Over the summer, I read four novels of family drama and dysfunction, one of my favorite fiction topics.

Wreck by Catherine Newman is the sequel to my favorite book from last year, Sandwich, and while it was great to see how Rocky (Rachel) was faring, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous book. However, Rocky, dealing with a chaotic family life while contending with an unknown illness, kept my interest. Read it if you loved the first book. Due to be published in late October.

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean was a book I had been looking forward to reading for months, full of family drama with an intriguing thread of mystery. However, I was ultimately disappointed. Some of the scenes seem to go on forever, and about halfway through, I got bored, although I did love the bombshell ending. However, don’t let my crankiness deter you from reading it, as I know others who have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? by Sarah McCoy was a, well, lovely novel based on the life of Delores Hart, an actress from the 1950s who left Hollywood to become a Benedictine nun. It is billed as a similar read to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and it was comparable in pace and tone. The dual-timeline story (1969 and 1991) kept my interest, but it was a little predictable — not that there’s anything wrong with that.

What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown. While I generally love this author, the plot didn’t initially appeal to me, so I put off reading it. Then I started hearing about how good it was, so I dove in and loved it; it will be on my list of favorite books of the year. Taking place primarily at the dawn of the Internet in the early 1990s, the story of a father and daughter living off the grid is a blend of character study, coming-of-age, and mystery. It brought back memories of using dial-up Internet with modems, with AOL/Hotmail/Yahoo/Juno email services. It also reminded me of the real-life story of a father and daughter who lived off the grid in Portland’s Forest Park. It inspired Jennie Shortridge to write a novel about it in When She Flew (click on the title for my full review).

Happy Fall to everyone!