7 Labor Day must-reads

Whether your Labor Day plans involve lying by the pool or relaxing on the couch, keep one of these must-read books nearby.

Sarah Brennan, the youngest and considered the most beautiful of the Brennan sisters, is married to professional baseball player Boone Walker. As Boone travels year-round with his team, Sarah stays home and cares for their two young children — but not without thoughts of Boone’s infidelity coming back to haunt her. Sarah remains deeply in love with Boone, but with yet another career change and more tension than ever between the two, will Sarah decide enough is enough or will she fight for their marriage?

Filled with heart, humor and tons of heat, Sarah Castille’s newest novel tastefully mixes a heap of MMA, a dash of BDSM and a lot of passion to create one ultra-steamy book for fall. A debt-ridden college grad struggling with a tortured past is seduced by the enigmatic owner of an illegal fight club only to discover she’s not the only one with a secret to hide. Makayla never thought she’d set foot in an underground mixed-martial arts club. But if anyone needs a medic on hand, it’s these guys. Trouble is, at her first sight of the club’s owner, she’s the one feeling breathless.

Grace, flowers, by the water, have fun! These are Joy’s grandmother’s last words to her, written in a note — a note that everyone else in Joy’s family thinks are instructions for her funeral. But when the family comes together for one weekend in Little Island, Maine, Joy will discover that there’s more than pain and heartbreak that binds them together, when a few simple words lift the fog and reveal what truly matters. For fans of J. Courtney Sullivan’s Maine, this multi-generational family drama will find a way into your heart.

Best friends forever… until life got in the way. Katherine Hill left her small New England hometown 12 years ago for a big-city dream in Manhattan — and she got it as a high-powered cosmetics executive. Laney Marten never intended to get stuck in small-town Manchester, Vermont, but one baby and a marriage later, she’s still in the same place she was 12 years ago. When these former best friends meet up again after all these years, both women are forced to address their long-standing grudges, but some wounds are too deep to mend.

A darkly comic love story about two people putting themselves back together, Mandatory Release is a snarky and irreverent novel told so honestly you’ll think you’re reading a memoir. When 30-year-old Graham Finch finds out that his high-school crush is back in town and working in the same prison, he starts to think the universe is paying him back for putting him in a wheelchair. But the last thing Drew wants is to start a new relationship — that is, until she reconnects with Graham.

When you write for a soap opera, you hope your life will never turn out to be like one. From dealing with her mom, who has decided to give internet dating a try, to saving her career at I’d Rather Be Loved, with a storyline featuring a trip through Atlantis to a trip to the Emmys, Elle Miller also finds herself in the middle of a romance between a real doctor and a hunk who just plays one on TV. But when Elle happens across her deceased father’s computer, all bets are off as she unravels some mysterious communications. With her life quickly turning into a real-life soap opera (hunky doctors and all), will Elle find her hopefully-ever-after?

Everyone knows the story of Anne Frank, but few remember there were two sisters hidden in that annex. It’s the spring of 1959 and Margaret Franklin is living and working in Philadelphia as a secretary at a Jewish law firm. She lives her life pretty quietly, hiding the biggest secret of all — Margie Franklin is really Margot Frank, Anne Frank’s little sister. As her sister becomes a global icon, Margie’s simple, safe American life begins to fall apart as past and present begin to collide. A story that asks the question, “What if?” Margot is a brilliantly channeled novel that could easily be mistaken for a memoir.

Other recommended reads

Fiction meets TV: Under the Dome mashup
Historical fiction: Books to read while waiting for Game of Thrones
RED HOT BOOK OF THE WEEK: Rob Sheffield’s new memoir