Dear Friends,

The summer begins! We were so happy to see so many happy people over Memorial Day weekend and look forward to seeing our summer residents and visitors soon. Now that everything is is green we are loving all the colors, especially the blues.

If you are out of town check out our website.

You can keep up with news of Cottage Book Shop and Glen Arbor by following us on Facebook. and Instagram. 

Happy June,

Jenny, Kim, Anne, Amy, Patti, Kelsey

and Sue

The June

Selection of the Month is:

Swift River

By Essie Chambers

Simon and SAchuster $17.99

It's the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that's not the only reason Diamond stands out: she's teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop's been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on. But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she's never met, key elements of Pop's life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she's learned of the past change her future?

~Recommended by Sue

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.00 shipping.

Sign up yourself, your loved ones or a friend to receive a recommended book each month.

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For the Kids

Blue Sky Morning

By Jihyun Kim

Floris $18.99

Eunny wakes up slowly. Soon it's time for school. Eunny and Mama step out into the crisp day, but they don't rush. They notice the pretty pink petals of new flowers, the changing red-gold leaves and the big blue sky above. A balm for the hectic pace of modern living, Blue Sky Morning is stunning in its simplicity and mindfulness, reminding us to stop and appreciate the beauty all around us in our daily routine.

(Ages 2 and up)

A Day at the Beach

By Gary D. Schmidt and Ron Koertge

Clarion $18.99

Here's what's so cool about the beach. Kids are everywhere! Kids you know, kids you want to know. Wandering from one blanket to another, from one family to another. Somebody's mom reads a fat summer novel. Somebody's dad snores with an iPad on his chest. Babies cry. Girls laugh. Frisbee players whoop! Kites in the perfect blue sky. Some kids bodysurf. Some don't even like the water. They build sand cities for their friends and sand jails for the grown-ups, and when the tide comes in everything gets washed away. There's the other world, where all kids hear is tomorrow, next week, next year. And then there's the beach, where everything is right now! Why can't every day be a day at the beach? (Ages 8 and up)

Enchanted Beach

By Esther Freud

Illustrations by Emma Chinnery

Candlewick $18.99

Camping on the beach in summer, flying kites in autumn, combing storm-whipped sands in winter, treasure hunts in spring--here is a magnificent tribute to life by the ocean throughout the year. In a joyful story charting a family's adventures and celebrations--from New Year's to birthdays. (Ages 2 and up)

Summer is Here: A Bear and Mole Story

By Will Hillenbrand

Holiday House $18.99

Finally, summer is here! Baseball-loving Mole suits up and hustles to the baseball diamond for a game with his best friend Bear. Mole is ready to play, and he's swinging for the fences! Swish. Swish. Swish. It's a swing and... a miss? Mole measures, wishes, grits his teeth, and swings--still, it's like he can't even see the plate! But with the gentle support of his friend Bear, lots of patience, and a new pair of glasses, Mole is ready to play all summer long. (Ages 2 and up)

The Cottage

Children's Book Club

 The perfect gift for all of the little people in your life. Give the gift of a book a month!

Our knowledgeable staff will personally choose a hardcover book for each child. A passion for reading can begin at a young age and this special gift will foster the love of books and reading!

Here's how it works:

~ each month or bi-monthly the child will receive a recently published, age appropriate hardcover book matched with the child's interests.

(we can also choose classic children's books if requested)

~gifts will be wrapped and arrive with a book plate from the giver.

~the cost of the book (less a 15% discount) and shipping (USPS) is less than $22.00 per month. The amount will be charged to your credit card monthly or bimonthly.

Glen Lake Book Club

Meet the 3rd Friday of the month at Glen Lake Community Library at 10:00 a.m

June 20

Sandwich

By Catherine Newman

Harper $18.99, due in paper 5-27

July 18

James

By Percival Everett

Doubleday $28.00

Lakeshore Readers

Meet the last Wednesday of the month at Glen Lake Library at 11:00 a.m.

June 25

The Berry Pickers

By Amanda Peters

Please shop locally!

