The term “beach read” doesn’t exactly convey smart, substantive narratives. Rather, the term suggests fluffier fare: mass-market mysteries, flimsy celebrity memoirs, “chick lit” novels with beach scenes or city skylines on their covers, and anything by Danielle Steele. Fortunately for those hoping to add some heft to their summer reading list, plenty of quality new books by Chicago-based or Chicago-adjacent authors are hitting shelves this season (beachy cover art not included). Take a chance on these page-turners that probe everything from familial drama to body image.
Lacey’s second novel follows a pain-racked woman named Mary who finds relief in an expensive New Agey treatment known as Pneuma Adaptive Kinesthesia. In order to fund “PAK,” she subjects herself to the “girlfriend experiment,” in which various women fulfill different aspects of a relationship for an egocentric actor named Kurt Sky. Turns out, Mary’s role of “emotional girlfriend” is its own kind of painful.
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc (8/1, FSG Originals)
