel/thriller – is an interesting pick for me but I read a sample chapter about a drug bust and got hooked. Reading about the grit of NYC intrigues me. This person’s recommendation may be more powerful than my own:

“The Force is mesmerizing, a triumph. Think The Godfather, only with cops. It’s that good.”
— Stephen King

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel

Click here to read my new post/review on this book. The story line includes old Hollywood glamour and drama from a famous actress that had seven husbands and other high-profile relationships.

“…a legendary film actress reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.”

Magpie Murders: A Novel

A friend asked me to read this to see what I thought. It is getting good reviews as homage to Agatha Christie novels. I have not read her novels so I am not sure I will get it but I’m going to try. The structure is apparently a novel inside a novel – and as I have posted about before, I love me some good intertexuality.

“Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.”

Mr. Rochester

This is a pick for my fellow Charlotte Bronte fans as this novel is from the perspective of Edward Fairfax Rochester, one of literature’s most romantic, most complex, and most mysterious heroes as the husband of Jane Eyre. I’m also planning to re-read Jane Eyre this summer.

“MR. ROCHESTER is a great, sweeping, classic coming-of-age story, and a stirring tale of adventure, romance, and deceit. Faithful in every particular to Brontë’s original yet full of unexpected twists and riveting behind-the-scenes drama, this novel will completely, deliciously, and forever change how we read and remember Jane Eyre.”

He Said/She Said: A Novel

This is another “thriller” – I am moving outside my comfort zone this summer!! I read some sample chapters became intrigued about who these people are hiding from and what does it have to do with the solar eclipse? This is a timely novel with another solar eclipse set for later this summer!

“A tour de force – a gripping, twisting, furiously clever read that asks all the right questions, and keeps you guessing until the very end. I loved it.” –Ruth Ware, bestselling author of The Woman in Cabin 10

American War: A novel

This is a dystopian read about a futuristic civil war in 2074. I am adding this to my list because of the devastation it predicts from not acting to reverse climate change and other bad decisions!

“An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle—a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.”

The End We Start From

This is another book set among dystopian environmental devastation. Yes, I am trying to scare people!!

“As London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, she and her baby are forced to leave their home in search of safety. They head north through a newly dangerous country seeking refuge from place to place. The story traces fear and wonder, as the baby grows, thriving and content against all the odds.”

In the Shadow of Alabama

This work of historical fiction will be an addition to my WWII reading list. It addresses our country’s racism during WWII.

“Judy Reene Singer’s newest novel is a masterful story of the American experience. Between the past and present, between love and war, between the burdens of race and hope, a woman returns home to discover her father and a history she had never known…”

If the Creek Don’t Rise: A Novel

This is set in Appalachia, a town filled with “moonshine and rotten husbands.” My recent reading of Hillbilly Elegy put this book on my list.

I’d Die For You: And Other Lost Stories

Readers of this blog know I am a big fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby, book and most recent movie. So when some “lost stories” emerge of course I need to read them!

“I’d Die For You is a collection of the last remaining unpublished and uncollected short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Anne Margaret Daniel. Fitzgerald did not design the stories in I’d Die For You as a collection. Most were submitted individually to major magazines during the 1930s and accepted for publication during Fitzgerald’s lifetime, but were never printed. Some were written as movie scenarios and sent to studios or producers, but not filmed.”

The Golden House: A Novel

I first read and loved Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children in a 20th Century British Literature class. (The syllabus for this class was one of my favorite, ever. I need to dig that up and write a post on that syllabus!) Anyway, we’ll see if this book may belong on a graduate English syllabus as well. I’m in the middle of it now and my verdict is still out.It s the story of a rich and mysterious man and his three sons who immigrate to New York and establish themselves in its society. Much pop culture and modern history is sewn in the story set in the early 2000s.

“A modern American epic set against the panorama of contemporary politics and culture—a hurtling, page-turning mystery that is equal parts The Great Gatsby and The Bonfire of the Vanities.“

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

This memoir about food, weight, and self-image seems so raw and honest.

“From the New York Times best-selling author of Bad Feminist, a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.”

What I Lost


Along the lines of the previous book about food and weight, this selection is Young Adult (YA) novel about anorexia, and admittedly not something that would typically be on my list. But I know the author and want to read it so I can recommend to my YA readers, librarians, and those who buy books for teenagers. It chronicles an important issue that I want to support.

Driving Miss Norma: One Family’s Journey Saying “Yes” to Living

This book looks fun and life affirming. It is based on a blog this 90-year-old woman wrote about tacking her bucket list while battling cancer.

Infused with this irrepressible nonagenarian’s wisdom, courage, and generous spirit, Driving Miss Norma is the charming, infectiously joyous chronicle of their experiences on the road. It portrays a transformative journey of living life on your own terms that shows us that it is never too late to begin an adventure, inspire hope, or become a trailblazer.

The Perfect Stranger: A Novel

This is a thriller I already read and wrote about this summer. I picked it up because it is by the author of All The Missing Girls, last summer’s sensation.

The Women in the Castle: A Novel

I already read this book earlier in the summer. It completed my WWII reading list (for the time being.)

Again, happy summer reading, and let me know which books are most intriguing to you or what you think once you read them! Follow me on the social media of your choice (links below) to see reviews as I post them.

I always look forward to the new Buzz Books. Thank you NetGalley

Thank you again for another excellent preview! These excerpts are so helpful!

I absolutely LOVE reading the Buzz Book collections when they come out. It really helps determine what books we want to read and purchase.

Love this list of future books so much!! Found many I will buy.

