Summer's a great time to kick back and read a popular author's inevitable bestseller. It may also be a great time to step off the treadmill and try something a little different.
Here's a quick list of debut novels and if the raves are any indication, one or more just might break through. Give 'em a try.
The hilarious story of a struggling young actress trying to get ahead--and keep it together--in New York City.
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
Exiled to an equestrian boarding school in the South at the height of the Great Depression for her role in a family tragedy, strong-willed teen Thea Atwell grapples with painful memories.
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
A young African girl negotiates life in Zimbabwe and America.
The over-the-top story of three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families.
Note to Self by Alina Simone
The author takes on our Internet-age obsessions.
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
A love story in Chechnya during the war with Russia. Pair or compare: The English Patient or The Tiger's Wife.
A preacher's son flees the hardscrabble life of his itinerant father, falls in with a charismatic highwayman, then settles with his adopted brothers on the rough frontier of West Florida. In a word? Epic.
No One Could Have Guessed the Weather by Anne-Marie Casey
Women's fiction with a New York backdrop.
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
A chilling psychological thriller about a marriage.
A death row inmate receives an offer of help from an unlikely source: her victim's mother. Sounds like a great pick for John Grisham fans.
Southern Cross the Dog by Bill Cheng
An epic literary debut in which the bonds between three childhood friends are upended by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter
A story about a woman's son, missing from a Special Operations Forces mission.
Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich (July)
Ahh; summer romance.
