"Beach reads"

I hate the label "chick lit," so I'm using "beach reads" instead!  Sometimes I just want to read a fun, romantic book - kind of like watching "When Harry Met Sally" or "Notting Hill."  Here are two books I've read recently that would fit into the genre.

Following her parents' death in a car accident, Dora grew up with her grandmother, Mimi.  Mimi owned a vintage clothing store, which Dora returns to run after Mimi suffers a stroke.  Dora discovers that Mimi had been writing secret lives for many of the dresses in her store.  What stories would your clothes tell if they could talk?  I truly enjoyed The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean.

Have you ever pulled a charm from a wedding cake?  My pledge daughter followed this southern tradition at her wedding, and I pulled a Kappa fleur-de-lis from her cake that I still wear on a necklace.  In Kim Gruenenfelder's There's Cake in my Future a group of friends pull charms from a shower cake.  Nikki had rigged the cake so she and her friends would get the charms she wanted each to have, with each charm representing something coming in your future.  However, the cake is shifted and each woman pulls an unintended charm.  Do these charms change their fate?  Gruenenfelder has two previous books, and I read A Total Waste of Makeup recently - another fun read.

Finally, my favorite read every summer is the new Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich.  These books make me laugh aloud every time I read them!  Imagine Lucy and Ethel as bounty hunters in Trenton, New Jersey, and you get the idea.  If you haven't read the Stephanie Plum books, you must!  I think the first book (One for the Money) is a difficult read and not very enjoyable, which I think turns a lot of people off to this series.  So, I'll give you a recap so you can jump in with the second book, Two for the Show.   Stephanie Plum grew up in Trenton.  Her parents still live there, in a neighborhood called the Burg.  Stephanie's maternal grandmother, Grandma Mazur, lives with her parents.  Grandma Mazur is one of my favorite parts of the books - she is a gun carrying granny who likes to go to funeral homes for fun.  Stephanie was married to attorney Dicky Orr for about thirty minutes, until she discovered Dicky having his way with Stephanie's nemesis Joyce Barnhardt.   Stephanie worked at the feminine product factory, but when she lost that job, took at job working as a bounty hunter for her cousin at Vinnie Plum Bail Bonds.  Her sidekick is Lula, a former 'ho with a propensity for wearing very tight spandex and for shooting people (with her taser or a gun).  Stephanie has two love interests - fellow bounty hunter Ranger and police officer Joe Morelli.  That should be enough to get you started!