Sizzling Summer Reads June 7, 2010

Topic of the Week: June 7-11, 2009

Allison Winn Scotch

It’s almost here. Summer. The season of sunning, swimming, beaching and yes, booking it. This week we’ll discuss the season’s hottest reads, from Ian McEwan’s Solar, to The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Know any others? Join the discussion this week and tell us why your favorite recent release is a great summer read.

Joining us as guest host on Friday, June 11th, is New York Times bestselling author, Allison Winn Scotch, whose new novel The One That I Want explores the age old questions, “What if you could see into the future? Would you want to know what fate has in store?”

The One That I Want follows protagonist Tilly Farmer on a clairvoyant journey into a future that forces her to choose between her perceived path of perfection and a new and challenging course toward self-reliance and personal acceptance. It all begins when Tilly wanders into a fortune teller’s tent and meets an old childhood friend, who offers her more than just a reading. “I’m giving you the gift of clarity,” her friend says. “It’s what I always thought you needed.” And soon enough, Tilly starts seeing things: her alcoholic father relapsing, staggering out of a bar with his car keys in hand; her husband uprooting their happy, stable life, a packed U-Haul in their driveway. And even more disturbing, these visions start coming true. Suddenly Tilly’s perfect life, so meticulously mapped out, seems to be crumbling around her. And as she furiously races to keep up with – and hopefully change – her destiny, she faces the question: Which life does she want? The one she’s carefully nursed for decades, or the one she never considered possible?

Scotch is the author of two other novels with strong female protagonists, The Department of Lost and Found and The Time of My Life. If her name sounds familiar outside of these fiction titles, you may have read one of her many magazine features. She is a frequent contributor to a number of glossy print publications and now focuses on celebrity profiles. Now that she is a LitChat celebrity, it’s your turn to interview her while she guest hosts on June 11th.

Follow Allison on Twitter at @ASWinn.