Billy Harper is a single mother and the head librarian in the town of Butternut Lake. Merely trying to survive the onset of her son’s adolescence, Billy frequently copes by talking to her labrador, Murphy, on the back porch, with a glass of wine and a Jane Austen novel. Her son Luke has never met his father, but now that Billy’s father has passed away, Luke becomes curious and wants Billy to contact a man she hasn’t spoken to since before Luke was born. Meanwhile, Luke has been hanging out with a high school dropout and another rebellious teen, which landed him a visit to the local police station. Billy has to leave from a wedding to pick him up, with a ride from the new arrival in town, Cal, a former architect who rode in from Seattle in a Porsche. The Light in Summer: A Butternut Lake Novel is a humorous foray into summer love and second chances.
The Recipe
When Billy was in desperate need of her father’s advice on raising a child alone, “He found bread, peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff” and made them each a fluffernutter sandwich with a glass of milk and spoke in silence many things.
Peanut Butter Cupcake with Marshmallow Fluff and PB Swirled Frosting
Ingredients
- salted butter, at room temperature
- granulated sugar
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- large eggs
- vanilla extract
- milk
- creamy peanut butter
- marshmallow fluff
- powdered sugar
- mini marshmallows, for garnish
Instructions
For full recipe and instructions, visit owlcation.com/humanities/The-Light-in-Summer-Book-Discussion-and-Recipe.
Discussion Questions
- “I swear this air is like…breathable Ambien or something” Cal spoke of Butternut Lake. What makes the air in the mountains smell so much better than in the city? Did this also represent the stressful life he’d left behind, and that eh felt more relaxed at Butternut?
- Why did Billy, unlike most Jane Austen lovers, not have a favorite of her novels? What did she like to do with them in the evenings, and why did she so often return to that particular author?
For more discussion questions, visit owlcation.com/humanities/The-Light-in-Summer-Book-Discussion-and-Recipe.
Similar Recommended Readings
Other books by Mary McNear include the rest of the Butternut Series, beginning with Up at Butternut Lake, Moonlight on Butternut Lake, Butternut Summer, Butternut Lake The Night Before Christmas, and The Space Between Sisters.
Books recommended within this book included Jane Austen books such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, the Harry Potter series (read to Luke), Jodi Picoult novels, Wuthering Heights, Little Women, Little House books, Betsy-Tacy books, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Wrinkle in Time.
Other romantic stories similar to this one are the Sarah Addison Allen novels, particularly Lost Lake, about a group of lakeside cabins where several people find their heart’s desires and healing, and Garden Spells, about a woman on the run from an abusive ex-husband with her daughter, who returns to her childhood home and eccentric family, and her family name.
Barefoot Bay: Divine Connection by Amy Lyon also features a character like Wesley who has a fishing boat/paddleboard/bait shop business by the ocean. That main character is a handsome, single young landlord to a place where a pretty young woman has just started an essential oils shop to help her start over from a broken life and some difficult relationships. This novel is filled with beautiful descriptions to make you crave the salty air of the Keys.
Another woman who delighted in recommending books to people and having one in stock for every person in need in a small town in Scotland without a library is the heroine of The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. Nina rescued most of her books from the new city’s digital library from where she was fired and delights in pairing them with eccentric people in a town who need her books as much as she needs them to purchase them out of her beautifully decorated, refurbished van/bookstore.
Similar Recommended Readings
Other books by Mary McNear include the rest of the Butternut Series, beginning with Up at Butternut Lake, Moonlight on Butternut Lake, Butternut Summer, Butternut Lake The Night Before Christmas, and The Space Between Sisters.
Books recommended within this book included Jane Austen books such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, the Harry Potter series (read to Luke), Jodi Picoult novels, Wuthering Heights, Little Women, Little House books, Betsy-Tacy books, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Wrinkle in Time.
Other romantic stories similar to this one are the Sarah Addison Allen novels, particularly Lost Lake, about a group of lakeside cabins where several people find their heart’s desires and healing, and Garden Spells, about a woman on the run from an abusive ex-husband with her daughter, who returns to her childhood home and eccentric family, and her family name.
Barefoot Bay: Divine Connection by Amy Lyon also features a character like Wesley who has a fishing boat/paddleboard/bait shop business by the ocean. That main character is a handsome, single young landlord to a place where a pretty young woman has just started an essential oils shop to help her start over from a broken life and some difficult relationships. This novel is filled with beautiful descriptions to make you crave the salty air of the Keys.
Another woman who delighted in recommending books to people and having one in stock for every person in need in a small town in Scotland without a library is the heroine of The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. Nina rescued most of her books from the new city’s digital library from where she was fired and delights in pairing them with eccentric people in a town who need her books as much as she needs them to purchase them out of her beautifully decorated, refurbished van/bookstore.
A Cupcake and a Book 