These six sizzling reads are all about love and romance, perfect to tuck into on those lovely, lazy days of summer.

 

1. CITY OF GIRLS (Riverhead) by Elizabeth Gilbert

The long-awaited novel from the author of Eat, Pray, Love is a rollicking account of glamour, sex and adventure in the 1940s New York theatre world. Narrated by 89-year-old Vivian Morris, she recounts her youthful rebellions and the scandals that turned her life upside down (she was “excused” from Vassar, for example, for forgetting to turn up to class every single day), but her unconventional choices also led to a deeper understanding of the kind of life she truly wanted – and ultimately, to the love of her life. A wise, moving and unabashedly honest love story for the ages.

 

2. MRS. EVERYTHING (Atria) by Jennifer Weiner

This far-reaching saga explores love in its many forms: love of family, friends, partners, and ultimately, self. Spanning 1951 to 2016 and beyond, the story follows 70 years of American history through two sisters, Jo and Bethie, from bell-bottoms to shoulder pads, the Me Generation to #MeToo. Inspired by her own family – her mother followed convention by marrying and having children, only to divorce and eventually fall in love with a woman – Weiner not only spins a wickedly good story, but takes on the social issues of the day and how women’s place in society has changed over the past decades.

Available June 11, 2019

 

3. LOST ROSES (Random House) by Martha Hall Kelly

A heartbreaking story of love and loss, the prequel to the bestselling Lilac Girls is based on a true story of a woman who fought to save a group of Russian aristocrats who suffered terribly at the hands of the Bolsheviks during the First World War.

 

4. THE ROYAL SECRET (Atria) by Lucinda Riley

Also published under the name The Love Letter, Riley’s romantic thriller about the royal family explores the conflict between love and duty when a shocking secret from the past threatens to rock the British establishment to its core.

 

5. THE BLAME GAME (Harper Collins) by C.J. Cooke

First love goes deadly wrong when a young man perishes in the Swiss Alps, leaving his companions to live with a terrible, guilty secret. The incident, which happened over 20 years before, will not stay in the past where it belongs, putting a British family in grave danger while holidaying on the beach in beautiful Belize.

 

6. THE PERFECT WIFE (Doubleday Canada) by JP Delaney

Want to live forever? Or at least for a very long time? Who doesn’t. But what if this meant “uploading” yourself into a shiny plastic, more perfect version of your body,  and doing the same thing for loved ones with technology that can “restore” a departed loved one or even a pet. Delaney’s latest book is the story of a brilliant, but obsessed Silicon tech genius who figured out how to do exactly that with his creation of an empathetic robot after the mysterious “disappearance” (or was it murder) of his “perfect wife.”

Available Aug. 6, 2019

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