Summer is a great time to crack open a new book, whether you’re lounging at the pool, crisscrossing the country on an airplane, or hiding from the heat in your home.
It’s even better if that brain break can support a local author in the process, too.
Kentucky and Southern Indiana writers are making waves across several genres ― teen thriller, historical fiction, fantasy, and children ― among others in literature, so we dug up some semi-new titles to add to your 2024 summer reading list. Spoiler alert: There’s even one national bestselling author with ties to the Bluegrass State on this list, too.
Interested in adding more local books to your collection? Here are eight relatively new releases to read cover-to-cover before the summer slips away and the calendar flips to September.
‘A Home for Friendless Women’
AUTHOR: Kelly Hill
GENRE: Historical Fiction
DESCRIPTION: This book’s title comes from a real-life, women-run charitable institution in Louisville, which took in pregnant, unmarried women from 1876-1919. Author Kelly Hill came across this institution while working in the Filson Historical Society archives in the spring of 2017. Hill was stunned by the information about the home in old record books, and even more stunned by the gaps in these women’s stories. In her writing, she aimed to bring this moment in history to life.
AVAILABILITY: Carmichael’s Bookstore, $17, or Louisville Free Public Library.
‘The Lost Story ‘
AUTHOR: Meg Shaffer
GENRE: Fantasy
DESCRIPTION: In this upcoming novel, Kentucky-based USA Today bestselling author Meg Shaffer tells the story of best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell, who went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived. Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons investigator, who sets out to help find another girl who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.
Carmichael’s Bookstore, 2720 Frankfort Ave., will host a release party for The Lost Story on July 16 at 7 p.m.
AVAILABILITY: For preorder at Carmichael’s Bookstore, $29, or Louisville Free Public Library.
‘Ordinary to Extra-Ordinary’
AUTHOR: Pattie Dale Tye
GENRE: Self-help
DESCRIPTION: C-suite veteran and Louisville author Pattie Dale Tye helps people at all stages of their careers discover a clear pathway to success in “Ordinary to Extra-Ordinary,” published by Forbes Books. Tye is the COO for Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC and serves as a board member and advisor to several private companies. She has an extensive track record with worldwide brands, such as AT&T and Humana.
AVAILABILITY:Amazon.com, $24.99.
‘Silent Sister’
AUTHOR: Megan Davidhizar
GENRE: Young Adult Thriller
DESCRIPTION: “Silent Sister” is Davidhizar’s debut novel, and it will be available on Aug. 8. This is the story of very unlike sisters, who go missing on a class trip. When the more timid of the two is found severely injured, everyone points the finger at her for her more charismatic sister’s disappearance. The novel is loosely inspired by a class trip that Davidhizar took, while she was a student at Louisville’s Sacred Heart Academy.
AVAILABILITY: Preorder at Carmichael’s Bookstore, $19.99.
‘Someplace Like Home’
AUTHOR: Bobi Conn
GENRE: Fiction
DESCRIPTION: “Someplace Like Home” is inspired by Conn’s mother, and brings the reader on a journey to the outskirts of Morehead, Kentucky, alongside three generations of strong women. As Conn, a Berea-based author, explores her characters’ perspectives, she raises questions about origin stories, the fraught nature of memory, and the ripple effect of trauma through generations.
AVAILABILITY: Carmichael’s Bookstore, $16.99.
‘The Volcano No One Could See’
AUTHOR: Nat Bickel with illustrations by Abira Das
GENRE: Children
DESCRIPTION: “The Volcano No One Could See” tells the tale of an unlikely volcano that brings people together with inspiration from friends and family who are people of color, neurodivergent, and continually broadening my perspective. The author’s goal was “to showcase that we’re all different, and when we put our experiences together and honor those differences, we create something beautiful.”
AVAILABILITY: Amazon.com, $16.99
‘Where the Grass Grows Blue’
AUTHOR: Hope Gibbs
GENRE: Romantic Fiction
DESCRIPTION: Gibb’s debut novel “Where Grass Grows Blue” is the story of Penny Crenshaw, who escapes the scuttlebutt around her failed marriage in Atlanta and returns to her hometown of Camden, Kentucky to settle her grandmother’s estate. Throughout the novel, she must decide whether to accept her troubled past by embracing the power of forgiveness or risk losing a second chance at love in a small Kentucky town. Gibbs is a native of Scottsville, Kentucky, and she graduated from Western Kentucky University. “Where Grass Grows Blue” was the Grand Prize Overall Fiction Winner in the 2023-2024 Reader Views Literary Awards, and it has received several other recognitions.
AVAILABILITY: Amazon.com, $17.99 or Louisville Free Public Library.
‘150 Years of the Kentucky Derby: Through the Lens and Voice of The Courier Journal’
AUTHOR: The Courier Journal
GENRE: Coffee Table
DESCRIPTION: A special release from The Courier Journal commemorating the 150th Kentucky Derby. The newspaper’s legacy of covering the event is as long as the race itself, and its story is told through the eyes of the journalists, who continue to cover it year after year. The book offers a mix of historic and modern photographs, including pictures from the milestone event on May 4, 2024. It’s a keepsake that highlights the race’s history, pageantry, grandeur, athleticism, and dynamic, transformational presence in Louisville.
AVAILABILITY: Amazon.com, $44.95.
Reach Courier Journal reporter Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville authors, books to add to 2024 summer reading list