Great and useful edition that is so helpful for the bloggers and librarians as well as booksellers to evaluate what would be best for their clientele.

I just viewing the upcoming titles so I can make massive lists of the books I want to add to my TBR list - which is growing WAY too long!!

Buzz Books are one of my favorite ways to discover new-to-me authors that I might not have been exposed to any other way. This collection is a big one, so here are a few titles that left me wanting more:

The Last Hack by Christopher Brookmyre

Internationally bestselling author Christopher Brookmyre... is renowned for his black humor, remarkably well-drawn characters, and killer twists. His new Jack Parlabane thriller, The Hack, is his most unstoppable novel yet.

I've always been fascinated by hacking, and the sample grabbed my attention immediately by showing how easy it can be. Can't wait to read this one!
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

The suspense thriller of the year - The Marsh King's Daughter will captivate you from the start and chill you to the bone.

'I was born two years into my mother's captivity. She was three weeks shy of seventeen. If I had known then what I do now, things would have been a lot different. I wouldn't have adored my father.'

Ever wonder what happens to the children of abduction victims? Helena didn't know that her mother had been kidnapped by her father until she was 12, but now she's grown with children of her own and her father has escaped from prison. Whoa!

The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion

From the #1 bestselling author of The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, an unforgettable new novel about lost love and second chances.

What if an old love, the one who got away, suddenly contacted you? Would you ignore their email, or be tempted to see if there were any sparks left? I think that Adam is about to find out!

Ten Dead Comedians by Fred van Lente

A darkly clever take on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and other classics of the genre, Ten Dead Comedians is a marvel of literary ventriloquism, with hilarious comic monologues in the voice of every suspect. It’s also an ingeniously plotted puzzler with a twist you’ll never see coming!

Have to admit that I'm a sucker for And Then There Were None remixes, so am intrigued to see how the author spins this one!

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

A young woman returns home to care for her failing father in this fine, funny, and inescapably touching debut, from an affecting and wonderfully original new literary voice.

This one will probably leave me in tears, but the sample really tugged at my heartstrings. Ruth's father is suffering from Alzheimers and she moves back home to help her mother care for him. As someone who did something similar for my mother-in-law, I can't not read this!

Driving Miss Norma by Tim Bauerschmidt & Ramie Liddle

When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Miss Norma - newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage - rose to her full height of five feet and told the doctor, “I’m ninety years old. I’m hitting the road.”

And so Miss Norma took off on an unforgettable around-the-country journey in a thirty-six-foot motor home with her retired son Tim, his wife Ramie, and their dog Ringo.

While Tim & Ramie's nomadic life intrigued me, I have to admit that Miss Norma is why I want to read this book! I fell in love with her the moment she told her doctors that she was hitting the road instead of going through chemotherapy. Go Miss Norma!

In Vino Duplicitas by Peter Hellman

True crime pairs well with fine wine in this astonishing story of a con man who rides his gift for tasting wine to the highest reaches of society - and then comes crashing down.

How can you not love a good con man? Unless you're the one being conned, I think they're fascinating! And this one has the added twist of making wine snobs look foolish. Call me petty, but I love the idea of them overpaying for counterfeit wine while they look down their noses at me for liking White Zinfandel!


None of these are my usual type of read, but I think that's half the fun! I think I'm most looking forward to reading Driving Miss Norma, as she sounds like my kind of gal!

As always, the Buzzbook provides insight and help in finding books that will really shine in the upcoming season. I rely upon the compilation to provide guidance to the new season.

I enjoy read the buzz books because of the different genres of books and gets me reading something normally I wouldn't read. My tbr pile is growing can't wait for the next buzz book to come out

Love reading an excerpt of upcoming novels! There are always so many choices and it is sometimes hard to tell just from the book description if you will like it or not. I enjoy reading bits of the actual book to better help me decide.

Interesting to hear about upcoming book. Quick read.

The majority of the books in this compilation were ones featured in some of the monthly editions . . . still enjoyed perusing the round-up (the comprehensive list of releases by date and category) though.

One of the books featured and worthy of recommendation is The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. I requested and read this after reading the excerpt in the Buzz Books March edition and really enjoyed it. A story told through the eyes of three different German women, it provides a unique perspective on WWII.

The few that I’m still considering are The Marsh King’s Daughter, He Said/She Said and Come Sundown. Not sure how I’ve gone this long without reading at least one Nora Roberts; seems like something I need to change.

Every reader should check out the Buzz Books editions . . . you can’t beat the excerpts. There’s nothing worse than buying a book and realizing that you don’t connect with the writing.

Look forward to reading the extracts which are teasers of books to come.

I am so grateful for this listings of the upcoming titles of the year and particularly enjoyed the excerpts on offer. So helpful in deciding what I would like to read. Many thanks for this;

"Buzz Books 2017: Spring/Summer" offers an exciting preview of upcoming titles. I always look forward to perusing new releases ahead of time so that I can prepare engaging displays and keep up with what local library patrons are reading or have recommendations on hand for patrons looking for their next read.

There were a number of fantastic excerpts in this one. I am most looking forward to the ones by Nora Roberts and Karen Dionne.

I love the previews available in these book collections. There are several I will purchase and I have requested The Marsh King's Daughter since after reading the first chapter I have to find out what happens in the novel. Thank you for putting these selections together and allowing us to get a glimpse of what is coming out before it hits the shelves. I look forward to the next edition.

Great idea to be more aware of the books to be realeased :)

Nice chance to see future books and read a bit so you can keep a to purchase list