Here are some more fiction books that might make good summer reading by the pool or at the beach.

Sweet Love

By Sarah Strohmeyer

Dutton, 2008, $24.95

Julie's mom, Betty, now knows she goofed up big time when she broke up the relationship Julie had with Michael Slayton.

Now that Betty has cancer, she is determined to rectify her error before it's too late.

Julie, now in her 40s, is a single mom and a reporter for a television station.

Her mother arranges for her to receive three free dessert classes at a cooking school and makes Julie feel guilty enough to attend.

And guess who is also a student?

Julie and Michael have not spoken in several years -- after she reported something that was detrimental to his career.

Can they get past that event and back to the relationship they once had?

Strohmeyer is the author of "The Cinderella Pact" and "The Sleeping Beauty Proposal."

Every Last Cuckoo

By Kate Maloy

Algonquin, 2008, $22.95

When 75-year-old Sarah Lucas' husband, Charles, dies unexpectedly, she is devastated.

This novel follows Sarah as she remembers her past from childhood on.

Sarah, much like her family had done during the Depression, is filling her empty nest with an extraordinary group of people.

Her new "family" consists of her granddaughter, Lottie, who brings friends who are estranged from their families for one reason or another; a young woman and her son, victims of a fire; an old friend recuperating from surgery, and others as well.

Helping these people who are somehow in need is just the medicine for helping Sarah get through her grief.

The Romance Readers' Book Club

By Julie L. Cannon

Plume, 2008, $13

Fifteen-year-old Tammi Elco lives with her Granny, a very religious woman. Granny's husband, Pepaw, has a different take on life.

Tammi tries to avoid Granny whenever she can. She and her cousin, Orr, a 30-year-old who is still like a child, sneak out to go trick-or-treating (against Granny's orders) and come back not only with candy, but with romance novels.

Tammi forms the Romance Readers' Book Club with a schoolmate, LaDonna, LaDonna's cousin, Parker, and Aunt Minna.

The romance novels lead Tammi and her friends through their coming-of-age in the 1970s.

The Memory of Water

By Karen White

NAL Accent, 2008, $14

Marnie hasn't spoken to her sister Diana in 10 years, but she returns to her childhood home to help her 9-year-old nephew, Gil (who has turned mute after a sailing accident that involved Diana).

It was hard to put this book down once I started it.

Contact Faye Dasen at fdasen@thepilot.com or 693-2475.