The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman is a sweet and delightful little book. It’s easily read in a few hours and is quite enjoyable. Lilian’s husband died in a car accident three years ago and is only really beginning to surface. When her boss signs her up for a vegetable gardening class, she really becomes more like her old self, with all the self-doubt that comes along with being happy again. It’s a light story, quite predictable, but a great summer choice, nonetheless.

I disliked Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki very, very much. So much so, that I almost gave up on it quite close to the end, which is rare for me. I didn’t like any of the characters and the plot was pretty boring. Esther reinvents herself and becomes the nanny for a woman who has just kicked out her husband and has an 18-year-old selectively mute son and a 2-year-old. Of course, S (as she is known) is an artist and has a relationship with the mute son. And, of course, everyone has scarred childhoods and so on. Ug. Pass this one over…

The Cottingly Secret by Hazel Gaynor is a great summer read. In 1917, cousins photographed fairies and were thrust into international fame. But did one of the cousins actually see them? One hundred years later, Olivia, whose grandfather has just died and left her his bookstore, stumbles on the cousin’s story and links it back to her own. Olivia’s tale is interesting enough on its own, but the interweaving with the historical makes it even better. While you will need some suspension of disbelief, it’s not too much to make the story unbearable.

I like Julia Glass and really enjoyed her earlier book, Three Junes. A House Among the Trees is a quiet read about children’s book author, Mort Lear, who dies and leaves all his home and works to his assistant, Tommy, who has to carry out his complicated wishes. Tommy has an interesting history with Mort, dating back to time she spent with him at a Manhatten playground where Mort sketched her brother and used him as the protagonist of his book. Years later, Mort offers her a job, which she keeps through three decades and the ups and downs of his life. While I liked this story, nothing much happened, and in the end, I felt like it was too flat. I’d skip it and focus on other, better reads.

I grabbed The Secrets You Keep by Kate White with my crazy-large stack of new releases from our newly-opened, updated library. I hadn’t read anything about it and didn’t know if it would be any good or not. Bryn has moved to upstate New York with her husband for the summer following a tragic car accident where the driver of the car died, but she walked away relatively unscathed. In trying to recover and reset, she ends up in the middle of a murder. Is someone trying to mess with her and frame her at the same time? This was your garden-variety thriller, which moved along at a nice clip and was good for summer. Again, there was nothing deep here, but the pages kept easily turning.

It wouldn’t be summer without a new Elin Hilderbrand to enjoy. And, I’ve been reading junk lately, so The Identicals worked in perfectly (amazingly, it’s on sale for only $4.99 today, a bargain for a new release). While it took me a while to read because I was enjoying other summer pursuits, this was a good one. Twin sisters, Tabitha and Harper each live with one of their divorced parents on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard respectively. When their father dies, it throws their lives into chaos. Slowly, each begins to understand how the other has been raised. Nothing deep here, but a perfect beach read to round out the summer.

Looking for an absorbing and quick, fluffy summer read? I Found You by Lisa Jewell is it. I read it in an evening (stayed up too late to do so) not only because it was a good story, but also because I couldn’t put it down. Alice finds a man sitting on the beach in front of her home who has no idea who he is. Somewhat unbelievably (though you are led to understand that Alice’s entire life has been constructed on bad decisions), she invites him to live in her renter’s quarters until he figures out who he is. Simultaneously, and told in about every other chapter, you learn the story of newlywed, Lily, whose husband has gone missing. Peppered between these two stories is a flashback to the early 90s when teenage siblings, Gray and Kirsty Ross, spent their summer vacation in a seaside town. So, mysteries abound in this one. And, I kept thinking the man, dubbed Frank, was one or the other of the main characters in the teenage story. It’s not too hard to figure this one out, but I didn’t until the end. And, I enjoyed every minute of it.

The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn centers on Lucy and Owen, who have moved into the suburbs and decide to embark on an open marriage. Of course, this becomes tricky. While this is more of a trashy beach read than I would like to admit I enjoy, it was hard to put down. And, for the summer, what could be better?!

Everything You Want Me to Be by Minda Mejia was billed as an “if you loved Gone Girl, you’ll be up at night reading this one” type. I did not find that to be entirely true. While this was somewhat suspenseful and a fast read, I didn’t find it particularly believable and I’m a bit tired of the teacher-affair-with-student angle. Nevertheless, this wasn’t a bad summer pick and a decent not-too-deep-or-taxing psychological thriller. Hattie has spent her whole life acting a part. She is found stabbed to death at the beginning of the book and the rest of the story jumps from her point of view, the investigator’s, and the teacher with whom she has an online and then in person affair. Ultimately, who is to blame for Hattie’s death?? Perhaps you, like me, will want to read the whole thing to find out.

I was very excited for The Almost Sisters to be available since I loved Joshilyn Jackson’s Someone Else’s Love Story, reviewed here. What’s funny is that I had forgotten that two years ago I read another of Jackson’s books, The Opposite of Everyone, and didn’t really like it. The Almost Sisters was good, especially at the end, but not as good as Someone Else’s Love Story. However, it was better than The Opposite of Everyone. Leia Birch Briggs’ has a one-night stand at a comic convention, which turns into a baby boy. Before she confesses this to her family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage falls apart and she learns that her grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, having hidden her dementia with the help of her best friend. Leia returns to Alabama to help her grandmother and ends up in the middle of a crime scene. While things tie themselves up somewhat too neatly to be believed, it was a good and quick summer read.