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Happy Tuesday y’all! Summer started a week ago; how is that possible? Of course, that’s just what the calendar says for some of us, not what nature says. This week’s TTT from Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl is our Summer 2022 TBR. I will be listing books I hope to read from July-September 2022.

Summer 2022 TBR

How did my Spring TBR go? It was a bit hit and miss for me. Out of the ten books I listed, I ended up DNF three. I didn’t get to two of them. But I finished four already and will complete a fifth before June is over. Overall, it wasn’t a terrible TBR, but it wasn’t a great one. Here’s hoping my Summer TBR goes better!

For my Summer 2022 TBR, I followed a similar pattern to my previous seasonal TBR. This quarter, I have a lot of ARCs to read and three books for the Buzzwords reading challenge from Books & Lala. I decided to highlight five of the ARCs. Then I used Goodreads’s random search function to help fill the rest of my TBR. I am participating in the Read Christie 2022 Challenge, but they aren’t listing suggested books until the beginning of each month.

All titles are linked to Goodreads, and all synopsis are from Goodreads. The book covers are linked to Amazon.

Without further ado, here is my Summer 2022 TBR!

Book 1: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.

Book 2: No Parm No Foul by Linda Reilly

After a long hot summer in Balsam Dell, Carly Hale is ready for crisp Vermont weather and gourmet grilled cheeses at her Grilled Cheese Eatery. And the upcoming Halloween food competition is the perfect way to impress the locals.

But Ferris Menard, the owner of Sub-a-Dub-Sub, is nursing a serious grudge against Carly. Two days before the competition, one of Carly’s employees quit his part-time gig at Menard’s sub shop, sending Menard into a serious snit. In a confrontation at the Eatery, Menard accused Carly of sabotage and vowed to bring her down.

That’s when Menard’s body is found in his kitchen the morning after the competition, a steak knife sticking out of his heart. But Menard had a slew of enemies, and if Carly doesn’t figure out which one is the culprit, she might find herself—or someone she cares about—serving grilled cheese sandwiches under lock and brie!

Book 3: Dewey Decimated by Allison Brook

Carrie Singleton is just off a hot string of murder cases centered around the spooky local library in Clover Ridge, Connecticut. She could really use a break—but no such luck, as she; Smokey Joe, the resident cat; and Evelyn, the library’s ghost, are drawn into another tantalizing whodunit.

First, a dead body is found in the basement of the building attached to the library, and it turns out to be Carrie’s fiancé’s Uncle Alec, who Dylan hasn’t seen in years. But Alec has no intention of truly checking out, and his ghost makes itself at home in the library, greatly upsetting the patrons. Carrie and Evelyn work hard to keep Alec out of sight, but what was he doing in Clover Ridge, to begin with? And why was he killed?

Meanwhile, the town council, of which Carrie is also a member, is embroiled in a hot-headed debate over the fate of the Seabrook Preserve, a lovely and valuable piece of property that runs along Long Island Sound. Turn it into an upscale park? Sell it to a condo developer? Or keep it as protected land?

As the dispute rages, there’s another murder, this time involving a council member. Could the two murders be connected? And could Carrie be next on the hit list? 

Book 4: Die Around Sundown by Mark Pryor

Summer 1940: In German-occupied Paris, Inspector Henri Lefort has been given just five days to solve the murder of a German major that took place in the Louvre Museum. Blocked from the crime scene but given a list of suspects, Henri encounters a group of artists, including Pablo Picasso, who know more than they’re willing to share.

With the clock ticking, Henri must uncover a web of lies while overcoming impossible odds to save his own life and prove his loyalty to his country. Will he rise to the task or become another tragic story of a tragic time?

Five days. One murder. A masterpiece of a mystery. 

Book 5: We Are the Troopers: The Women of the Winningest Team in Pro Football History by Stephen Guinan

Amid a national backdrop of the call to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, the National Women’s Football League was founded as something of a gimmick. However, the league’s star team, the Toledo Troopers, emerged to challenge traditional gender roles and amass a win-loss record never before or since achieved in American football. The players were housewives, factory workers, hairdressers, former nuns, high school teachers, bartenders, mail carriers, pilots, and would-be drill sergeants. Black, white, Latina. Mothers and daughters and aunts and sisters. But most of all, they were athletes who had been denied the opportunity to play a game they were born to play.
 
Before the protests and the lobbyists, before the debates and the amendments, before the marches and the mandates, there was only an obscure advertisement in a local Midwestern paper, and those who answered it, women such as Lee Hollar, the only woman working the line at the Libbey glass factory; Gloria Jimenez, who grew up playing sports with her six brothers; and Linda Jefferson, one the greatest, most accomplished athletes in sports history. Stephen Guinan grew up in Toledo pulling for his hometown football team and—in the innocence of youth—did not realize at the time what a barrier-breaking lost piece of history he was witnessing. We Are the Troopers shines a light on forgotten champions who came together for the love of the game. 

Book 6: The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

Book 7: The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

Growing up in northern Michigan, Samantha “Sam” Mullins felt trapped on her family’s orchard and in their pie shop, so she left with dreams of making her own mark in the world. But life as an overworked, undervalued sous chef at a reality star’s New York bakery is not what Sam dreamed of.

