Jump into June with the most long-awaited page-turners of the year.

From true crime, to the hottest releases this year from authors at the top of their game- this month has page-turners for everyone.

Atmosphere A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Kicking things right off this summer is a book that belongs in every suitcase for holidays. (although full disclaimer, it’s not a small book!)

Taylor Jenkins Reid has given us some beauties like Daisy Jones and the Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Her newest title is a little different from her usual summertime atmospheric reads (if you’ll pardon the pun.)

In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.

Alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond; mission specialists John Griffin and Lydia Danes; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer.

As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined.

She begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places- a fabulous example of this season’s page-turners.

I liked this more than I expected to.. once I got over an initial period of mourning that we weren’t visiting festivals or soaking up the rays. It was a really beautiful read.

It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara

Andrea Mara was the first interview I ever did on air for WLR (Dymphna here by the way.)

It was shortly after the release if I recall of No One Saw a Thing and I loved her instantly.

Her books are clever, fast, gripping, and interesting, all of the essential components of a book which is destined to be a holiday companion.

Let’s set the scene…

You press send and your message disappears. Full of secrets about your neighbours, it’s meant for your sister. But it doesn’t reach her – it goes to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead. Now everyone knows what you did. As rumour spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighbourhood, you convince yourself that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.

And someone wants you dead.
The next day, a woman has been murdered. And what’s even more chilling is that she had the same address as you – 26 Oakpark. Did the killer get the wrong house? It won’t be long before you find out…

It’s SO GOOD. Andrea Mara has a fantastic, and terrifying understanding of people- if you need a summer read to make you paranoid and grateful in equal measures, she has got you covered! The ultimate in page-turners for this year.

Deadly Silence by Jacqueline Connolly

On 29 August 2016, devastating news hit the headlines that an entire family was found dead in a rural community.

For Jacqueline Connolly, this was a deeply personal and life-shattering tragedy, as she discovered her sister Clodagh, along with her nephews Liam, Niall and Ryan, were killed by their husband and father Alan Hawe.

Here, Jacqueline discloses the circumstances leading up to the tragic events of August 2016.

These include Hawe’s manipulation and coercive control of her unsuspecting sister.
Her gripping account tells of her family’s painful struggle to expose critical failures in the initial garda investigation.

They uncovered the terrible darkness behind Hawe’s ‘pillar of- the-community’ facade.

Jacqueline also reveals many of the shocking, unpublished findings of the recent Garda Serious Crime Review.

These were details that challenge our understanding of domestic violence and family annihilators, while laying bare a mass murder – Ireland’s largest murder-suicide.

Deadly Silence holds a lens up to a society that often excuses perpetrators for heinous acts of violence, just as it outlines an inspiring personal journey of healing from severe trauma and loss, and a sister’s determination to find truth and justice.

This was a difficult read, it was undoubtedly a difficult one to write for the author, and it shone a chilling light on the scenes behind the closed doors of a seemingly perfect home.

Horse Show Surprise by Nina Carberry

Grace and her best friend Aaron love helping out at Rowan Tree Stables, where their ponies are best friends too. Together, they have lots of adventures!

Grace and Aaron are both working hard to qualify for the much-anticipated Dublin Horse Show.

But when Aaron falls ill, Grace has to face up to the possibility of attending the biggest horse-riding event of the year without her best friend by her side. Then, on the morning they’re due to leave for Dublin, there’s a crisis at the stable. Will either of them get to ride?

Ending on a very positive note, aimed at 6-9 year old readers, this is such a beautiful, wholesome read.

Jump back into the world of pony clubs at summertime and for those of us who were kids in the 90s, it is reminiscent of The Saddle Club books. Highly recommended if you’re looking for a page-turners series to binge read this summer.

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