June Books From Book Expo

I spent some time organizing my books from the Book Expo, and this year I organized them by the month they publish. It's going to make it so much easier to read the books as they publish so I can keep current with my reviews.

The June books  are all about family, and I've read three of them so far.

Mary Beth Keane's third novel, Ask Again, Yes is one of my favorite books of the year. Keane writes so beautifully in her story of two Irish families who live next door to each other. A tragedy tears them apart and years later it still reverberates through the families. My full review is here, but suffice to say, you must read this book.

Jean Kwok's book Searching for Sylvie Lee is also a family drama and wonderfully written as well. Sylvie Lee leaves her home in NYC to go to the Netherlands to visit her dying grandmother. When she disappears, her younger sister Amy goes to the Netherlands to find out what happened. Family secrets are revealed, and the story is told from Sylvie, Amy, and their Chinese immigrant mother's point of view. Jenna Bush Hager chose it as her Today Show June Book Club pick, and Jean will be on Today with Hoda and Jenna on Friday, June 28th.

Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything tells the story of two sisters' lives, from their childhood in the 1950s through the current day. It's really the story of women in America through those years and it's her best book yet, I just inhaled it. It debuted at number two on the NY Times bestseller list last week.

I'm starting Elin Hilderbrand's Summer of '69, which I have heard great things about. It's her first novel set in a different time period and it's about the Levin family and what happens to them during that historic year.  She signed books at the Book Expo, and gave out Corona beers. I wish I liked beer, it looked refreshing.

Grant Ginder's Honestly, We Meant Well is a family story about a Classics professor who finds that her perfect husband is cheating on her and her college-bound son's life is a mess. She takes them to Greece for a month to fix things and it sounds like a good summer read, funny and heartfelt.

Claire Lombardo's novel, The Most Fun We Ever Had follows Marilyn and David and their four adult daughters. One of the daughters gave birth to a son and gave him up for a closed adoption fifteen years ago, but he reappears in their life. Lombardo is being compared to Celeste Ng and Elizabeth Strout, high praise indeed.

Eloisa James' fourth novel in her Wildes of Lindow Castle series is Say No to the Duke, and it continues the story of the Wilde family, with this story focusing on young Lady Betsy Wilde who loses a billiards game and bet to Lord James Roden and now must spend the night with him. I really enjoyed the first three books in the series, the first historical romances I have read in a long time, and I'm looking forward to this one as well.