St. Louis librarians share their top summer reads for 2023

What makes a good summer read? For St. Louis County Library associate Tammy Albohaire, it’s a book she can really dig into. “To me, a good summer read — some would say light and airy, I say meaty,” she said. “I like memoirs.”

For Maryann Brickey, director of Central Services at St. Louis Public Library, the ideal beach read is easy to put down and pick back up again later.

“I'm someone who wants to be able to put the book down and not even remember the characters' names because it's not even important — it's not about that,” she said. “It's not anything that's going to change your life or change the way you think about the world, but it's just going to be a light, fun read.”

Albohaire and Brickey share this year’s best summer reads and their all-time beach read favorites in this episode of St. Louis on the Air. Listen to the conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or Stitcher or by clicking the play button below.

TAMMY ALBOHAIRE’S PICKS

• “Night, Wherever We Go” by Tracey Rose Peyton (2023) “This novel takes place in Texas during slavery. The Lucys’ plantation is struggling, and they have sent for six women to help their struggling plantation by bearing children. The Lucys hire a stockman, who is supposed to impregnate the women. But there is a catch: Nan, a midwife and medicine woman, gives the women cotton root to chew on, as to prevent pregnancy. In the midst of all this, the women build a bond that will never be broken.”
  

  

  Emily Woodbury

• “The Love You Save” by Goldie Taylor (2023) “Goldie Taylor tells the story of her own life, growing up in St. Louis and East St. Louis. This memoir is raw and gripping! This book is one you won’t soon forget. It’s a story for the ages.”
  
• “The Perfect Ruin” by Shanora Williams (2021) “Ivy Hill is very angry after a family tragedy. She wants to destroy the life of Miami socialite Lola Maxwell. Ivy wants revenge and will stop at nothing to get it. If you like psychological thrillers, twists and turns, this book is for you.
• “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam (2020) “Clay and Amanda set out on a family vacation with their children to a beautiful cabin just outside of New York City. While vacationing, there is a knock on the door. It’s Ruth and George, an older African American couple who claim to be the owners of the cabin. As the families meet, they realize there is a blackout in New York City — there is no internet, and there is no cell phone service. How will these families navigate living together in this cabin? Will they survive what looks to be a doomsday prophecy?”
  
• “Summer on the Bluffs” by Sunny Hoskin (2020) “Ama (Amelia Vaux Tanner) is getting older, so she invites her goddaughters to Chateau Laveau, which is located in Oak Bluffs, an exclusive Black beach community. They are to embark on one last summer together as Ama is moving to the South of France. This summer will be like no other as Ama wants to give the house to one of them. Secrets will be told and discoveries will be made that will change their lives forever.”
  
• “Park Avenue Summer” by Renee Rosen (2019) “It’s 1965, and Alice Weiss leaves her small Midwestern town for New York City. She lands a job as the assistant for the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Helen Gurley-Brown. With this job comes lavish parties, meeting the rich and famous — all while a scandal is brewing. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, glitz and glamour.”
  
• “The Seaside Café” by Rochelle Alers (2019) “Set off the coast of North Carolina, three women, Leah, Kayana and Cherie, meet and rewrite their own stories after joining a book club at the Seaside Cafe. Leah wants to leave a troubled marriage, Kayana meets a recluse who lives in town and Cherie is leaving her sketchy past in Atlanta. This book is light and airy, perfect for summer.”

MARYANN BRICKEY’S PICKS

• “Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute” by Talia Hibbert (2023) “While considered noted romance author Hibbert’s entry into the world of young adult fiction, ‘Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute’ has enough character development to be an enjoyable, if light, adult read — which of course makes it perfect for the beach! Bradley Graeme and Celine Bangura shine as the intelligent teen protagonists whose former friends-to-rivals-to-#relationshipgoals storyline takes them from their childhood bedrooms, to the school cafeteria, to the English and Scottish wilderness in the pursuit of coveted university scholarships — with plenty of witty banter along the way.”
  
• “Georgie, All Along” by Kate Clayborn (2023) “When Georgie Mulcahy finds a journal she and her best friend wrote together in high school, she realizes that she has lost a lot of the sparkly, hopeful dreamer she used to be. By taking on her old high school bucket list, she aims to rediscover the person captured in that journal — the person she’s always been but lost along the way. Levi Fanning is the town black sheep who just happens to be crashing at her parent’s house at the exact moment when Georgie returns home to embark on this humor-filled journey of self-discovery. Georgie and Levi’s chemistry is captured through dual points of view as they make their way through the list on the path to reaching acceptance, and maybe even grown-up happiness, with each other.”
  

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  Emily Woodbury

  “Meet Me at the Lake” by Carley Fortune (2023) “If ‘Dirty Dancing’ and the ‘We’re Going to the Catskills!’ episode of ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ are on your list for models of the ideal summer vacation, then ‘Meet Me at the Lake’ is sure to please. Fortune masterfully employs skipping back and forth in time as a narrative device that keeps the story engaging and suspenseful. A second-chance love story between struggling resort owner Fern Brookbanks and Will Baxter, the consultant her mother hired to help save the resort, the story is filled with food, music, and yes, romance.”
• “Killers of a Certain Age” by Deanna Raybourn (2022) “While perhaps not a traditional beach read, this thriller takes four women — Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie — through varying time periods on a whirlwind espionage adventure that will keep readers guessing about what is going to happen next. A Buzzfeed review describes it as: ‘This Golden Girls meets James Bond Thriller is a journey you want to be part of,’ and that kind of nails it.”
  
• “The Fortnight in September” by R.C. Sherriff (1931) “Having regained popularity during the pandemic, based on a story in the Guardian where author Kazuo Ishiguro described the 1931 novel as ‘life-affirming,’ ‘delicate’ and ‘magical,’ ‘The Fortnight in September’ is a sun-dappled romp with lots of period-specific details that transport readers to a different time and place. Small pleasures of daily life are uplifted, and the reader is encouraged to reflect on time and its meaning — perhaps while gazing out over idyllic waters.”
  
• “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante (2012) “The enigmatic first volume of the Neapolitan trilogy begins the story of the turbulent lives of longtime friends Lila and Elena. Both saga and melodrama, this series is a beautiful portrait of two ambitious women and their intertwined lives set against the evocative backdrop of sun-drenched post-World War II Italy.”
  
• “We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart (2014) “A young adult novel that stays with the reader long after the closing line, ‘We Were Liars’ is the suspenseful, heartbreaking tale of the wealthy Sinclair family, who spend every summer together on their own private Beechwood Island, and the four eponymous ‘liars,’ Cadence, Johnny, Gatwick and Mirren. Cadence is the oldest Sinclair grandchild and narrator of the book whose slowly unfolding recollections of these past summers help to explain why they haunt her still.”

“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.