THE SUMMER THAT MADE US by Robyn Carr is a layered tale of family relationships, tragedy, and heartbreak underpinned by deep connections and memories that remind the characters of better days.

Two sisters who married two brothers, and had three daughters apiece, used to spend idyllic summers together on the lake where they were as close and as happy as any family could be. But when tragedy struck, it tore them apart where bitterness and jealousy made sure that they would never reconnect again. Until now.
The daughters are all grown up now, living their own lives and making their own mistakes, but when one daughter receives some shocking news, she is determined to bring her family back together so that they can finally heal the heartbreak from the past and face the future together. But life is never that simple and with plenty of emotions, anger, and problems of their own, it may not be as easy as she hoped...

​This book is about a family reuniting after years apart, and as each character has their own issues and lives to contend with, they must also confront that awful summer from all those years ago, and the underlying tension and jealousies that always existed between them. While many believe that you cannot fix the unfixable, this story shows that there is always hope - hope that you can find peace with the past and move forward together. Full of family drama and interesting characters, THE SUMMER THAT MADE US by Robyn Carr, is a story of loss, heartache, and hope, and ultimately the importance of family in all of its forms. While this wouldn't be my favourite book of Robyn Carr's it is definitely well worth reading, and I highly recommend it.

Fans of Robyn Carr will like this book. It wasn't exactly what I'd thought it'd be as it deals with a disease everyone hears about every day, but it wan an enjoyable read.

The Summer That Made Us is a great read! Robyn Carr's characters are complex and ring true to life. She deftly weaves together many interesting related family relationships/events and slowly reveals a long kept family secret. I had trouble putting this book down. I just had to know how it all worked out. It made me think about milestone events/decisions in my life and wondered how things might have been different if these events/decisions had been different. I think The Summer That Made Us might be an interesting book discussion selection.

This complex multi-generational story has all the best elements of a good read. Each character is so detailed that it feels like you've personally known them. The love, losses, and second chances of one large extended family is engrossing and real. I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. Excellent!

This one fell short for a typical Carr for me. Just didn't have her normal warmth and the feeling of a homecoming. Too many characters with too many issues, most barely glanced upon. I still enjoyed it but not as much as I usually do her novels. Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy.

Slow to start, nice pace in the middle, and quickly wrapped up ending. This stand alone novel journeys through decades following one family from idyllic laid-back summer vacations to today's dying wish. It doesn't follow chronologically, but mostly stays in present day talking and thinking about the past. There is a wishfulness for the future at the end that leaves you feeling at peace.

People under stress often struggle to make basic decisions but here we see women from all different situations come together and make the most of this time at the lake house.

I think that this book had the potential to be a really great book and I think for many regular readers of this author will enjoy it, but I didn't really think it worked out for me personally - which is really unfortunate because I was expecting to love it, in kind of a This is Where I Leave You family reunion sort of book.

Thank you so much to Little Bird Press for providing me with an eARC of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

This book follows the story of a family who has been broken and estranged by a tragedy twenty-some years ago. The story jumps through a couple of different narrators, including Megan and her sister Charley and their cousins Krista and Hope, and different timelines, that fateful summer and present day. After many years apart and of not going to the lake house in the summer, cancer-stricken Meg pleads with her family for one last reunion before she passes away. Through the summer, the family reunites and works through their issues.

On the outside, this book sounds really interesting. I was anticipating, as I mentioned, something like Tropper's novel, This Is Where I Leave You - a dysfunctional family reuniting in the face of a tragedy and healing. And I suppose that is what I got, but I think this one had a few too many integral issues for me to truly enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

Firstly, the narration threw me off. The story was told in third person so I was already feeling a little distant from the characters and then the narrators kept jumping around, sometimes even within chapters. I don't know if I am just more used to a certain type of narration and then this one was just too outside of my usual that I wasn't a fan or what happened.

I also had a hard time keeping track of the characters. They all pretty much sounded the same because it was third person and it took me a good chunk to figure out the family tree. The cousins may as well have been sisters, their mothers marrying a pair of brothers and because of how close they were growing up.

I think that the main reason I wasn't a fan of this book was that I didn't connect to any of the characters. It seemed like each one was embodying some sort of trope and stereotype. Meg - the sick one, Charley - pregnant at 16, Bunny - died tragically, Hope - has delusions and mental health issues, Krista - went to prison, Beverley - the foster kid. It just felt like I didn't know the characters, I knew what had happened to them. Each of their trials felt like plot points, not characteristics, something I don't usually like.

I will say that this book did have its good moments, and perhaps I'm being a little too critical. I feel like it would be a good relaxing read, one where you aren't really becoming fully invested in the story for a long period of time but just kind of reading to pass the time. One of those typical "women's fiction" novels that your grandma or mom might read. And I think that might also be a part of why I didn't love it - I'm not the right demographic. I was expecting more than a book like this could give me.

