The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (April 25 2017)
ISBN-13: 978-0316440653
Synopsis: The discovery of long-buried secrets brings three generations of women together to Cape Cod for the summer homecoming of a lifetime.
Marin Bishop has always played by the rules, and it’s paid off: on the cusp of thirty she has a handsome fiancé, a prestigious Manhattan legal career, and her father’s hard-won admiration. But with one careless mistake at work, Marin suddenly finds herself unemployed and alone. Before she can summon the courage to tell her parents, a young woman appears, claiming to be Marin’s half-sister. Seeking answers, Marin agrees to join her on a soul-searching journey to Cape Cod, to meet the family she didn’t even know she had.
As the summer unfolds at her grandmother’s beachside B&B, it becomes clear that her half-sister’s existence is just the first in a series of truths that will shake Marin’s beliefs–in love, and in her own identity–to the core. Filled with shocking revelations, heartfelt romance, and resilient women banding together against the most unexpected twists of fate, THE FOREVER SUMMER is an emotionally resonant page-turner, and a delicious escape for any season.
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Let me start by saying; I think this book will make an awesome summer read. And I read it in the middle of winter! So I was left to imagine myself lying on the beach while reading The Forever Summer…
Anyways… Jamie Brenner has created an entertaining female centric novel that tells the story of how secrets can change a person’s’ (or people’s) life. What I did find interesting: while I felt Marin was supposed to be the main focus character, (since she was the one that held all the other female characters together) the story was not told solely in her point of view. There was a lot of back and forth around the point of view, without any indication of whose POV the text would be in for each chapter. I found this to be very confusing at some points (NOTE: I was reading an advanced reader’s copy of the book and this could be different in the final copy).
I really enjoyed the dynamic between the characters; they were all really different and it created some good chemistry between them. But one of my favourite things about this book was the setting: set in a beachside bed and breakfast in Cape Cod, I felt that Brenner really made the place come to life in my mind and made me wish I could visit the B&B. This was so important for the book as the setting played a large role in establishing the plot. This was my first Jamie Brenner novel, but I will definitely be looking for more.
Rating: 8/10
*I received this book from Hachette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review*
