Summer Reading Staff Picks (7/26/23)

We’re checking in on your summer reading TBR! Searching for the next book to add to the list? Check out these staff picks and dive into some of MacLib’s favorites.

Amanda’s Pick: HEMLOCK ISLAND by Kelley Armstrong | 9781250284198 | 9/12/23

Summer is all about vacationing, and I’m recommending this for anyone who wants a few chills to combat the heat.  This standalone horror follows a woman who rents out her vacation home, but soon renters start to report bloody bones, hex circles, and bloody nail marks inside the guest room closet.  When she comes to investigate, she finds something that doesn’t want anyone getting off the island.  Kelley Armstrong has mastered mysteries, fantasy, and YA, so you know her horror debut is gonna be great, and I think Riley Sager fans will also love this.

Available for download on Edelweiss know more. LibraryReads votes due August 1st.

Emily’s Pick: PEOPLE TO FOLLOW by Oliva Worley | 9781250881380 | 10/31/23

Reality TV, a remote island, and dead bodies – what more could you want in a beach read?? When ten teen influencers venture to a remote Caribbean island for a reality show, they’re expecting the opportunity of a lifetime. What they’re not expecting is for one of them to turn up dead. Now they’re trapped on the island with the body…and the killer…and no way to reach the outside world. With deadly secrets, nail-biting mystery, and an island paradise setting, this is the perfect book for summer.

Available for download on Edelweiss know more.

Samantha’s Pick: HERE IN THE DARK by Alexis Soloski | 9781250882943 | 12/5/23

Two of my favorite things in the summer are escaping the heat to catch a (airconditioned) Broadway show, and diving into a twisty thriller. So HERE IN THE DARK came at the perfect time! Vivian Parry is a junior theater critic at a Manhattan magazine. She lives and breathes the theater, writing scathing reviews during the hours between curtain calls. Angling for a big promotion, she agrees to an interview with a grad student covering the careers of theater critics. But the interview was more focused on the past that she wants to keep hidden and behind her. Two weeks later, Vivian learns that the interviewer has disappeared…and she was the last person to see him alive. After talks with a P.I. and detectives, nothing is adding up about who the interviewer was, or his disappearance. Vivian decides it’s time to take things into her own hands and starts to play the role of amateur detective. But the lines between reality and performance are a bit more dangerous than she ever believed. This twisty debut novel is perfect for readers of Alice Feeney and Gillian Flynn.

Available for download on Edelweiss know more. LibraryReads votes due by November 1st.

Michelle’s Pick: WHAT HAPPENS ON VACATION by Jo Watson | 9781990778919 | 10/24/23

Margaret loves her job writing for a newspaper but she can’t stand her coworker, Jagger! She’s in desperate need of a vacation and the company quiz night, with its prize of an all-expenses paid trip to a resort in Zanzibar, seems like it’ll be just the ticket. But when Jagger turns out to be just as much of a quiz master as she is and they end up tied, they have to share the prize. They’re each allowed to bring a plus one and when Margaret brings her mom and Jagger brings his dad, things go from bad to worse as their parents fall in love and decide to get married! Much to their dismay, Margaret and Jagger go from rival co-workers to rival step-siblings. But maybe their hatred for each other is fading and turning into something else…

Available for download on Edelweiss know more. LibraryReads votes due by September 1st.