Three books!!!
The Switch by Beth O'Leary is utterly delightful. Leena and her grandmother Eileen "switch" when each finds they need a break from their current lives (a bit like the movie Holiday). Leena heads to rural Yorkshire and finds that her grandmother is an integral part of her small community ... she has some big shoes to fill. Eileen heads to London to tackle online dating and finding a community in Leena's building. There's also unresolved grief, a strained mother-daughter relationship, eccentric neighbors and the English countryside. This is sweet, smart, funny and sexy.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna gives Harry Potter plus Twilight vibes in a very good way. Love!! Mika Moon is a witch but has to hide it and live a solitary life until she answers a request to teach three young girls how to manage their own witchcraft. The girls' benefactor, Lillian, is absent but her presence looms large. In addition to the girls, Nowhere House is home to a charming couple, a contrarian librarian and a housekeeper who have indulged the girls and have a secret reason for needing Mika. For the first time in her life, Mika has a sense of family. What could possibly go wrong? One of the girls isn't happy about Mika's presence and Jamie the librarian questions her every move. I didn't want this one to end.
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune wasn't as good as the first two but a nice summer read. Alice is a photographer figuring out who she wants to be when she agrees to help her grandmother recover from hip surgery at the lake house they stayed at during her childhood. As a kid, Alice was an introverted outsider observing others having all the fun. She even has a picture of the golden summer at the lake that she turned 17 of three neighbor kids and a yellow boat. Alice needs to lighten up and now she's ready to try all the things she missed out on - she even makes a list. Enter Charlie, the cute, cocky guy from the summer picture and we know where this is going. It's light, fun and sexy. The narration was “off” for me but I worked through it.