Ashley Redwood

Summer reading has a look: a pastel cover, a beach chair and a sunset in the background. But the look isn’t the point. Summer reading is a mood. It’s the book you crack open at noon on a lazy summer day and then look up to find the light’s gone. The one-sitting kind, the can’t-put-it-down kind. I’ve got four for you, and no two are alike: a backyard satire, a boy-band cruise, a Tuscan comedy and a romance to send you off warm.

Here’s a woman’s issue for you: RAGE. Does the phrase, “woman’s issue,” irritate you? Good. It should. The anger of being told you’re too much and not enough, sometimes in the same breath. Of watching autonomy slip away in real time. Of staying calm on the surface while everything tightens around you. Because issues that affect women affect everyone. The rage in these books isn’t niche—it’s what all of us feel.