5 escapist beach reads for when you just need to tune it all out
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'She Didn't See It Coming'
Lapena got famous from 'The Couple Next Door
,"
a tawdry tale of the perfect suburban couple harboring an array of secrets lurking just below their marble countertops. Since then, she's churned out a series of mysteries about flawless families and their unsavory double lives. These novels are the literary equivalent of slipping beneath a crisp fleece blanket — comfy, cozy, indulgent. In her latest, Bryden vanishes from her luxury condo, leaving behind a dashing husband, an adorable toddler, and many questions: Where did she go? Who wanted her gone? You'll finish it in a day.
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Good for:
When you're finished streaming every true-crime documentary on Hulu, Netflix, and Prime.
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'Gwyneth' by Amy Odell
You love her. You hate her. You marvel at her ability to market $600 facial rejuvenation kits alongside $6,000 Pilates reformers. Gwyneth Paltrow is polarizing, and so is this unauthorized bio, which explores the actress's privileged childhood, smooth segue to fame, star-studded courtships (with some key details about Ben Affleck), and controversial evolution to wellness influencer.
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Good for:
Those who miss the glory days of Page Six and TMZ and are now in their weighted-vest era.
'Everyone Is Lying to You' by Jo Piazza
Author-journalist-podcast host Piazza explores the world of trad wives in this murder mystery about Rebecca Sommers, an Instagram influencer with a seemingly bucolic life — until she vanishes and her husband is found dead. This is a saucy plunge into the backstabbing, smoke-and-mirrors world of social media, and engrossing enough to get you away from memes for at least a few hours.
Good for:
Readers who struggle with their Instagram consumption but can't quite stop scrolling.
'Atmosphere'
A moment of admiration for my
(Reagan-era coastal California drama). Reid's attention to place and time would make any Acton-Boxborough Regional High School history teacher proud. Her latest takes us inside the relationship of two female astronauts struggling with identity and ambition within the NASA space shuttle program in the 1980s. I just nabbed it from my local library's speed-reads section, but I'm already hooked: It's part love story; part adventure; and feels escapist and deeply realistic at once.
Good for:
Lit lovers looking for a page-turner that will also make you pause.
'Mean Moms' by Emma Rosenblum
Novelist Rosenblum — fresh off a spicy New York magazine exposé on lavish summer camp visiting days — specializes in, and satirizes, upper-crust artifice. Her previous mysteries, 'Bad Summer People' and 'Very Bad Company,' confronted deceit in a beach enclave and startup scandals (shades of the
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Good for
: People who want a dose of Manhattan glamour but can't sit through one more confounding episode of "
Kara Baskin can be reached at
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