When the chef embarrasses Sam, she quits and returns home. Unemployed, single, and defeated, she spends a summer working on her family’s orchard, cooking and baking alongside the women in her life–including her mother, Deana, and grandmother, Willo. One beloved, flour-flecked, ink-smeared recipe at a time, Sam begins to learn about and understand the women in her life, her family’s history, and her passion for food through their treasured recipe box.

As Sam discovers what matters most, she opens her heart to a man she left behind, but who now might be the key to her happiness.

Book 8: Bright Young Dead by Jessica Fellowes

Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighboring the Mitford home.

The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent and sets out to clear the girl’s name . . . all while the real killer may only be steps away.

Book 9: The Siren by Katherine St. John

In the midst of a sizzling hot summer, some of Hollywood’s most notorious faces are assembled on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Genesius to film The Siren, starring dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power playing opposite his ex-wife, Stella Rivers. The surefire blockbuster promises to entice audiences with its sultry storyline and intimately connected cast.

Three very different women arrive on set, each with her own motive. Stella, an infamously unstable actress, is struggling to reclaim the career she lost in the wake of multiple, very public breakdowns. Taylor, a fledgling producer, is anxious to work on a film she hopes will turn her career around after her last job ended in scandal. And Felicity, Stella’s mysterious new assistant, harbors designs of her own that threaten to upend everyone’s plans.

With a hurricane brewing offshore, each woman finds herself trapped on the island, united against a common enemy. But as deceptions come to light, misplaced trust may prove more perilous than the storm itself.

Book 10: Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein

The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams: After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Her best friend and teammate, Jasmine, went on to become an Olympic champion, then committed the ultimate betrayal by marrying their emotionally abusive coach, Dimitri.

Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Despite her misgivings and worries about the memories it will evoke, Avery agrees. Back in the gym, she’s surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery and her old friend Jasmine.

And that concludes my Summer 2022 TBR! And if my reading keeps up as it has recently, I’ll be reading more books than these. Why do I say that? A perk of the job I have, and the shift I work, is we’re slow so that I can read! Yay! Another great thing is that I currently have access to these books. And that means I can read them when I’m ready!

How did your Spring 2022 TBR go? What books are on your Summer 2022 TBR? I would love to know!

Summer 2022 TBR

Looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups.

25 thoughts on “Summer 2022 TBR: 10 Books I Hope to Read

  1. I have a copy of The Book of Lost Names on my Kindle, but actually still haven’t read it yet. I hope you get to it soon!

    The Siren sounds like a really good book as well, maybe I’ll just add it to my TBR and leave it there to not forget about it later on.

    Happy TTT!

    Elza Reads

  2. Oh!! The Troopers is my kind of book. I went to the Football Hall of Fame last fall even (though I don’t ever watch football–I love history of sports). I’m listening to the Bodyguard right now (NetGalley) and loving it. My review will likely be next week.

  3. These all sound so good, and I hope you enjoy them when you get to them! PS I read No Parm No Foul this month, and it was good, so you’re in for a treat (no pun intended).

  4. Hope you enjoy all these books. I’ve been reading a lot of cozies this year, so No Parm No Foul and Dewey Decimated really appeal to me. 🙂

  5. The Book of Lost Names is the one that caught my eye and will likely make my TBR! This is such a great theme but dangerous because I’m discovering SO many MORE books to add to my TBR! Thanks for the visit.

  6. I wish you all the luck with your list. That’s not bad that you DNF’d three because at least you did that!! I’m so bad at the whole DNF thing. I have had Head over Heels on my TBR for a while!

  7. I hope these are all great! I love the premise of the first one! And dewey Decimated cracks me up. I love the titles on some of those cozies. The Recipe Box has me curious because this is the second Viola Shipman book now that I see is set in northern Michigan- which is one of my favorite places. We vacation up there so I’m really curious about those!

    The Jessica fellowes book too since she’s related to Julian Fellowes, whose work I’ve admired since Gosford PArk (one of my favorite movies), plus I love those covers.

  8. I enjoyed The Bodyguard and loved Book of Lost Names! I hope those are good reads for you as well! I hit a rough patch in spring when I DNFed 3 in a row and gave a couple more 2 stars……so discouraging! Happy summer reading!

  9. I’m not a huge fan of reading inspirational mystery, but I have to say that I absolutely LOVE their titles. Dewey Decimated is one of the favorites I’ve seen. It’s wonderfully punny. xD Hope you enjoy these and get to read them all!

  10. I like so many books on your list! What a nightmare for my TBR!

    I hope you have more success with your summer TBR list. I don’t make lists as Blog Tours come up randomly and I get very distracted!

    Have a great week!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog

  11. Nice list. I even heard of some of the books. As I used to help out in our school library, I love the title “Dewey Decimated”. Too funny.

    Thanks for visiting my TTT which has twelve books this week.

  12. I did not go back and see what was on my spring TBR but I should have. I will be reading The Bodyguard soon as well. Happy reading!

  13. I’m looking for We Are the Troopers at my library right now. I’m not really a sports fan but I do love a book about women breaking boundaries! Plus, my husband is a football plan and I already stumped him by asking him what the winningest pro football team is. I hope you enjoy these!

  14. Thanks for the visit – I’m a little late getting to everyone! BUT, I also have The Book of Lost Names on my TBR; I keep seeing it show up here and there so I guess I should move it up my list!

  15. Looks like you’ve got some great summer-y reads on your TBR! Hope you enjoy them ALL. Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland on this week, and apologies for the delay in visiting your list. 🙂

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