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A review by thebooknerdscorner
That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White
2.0
A touching story about complex family relations, unexpected connections, and cherishing one's hometown.
In her youth, Phoebe Manigault was struck by lightning which left her with prophetic dreams about people she encounters. Plagued by a reoccurring nightmare and the beauty of her older sister, Addie, Phoebe moves to the West coast to escape all the stress. When their mother develops dementia, Addie implores Phoebe to return home to help out and the sisters are once more at each other's throats. Back in her hometown, Phoebe meets an elderly woman by the name of Celeste whose granddaughter disappered years ago. Celeste hopes that she can befriend Phoebe in the hope that she can solve the disappearance of her beloved Julia. The longer Phoebe remains in South Carolina, the worse that her premonitions get but the closer she gets to reconciling her differences with her elder sister.
Personally, this one was just okay to me. Dementia is a brutal thing to deal with, so my heart goes out to Phoebe and Addie's plight, but I wasn't overly connected to either of them. I was even less invested in Celeste's story due to the fact that I found what happened to Julia to be pretty obvious despite not knowing all of the details.
Phoebe's gift added an element of magical realism that snuck in an interesting twist to this rather mundane slice of life story. It is neat that she developed "thunder powers" but I still found them to be mostly underwhelming.
Phobe and Liam's romantic arc was also pretty mid in my opinion. I always find the savior trope to be rather cringe, but it was okay in this case. Liam saved Phoebe's life when they were really young and they only met each other for real as midlife adults, so I found their blossoming romance to be cute. Once again, I wasn't overly invested in any of the characters, so it was just okay.
This book is told in uneven dual PoV between Phoebe and Celeste. Personally, I found both of their voices to be really similar and often forgot whose perspective I was in and had to constantly turn back to the chapter heading to verify.
Phoebe is a birder, which was honestly one of the most interesting parts about this book. However, I'm not super invested in birds either, so that still didn't do a whole lot to keep me engaged, especially because it wasn't a huge part of the book.
Overall, "That Last Carolina Summer" was a pretty lackluster read for me. It hits on some emotional subjects such as taking care of a relative with dementia, reconciling with guilt from the past, and learning to work with others despite not getting along with them. I wish I would have been slightly more invested in any aspect of this book, but I mostly found myself reading this one just to get it over with rather than actually enjoying it.
In her youth, Phoebe Manigault was struck by lightning which left her with prophetic dreams about people she encounters. Plagued by a reoccurring nightmare and the beauty of her older sister, Addie, Phoebe moves to the West coast to escape all the stress. When their mother develops dementia, Addie implores Phoebe to return home to help out and the sisters are once more at each other's throats. Back in her hometown, Phoebe meets an elderly woman by the name of Celeste whose granddaughter disappered years ago. Celeste hopes that she can befriend Phoebe in the hope that she can solve the disappearance of her beloved Julia. The longer Phoebe remains in South Carolina, the worse that her premonitions get but the closer she gets to reconciling her differences with her elder sister.
Personally, this one was just okay to me. Dementia is a brutal thing to deal with, so my heart goes out to Phoebe and Addie's plight, but I wasn't overly connected to either of them. I was even less invested in Celeste's story due to the fact that I found what happened to Julia to be pretty obvious despite not knowing all of the details.
Phoebe's gift added an element of magical realism that snuck in an interesting twist to this rather mundane slice of life story. It is neat that she developed "thunder powers" but I still found them to be mostly underwhelming.
Phobe and Liam's romantic arc was also pretty mid in my opinion. I always find the savior trope to be rather cringe, but it was okay in this case. Liam saved Phoebe's life when they were really young and they only met each other for real as midlife adults, so I found their blossoming romance to be cute. Once again, I wasn't overly invested in any of the characters, so it was just okay.
This book is told in uneven dual PoV between Phoebe and Celeste. Personally, I found both of their voices to be really similar and often forgot whose perspective I was in and had to constantly turn back to the chapter heading to verify.
Phoebe is a birder, which was honestly one of the most interesting parts about this book. However, I'm not super invested in birds either, so that still didn't do a whole lot to keep me engaged, especially because it wasn't a huge part of the book.
Overall, "That Last Carolina Summer" was a pretty lackluster read for me. It hits on some emotional subjects such as taking care of a relative with dementia, reconciling with guilt from the past, and learning to work with others despite not getting along with them. I wish I would have been slightly more invested in any aspect of this book, but I mostly found myself reading this one just to get it over with rather than actually enjoying it.