Hello to all the Love Bytes readers, and thank you Love Bytes for hosting me one more time. Let me start my post this month by saying: Wow! I can’t believe it’s already time to talk about summer reading.

Every year about this time I see lists everywhere suggesting good books to read for the summer. I actually think it’s a little weird.

It suggests a perception that people have more time to read in the summer, but for most of us older than college age, that’s not really true! If you are a person who has slack time in the summer because, say, you’re a teacher who does less in the summer than the regular school year, or you work at a ski resort, or you just have resources and leave time and get to take a long summer vacation, well… good on you for setting things up that way!

All that is beside the point, though, if the books we read in summer are different than the books we read the rest of the year, and I think for a lot of people that’s true. The concept of the “beach read” is valid, don’t you think? I mean, if you’re lounging somewhere by the seashore or the pool, you may not feel like reading dark paranormals, complex future space disasters, and zombie takeovers. I mean, you might, but you might not, right?

So here’s a couple of suggestions:

First, for some hot and sweet with a bit of sexy cop action, check out J. P. Oliver’s For You series. Five books, all tied together by place and friendship and personal histories. I’m not sure why you’d want to read them out of order, but if you did, I think it would be okay. I’ll be honest—I haven’t read these yet, but I’m going to! The blurbs and samples show me the kind of story lines I enjoy when I’m looking for a lighter read. I’m not one for complete sugar coating, so a dose of conflict is appreciated, and I like both humor and depth. Oliver has the right touch with words to make this kind of story come alive, and to make me want to turn the page. Other readers apparently agree—mostly five- and some four-star reader reviews. The series is on Amazon Kindle.

But what if summer gets a little too hot? Okay then, a story to cool down with: J. Scott Coatsworth’s Slow Thaw. Get ready to meet the main characters in Antarctica, which is unfortunately warming up, but I’ll bet it’s still the coldest place on earth. Surround yourself with ice and snow (and maybe turn on the air conditioner). This was published as part of the Escape from the Holidays collection from Mischief Corner Books, but it isn’t so much a holiday story as a story of moving past endings to get to a beginning. There’s romance, there’s suspense courtesy of Antarctica herself, and there’s Coatsworth’s always solid storytelling. This one I have read, and I recommend it. One place to get it is Amazon.

And one more: Black Crow, White Snow a short audiobook for those who like something different with a fabulous lesbian-of-color hero. The author is Michael Livingston—not a household name among LGBTQ readers, unless I’m really out of the loop. A historian teaching at The Citadel, Livingston writes fantasy with a medieval edge. Authority in this alternate world is all female—the government, the military, the magic, everything except reading. Readers are male, and they hold the lore. The main character in this story is a Ship Mistress, her lover a Ship Maiden, and this author has imagined them both whole and real and powerful, sweet only around the edges. There’s a love story in here, but no sex, and fair warning, this isn’t a romance. The bright, forward-looking ending to a book that’s dark with drama and ill-fortune is about something else altogether. I’m recommending the audible for two reasons—I listened, not read; and the narration by Janina Edward is primo. I confess, I rarely like female narrator voices, finding them entirely too sweet and childlike in general for my personal taste. But this woman nails it. I’m half in love with her just for her voice and delivery. I got this book at Audible.

But what about you, readers? Do you have more time for reading in the summer? Do you read different kinds of books depending on the season? What’s on your list for this coming summer? And if you’re way down south where winter’s moving in (waves to friends in New Zealand and Australia), did you read something over the last summer that we should all be reading now? Give me a book or author recommendation in comments, and get a chance to be one of two winners of an ebook.

Each winner gets to choose one of these two books—

Sunset at Pencarrow: Set in New Zealand’s summertime February, an accidental meeting sets strangers on a tour of a few of destinations near Wellington. This one’s got the heat (more ways than one), the road trip, the wild places, and the beach. Oh, and also a happy ending. I co-wrote this novella with New Zealand author Anne Barwell, and it’s part of Dreamspinner’s World of Love Collection, so Dreamspinner is one place to get it..

Falling Snow on Snow: Need a little Christmas in July? Well, here’s a novella where scrooge-ness turns to cheer. Winter snow and ice has an unusually strong grip on Seattle, and a couple of lonely musicians find themselves sliding toward each other despite some miscommunications. Cold outside or not, things do get pretty hot…. And yes, love just might be in the crisp, cold air. It’s also available at Dreamspinner Press, among other places.

Thanks for reading this post, and thanks in advance for your recommendations—I’m looking forward to them!