Summer Reads for the Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July weekend! What are y’all up to? Hopefully, you’re staying cool. We have a big cook out in the morning but I’m hoping to squeeze some reading time in that afternoon. There’s something about a long weekend that makes me crave a good read. Bonus points if it’s by a pool. Anyhow, here are a few summer reads I would recommend for the Fourth of July.

Memorials

Memorials is a great read if you’re looking for a creepy road trip read. Set in 1983, it follows a group of college students on a quest to film roadside memorials for a documentary. But as they get deeper into the Appalachian Mountains things take a dark turn. If you like a slightly supernatural, cult read then this one is for you.

The Reformatory

The Reformatory is a dark read. It’s a heavy subject matter and full of supernatural horrors as well as the horrors of humanity. Set in the summer of 1950, in the American South it follows a young black boy sent to an all-boys school with horrible reputation. The summer atmosphere as well as the sense of injustice is almost suffocating. It’s a great book but don’t expect a light summer read.

The God of the Woods

I’m a huge fan of summer camp thrillers. I blame it on Goosebumps: Welcome to Camp Nightmare. While I didn’t completely love The God of the Woods it still scratched that itch. In 1975, a camper disappeared from an Adirondack summer camp leading to a massive hunt. But it isn’t just any ordinary camper. It’s Barbara Van Laar, the daughter of the people that own the camp. And this isn’t the first child from the Van Laar family to go missing. The hunt continues as secrets from the town and Van Laar family come to light.

Bag of Bones

Next up, a book set in a picturesque lake town in Maine. I’m adding Bag of Bones to the list because it actually takes place around and on the 4th of July. After the sudden death of his wife, Mike Noonan returns to his summer lake house in hopes of restarting his writing career. Unfortunately, his beloved town has changed and is under control of millionaire Max Devore. Max’s vindictive dying wish is to take his three-year old granddaughter from her mother, Mattie. As Max unwittingly gets pulled into the town drama, he finds himself falling in love with Mattie and her daughter. And at the same time, he’s experiencing ghostly visions at his lake house and the towns dark history starts to come to the surface. It sounds like a lot, and it is. It’s a chunk of a book, but Stephen King is a master after all.

Fall of Giants

Lastly, a non-spooky/thriller option. If you’re a historical fiction lover Fall of Giants is for you. It follows a family from the start of WW1 through the Russian Revolution into the woman’s suffrage movement. It’s book one in a huge series that ends in 1985. I’ve read book one and two and hoping to read three soon. But it full of politics, intrigue, social connections, and history. It really has a little of everything. It’s huge though so be ready for a commitment.

So those are a couple of summer reads I would recommend for the Fourth of July weekend. Let me know if you’ve read or loved any of these.