Summertime is the best excuse ever to go buy tons of books, and lay around all day on the beach reading them! I will 100% be doing this (probably way too many times) all Summer!

My first two “Beach Reads” are “The Ruining”, by Anna Collomore & “The Shining Girls”, by Lauren Beukes.

“The Ruining” I picked up from the Broadway and Granville “Chapters” store, and it was in the clearance bin for only $4.99. The first thing I noticed about this book was how drop dead gorgeous the front cover was.

The photo was so beautiful, and I liked the cover design SO much, that I didn’t even read the synopsis of the book to be honest… If the plot was terrible or something I would just keep the cover to frame as art. Luckily, once I got it home and read the jacket synopsis, I was very pleasantly surprised. The story actually looks really dark, twisted, and interesting.

Here is the “Good Reads” Synopsis of the the book:

*****Annie Phillips is thrilled to leave her past behind and begin a shiny new life on Belvedere Island, as a nanny for the picture-perfect Cohen family. In no time at all, she falls in love with the Cohens – especially with Libby, the beautiful young matriarch of the family. Life is better than she ever imagined. She even finds romance with the boy next door.
All too soon cracks appear in Annie’s seemingly perfect world. She’s blamed for mistakes she doesn’t remember making. Her bedroom door comes unhinged, and she feels like she’s always being watched. Libby, who once felt like a big sister, is suddenly cold and unforgiving. As she struggles to keep up with the demands of her new life, Annie’s fear gives way to frightening hallucinations. Is she tumbling into madness or is something sinister at play?
THE RUINING is a complex ride through first love, chilling manipulation, and the terrifying depths of insanity ******

The second book I bought from the clearance section of “Chapters” was “The Shining Girls”. Again.. GORGEOUS front cover, and less than $10.00 as well. I have heard really good reviews about this story, and it looks like an interesting and creepy book. 

Here is the Good Reads Synopsis for it as well:

******The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own.”
Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future.
Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.
At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He’s the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable-until one of his victims survives.
Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth . . .
THE SHINING GIRLS is a masterful twist on the serial killer tale: a violent quantum leap featuring a memorable and appealing heroine in pursuit of a deadly criminal. ******