1.  Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm—This MG Newberry Honor book revolves around a young Italian-American girl living in New York City.  Set right after World War II, it deals with prejudice against Italians, fear of polio, and the coming-of-age of our heroine.


2.  The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson—I've loved several of Jackson's novels, but I haven't read this one yet.  This Southern family drama concerns a woman who is visited by the ghost of her 13-year-old neighbor.  The apparition leads her to a dead body and a mystery that will reveal shocking truths about her family's past.


3.  The Safe Place by Anna Downes—This thriller concerns a young woman who's in desperate need of a lucky break.  When a wealthy couple offers her a lucrative housekeeping job at their remote French estate, she jumps at the chance.  All is not perfect in paradise, however, as she soon finds out ...


4.  The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish—Another thriller, this one is about Natalie, a woman whose routine wife/mother/teacher life is shaken up when she meets wealthy, charismatic Lara who pulls her into a lavish lifestyle unlike any she's ever known.  Who is Lara, really?  And what is Natalie getting herself into?


5.  Summer Darlings by Brooke Lea Foster—Like The Safe Place, this novel is about a down-on-her-luck young woman who takes a glamorous job in Martha's Vineyard as a nanny for a wealthy couple.  As she tries to fit in with the upper crust, she discovers that nothing in that glittering world is quite what it seems ...


6.  The Vacation by T.M. Logan—The teaser says it all:  Seven Days.  Three Families.  One Killer.


7.  The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis—The plot summary on this one doesn't reveal a ton.  Apparently, it involves two frenemies who need to let go of the past in order to secure a happy, successful future. 


8.  Swimming Between Worlds by Elaine Neil Orr—This historical concerns three very different people whose lives converge in tumultuous North Carolina during the Civil Rights Movement.


9.  Up For Air by Laurie Morrison—This MG novel stars Annabelle Wilner, a 13-year-old who excels at swimming.  When she's invited to join the high school swim team, she becomes desperate to impress an older boy who's paying her a surprising amount of attention.  Her ploys, however, might just cost her everything that means anything to her, including friendships, family relationships, and a swimming scholarship.  Is her crush really worth it?


10.  For the Best by Vanessa Lillie (available September 8, 2020)—When her wallet is found next to a freshly-killed corpse, Jules Worthington-Smith becomes the chief suspect in the man's murder.  Despite the fact that she was drunk out of her mind on the night of the murder, Jules is sure she had nothing to do with it.  Now, she just has to prove her innocence ...

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a dip in the pool!  What do you think of my "splashy" list?  Can you think of any other books with swimming pools on the cover?  What's on your TTT list today?

Happy TTT!

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

Although Saving Ruth by Zoe Fishman looks like a nice, fluffy summer read, it really isn't.  The pool setting gives it a nostalgic setting, true, but the subjects tackled in the novel (eating disorders, racism, family conflict) make it a deeper read than it might appear to be at first glance.  That being said, I actually think the book tries to cover too much territory as the racist subplot seems tacked on to me.  Also, there's Ruth.  Usually, I love me a snarky underdog of a heroine, but something about this one rubbed me the wrong way.  Actually, none of the characters really spoke to me, especially not the college-age ones who only seemed to be interested in drinking, smoking pot and working on their tans.  Maybe that's true-to-life, but to me Ruth and her buddies acted like immature slackers.  So, yeah, the overreaching plot, plus the unappealing characters left me feeling pretty ambivalent about this one.  I didn't hate Saving Ruth, but I didn't love it either.  Overall, I'd have to say:  meh.