Make your summer funner with a good read, whatever your age

There’s no shortage of titles that make for excellent summer reads. Some even, conveniently, have summer right in the title.

From a diverse selection of authors and on a wide range of topics, these books all have in common that they will compliment your summer, however you choose to spend it.

Named a best read of summer, “Bad Summer People” by Emma Rosenblum is a dark comedy with intrigue and murder. It is set on an exclusive summer island that serves as a haven for the wealthy. When a body is found, dark secrets lurking under the service emerge. Also set on an island is “Summer Stage” by Meg Mitchell Moore. Efforts to mend splintering family relationships are set against a Shakespearean revival of “Much Ado About Nothing."

“The Best Summer of Our Lives” by Rachel Hauck is a novel of healing and hope. The main character, Summer Wilde, is a country singer abandoned by her latest band at a motel near Tulsa. She returns to a town she never thought she wanted to see again and finds healing and reconciliation. Similar themes can be found in Nancy Thayer’s “All the Days of Summer." Described as hope filled, this heartwarming novel delivers new beginnings and second chances.

For several quick reads, packaged in a single book, try “Endless Summer: Stories” by Elin Hilderbrand. Inside you will discover nine stories set within the Hilderbrand universe established by her previous novels. With titles such as "Barbie’s Wedding," "Frank Sinatra Drive" and "The Surfing Lesson," you’ll experience Nantucket escapism with this magical collection. Hilderbrand also wrote the novels “Endless Summer," “A Summer Affair," “28 Summers” and “Summer of ‘69."

Relax this summer and let someone else do the reading for you with audiobooks found through our free Hoopla digital service. Among the titles available are “Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves” by Quinn Connor, “The Summer of Broken Rules” by K.L. Walther and “The Summer Book” by Tove Jansson. From the Gulf of Finland to a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard you will experience stories featuring love and storms of all different types.

Young adult readers can find some escapism written just for them at the library. “Summer’s Edge” by Dana Mele is a work of paranormal fiction about five friends reuniting at a summer lake house on the anniversary of a friend's death. While there, they encounter ghosts and secrets.

Anna Lucia Bell discovers how magical a summer can be in Katrina leno’s “Sometime in Summer” with friendship and self-discovery. Abby Schoenberg discovers family secrets while doing genealogical research in “The Summer of the Lost Letters” by Hannah Reynolds. Despite forces working against her, she slowly begins to unravel details surrounding her grandmother’s life.

We also have summer reads for the younger kiddos.

From Cynthia Rylant comes “Rosetown Summer." Flora’s tale of books and friendship takes place during the summer between fourth and fifth grade. Cedar Lee comes to terms with her grief while working a Shakespearean Theater Festival over the summer in “Summerlost” by Ally Condie. Georgie doesn’t know what to expect when she finds herself in Bogalusa, Louisiana one summer to help her Great Aunt Vie. What she discovers about family and friendship forms the core of “Forever This Summer” by Leslie C. Youngblood.

Get lost in summer stories this sunny season with help from your Abilene Public Library. We have fiction for all reading tastes and ages both in book form as well as streaming. Just visit your favorite location, or https://www.abilenetx.gov/apl, to find reads for fun or as part of our annual summer reading programs. Whatever your goal, just get reading.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Make your summer funner with a good read, whatever your age