Books available at Cottage Book Shop

(15% off on book club books)



New Releases

Bug Hollow

By Michelle Huneven

Penguin $29, due June 17

When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother Ellis went missing the summer he graduated high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture in the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later. From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis's girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep. Each Samuelson has sought their own solace: Sybil Samuelson pours herself into teaching and numbing her pain after the loss of her beloved son; her husband, Phil, had found respite in a love that developed while he was working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia; Katie, the high achieving middle Samuelson, comes home to try and make peace with her mother after a cancer diagnosis. And Sally has become the de facto caretaker to Eva, the child Ellis never knew. ~Recommended by Sue

The Great Mann

By Kyra Davis Lurie

Crown $28.00, due June 10

In 1945, Charlie Trammell steps off a cross-country train into the vibrant tapestry of Los Angeles. Lured by his cousin Marguerite's invitation to the esteemed West Adams Heights, Charlie is immediately captivated by the Black opulence of L.A.'s newly rechristened "Sugar Hill.” Settling in at a local actress's energetic boarding house, Charlie discovers a different way of life--one brimming with opportunity--from a promising career at a Black-owned insurance firm, the absence of Jim Crow, to the potential of an unforgettable romance. But nothing dazzles quite like James "Reaper" Mann. Reaper's extravagant parties, attended by luminaries like Lena Horne and Hattie McDaniel, draw Charlie in, bringing the milieu of wealth and excess within his reach. But as Charlie's unusual bond with Reaper deepens, so does the tension in the neighborhood as white neighbors, frustrated by their own dwindling fortunes, ignite a landmark court case that threatens the community's well-being with promises of retribution. Told from the unique perspective of a young man who has just returned from a grueling, segregated war, The Great Mann weaves a compelling narrative of wealth and class, illuminating the complexities of Black identity and education in post-war America.

~Recommended by Sue

The Listeners

By Maggie Steifvater

Viking $30.00

January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa is where high society goes to see and be seen. Located deep in the West Virginia mountains, where healing sweetwater flows, the hotel is managed by a local, June Hudson, whose skills were noted by the wealthy Guilfoyles who own the place. War has begun, and June is trying to shield the Avallon from it, but when the owner's son makes a deal with the State Department to house dozens of Axis diplomats, June must convince her staff-many of whom have sons and husbands heading to battle-to offer luxury to Nazis for the war effort. Peacefully. Meanwhile, FBI agent Tucker Minnick is searching for a spy among the detainees. He has his own history with West Virginia and would have done anything to avoid coming back, but this mission is an exile that he can't escape unless he earns it. As tension grows between locals and the detainees, Tucker's spy games disturb the peace, and the eerie sweetwater proves more dangerous than once thought. June's future at the Avallon hangs in the balance - but who is she without the hotel? And what is it without her? 

~Recommended by Sue

Maine Characters

By Hannah Orenstein

Penguin $19.00

Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month with their father at his lake house -- separately. Raised in New York City, Vivian is an ambitious sommelier with a secret that could derail her future. Lucy grew up in a tiny Maine town, where she now teaches high school English while watching her marriage unravel. They've never met. While Lucy envied her half-sister from afar, their father kept Vivian in the dark. When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she's shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return. In an ideal world, they'd help each other through their grief. Instead, forced to spend the summer together, they fight through a storm of suspicion and hostility to untangle the messy truth about their parents' pasts. While Lucy is desperate to hold onto the house, Vivian is scrambling after a betrayal. After thirty years apart, is it too late for them to be a family? ~Recommended by Sue

My Name is Emilia DelValle

By Isabel Allende

Ballantine $30.00

In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man's pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan. As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny. ~Recommended by Jenny

Retirement Plan

By Sue Hincenbergs

William Morrow $30.00

After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands--until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, their golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages. But when the women discover their husbands have seven-figure life insurance policies, a new dream forms. And this time, they need a hitman. Meanwhile, their husbands are working on their own secret retirement scheme and when things begin to go sideways, they fear it's backfired. The husbands scramble to stay alive--but soon realize they may not be quick enough to outmaneuver their wives. ~Recommended by Jenny

Safari

By Jaclyn Goldis

Atria $28.99

Odelia Babel, CEO of a sustainable fashion empire, is about to marry for the second time--to a man twenty-five years her junior. Asher Bach is the thirty-something designer of Odelia's luxury clothing line, the darling of every high-fashion journalist, and madly in love with Odelia. Eager to celebrate her nuptials with her nearest and dearest, Odelia invites her adult children, her daughter-in-law, her grandchild, and her best friend/assistant to an all-expenses-paid luxury safari at Leopard Sands in South Africa, the Babel family's favorite vacation spot. In its soil, they have deep roots--and even deeper secret.

~Recommended by Jill

So Far Gone

By Jess Walter

Harper $30.00, due June 10

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now Kinnick's old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia? With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he'd left behind. ~Recommended by Sue