Sunday, May 19, 2013

Lori Reviews All the Summer Girls


Title: All the Summer Girls
Author:  Meg Donohue
Published:  William Morrow, 2013
Where I Got It:  I received this book from the publishers.


Summary from Goodreads: In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiance the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa is obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, the aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book--or a cocktail--long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired...again.
In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women being to realize how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier--and the secrets that only now threaten to surface.

My thoughts:  I LOVED THIS!  A month or so ago, I signed up to receive this book thinking that it would be a nice, relaxing read.  I saw that it was coming out on the 21st, so I really wanted to read it before then.  And I waited and waited for the book to arrive.  I began to worry that it wouldn't get here in time for me to review before it came out.  It came a few days ago, just in time for me to make a lot of progress during Bout of Books.  But I still wasn't overly optimistic about finishing by the 21st.  As you can see, this review is coming out on the 19th.  Apparently, I didn't really need to worry because I couldn't put it down.

I found myself relating to something in each of the three friends' personalities and I think that most readers of this novel would do the same.  I couldn't help but sympathize with the characters and their struggles.  Despite being practically inseparable growing up, each of the characters carries a deep (usually dark) secret about their current lives and one about the fateful night alluded to in the summary.  Donohue does a great job of letting these secrets come out in the narrative.  Each chapter follows the interior thoughts of one of the main characters, giving the reader a variety of perspectives.

This book was definitely the ultimate beach read.  I really wish I had been sitting poolside--if not seaside--as I read this.  I felt myself completely relax and get caught up in the story, wondering what would happen next, how things would play out.  I came to really care about the characters and what happened to them.  Donohue leaves the rest of the story to the readers' imagination, but you get the sense that they will each turn out to be happy.

Bottom line--this was a really fun read that I think many of our readers would really enjoy.

4 comments:

  1. I have been looking for a good poolside read! This sounds really good! Good thing it comes out soon!

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  2. Ooo I'm glad you enjoyed this. It was my Waiting On Wednesday a couple of weeks back. Sounds really good.

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  3. I'm going to try to get my hands on this sometime this summer. It reminds me of a "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" book, only maybe more adult. Just what I need....

    Thanks!

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  4. This sounds like a great summer read. Off to add it to my wishlist. :)

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