7 books with New England ties to read this summer

As a reader, there’s something especially tantalizing about a New England summer. Yes, California and Florida might technically have the most equity in gorgeous waterfront spots to crack open a book, but have you ever whipped out your Kindle in one of Vermont’s forests and breathed a sigh of pure and utter joy? Or plonked onto a park bench in one of Boston’s (numerous) parks with your floppy new paperback and felt the sun on your face? I have. And I won’t be convinced there’s any better or simpler pleasure.

For me, the summer is all about reading outside. Sure, the experience comes with dehydration, sunburn and no shortage of bugs, but this is the time of year when tearing through books feels most possible. The days are long, the landscape is lush, and all that stands between you and utter bliss is finding your new favorite read.

If you’re wondering where to start, here are seven books with New England connections that might get your antenna tingling. From mystery to romance to horror, we’ve got you covered.

As a child, Guinevere Sharpe and her brother Ennis once ran wild around their family’s farmhouse in rural Vermont. Their mother, Edith, an author, is well known across the world for her magical adventure series. But the siblings spend most of their days grimy and hungry — even as their mother’s fame grows. Then, a fire blazes through their life, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and their childhood scorched and buried.

Twenty years later, Guinevere is forced to confront what she knows about the night of the fire and face the secrets that may lie behind her mother’s stories. Melissa Albert specializes in the bittersweet tang of growing up, turning stories about childhood inside out and interrogating how what we remember differs from what actually was. If past history is any indication, Albert’s adult debut will unsettle and delight.

There’s nothing more chilling than the social warfare between suburban moms. Anna Plummer is ill at ease in Hamilton, Massachusetts, where wealth is fluttering under the surface of every interaction but rarely spoken about. When Anna’s child is prevented from attending a school dance, she sends a fury-laced email to the school's Parent Teacher Organization. One year later, Anna is found dead in the Ipswich River. It’s up to her husband, Denny, to uncover the truth. The novel’s premise promises drama, mystery and the juicy power plays of the rich and elite.

Boxford-based Hannah Selinger will be touring the book at a number of stops throughout New England, including the Andover Bookstore on June 18, The Bookshop of Beverly Farms on June 23 and Brookline Booksmith June 25.

I like my romance novels with a hearty serving of mess and a heap of sparkling banter. Luckily for me, Abby Offsides has both in spades. This novel follows Abby McIntyre after she flees from Boston to the U.K. for a new job with the (fictional) Mersey Football Club. Throwing herself into a new life to escape a bad breakup, it isn’t long before Abby finds herself emotionally entangled with Lachlan, the team’s new player. Everything is easy with Lachlan, except for the fact that he’s already married. Eek! If that premise sounds morally dicey, trust that this book doesn’t shy away from the ethical quandaries of their romance. A cross between “Ted Lasso” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Abby Offsides” delivers emotional angst and growth with genuine joy and laughter. Author Anna McCallie was born in Boston and now lives in London — art imitates life.

Jane doesn’t expect to fall in love with Kenji, the summer before her senior year of college. She’s there to make a little bit of money and leave the island where she grew up in the past. Still, the universe has other ideas for both of them. Then, a tsunami hits and devastates Hawai’i, destroying their families, their hometown, and their budding romance. Jane and Kenji go their separate ways, only to reunite seven years later. Will Jane and Kenji’s connection, irreversibly changed by tragedy and grief, survive who they’ve become in the aftermath? UMass Amherst grad Alicia Upano’s debut appears to be teeming with sorrow and yearning.

Move over, Forks, Washington! New England has broody vampires, too. Mallory Webb is looking for answers about her mother’s mysterious death when she enrolls in Shore College, a former sanitarium turned liberal arts university in Rhode Island — her mom’s alma mater. Cast as the lead in the university’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” Mallory is soon haunted by a blood-drenched wraith who also stalked her mother. To get to the truth and keep her sanity intact, Mallory leans on Ezra, the broody and mysterious director of the play, and Saskia, her understudy, in what quickly becomes a charged love triangle. Set in 1999 and inspired by the lore of the New England Vampire panic, “She Haunts Me Still” is enticing bait for readers who love dark academia and the seductive monsters that lurk in the night.

De Elizabeth celebrates the book’s launch on Aug. 12 at Lovestruck Books in Cambridge.

“Such Great Heights” caught my attention because of its interesting pairing: reimagining elements of the Ramayana, a Hindu epic thousands of years old, from the perspective of a high school student. The book follows Siya Kumar, a varsity soccer player dealing with the death of her mother four years earlier. She joins the mock trial team and catches the attention of golden boy Raj, only for things to come crashing down after Siya is locked in a room with another boy overnight. Part coming-of-age tale and part mystery, the novel wrestles with the value of the truth in the face of disbelief. Rajani LaRocca lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine.

Greater Boston-based R.F Kuang’s latest outing revolves around Lily Chen, a Chinese American college freshman who moves to Taipei for the summer to reconnect with her family and culture. But before the music can swell and the homecoming can begin, Lily’s grandfather dies suddenly, taking with him the memories she’d hoped to learn more about. Lily finds herself flat-footed and uneven, her attempts at connection landing clumsily in a country that doesn’t feel like hers.

Like many readers, I’m familiar with Lily’s cultural yearning, the desire to feel at home with the history you’ve inherited but unable to fully make your own. To try and capture the stories of people you love in a language you understand but barely speak. It can be painful. But it can also be joyful and illuminating. There’s no one way to experience being part of the diaspora, and I’m curious to see how Kuang threads both nuance and self-discovery in this novel.