Book picks similar to
Hey! It's Summer! by Micci Fjord


contemporary
summer-reading
young-adult
new-adult

Tidal Mist


Honor Donohoe - 2018
    The story begins in Edinburgh before crossing the Irish Sea with occasional forays to Eastbourne in England. It follows two young women, Kirsty and Eileen, on their search for identity.Can they find what they are looking for? Their chosen route becomes fraught with unpredicted outcomes. Can they find romance? Who are they really?Today they come whispering their stories.

The Summer Letters


Elyse Douglas - 2017
    Determined to find the woman whose life parallels her own in many ways, Vanessa searches for the woman and her lover, uncovering past and present secrets that finally reveal a shocking truth. Over the course of the summer, Vanessa's own life is transformed by the possibilities of love and new beginnings, even as she confronts the lingering pain of her own past. The Summer Letters is a celebration of the enduring promise of hope and the unbreakable bonds of love.

When the Side Nigga His Brother


Cherlina Works - 2016
    The power of their charm takes them on a journey that leaves a trail of broken hearts and random cuddy buddies. They lived by the laws of “do not tell them that you love them and never ever sleep over”. However, that all changed the day they both met Tyla. The brothers engage in a bitter battle to win her heart and suddenly blood didn’t matter. Rules were made to be broken, right? When Tyla falls in love with one and disregards the other, it breaks the bonds between Tyri and Tyrease; neither of them saw it coming. Tyla was beautifully tempting, and women like her didn’t come around too often. Nevertheless, to fall in love with your brother’s girl is the ultimate betrayal, or is it? Will the love for one woman forever break their brotherly bond, or will they learn to accept what cards they were dealt? When the Side Nigga His Brother, the fight to be with the one you love, could very well cost you the love of another.

The Kitchens of Canton


Isham Cook - 2018
    He finds himself in New Gary, Indiana, a labor camp of one million Chicagoans, their identities hacked and incriminated as pedophiles through the collusion of a corrupt US Government, the Russian cybermafia, and China. He escapes to Chicago, only to find himself in a full-scale replica of Ancient Rome in China, erected for the wealthy country’s amusement and manned by a million enslaved Italians. As he struggles to orient himself in these synchronized urban labyrinths, he is plunged back to real Ancient Rome, before being flung yet further into the future: It’s 2115 and the Chinese Empire rules the world. The former Western hemisphere is now the American Special Administrative Region, a vast Cantonese-speaking slave colony. Malmquist will soon be shipped to the most opulent city the world has ever known for an unspeakable fate. A dystopian satire both bleak and funny, The Kitchens of Canton distills the worst of our present and future societies into a strangely seductive maze of a story.

I'm With You


Allie Frost - 2016
    After their father makes a startling decision, the Morrigan siblings are forced to flee the only life they've ever known and embark on a dangerous adventure across the nation of Empirya. With the help of a disinherited vagabond, a cynical violinist, a fire-juggler with a fierce temper, an aspiring mechanic, and a cheerful librarian, Ciarán and Remiel must fight to escape those who have been hired to hunt them. But will Remiel's dark secret prevent the Morrigan children from finding a place they can truly call home?

Married To A Chicago Bully


Fatima Munroe - 2018
    If you got a man, let him know I’m coming for him. And if you don’t, let these dudes know you belong to me – Atif Known on the streets of the Chi as God, Atif had no interest in being with one woman and one woman only. With his reputation as judge, jury and executioner wrapped into one, being in love has no place in his chosen line of work. Bumping into Kapri twice in one day was more than a coincidence, he had to know more about the exotic beauty whose eyes told the story of love and pain. You should know not to mess with me, I’ll break your heart – Kapri Chicago’s wild, wild west side was known for gunfights and shootouts on a daily basis. Kapri grew up as a product of her environment determined not to stay that way. Little did anyone know she was keeping a dark secret that no one would understand if it ever got out. Does she allow her past to dictate her future? Or can she teach Atif how to love a woman? When I found out my husband cheated on me I was determined to get back at him – Tanjalyn Tanjalyn had her own cross to bear stuck in a loveless marriage. Steve grounded her and provided her with stability while her heart begged to be with Prince, God’s ace. When Steve receives yet another commendation and promotion as an officer in the Navy, naturally he wants his family back together. Does she follow her heart or choose stability? The fact that she was married was the ONLY thing stopping me from putting her name on the deed to this house and the bank accounts. – Prince Prince treated women as disposable before meeting Tanjalyn. One date turned into a baby and a potentially messy situation two years later. Can he balance being one of Chicago’s biggest bullies while being a family man? Heavy is the head that wears the crown. But being married to a Chicago bully is even more of a headache. Will these women live through it? Or will the pressure be too much?

The Helicopter Pilot


Darcy Hoover - 2018
    Modern day explorers, these hard men endure months away from loved ones, exposed to foreign cultures and exotic dangers, all to scrape out a life, and perhaps find a little adventure. An established career in the First World grows stagnant, an opportunity presents itself, and a timid man ventures abroad. In the unforgiving world of offshore oil exploration in a small African village, Edward tentatively drifts beyond his self-imposed boundaries, and finds himself drawn deeper into an existence he cannot escape. This is Edward’s struggle with his environment as much as his own nature, and the man he desires to be.

