Laura K. Curtis shares some great beach reads
Laura K. Curtis, whose newest romance is Gaming the System, book two in her Goody's Goodies series, lets us know some of her favorite beach reads for this summer.
Laura: At my youngest niece's bat mitzvah last week, my mother mentioned that my new book would be coming out near her birthday. "What kind of books do you write?" asked my 14-year-old niece. "I write different kinds of things, I told her, "but the new one is a romance." I wasn't sure what that would mean to her. The last things I knew she had read were Harry Potter and The Testing books. Was she even aware of romance as a genre? She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Beach books," she said. "Yes," I agreed.
When the weather heats up, there's nothing better than a beach read — even if you can't get to an actual beach. But what is a beach book, exactly? It's a big, fat book with engaging characters and a zippy enough plot to keep you turning pages even when the sun and sand have turned your brain to mush. My favorite books as a teenager were all beach books — Judith Krantz, Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins — and I went on dozens of vacations without ever leaving my room courtesy of these wonderful women.
The fat, high-energy, high-angst novel is still my go-to for summer reading. Once in a while, a book comes along that breaks that mold and provides great beach reading despite being outside the normal genres. Last summer, for example, I became enthralled by The Family That Couldn't Sleep, a work of narrative non-fiction by D.T. Max. Despite not being the best-written thing I took on vacation that year, I absolutely could not stop reading it. The story was fascinating and tragic, the characters true-to-life and frustrating, the science intriguing and clearly explained.
Although this summer has barely begun, the challengers for "best summer read" already abound. Edie Harris' Ripped (her series is off to a high-octane start), Laura Florand's All for You (Paris, chocolate, romance … what could be bad?), Terrie Farley Moran's Caught Read-Handed (if you're a cozy fan, jump on this series) … it would be hard to pick one because they're all so different. But when my husband and I actually went to the beach for a few days, the book that I couldn't go swimming until I'd finished was Karen Rose's Closer Than You Think. So that's what I am picking as my best summer read. As least for now. What about you?
About Gaming the System:
As the punk-goth manager of Las Vegas's premiere adult toy store, Kai Tyler changes her hair color, nail color, and eye color the way some people change socks. In fact, she's even changed her name. She owes no one, depends on no one, and stopped believing in happily ever after before she reached the age of ten. All she really wants out of life is a few good gadgets and the occasional day of pampering once in a while.
Luke Clarke loves his family, but he has no desire to fulfill his parents' dream by getting married and going into politics. So when he's invited to his sister's week-long wedding gala, he asks Kai along as a decoy. Having a date will squelch his mother's matchmaking attempts and Kai's outrageous appearance might—just might—convince his family once and for all that he'll never have a career in politics.
But as stress, desire, and close quarters eat away at the masks both Luke and Kai wear, their easy arrangement begins to transform into something neither expected. Will they cling to the stable roles of the past, or bet on an uncertain future together?
Find out more about Laura and her books at www.laurakcurtis.com.