Warning: These new books will keep you out of the pool, hiding under the beach umbrella and then up all night to finish.

Photo: Oprah.comGone Girl
By Gillian Flynn

"You could imagine the skull quite easily" is just the kind of sentiment you wish serial killers would keep to themselves. It's also one of the first things Nick Dunne--the handsome, smarmy, admittedly dishonest narrator of the opening chapter of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl-tells us about "the finely shaped head" of his wife, Amy. Make that his missing wife, Amy, who just happens to disappear from their Missouri home on the morning of their fifth anniversary, fueling a small-town melodrama--complete with middling cops, fame-hungry neighbors, and cable-TV news crews--in her wake. As the story unfolds in precise and riveting prose, alternating between Nick's voice and Amy's diaries chronicling their relationship, it quickly becomes clear that theirs was not the happiest marriage, and that Nick, "a big fan of the lie of omission," is hiding

Choosing your next read requires a quick mood check: Do you want something light and frothy or serious and engaging? These top picks will satisfy every craving from the shallow end to the deep. By Tiffany Blackstone, REDBOOK.

Courtesy of Ballantine Bantam Dell BooksThe After Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazier
Hannah Bernal has problems: Her husband just died, she's about to lose her home, she just got her daughter kicked out of school-oh, and she's suddenly seeing ghosts. When it comes to bubbly reads with a big gulp of heart, The Starter Wife author Grazier never disappoints.




Courtesy of Atria Publishing GroupBetween You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
The latest pseudo-insider story from duo behind The Nanny Diaries takes on A-list Hollywood meltdowns from a personal assistant's point of view. It's like being a fly on the wall in Britney Spear's mega mansion.

Related: The Best Mom Moments of All Time



Courtesy of Little, Brown and CompanyWhere'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox-semi-recluse, genius architect and PTA pariah- is on the lam, and her teen daughter Bee is

The Sweet Life, a new e-serial that imagines the Sweet Valley High twins at 30.Vampires and post-apocalyptic gladiators are the new teenagers of young adult fiction. But in the '70s and '80s the original heroes were just regular kids with hormonal drama. Weren't we all?

Twilight fans screen newest trailer

We survived childhood and pubescence, with a little help from writers like Francine Pascal, Judy Blume and Lois Duncan. So how would their characters fare as adults?

In The Sweet Life, a brand new continuation of the Sweet Valley High series, Elizabeth and Jessica are all grown up. The "e-serial," released episodically each Sunday from July 15 through August 12, re-imagines the Wakefield sisters as mothers and career-women. Don't worry, they've still got plenty of high school drama.

"They are 30 now, they look different and their experiences have been broadened but inside their heads there's still those 16 year old girls," Francine Pascal, creator and author of the Sweet Valley High franchise, as well as the latest series, tells Yahoo! Shine.

Pascal spent a

Jewelry has always held a special place in Beth Bernstein's life: More than just trinkets of adornment, gems have been guideposts to her memories, and through them, she tells her story. Every piece of precious metal and stone in her new book My Charmed Life: Rocky Romances, Precious Family Connections, and Searching for a Band of Gold represents a chapter in her life - and not just her life alone. Treasured pieces link generation to generation as they are passed from mother to daughter. From Beth's mother's Jackie Kennedy-style Mikimoto pearls, to her father's Cartier Tank watch, to her great-grandmother's Edwardian opal brooch, to her personal eclectic collection of rings, necklaces, charms and more, each jewelry piece has a tale of its own.

On one hand, the book is a moving tribute to a family of strong women, and the power of female bonds. A child of divorce, Beth was primarily brought up by her mother and grandmothers, and she celebrates these women for their wisdom, love and

Looking for your next great read? Look no further. Real Simple's Facebook fans have you covered for the best books to read this summer.


harpercollins.com
Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected- A Memoir
by Kelle Hampton



To buy: $25, amazon.com

Recommended by Christine H.


Also See: Best Ways to Enjoy Summer





barnesandnoble.com
The Fifty Shades Trilogy
by E.L. James

To buy: $16, barnesandnoble.com.

Recommended by more readers than we could count.


Also See: Summer Party Planner






Penguin Group
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)
by Jenny Lawson

To buy: $26, amazon.com

Recommended by T.K.


Also See: 50 Fun Summer Activities Checklist





Penguin Group
My Name is Memory
by Ann Brashares

To buy: $15, barnesandnoble.com.

Recommended by Carrie W.


Also See: Favorite Summer Recipes






barnesandnoble.com
The Dry Grass of August
by Anna Jean Mayhew

To buy: $15, barnesandnoble.com.

Recommended by Estela D.


Also See: Summery Pastel Clothing






Macmillan
Big Girl Small: A Novel
by Rachel DeWorskin

To buy: $25, amazon.com.

The truth-filled books to turn to when your mind is full of confused, not-so-helpful thoughts.

Photo: Courtesy of DuttonThe Situation: "He lied, he's cheated, and it's over. Now what do I do?"

The Book: Split: A Memoir of Divorce
By Suzanne Finnamore
272 pages; Dutton

Everybody who gets divorced ought to write a memoir about it, as Suzanne Finnamore has done in Split (Dutton), as a service to the rest of us struggling to unravel the mysteries of marriage.

Finnamore's story opens with a bang: her husband downing two martinis and announcing that he's leaving her and their toddler and their stylish house in wealthy Marin County, California.

He swears there is no other woman, though, naturally, there is.

RELATED: 9 Mysteries Every Thinking Woman Should Read

He's a liar and a smoothy--we all know the type--and he never deepens into a full-blown personality in Finnamore's story. Split is not a thoughtful autopsy of a marriage; it's impassioned and immediate, concerned only with its narrator's swinging moods

It seems like there are endless lists of of "The Best 100 Books Ever Written". Everyone from Time Magazine to Amazon to The New York Times seems to have complied a list. We at The Shine have sifted through the lists to come up with what we think are the the top 100. How many have you read already?