| A workout friend nudged me on the way out of the gym the other day and laughingly said, “I heard your summer reads show and we have pretty different ideas of what a beach read is.” Let’s just say she thought there was too much espresso, dark, deep and serious on my summer reading list and not enough froth on the top. “OK,” I promised. “Three delightfully frothy novels you can escape into on a summer afternoon coming right up.” So here they are: I love Kirsten Chen’s novel “Counterfeit.” It’s got a great hook. Former college roommates and frenemies Ava and Winnie launch an illegal luxury goods scheme and then one of them disappears, leaving the other to take the heat. Chen keeps it sharp and breezy even as she skewers status symbols and stereotypes. This novel is so much fun I’m going to read Chen’s back list this summer too! Elin Hilderbrand combines the history of a Gilded Age Nantucket hotel with all of the pleasures of “Dream Home Makeover” and the Gaines’ “Fixer Upper.” When a London billionaire restores the Hotel Nantucket, he hires Lizbet Keaton to run it. Enter quirky staff members, demanding guests and a mystery that dates back to 1922 when a chambermaid died in the hotel fire. Preteen detective Wanda Marsh is on the case. “The Hotel Nantucket” transports you to the island and plops you right in the sand. The dialogue is snappy, the descriptions are lovely and it’s just the thing for a lazy lakeside read in the hammock. My last frothy summer read is a book I just finished by Jean Hanff Korelitz, the author of “The Undoing," a book that HBO turned into a miniseries starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. Korelitz’s new one, “The Latecomer” stars the Oppenheimer triplets who can’t stand one another to the chagrin of their mother who despaired of ever having children and who chooses to overlook the enmity between them. Brought up with every advantage, the proverbial silver spoon in their increasingly sour mouths Harrison, Lewyn and Sally embark on educations, careers, scandals and sibling rivalry in a family epic that is both entertaining and illuminating. And like "The Undoing," "Latecomer" is also headed for the screen.
— Kerri Miller | MPR News | 