Yesterday I went live with Annabel Monaghan to chat all about her new book, It’s a Love Story, which is a beautiful, charming, honest, SWOONY novel that will be out on May 27th — in less than a week! In our convo, I share my inception point for falling in love with reading romance — I was postpartum with my second baby and became obsessed with its ability to transport me somewhere so very different than my day-to-day reality, which I found, in turn, made me a happier and more loving partner and mom. We also chat about Annabel’s greatest hits (Nora Goes Off Script was her debut romance novel and I still recommend it constantly!) and much more. Catch the full playback above! And scroll all the way to the bottom for a book giveaway!
My chat with Annabel put me in a summer-reading state of mind. And since Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer and summer travel, we decided to go all in with a summer-reading edition of So Into That! I asked a few of my book-loving pals — Katie of Beach Reads & Bubbly and Becca Freeman — to pick a book for some extremely niche summer reading scenarios. They came up with THE BEST answers, and I answered a few myself. PS, we are all romance lovers so prepare for lots of romance recs.
For the uninitiated, Katie Shober runs Beach Reads & Bubbly — a joy-filled book-review site and IG account. She’s also now on Substack! Follow her at Club Bubbly by Beach Reads & Bubbly. And Becca Freeman is the author of one of my fave books, The Christmas Orphan Club, as well as the Substack newsletter The Book Enthusiast. Subscribe ASAP if you love books and girls’ girl energy!
OK, now onto the books!
You’re en route to the lake for Memorial Day Weekend.
KATIE: All my lake vacations happen on Lake Michigan, and Emily Henry’s Funny Story is set in gorgeous Traverse City. Her writing will totally transport you — and you’ll love the story about two people whose exes dumped them for each other.
You’re lounging on the beach, and you want to be absolutely terrified while you lounge.
BECCA: The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz. It’s a sapphic thriller set on a tropical island, where the close-knit expat community knows more about the death of a woman's fiancee than they're letting on.
You’re on a week-long trip with your spouse’s extended family and they won’t stop talking about politics. And you don’t like their politics.
CARO: You need to escape with a romantasy series ASAP! A romantasy, AKA a romantic-fantasy, will transport you to a whole new world where Republicans and Democrats do not even exist! If you haven’t read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas, it’s an excellent place to start. A mortal girl kills a faerie, gets dragged into a magical realm, and suddenly she’s surrounded by hot fae, deadly secrets, and steamy romance.
If you’re a seasoned romantasy reader looking for something new, I’m just gonna throw one more pitch in for the Fey Spy Academy Series by C.N. Crawford and Alex Rivers. Think ACOTAR meets King Arthur, with espionage, magical trials, and a slow burn romance.
You have had a WEEK, and need to vicariously travel to Europe for a few days.
KATIE: Pick up Broken French by Natasha Boyd! You’ll set sail on a billionaire’s yacht in this steamy nanny romance set on the French Rivera.
You and your significant other are headed on a hot, humid, romantic vacation in the South. Whatcha reading?
BECCA: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. It’s set on an island in Georgia—there's a romance and a reclusive heiress with a mysterious past. Plus banter, steam, and intrigue galore!
You love The Summer I Turned Pretty, but you’re a grown ass woman and all of that teen love and angst ain’t doing it for you.
CARO: One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune is the adult version of Belly escaping “everything” (volleyball tryouts) and heading to Cousins Beach. Alice is feeling uncertain in her career and heads to the lake for the summer with her grandmother to regroup. There, she has time to rediscover the passion behind her career, and she also gets to rediscover the boy next door.
BTW Katie of Beach Reads & Bubbly and I are hosting a summer reading kickoff book club about One Golden Summer on June 5th at 3 p.m. PST!!!! We’ll be together in Carmel and we’re so excited to chat with you all about this perfect summer romance.
You want to read something *intellectual* but are on vacation, so also want to be able to zip through and finish the book by the end of your trip.
BECCA: Read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. A family acts as caretakers of an island off the coast of Antarctica. The body of a woman washes ashore. Chaos ensues. Gorgeous nature writing, short chapters, a whole lot to say about climate change (but not in a preachy way).