The Lost Years of Billy Battles (Finding Billy Battles Trilogy #3)


Ronald E. Yates - 2018
    He is in Chicago with his wife, the former Baroness Katharina von Schreiber living a sedate and comfortable life after years of adventure and tragedy. That changes with a single telephone call that yanks Billy and Katharina back into a life of turmoil and peril.Persuaded by a powerful old friend to go undercover for the U.S. government the two find themselves in Mexico during the height of the violent 1910-1920 revolution. There they encounter assorted German spies, Mexican revolutionaries, devious political operatives, and other malefactors. Caught in the middle of the 1914 American invasion of Veracruz, they must find a way out while keeping their real identities secret. After managing to extract themselves from danger, disaster strikes. It is a tragedy Billy is all too familiar with and one that will send him plummeting into a painful abyss of despair and agony. Consequently, Billy vanishes leaving family and friends to wonder what happened to him. Where is he? Is he dead or alive? What provoked his disappearance? In Book 3 of the Finding Billy Battles Trilogy, those questions are answered, and the mystery behind Billy’s disappearance is finally revealed.

Broken Promises (Past Imperfect Mystery Book 1)


Anne Willow - 2018
    The unexpected death of her favorite aunt sends Julia to the artist town of Grand Marais. There she starts to weave tattered threads into a new tapestry while rediscovering her love of sketching and running the antique shop, Past Imperfect. Everything is just starting to go right when a mysterious package arrives bearing an antique letter opener arrives. Julia's natural curiosity is piqued but before she can untangle the mystery it's found embedded in Tom Peterson's chest. The tapestry of her new life begins to unravel as she is named a prime suspect. Now, left with few clues and a past not willing to let her go, Julia works to solve the mystery and the murder. Infidelity through time and a curse that only she can break - once she figures out how.

Dying to Give


Gary B. Shelly - 2016
     Doctors. The ICU. An epidural hematoma. Respirators. Apnea tests. Nationwide publicity. A mogul who wants to buy her daughter's heart. The grieving mother on television begging for a liver to save her son. Hospitals that fight over a first-grader's body. Relatives seeking revenge. A conspiracy to end organ transplants. The hero who can't save his own son. A ninety-two-year old who brings wisdom and peace, together with a reporter who reveals her own story. Then, the lonely decision of how to let her daughter die with dignity and perhaps fulfill a mission Amy would've volunteered for. Will her family provide support? Might those who wait for organs applaud? Can someone who faces this impossible choice in the future learn from her? Would Amy be proud? How does one measure what is best and what is not when nothing makes sense?

Société


Alexander Helas - 2015
    Christian Matters is a neurotic architect living in Chicago, but thrown off his routine by a bizarre episode he blames the whiskey on, he abandons his promising career, girlfriend, and home for a life-changing journey to California, where he meets a cavalier aristocrat named Lester Rothschild and the extravagant musician Ella Athens. Mysterious and insane, Lester takes Christian on his adventure to open Société, the most luxurious entertainment complex at the heart of the world's richest city. But, with the chance meeting of an unlikely visitor and the sudden death of a lover, colliding events lead him to unravel the true ambitions behind the greatly anticipated opening of Société, where he discovers the fate of something much greater is at stake. @AlexanderHelasForeword INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards Finalist, 2015USA Best Book Awards Finalist Visionary FictionUSA Best Book Awards Finalist New Age FictionSouthern California Book Festival Honorable Mention, LAMidwest Book Awards Honorable Mention, Chicago

Good-Bye Def Leppard: I'll Miss Those Jeans


Stef Kramer - 2008
    After returning home from a hectic day at work, Amy greets her children and carves out a few minutes to listen to her daughter sing. A delicate, silky melody fills the air, and Amy's mind drifts back more than twenty years to a time when everything changed for her…It's 1992. Grunge is on the rise. “Hair bands” are fading. Amy graduates from college and despite a talent for music, she's determined to chase the corporate ladder. Returning to rural Iowa for the summer to live at home with her parents, all her plans shift when Amy meets a local farmer named Nick. A romance blossoms and suddenly the previously banal landscape becomes beautiful. But settling into a life with Nick is far more complicated than she expected, and she is faced with decisions that will alter her life forever.For fans of Emily Giffin and Sophie Kinsella, Goodbye Def Leppard (I'll Miss Those Jeans) is a lighthearted yet poignant tale about life, fate, and the difficult choices we make.

White Collar Blackmail


Peter Ralph - 2015
    .Their only connection is irregular share dealings that took place in their companies before their deaths.When young auditor, Todd Hansen, runs up a huge gambling debt with illegal bookies, he finds himself in serious trouble. The only way he can pay them is by providing confidential information about his firm’s corporate clients.Caught, and sentenced to nine years in New York’s toughest prison, Todd is given a way out BUT it’s dangerous. There are those who think they’d be safer if he was dead. Will a chance meeting with a Mafia boss in prison save Todd?

Oh Laxmi!


Catherine Forsayeth - 2018
    In a country dominated by twists of fate and misfortune, a community collects around the family to change fate into fortune, the blindness of ignorance into enlightenment.

Insincerity


Richard Godwin - 2018
    With the help of her colleague Arlene, she locates a killer known as The Pimp, who killed her sister Holly.The Pimp has Tammy under surveillance, coming and going to her house as he wants, sending her Holly’s body parts. The Beekeeper, a killer that abducts women and coats them in latex before killing them, enters the story. Both killers collect body parts. Karen Sincere is married to dangerous and disturbed Micky Sincere. His obsession with bees convinces her Mickey is leading a double life as a killer. She hires Tammy, who begins tailing Micky and discovers he is gay and is involved with a gangster named Gary Krane. Karen meets the handsome Julius Gold in the exclusive Attic bar in Canary Wharf and starts an affair with him. The model Kitten Rogers, aka Ashley Greene - also having an affair with Julius - hires a detective. Ashley is convinced Julius is hiding something. The Pimp closes in, abducting Tammy, Arlene, and Ashley. Only Julius can save them - the man hiding his involvement with a gangster. A novel replete with characters leading double lives, Insincerity'ssecrets are not yielded until the final pages.