Here are a few books that readers might enjoy sitting by the pool or even in the cool, air-conditioned house.

"Slow Dancing on Price's Pier" (Berkley, $15) by Lisa Dale is another good beach read - and not just because it takes place at the beach. Thea Celik is going through a divorce. That's tough enough, but when her soon-to-be ex-husband's younger brother, Garret, comes back to town, the emotions rise to the surface. The three had been inseparable as children, but Thea chose the "safe" brother to marry. Now that the two are splitting up, is it possible for Garret and Thea to form a relationship without tearing apart the entire family?

Asheville writer Sarah Addison Allen's latest book, "The Peach Keeper" (Bantam, $25), takes readers on a journey to the N.C. mountain town of Walls of Water, where Willa Jackson runs a small business. When her former classmate Paxton Osgood restores the Blue Ridge Madam, an old house built by Willa's great-great-grandfather, Willa is reluctant to attend the gala. When the landscaping work begins, a skeleton is found, bringing to light a time many people would prefer to forget. I've loved all of Allen's books, which include "Garden Spells," "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" and "The Sugar Queen."

Michael Parker's "The Watery Part of the World" (Algonquin, $23.95) is an intriguing combination of two historical stories. In 1813, Theodosia Burr, daughter of vice president Aaron Burr, was on a schooner bound to New York, when it was lost off the N.C. coast. In 1970, two elderly white sisters and their black caretaker were the last people residing on one of the barrier islands. The stories of past and president are woven seamlessly together. Parker is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Most married women have likely, at some point, felt that that they bear the lion's share of housework and child care, even if they are also working. In Christina Hopkinson's "The Pile of Stuff at the Bottom of the Stairs" (Grand Central, $24.99), Mary's reached her limit with her husband, Joel, who never manages to put his clothes in the basket or clean up after making a mess in the kitchen. She decides to compile a list and keep track of his "debits" and "credits" for six months. If he exceeds a certain amount, she's not positive of what she'll do, but the word divorce has come to mind. Mary just does not realize where this list might lead.

Contact Faye Dasen at fdasen@thepilot.com.