You’re stuck at home while every single person you follow on Instagram is on a fabulous summer vacation.
KATIE: Pick up Christina Lauren’s Paradise Problem, through which you’ll travel to a private Indonesian island with two exes (kind of…) who decide to fake date.
You wish you were going to your summer happy place, Bald Head Island, NC, but you got knocked up and will be busy giving birth instead.
CARO: I told you they were extremely niche scenarios!!!! Bald Head Island, NC, is my happy place (my grandparents bought the 33rd house on the island in the ‘80s!) so imagine my COMPLETE AND UTTER DELIGHT when so many of you informed me that there is an extremely smutty series that takes place on the island!! The Harbour Village series by Jessica Peterson is such an extremely quick, beachy (AKA, don’t expect to be intellectually stimulated!), fun read. And it’s a series! And extremely X-rated, FYI, ha!
You’ve been in a reading rut and need something that sucks you in and keeps you hooked (and laughing!):
KATIE: Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau is a coming of age story set in 1970s Baltimore that I recommend to everyone! Caro: This book is so underrated—one of my all time faves. I loved it on audio, FYI, great narrator.
And a bonus book rec from Annabel (which is an excerpt from our chat above: As one of the queens of summer romance, in your opinion, what’s going to be the summer romance read of 2025 (aside from It’s a Love Story, of course!)?
Annabel Monaghan: It’s called Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess. Isn't it the best title that you've ever heard? It's the story of a woman who's going through her late mother's things — they're estranged — and she finds two tickets to this murder investigation simulation game in the countryside in England … she has to go there and they meet all these people and there's a romance, and she ends up solving the mystery of what happened with her mother. It's just so good. It comes out June 10th.
If you’re a longtime What To Cook subscriber, you’re likely very familiar with my “shortcut" and "save time" notes — AKA my tips and tricks for shortening steps in recipes. Buy frozen microwaveable rice instead of making it yourself, use store-bought Italian dressing rather than making a homemade marinade, ask the butcher to cube the pork for you — that kind of thing. One of my all-time favorite store-bought shortcuts that my husband, George, actually introduced me to years ago is New York Bakery Texas Toast.
George hosts a barbecue for his employees every Friday for lunch and this Texas Toast has been a staple on the menu for years — it's truly the perfect garlic bread: golden and crispy on the outside, soft and pillowy inside. George brings home any leftovers, so we often have a slice or two of it in the freezer and over the years I’ve used it in lieu of plain bread in the chicken panzanella, I've made open faced tuna melts with it, and I've served it with too many saucy meatballs to count. I've even brought it to potlucks as my contribution and been begged for the recipe. Thank you, New York Bakery, for agreeing to sponsor this week's edition of So Into That — I am so, so into your Texas Toast! Find it in the freezer aisle at these stores near you.
What to Cook launched in December 2020, which means there are more than 200 recipes in the archives. To help you cook through them, let’s revisit what we cooked this week over the last few years!
1. caro and gaby’s easy-but-fancy grilling menu, 2024
Gaby Dalkin and I launched our easy-but-fancy grilling menu starring her gorgeous grilling cookbook this time last year! Do not sleep on the grilled brie and grapes or the chicken caesar sliders! Feel free to use store-bought caesar dressing! See if I care!!
2. lemony brown butter shrimp rolls, 2023
Lobster rolls, but in this economy.
3. slow-roasted pork butt, 2022
Pork butt three ways! Truly one of my easiest and most genius recipes. Make a big ole hunk of meat, eat it all week in totally different ways.
4. grilled pickle-brined chicken sandwiches, 2021
An absolute What to Cook staple. You’ll never throw out an empty jar of pickles again.
Annabel and her team want to give away 10 (!!) copies of It’s a Love Story to What to Cookers plus a Putnam tote bag to make you look like a cool literary girly at the pool this summer! To enter to win, comment on this post with the book you’re most excited to read this summer — whether it’s one of the above, or one you want to add to our must-read list. Winners will be randomly chosen Tuesday, 5/27, and announced next Wednesday (so enter before 5/27!). I am so excited for this giveaway, but also want to encourage you to pre-order Annabel’s book or check it out from your local library this summer to support Annabel!
