We’re in the last month of summer and there’s no better time to wind down with a good book. The Defender has compiled some fiction summer reads you can add to your collection.

“An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones (Oprah Bookclub pick)

What’s it about?Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American dream and the new South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit.

Celestial takes comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

“The Book in Room 316” by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

What’s it about?Savannah Graham thought she had the perfect marriage until grief drove her husband into the arms of his best friend’s wife. Now, she believes revenge is the only way her heart can heal from the betrayal…For 52 years, Ollie Moss lived side by side with the love of his life, his wife Elizabeth. But now that she’s gone, so is his desire to live, despite the love from his children, and his beloved grandson Samuel. Can anything save Ollie’s life?…Anna Rodriguez just wants to work and provide for her three children by any means necessary. But her decision to break the law in order to get a job is threatening life as she knows it…Trey Brown is known in his neighborhood as a hustler, so much so that the gangs want him to join their ranks, but he’s the only one left who can save his little brother.

Different circumstances lead each of them to The Markham Hotel in downtown Houston, where they hope to find solace, comfort and answers.

“Bad men and Wicked Women”by Eric Jerome Dickey

What’s it about?As a low-level enforcer in Los Angeles, Ken Swift knows danger, but nowhere does he feel it more than in his tangled romances. Divorced from one woman, in love with another, and wrestling with a strong desire to get to know a third, he has a life far from perfect. It becomes all the more complicated when his troubled daughter resurfaces on the same day as a major job.

As the tension-filled father/daughter reunion escalates into a clashing of wills and desires that spread far beyond their family, Ken’s latest contract spirals quickly out of control, and he finds it is not only his daughter looking to seek revenge.

“Envy” by Victoria Christopher Murray(Soon to a be a Lifetime movie from T.D. Jakes)

What’s it about?Gabrielle Wilson has the perfect life: a Beverly Hills mansion, a loving family, and a massively successful PR firm. When her father admits that an affair he had years before resulted in a daughter, Gabrielle is shocked, but is actually happy. Could this be the sister she has been praying for all her life?

Keisha Jones’s life is a struggle. Her late mother worked on the streets, and school was its own nightmare. When Gabrielle offers to fly Keisha out of Arkansas to meet the family, Keisha instantly agrees. But Gabrielle doesn’t realize that Keisha has known about the Wilsons for years. Keisha is determined to have everything she has always envied, and nothing can stand in her way.

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