July is National Ice Cream Month, a time to indulge in the creamy, delightful treat that brings joy to people of all ages. What better way to celebrate this delicious occasion than by combining two of life's greatest pleasures: ice cream and books? As temperatures rise and the summer sun beckons, why not cool off with a delightful read that tempts your taste buds? These covers promise a refreshing escape into new worlds and stories while capturing the essence of summer's favorite dessert.
The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman
As a child in 1913, Malka Treynovsky fled Russia for New York with her family--only to be crippled and abandoned in the streets. Taken in by a tough-loving Italian ice peddler, Malka survives. When she falls in love with Albert, they set off together across America in an ice cream truck to seek their fortune; slowly, she transforms herself into Lillian Dunkle, "The Ice Cream Queen of America"--doyenne of an empire of ice cream franchises and a celebrated television personality. Spanning 70 years, Lillian's rise, fraught with setbacks, triumphs, and tragedies, is inextricably linked to the course of American history itself, from Prohibition to the disco days of Studio 54. And when her past starts catching up with her, her world implodes spectacularly.
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The Unlikelies by Carrie Firestone
Five teens embark on a summer of vigilante good samaritanism in a novel that's part The Breakfast Club, part The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and utterly captivating.
Rising high school senior Sadie braces for a long, lonely, and boring summer. But things take an unexpected turn when she steps in to help rescue a baby in distress, and a video of her good deed goes viral.
Suddenly internet-famous, Sadie's summer changes for the better when she's introduced to other "hometown heroes." These five very different teens form an unlikely alliance to secretly right local wrongs, but when they try to help a heroin-using friend, they get in over their heads and discover that there might be truth in the saying "no good deed goes unpunished." Can Sadie and her new friends make it through the summer with their friendships--and anonymity--intact?
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A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette
This book starts a charming, cozy mystery series set in an ice cream shop with a fabulous cast of quirky characters.
Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family's ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she's going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors-many from her grandmother's original recipes. Unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors, an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away.
To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win's father is implicated in his death. It's not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she'll catch the ice-cold killer before she has a meltdown . . .
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The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Dawn Dixon can hardly believe she's on a groomless honeymoon on beautiful Cape Cod . . . with her mother. Sure, Marnie Dixon is good company, but Dawn was supposed to be here with Kevin, the love of her life (or so she thought).
Marnie Dixon needs some time away from the absolute realness of life as much as her jilted daughter does, and she's not about to let her only child suffer alone--even if Marnie herself had been doing precisely that for the past month.
Given the circumstances, maybe it was inevitable that Marnie would do something as rash as buying a run-down ice cream shop in the town's tightly regulated historic district. After all, everything's better with ice cream.
Her exasperated daughter knows that she's the one who will have to clean up this mess. Even when her mother's impulsive real estate purchase brings Kevin back into her life, Dawn doesn't get her hopes up. Everyone knows that broken romances stay broken . . . don't they?