The summer learning program is under way.

All ages are encouraged to participate, so visit the branch to sign up and receive an activity book with activities and challenges, museum coupons, and a free book, or tote bag. The La Mesa Library is now open seven days per week. Visit sdcl.org for the hours, and latest program and event information.

Whether you’re traveling, at the beach, by the pool, or enjoying some indoor A/C, it’s the perfect time of year to dive into a few fabulous books. Let’s explore exciting new releases, and older summer favorites from all genres.

This summer brings a brand new book from the queen of beach reads herself, Elin Hilderbrand.

The Hotel Nantucket was a turn of the century New England treasure but is now in disrepair and under the new general management of Lizbet Keaton. Fresh out of a bad breakup, Lizbet is looking for redemption by breathing new life into Hotel Nantucket. Get lost in the hotel’s scandalous history, and its uncertain future, and maybe some love and relationships along the way, in this gratifying page-turner.

Do you like your romance a little more light and fluffy?

Beach Read by Emily Henry has been called one of the best summer reads of all time. This delightful romcom tells the story of author January Andrews, who is stuck with a severe case of writer’s block after the death of her father and helping her mother through two battles with cancer. January meets her next-door neighbor, Augustus, who is also a writer lacking inspiration. As a fun summer challenge to get the creative juices flowing, the two decide to trade genres, and so January takes on American Lit, and Augustus attempts romance. Will finishing the challenge be the end of their story? Or will they just begin to learn about “happily ever after?”

If suspense is more your summer style, Ruth Ware, author of The Woman in Cabin 10, is back with a brand-new thriller.

In The It Girl, Hannah Jones is 10 years out of college at Oxford University, where her first college friend, April Clarke-Cliveden, was murdered. When a journalist shows up at Hannah’s door with some shocking new evidence, she discovers that the man convicted of April’s murder might have actually been innocent. Hannah decides to revisit her past, launching her own investigation into April’s murder. Reconnecting with her once-inseparable college friends, Hannah starts to discover that these friends she thought she knew so well, might be hiding some pretty dark and sinister secrets – maybe even murder.

Finally, for fans of Only Murders in the Building, Clue, and/or Agatha Christie, try Alexis Hall’s Murder Most Actual.

With her marriage on the rocks, true crime podcaster Liza’s wife Hanna plans a weekend getaway to rekindle the magic at a luxurious hotel in the Scottish Highlands. While trapped at the hotel due to snow, the guests start dying one by one and Liza finds herself trying to solve actual murders instead of just talking about them on her podcast. Can Liza and Hanna save their marriage and their lives? Please note: this title is a digital exclusive, and only available through Overdrive as an ebook or downloadable audiobook.