Each summer I look forward to curling up with a book at the beach and taking a much needed break from the chaos of daily life. I am planning a trip to Martha’s Vineyard with friends in August and could easily read 4 books while I am there. Three new books that will definitely be in my beach bag this summer is Mercury in Retrograde, Queen Takes King, and The Winner Stands Alone. Here’s why

Mercury in Retrograde is a must read for any PageSix fan since Paula Froelich is a writer for my favorite gossip column. Froelich said the book is NOT autobiographical, but with her insider status she must have a massive amount of material to pull from. “This is a novel and this is fiction,” Paula told Entertainment Tonight, but added, “Obviously, there are parallels. You’ve gotta write what you know!” The book’s protagonist, Penelope Mercury, is a reporter for a newspaper (sound familiar) who loses her job after setting the place on fire with a cigarette butt. Comparisons to Sex & the City are obvious as the main character forges a friendship with two manhattanites who bond as their lives goes to pieces and then put back together. There’s a socialite who gets cut off by her parents and their money and a divorced attorney whose husband left her for the cliché younger woman making up this fabulous trio. Based on the hype of reviews by Vanity Fair, US Magazine, and the New York Post, it sounds like we have a winner here.

Queen Takes King is written by one of my favorite chic-lit authors Gigi Levangie Grazer. In case you’re not familiar, she wrote “The Starter Wife” as well as “Maneater”. Considering her previous books were both turned into TV shows, I know we can expect greatness from Grazer’s next novel which moves from the sandy beaches of LA to the concrete jungle of Manhattan. The book tells the tale of society wife Cynthia Power and her philandering husband, real estate mogul Jackson. The pair is headed for divorce after their 25^th wedding anniversary, held at The Plaza, when photo’s surface of him in the New York Post holding hands with another woman. Gigi Levangie Grazer knows the territory considering she’s the ex-wife of Hollywood producer of Brian Grazer.

The Winner Stands Alone, written by Paulo Coelho, piqued my interest because it’s set in the movie and fashion world. When I realized it was written by the bestselling author of The Alchemist I added it to my summer reading list. I have never read The Alchemist, but plan to read that as well this summer. It’s funny because my friend Heather was visiting two weeks ago and had a book by Paulo Coelho in her bag and she raved about this author so I wanted to give him a try anyway. The Winner Stands Alone is a haunting journey into the worlds of fame, fortune, and celebrity. The story follows a man whose wife has left him, an actress who is yet to have her ‘big break’, and ends up at the Cannes film festival. How this ties in with Coelho’s knack for deep thought and profound meditation is unknown to me, but I am willing to give it a shot.