Business & Tech

In the Mood for Some Steamy Summer Reads?

Though these suggestions aren't as "juicy" as "Fifty Shades of Grey," Westfield's Town Book Store owner Anne Laird recommends them for some enjoyable summer reading.

While the racy, best-selling "Fifty Shades" triology sparked a reading frenzy earlier this year, those aren't the only books to toss in your beach bag this summer, according to Anne Laird, owner of .

In her time as the East Broad Street shop's proprietor, Laird said she hasn't seen anything quite like the popularity of E.L. James' erotic tales, which have sold more than 31 million copies worldwide. For those bitten by the bookworm, she has some alternate reading suggestions.

"There really isn’t anything like 'Fifty Shades'…honestly…in all my years I have never seen a book like that or a book take off like that," Laird said. "I don’t really carry erotica in the store and if 'Fifty Shades' hadn’t become the blockbuster that it has I probably wouldn’t have carried that either. We are starting to see some authors jump on the bandwagon of this type of book but their books aren’t very good and are even more poorly written than 'Fifty Shades.'"

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Laird cited "Bared for You" by Sylvia Day and the "Sleeping Beauty Triology" by Anne Rice as books that have been popular with fans of the "Fifty Shades" genre.

For those who flew through the collection and are in the mood for some more summer reading, she recommends other intriguing titles. 

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"We have great summer reading but these books aren't “juicy” in that way," Laird said.

The following is a list of Laird's suggestions:

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead: WASPs gather for a three-day summer wedding event on an island but it isn't happily-ever-after for every guest.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: A wife disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary in this thriller about a marriage gone terribly wrong.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarity: After a slip and fall, Alice tries to figure out how the life she led 10 years earlier veered so far off course.  

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper: Set to become a feature film, the story involves love, marriage, divorce, family, and unbreakable family ties.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson: A mysterious accident leaves a woman an amnesiac, unable to decide whether or not she can trust her husband.

Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister: Six women make a pact to do something they've never done after one survives cancer. 

11/23/63 by Stephen King (out in paperback): A schoolteacher travels back in time to rewrite history and falls in love while he's there.

The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe: It's time to make amends for a former advertising executive who returns to her Southern roots to care for her dying mother.

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan: Four women spanning three generations bring secrets and plenty of emotional baggage to their annual summer retreat.

What are you reading this summer? Are you still reading Fifty Shades? Let us know in the comments section below.


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