Your search for a summer lovin’ date is over! Each of these books is the perfect companion to afternoons in the park, mornings on the beach, or evenings on the patio. They don’t tell bad jokes, they always remember to compliment your outfit, and they never hog the covers. Get ready to meet the books you’ll want to spend every summer day with!
By Christopher Meades
Fifteen-year-old Jacob feels almost on the inside: almost smart, almost funny, almost good-looking, almost worthy of falling in love. Like every teenager, he feels that everyone around him is too busy to notice him: his sister is too busy dating guys in Whitesnake jackets, his best friend is occupied with his own painful pubescent crisis, his mother just started a curious (and rather un-Christian) holy war with the church across the street, and his father secretly moved into the garage. But everything changes when Jacob meets Mary. Jacob thinks Mary is the most beautiful girl in the world, and he is so close to getting Mary to notice him. They could be together, if only Mary’s father wasn’t the minister at the enormous rival church. They could be together, if only she wasn’t dating a youth pastor with pristine white teeth and impeccably trimmed hair. They might even be together, if only Jacob could work up the courage to tell Mary how he feels . . .
By Suri Rosen
What is a girl to do when she has to start over? Act like a modern day cupid, obviously! When 16-year-old Raina is expelled from her Manhattan private school, she’s sent to live with her strict aunt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel like quite the fresh-start that it was made out to be — Raina’s sister, Leah, blames her for her broken engagement, and she’s not having any luck making friends at her new school. Where is a girl to turn? In her tight-knit Jewish community, Raina finds a way to take advantage of the one thing she is good at: matchmaking! As the anonymous “Match-Maven,” Raina sets up hopeless singles desperate to find The One. This incredibly funny cross between Jane Austen’s Emma, Dear Abby, and Yenta the matchmaker soon has Raina barely able to stay awake in class, as she tries to keep her double life a secret. Make this quirky, comic and heartwarming story of one girl trying to find happiness for others and redemption for herself the newest edition to your book club list.
By Nathan Whitlock
As anybody who has ever forayed into the service industry has experienced, serving tables can be filled with hilarious situations, rude customers, long nights and intriguing coworkers. In Congratulations On Everything, the escapades of bar-staff have never been so funny. This comic novel follows the struggles, frailties, and cruelly pyrrhic victories of a 30ish day-shift waitress and the middle-aged bar owner. Uncover the very un-glamourous life of bars when the sun is still up. This novel will have you laughing as you are reassured that everyone deals with similar uncertainties and anxieties in their adult lives.
Love in the Elephant Tent
By Kathleen Cremonesi
If memoir is more to your taste, find out what happens when a young woman actually runs away to join the circus. From following the Grateful Dead from concert to concert in a VW van to falling in love with an elephant trainer in Spain, this is a descriptive and entertaining account of an incredible life that will keep you enthralled from the first page until the very last. Determined to avoid following in her mother’s footsteps to an ill-fated marriage, Kathleen left Oregon in her early 20s to travel across Europe. On a whim, this former administrative assistant with wanderlust took a job as a dancer in an Italian circus and, through a series of events, became an ostrich-riding, shark-taming showgirl. With thrilling prose and vivid descriptions, Kathleen takes the reader around the Mediterranean, where she discovers unexpected friends and learns how to cook, forgive, and love — across language barriers.
To find your perfect park date, check out our other titles here.