Summer can be a great time for new experiences, for trying things you've never done before. And that applies to reading as well--so here are five novels by new writers worth taking a chance on.

From the hoopla of a wartime celebration during a Thanksgiving football game to a divorced woman's gradual fall from grace in Cleveland high society, from a financially struggling ex-punk star coping with the ghosts of her past to young men and women moving in with their parents, these five Character Approved novels will make you think while they entertain you. They'll almost certainly shake up your summer... in the best way. (And, because they're all by writers making their full-length fiction debuts, you'll be able to be among the first to recommend them to your friends!)

[Image: cover to Gilded Age, courtesy Simon & Schuster]