No beach bag is complete without a good book tossed in. Whether you’re looking for something light or something serious, the local bookstores of the Jersey Shore have extensive collections to choose from.
With so many good books out there, it’s hard to know what to pick. Don’t worry – we did the legwork for you! We had a chat with the owner of BookTowne in Manasquan, Peter Albertelli, to learn more about what’s hot this summer. Check out his recommendations below.
ROMANCE
“Book Lovers” by Emily Henry
When two hardened book industry veterans meet in a small town, sparks fly – eventually. A fun and not-so-classic love story set in small town North Carolina where a sisters trip turns into much, much more.
“Not Your Average Hot Guy” by Gwenda Bond
While some people may joke that their ex-summer-fling is the spawn of Satan, in this story, it’s literal. Follow along as Callie tries to find a complicated work-life balance – trying to stop a cult from ending the world and managing a budding romance with a demon.
“Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood
Ph.D. candidate Olive sets out to design the ultimate experiment to prove her best friend wrong about relationships. Her hypothesis? They don’t last. Her conclusion? Well…let’s just say there are a number of unexpected variables in the mix.
THRILLER
“The Lioness” by Chris Bojohlian
When Hollywood A-listers head out for an African safari, they certainly don’t expect to be kidnapped by Russians with guns. What happens next makes for a thrilling ride and an exciting read.
“Razorblade Tears” by SA Crosby
A harrowing tale of an ex-prisoner seeking revenge for the muder of a son he never quite accepted, this book explores race, crime, death, sexuality and the love between father and son that transcends it all.
“City On Fire” by Don Winslow
The Italian and Irish mobs are in the throes of a bloody war – over a woman. Pick up this dark nail-biter of a tale to find out who will be the last man standing.
“6:20 Man” by David Baldacci
A war veteran makes his way back into civilian life through the cutthroat world of finance and becomes entangled in a twisted web of murder, corruption and the seedy underbelly of New York City’s financial firms.
“The It Girl” by Ruth Ware
An unexpected knock at the door from a journalist turns Hannah’s life upside down and plunges her into the role of investigator as she digs into what really happened on the night her best friend was murdered a decade before.
“Madness Of Crowds” by Louise Penny
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache takes on an easy assignment – safe-guarding an academic lecture – that turns into a massive and complex murder investigation involving a town in the grips of a collective delusion.
“Falling” by TJ Newman
A routine flight takes a harrowing turn when the pilot is faced with an impossible decision – crash a full flight and save his family or land the plane safely and lose them all. What will he decide? Come aboard to find out.
FEEL-GOOD
“Happy-Go-Lucky” by David Sedaris
In his latest collection of essays, Sedaris explores the ups and downs of family life during an unprecedented pandemic, and the way life in America today. A thoughtful work with lots to offer the reader.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
Tova Sullivan’s life has been marred by tragedy – her 18-year-old son lost at sea and her husband dead before his time. Everything changes when she takes a job at the aquarium and befriends a particularly grouchy Pacific octopus who has a message for her from the deep.
“House In The Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune
Linus Baker is a case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. A new assignment leads him to an island that holds six particularly dangerous children and a caretaker with secrets that could change the fate of the world.
“The Nantucket Hotel” by Elin Hilderbrand
Step aside, Osprey, there’s another vintage hotel bringing the drama this summer. When Lizbet Keaton takes over Hotel Nantucket, she has to deal with complicated pasts, her own romantic uncertainties and, on top of all of that, a ghost.
“The Good Left Undone” by Adriana Trigiani
A painful past and a secret love story haunt an Italian-American family. Stories of the past and present intertwine as family members unravel the complicated story of where they come from and who they are.
“Guncle” by Steven Rowley
When tragedy strikes and “Gay Uncle Patrick” becomes a parent to his very young niece and nephew, he realizes he might be in over his head. A heartwarming story of love, parenting and learning about the meaning of family.
“Meant To Be” by Emily Giffin
When a member of American “royalty” falls in love with a model raised by a single mom in the 1960s, love is in the air, but will scandal follow? This book explores a love that transcends position, societal expectations and privilege.
HISTORY
“Magnolia Palace” by Fiona Davis
A model looking for deeper purpose in life after her mother dies of the Spanish flu becomes embroiled in a life-or-death scandal kept secret by the famous Frick family. Nearly 50 years later, another model discovers letters at the now-Frick museum that might blow the whole thing open.
“The Deepest South” by Richard Grant
The wealth of Natchez, Mississippi was built on the backs of slaves working in cotton fields. Grant pays tribute to the contradictory, quirky and thoroughly modern culture that thrives today among the decaying antebellum mansions.
“Blood & Treasure” by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin
Told through journals, newspapers, memoirs and more, this book takes readers on an adventure into America’s “First Frontier” in the Applachians, and is filled with the voices of early settlers, as well as the people who lived there first.
“The Personal Librarian” by Maria Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Belle da Costa Greene was one of the most powerful librarians in the world, curating the personal collection of J.P. Morgan. However, she keeps a potentially life-threatening secret close to her chest.
“Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson
Follow deep wreck divers as they explore a haunting World War II mystery off the New Jersey coast – a sunken U-boat that no one knew was there. Over the course of several years, the divers work to find out what country the boat was from and who the men are that rest inside.
“Travels with George” by Nathaniel Philbrick
Who was George Washington, really, and should we still care about him? Philbrick explores these questions and more as he road trips his way through history, asking hard questions and digging into the past of a man we all think we know.
LOCAL SHOPS
The only thing better than spending time browsing through bookshelves is doing it in a locally owned shop. Not only are you helping support the local economy, but the shop owners can help recommend a new favorite or order books that they don’t have in stock.
So head on over to BookTowne on Main Street in Manasquan; The Little Point Bookshop on Arnold Avenue in Point Pleasant Boro or Thunder Road Books on Third Avenue in Spring Lake to browse the books, get recommendations from the proprietors, find literary gifts, journals and more.
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