3.53 AVERAGE

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

hopefully_reading's review

3.0

Starting out with themes of marriage, divorce, raising kids, and single-parenting, this book felt at first like it was written for a demographic a little older than my little 27 years, but as I read on, I found there’s something for every women who’s ever experienced quarter-life-crisis to relate to.

It’s about having girlfriends (the platonic kind) you can turn to no matter what’s going on in your life and how no matter where you feel you are in life, everyone finds their way in their own time, we’re all on a different path. It’s about the stories we tell ourself and how maladaptive thinking patterns can seriously hold us back in life.

I bumped it down from a 4-star because it was kind of a slower read for me and at times it just seemed too on-the-nose, but it wasn’t a bad read. I do recommend it.

It’s a feel-good summer read for any woman in her late 20s to 30s. There’s friendship, book club, self-exploration and introspection, dating, family trauma, and self-actualization.

jessemcjames's review

3.0

I liked it I guess but it was mundane and 75% therapy speak. I think if you really need therapy because you struggle with relationships this is probably a good read?
fimac's profile picture

fimac's review

4.0

I enjoyed this book.

tdeitcher's review

3.0
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
mrvm's profile picture

mrvm's review

4.75
funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I am getting back into reading Susan Mallery books and very happy about that. There is no spice which you don’t miss because the story and relationships are great. Her books are very women centric and the males are minor background characters but give off the “man written by a woman” idea. Only criticism is that I wish there was an epilogue.

sparkleys's review

4.0

Susan Mallery is an automatic read author for me. Her books got me through 2020 and have been a comfort read for me ever since. I definitely did a little happy dance when Netgalley and Canary Street Press let me read The Summer Book Club early in exchange for a review.

Laurel is set for a summer of reading with her bestie, spending time with her daughters, and thrifting for her resale business. But when it comes to her attention her oldest daughter has decided all men are unreliable and terrible, a result of her ex husband’s abandonment she decides her girls need a positive male role model in her life. Unfortunately she doesn’t know any, so making a new, male, friend is now top of her list.

Paris is summer reading club ready, with her successful generational farm stand ready for its busiest time nothing can phase her. Until her ex husband she might still have feelings for turns up, with his adorable son.

Cassie’s family has decided she needs to get a life, wether she wants one or not. Temporarily banishing her from the family and their small town they send her to California to check out the inheritance she was left years ago but never explored. Spreading her wings for the first time in her life is a little easier when she finds new friends and a book club in her temporary new home.

It’s has absolutely everything I love about a Susan Mallery book. A heavy focus on friendship and life changing and evolving. Some fantastic romances. It’s an absolutely perfect read for Valentine’s Day, which coincides perfectly with this books Feb 13 publication date.
mpretzersimpson's profile picture

mpretzersimpson's review

3.5
lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

bhunsberger's review

4.0

I received an advanced copy of this book.


While there is a book club in this book, the main focus of the story is on friends Laurel and Paris, and then Cassie who moves to town for a six month trial-run. Each of the women have had relationship or family challenges and are juggling various opportunities to stretch themselves and try something new. Their book club does provide an outlet for discussions the romantic heroines of the stories and perhaps take some similar chances in their own lives.