Summer Getaways for Chicks: Eleven Hot Staycation Reads

Maybe you and your readers won't stray too far from office cubicles this summer, but there's no reason not to travel vicariously with this year's offerings of summer reads. Be it to Nantucket, London, or South Carolina, we all can relish a journey through other women's eyes. Purchase titles based on your library's readership (easy to go too heavy on Natucket here), but don't miss the starred titles.

Handsome PI Mac Reilly and his intrepid (and gorgeous) girlfriend, Sunny Alvarez, brave the wilds of Malibu and southern France to save the life of a beautiful movie star from a stalker. Throw in a movie mogul and a crazed business partner, and the chase really gets complicated. Veteran romantic suspense author Adler (Meet Me in Venice) keeps all this glamour moving at a steady clip.

Off-kilter doesn't begin to describe Dani Hale, a cross between a capable Tina Fey character and Glenn Close's crazed character in Fatal Attraction. As a screenwriter for a forensic drama television series, Dani's star is rising, but being dumped by her boyfriend transforms her into a stalker whose fantasy world crosses into reality. Asner, a former model and entertainment reporter who is married to director Steven Soderbergh, is in her element here. If your taste in humor runs a bit skewed, you'll appreciate this one.

When technical writer Rose is two-timed by her boyfriend, she flees Boston for Cape Cod and a new career in newspaper writing. There the budding journalist stumbles upon a quirky group of townspeople planning their tricentennial summer celebration. Great humor and dialog make Bonasia's characters, including an autistic savant artist and two desperately recovering alcoholic types, endearing. Bonasia's debut evokes some of Anne Tyler's style. An author to watch!

Lipstick rules in this sunny romance tucked inside a Boston family's chain of beauty salons. Recently divorced makeup artist Bella Shaughnessy is going down swinging as she reacts to newcomer Sean Ryan and the gnawing possibility that developers are sabotaging her family's original shop. Cook's (Life's a Beach) ability to make families' foibles ring true—and funny—ensures a delightful read. Snap this one up and enjoy the makeup advice.

This is a heartwarming tale of how a land-rich but cash-poor 65-year-old widow saves her Nantucket home by taking in summer boarders. Green's (Second Chance) trademark assemblage of appealing characters—a recently separated father of two young daughters, a single mother of a teenager—gradually fill up Nan's home, and their interactions bring hope back into these strangers' lives. Even Nan is taken by surprise when a visitor brings more than just long-lost memories. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/08.]

Characters are as complex and fragile as glassblowing artist Claire's creations in Hilderbrand's (Barefoot) latest Nantucket tale. Planning a massive summer fundraiser, complete with rock star and high-end art, takes its toll on Claire's very Irish, very Catholic soul. With a hunky husband and four children, how does a lover fit in? Glassblowing details make this mom-lit novel stand out from the pack.

Seeking a life change, New Jersey corporate wife Joanna heads for Pawleys Island, SC, where she becomes a caretaker for an older widow dying of cancer. Soon after, her left-behind husband, Paul, is downsized and forced to rediscover himself without a wife's support. Joanna and Paul's empty-nester tale might not be unique, but McFadden, who originally self-published this debut novel, uses the gorgeous Low Country backdrop to paint a moving tale of love, growth, and the search for home.

While driving to Montreal to visit her sister, forty-something Ellen impetuously buys a farm in upstate New York, seemingly turning her back on both New York City and her lawyer husband. She takes up organic gardening and butts her way into the locals' lives. When her beloved sister suddenly must go to Peru, Ellen, who's deliberately avoided responsibility all her adult life, must care for her toddler nephew. Mars (The Secret Keepers) effectively navigates through the usual minefields of midlife regrets with her colorful and sympathetic characters. Funny and illuminating, this is a totally satisfying read.

The sexy feminist, the too-pretty actress who can't get a break, and the fading rock star—this unlikely trio rents a summer home in the Hamptons, NY. The prolog tips us off to a murder, a baby, and a meltdown, and it's difficult not to dread the ensuing plotline. Plenty of scorching sex and tabloid-style name-dropping keep the stereotypical characters busy. Purchase accordingly. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/08.]

Two best friends reconcile 11 years after high school, wondering if they can trust each other again. Clare and Lexi made bad man choices back in the day, and now that their biological clocks are ticking, well, anything can happen in Nantucket in the summer. Thayer ("Hot Flash Club" series) easily switches to younger characters in this quick and romantic getaway read.

This intoxicating, engrossing saga, based on an actual Lloyds of London scandal from 20 years ago, could easily be a miniseries. A multigenerational cast of victims, all fighting to make sense of their orderly lives when financial ruin knocks on their doors, vividly demonstrates the struggles of class, money, and, of course, sex. Vincenzi's (Almost a Crime) long and luxurious style sucks you in and keeps a seductive hold throughout. Not to be missed.