Review by louisekf - These Summer Storms

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louisekf 's review for:

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

4.0

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“Rich people behaving badly” is not generally my thing, in terms of book plots, but I was intrigued enough by These Summer Storms to decide to give it a try. If you enjoy family dramas or the aforementioned rich people behaving badly, then definitely check out this book.

The book opens with Alice Storm taking the train from NYC to Rhode Island, after her billionaire father dies suddenly. She hasn’t seen or spoken to her family for five years, after being cast out over something she did, but now she’s heading to the family’s private island off the RI coast for his “celebration.” She wants to leave as soon as possible afterwards. But it turns out that her father’s will includes an inheritance game of sorts and it requires each of the four Storm siblings to do something particular and to stay on the island for a whole week. Or else. Over the course of the book, we get most of the characters’ back stories and secrets.

It started off great, but then lost a bit of steam in the middle (to the point where I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep going). But other reviewers mentioned that it picked up a lot in the second half so I decided to push on and I’m glad I did. By the end of the book, I was feeling a lot more sympathetic to all the characters.

I was privileged to have a hardcover, courtesy of Book Sparks, an ebook courtesy of NetGalley and an audiobook, courtesy of PRH Audio, and I actually wound up using all three at various points. The audiobook was narrated by the great Julia Whelan, so you know you will get a great listening experience if you choose that method. Thank you to Ballantine Books, and all of the above for the opportunity to read and listen to an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings