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.

With Our Last 20 Dollars - May Edition

With Our Last $20 is a feature here at The Broke & The Bookish wherein we answer the prompt of which book we'd purchase with the last $20 left in our pocket for each month -- be it new releases or older books..basically which ever book we'd be so excited to read that we'd be willing to spend the last $20 in our pockets on. I mean, we are The Broke and the Bookish after all. We'd no doubt live up to our name and forgo other things for a new book!



Julia's Pick  - Once Upon a Tower  by Eloisa James (Out May 28th)

Eloisa James is one of my favorite authors, so she it totally an auto-buy for me. Plus I am really into Fairy Tale retellings right now (I am looking at you Scarlet and Cinder), and thus I am curious to see how she weaves in elements from Rapunzel into a historical romance. Also is it bad that I want the hero to be blind somehow? Seriously. The Grimm's Rapunzel is a rough tale...


Jana's Pick - Adorkable by Sarra Manning

I mean, COME ON. 

"This novel is about an unlikely relationship, but it's also about roller derby, dogs on skateboards, dogs on surfboards, dogs doing any form of extreme sport, old skool hip hop, riding your bike downhill really fast, riot grrrl, those boys you want to kiss but punch in the face at the same time, dyeing your hair ridiculous colors just because you can, stitch 'n' bitch, the songs that make you dance, the songs that make you cry, being a bad ass, cake, love, death, and everything in between."

It sounds perfect!

Daisy's Pick - And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (out May 21st)

With A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini managed to break my heart into a million pieces, all of those pieces very much in love with this amazing book and even though I know I suck big time for not having read The Kite Runner yet, I'd give my last $20 to have And The Mountains Echoed in my hands. I have no doubt that it will be just as amazing as A Thousand Splendid Suns. And I really love the cover :)

Jen's Pick - The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene

First, the title has "Paris" in it. I would automatically pick this book up in the bookstore. The main character is forced to become a spy and the book takes place during World War II. For whatever reason I really seem to like books that take place during WWII.






Jamie's Pick - The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

With the hype that has been surrounding this book and the rave reviews I would definitely spend my last $20 on this one to find out what it is about! I've actually just read it this past weekend but I still wanted to put it as my pick because I had been just WAITING for May to come before it surprised me in my mailbox! ALIENS! END OF THE WORLD STUFF! I really, really enjoyed it!