“Every year around this time, there is a flood of memes highlighting the busyness of parenthood once school starts. It’s time for football sign-ups and joining Girl Scouts and running PTA bake sales. It’s the era of dinner being served at 4 p.m. or 9 p.m. because you’re at gymnastics meets all evening. It’s meme after meme about how running our children’s extracurriculars is basically akin to a second job, and then it’s followed by well-meaning Instagram accounts and TikTok influencers sharing how, actually, they don’t sign up for activities outside of school and work because they actually value their family time,” writes Samantha Darby.

Well, today, she’d like to correct the narrative. And I know from watching the sidelines at soccer games that a lot of you might agree! Give it a read.

— Kelly Faircloth, Executive Editor

Is there anything better than a really good mystery that’s solved by a really good detective? It’s 1975, and a camper has gone missing from her summer camp in the Adirondacks without a trace. And that’s not all — her brother disappeared into the same woods 14 years ago, and the case has never been solved.

Now the camp is being turned upside down — and there’s no shortage of suspects, ranging from the kids’ parents to the camp counselors to the cook with a shady past. Did we mention there’s an escaped serial killer lurking in the woods? Who can solve this mystery, which sprawls across time, family histories, and pay grades – well, it’s Judyta Luptack, the only female investigator in the area.

This is the perfect summer-to-fall transition book. It takes place at a summer camp but has the feeling of a spooky campus novel. It’s a big, thick book but it reads light and fast. Most importantly to me: the mystery is twisty and surprising without being out of the blue. I couldn’t be happier that the Scary Mommy Book Club Community voted for this pick for September! — Sarah Aswell, Senior Editor, News & Social, @seaswell