Elin Hilderbrand is another perennial best-seller and her upcoming novel, Here’s to Us, takes place on the nearby island of Nantucket. On Cape Cod in Mass., manager Val Arroyo of the Brewster Book Store says that she likes to recommend the historical fiction of Sally Cabot Gunning, whose The Widow’s War is set in colonial Cape Cod. She also likes Jessica Brockmole’s At the Edge of Summer, noting that “anything with the word ‘summer’ in the title does really well.” Joseph, Mich., where you can see Lake Michigan just by stepping out the back door, store owner Robin Allen cites the best-selling The Second Life of Nick Mason, by crime writer and Michigan native Steve Hamilton and Mary Kubica’s popular Don’t You Cry, a thriller set in a Michigan harbor town more than a little like St. “Everyone has their version of the beach whether they are going to the lake, the park or dreaming of the beach so ‘beach reading’ is more a place of mind than literal from our perspective,” explains spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating.Īt Forever Books in St. Suggestions include Richard Russo’s Everybody’s Fool, his sequel to the acclaimed Nobody’s Fool, and Louise Erdrich’s LaRose, along with novels that actually take place on a beach, among them Dorothea Benton Frank’s All Summer Long and Nancy Thayer’s The Island House. Hall, and Brad Meltzer, and puts in a word for Florida’s Carl Hiaasen, whose books “we read anytime of the year.”īarnes & Noble, where outlets range from Gulfport, Miss., to the heart of Manhattan, provided a list of reads featured at stores around the country. With summer approaching, bookstores are offering local favorites and national hits, faraway adventures and stories quite close to home.Īt Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., store owner Mitchell Kaplan recommends John Dufresne’s latest Wylie Coyote detective caper, I Don’t Like Where This is Going, calling it a “hilariously inventive and funny whodunit.” Kaplan also likes the latest novels from James Grippando, James W. “It’s a surefire hit,” says Indigo owner Linda Malcolm, who also recommends Louise Penny’s upcoming A Great Reckoning and John Sandford’s Extreme Prey. Not only does Monroe live nearby, her book is set along the South Carolina coast. When customers at Indigo Books in Johns Island, S.C., ask for a good beach read, Mary Alice Monroe’s A Lowcountry Wedding is an obvious choice.

Carl hiaasen barnes and noble