Summer is the season of weddings, and Alison Espach’s novel The Wedding People is set at a fancy resort in Newport, Rhode Island. Phoebe has checked into the Cornwall Inn, unaware that she is the only person there not attending the wedding of Lila and Gary, two people she does not know.

Phoebe has come to the Cornwall Inn to end her life. Her husband has left her for another woman after several unsuccessful attempts to have a child, her career as an adjunct professor of literature at a St. Louis college has stalled, and her cat has died.

As Phoebe prepares to end her life, Lila, the bride, bursts into her hotel room. Lila is a whirlwind, talking like crazy about her wedding problems and demanding to know why Phoebe is at the hotel. When Phoebe explains her situation, Lila is furious that Phoebe’s plan will ruin Lila’s perfect wedding.

Lila has planned every detail of the week-long wedding celebration. She’s a bridezilla, but she opens up to Phoebe and they develop an interesting bond that eventually leads to Phoebe becoming the maid of honor.

We meet the members of the wedding party and the family, and Phoebe even flirts with a handsome man in the hot tub. The characters in “The Wedding People” are so well drawn, especially Lila, who in less capable hands could have been a one-dimensional character, but the author gives her so much depth.

The writing style is full of wit and the subject of depression is handled with sensitivity. I really enjoyed The Wedding People. Read With Jenna chose it as their August read and it was their book of the month pick.

Read With Jenna’s July pick was All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. This is a much darker story. Patch is a young boy with one eye who is raised by an alcoholic mother and teased by bullies.

When he sees the girl he has a crush on being attacked by a man, he rushes to save her, but the man takes Patch instead. Patch’s best friend Saint, a young girl who is also a bit of an outsider, is determined to find out what happened to her best friend at any cost.

Saint pursues the local police, who are stalling in their investigation into this and other missing girls in the area. The local police chief is devastated by Patch’s disappearance.

All The Colors of the Dark picks up the next 20 years, combining a missing person mystery with a serial killer thriller and a friendship and love story. Serial killer stories are not a genre I enjoy reading, but All the Colors of the Dark captured me with the relationship between Patch and Saint and the numerous twists and turns before the final resolution. It was also selected as Book of the Month.

If you can’t wait for the next episode of Bridgerton on Netflix, check out Eloisa James’ new historical romance, Viscount in Love. Dominic is a viscount engaged to a suitable young woman. When he becomes guardian to his young niece and nephew after the tragic deaths of his brother and sister-in-law, his fiancée runs off with another man.

Dominic is attracted to Torie, his ex-fiancée’s sister. Torie enjoys spending time with the kids, but she’s afraid Dom wants a nanny, and she’s determined to marry someone who loves her.

Torie is illiterate and doesn’t seem to be learning to read, but she can remember everything she has heard. She is very intelligent and Dominic is impressed by her. Can he convince Torie that he loves her and that they should be together?

James writes saucy, witty, and sophisticated romance novels, and even though you know how things are going to end, the fun is in getting there.

If you like thrillers, Chris Bohjalian’s The Princess of Las Vegas is for you. It tells the story of a Princess Diana impersonator in Las Vegas who finds herself in the middle of an organized crime murder conspiracy involving cryptocurrency.

When her estranged sister shows up with a new boyfriend and the teenager she adopted, things get really chaotic – and dangerous. This book will keep you hooked, and Bohjalian manages to make each of his books unique, which is something that can’t be said about many crime/thriller authors.