Large Print "Summer" Reads

"Set against the beautiful backdrop of coastal Maine, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin’s heartwarming novel, The Summer Nanny, tells of friendship, family, lessons learned, and newfound love—all under a summer sky. Every June, the quiet beach town of Ogunquit is overtaken by wealthy families who hire local young women like Amy Latimer and Hayley Franklin to care for their children. Best friends since childhood, Amy and Hayley are eager to secure lucrative summer jobs. Amy wants to finance her upcoming move to Boston. Hayley hopes to squirrel away enough money so that her mom can finally leave her abusive husband. Amy is immediately in thrall to her dynamic boss, Cressida Prior, so different from Amy’s mother, Leda. Though skilled at creating tapestries and rugs, Leda lacks confidence. But one thing she does know, after a painful summer long ago as a nanny herself, is how damaging a manipulative boss can be. Hayley’s employers, Jon and Marisa Whitby, are loving parents to their two-year-old twins. Jon also has a grown son by a previous marriage. Ethan is kind, handsome, and not least, wealthy. For the first time, Hayley, usually so selfless, can’t help seeing him as an opportunity. But the passing weeks bring complications and revelations, altering friendships, testing the bond between mothers and daughters, and proving that the ripples from a single season can last forever . . ." (from Amazon.com)

Summer Breeze is by Gary D. Chapman. "In book two of this fiction series based on the best-selling non-fiction book The Four Seasons of Marriage, readers meet the blended family of Derek and Kim Finley. Kim has a set of twins—one boy and one girl—from her first marriage; Luke has recently been diagnosed with diabetes, and Lydia is acting out as a result of the attention now being showered on Luke. To complicate matters, Derek's overbearing mother comes to live with them. With all that's going on in their lives, Kim and Derek's communication begins to break down and their marriage slowly moves into winter. Although the second book will focus on Kim and Derek, readers will also encounter all their favorite characters—Patsy Pringle, Pete Roberts, Steve and Brenda, Esther and Charlie—as well as some new ones, like the proprietor of the new sandwich shop that's moved in next to Patsy's beauty parlor." (from Amazon.com)

In coastal Maine, a woman’s scandalous past comes back to haunt her—and tempt her—in this Americana romance, Summer Mahogany, from Janet Dailey. In a picturesque fishing village off the coast of Maine, twenty-six-year-old attorney Gina Gaynes has a thriving career and a bright future. The last man she wants to see is Rhyder Owens, a virile member of the yachting set, back in town to shake up her life again. She’s fought hard to forget what happened between them nine years ago. It hadn’t been love, it was raw desire. It wasn’t a marriage, it was a scandal. It ended not in bittersweet goodbyes, but with blackmail. Now Rhyder is back to reclaim what he never should have let go. But Gina is not the girl he once knew, one given to impulsive fantasies. She’s no longer under the rule of a family who put them both through hell. She’s an independent, sophisticated woman who can’t be swayed by a bronze sculpture made of flesh and blood. And yet, locked in his embrace, her heart skips a beat. It’s making Gina wonder, maybe even hope, that the man who once seemed so wrong for her, could actually be the love of her life." (from Amazon.com)

The first novel in the Amish Seasons series by Marianne Ellis is called Summer Promise and "brings with it the heat of summer, the shadows of the past, and a chance for a woman to win the heart of the only man she’s ever loved—her husband. The death of Jacob Lapp, a beloved member of the Amish community and the builder of the Stonyfield Farm Stand, is difficult for all. On the day of Jacob’s funeral, his beloved daughter Miriam must deal with her grief as well as mounting apprehension, knowing that she will soon see her sister Sarah who left the Amish community to live the English life several years ago. Sarah’s arrival forces Miriam to face the problems in her marriage. She has been unable to give her husband, Daniel, a child and fears he is not happy. Miriam has always suspected that Daniels’s heart truly lies with her sister, and she worries about the effect Sarah’s return will have on their already strained marriage. But when a disaster threatens the farm stand, everyone must come together, allowing new hope to grow not only for the community, but for Miriam as well...." (from Amazon.com)