The writing itself was fairly well done and I can see why many people love Carr's novels and will enjoy this one. I just think it didn't draw me in enough to fully enjoy it.

Overall, if you are a Carr fan, definitely give it a go - but for me, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

One of my favorite authors of all times. I loved this book just like the others. Can't wait for more.

Robyn Carr’s latest, The Summer That Made Us, is about family and all the emotions family brings forth.

For the Hempsteads, two sisters who married two brothers and had three daughters each, summers were idyllic. The women would escape each summer and gather at Lake Waseka. The lake was a magical place, a haven where they were happy and carefree. Until the summer that changed everything. Years go by with the family drifting further apart. Then one woman decides to draw her family together again, and the only way that can happen is to return to the lake and face the truth.

What drove this family apart? That question is what plagued me as I read this book. One answer to that question is made obvious. But there is more than one answer to that question! It was the more that took a surprising, mysterious twist, which I loved because I wasn’t expecting it at all.

As I stated above, the main theme of this book was family. It was about stepping up to help your family, even if you’re not that happy with them at the time. I closed the book satisfied with the ending though it was a little sad. I won’t tell you why it was sad because that would ruin your journey. But I encourage you to take the journey. It’s a good one.

Goodness, what a great book. So many emotions. A complex family with equally complex problems. I could not put it down.

The Summer That Made Us is a story spread across three generations of women, bringing them together once more in an attempt to make everything right again. The story introduces us to women who are mothers, daughters, sisters and even cousins. The tragedy that broke them apart, the lives they led before and after, and a journey towards healing.

What started off as tradition between two families (two sisters married two brothers) and their children, soon becomes a rather intriguing story as the truth of the past comes out into the open. When Meg, who is suffering from cancer, wants to open up the Lake house one more time, she sets into motion a series of events that finally shape the lives of her sisters, cousins, her aunt and mother. So much has changed and happened, but the voices of the past never keep quiet.

The Lake house brings out memories and secrets buried deep, and though the plan is met with resistance initially, it proves to be better than expected. Meg's elder sister sets out to make the house livable again, while Meg invites the family. The best part of this story is when one by one, each woman finds her peace with her past and her present, finding ways to open up and move on. The journey of healing begins with frank conversations and open discussions. This is made clear by the author, who ensures that the reader is hooked until the end. You will laugh and cry with these women, you will love them and hate them and eventually, as things start to become right, you just know that this story was worth knowing and needs to be passed on.

This story is filled with people whom we can easily relate to, their troubles become our troubles and their pain is ours too. Such is the beauty of the author's story telling. This book is worth a read for all the lessons it brings out and the life experiences along with the bonds between people. Even though people change in life, their journey shapes them, some bonds are forever and family is always there by your side no matter how bad it gets! That's a message every reader will take away from this book!

This is the very touching story of a family whose lives were all changed by a summer tragedy. Sisters Lou and Jo were each the mother of three daughters. They all spent summers together at the family lake house. After the tragedy, none of them visit again. Years later, Meg, one of the cousins who spent summers on the lake, has cancer and wants to get her family back together again in this place they all once loved. The family hasn't kept in good contact since that long ago summer, but now a sister and cousin join Meg at the lake house. They start to build and repair relationships and to come to terms with the past.

Great characters, a poignant storyline, and a wonderful summer setting make this another wonderful read from Carr!

Robyn is the best at weaving a story. This was interesting, exciting, surprising and romantic. It also contained a good dose of realistic circumstances. I was completely engrossed in lake life with the dysfunctional family. Riveting.

The Summer That Made Us

Robyn Carr




Wow, what an emotional rollercoaster THE SUMMER THAT MADE US had me on. Megan has one crazy family and wants them all to get together one more summer at their lake house. Megan has cancer and she wants to try to get the family back as a whole like the good old days. It's been almost thirty years and Megan feels like it's time to let go of the past and be a family again. When I tell you this family is blistered, fractured, and blown to pieces, you will have to take my word for it. As you read THE SUMMER THAT MADE US you will begin to feel the same way.


For the Hempstead family, two sisters marry two brothers. Each family has three girls and they have them in six years. They go to the lake house every summer the day after school gets out and stay there until Labor Day. Life is good, they are all happy until the one summer when tragedy strikes. A young girl drowns and their lives will never be the same. The lake house is boarded up never to be used again. One by me, each of the daughters is broken. The sisters, Louise, and Jo don't talk anymore and they were best of friends. Once I started reading THE SUMMER THAT MADE US I was instantly hooked. I felt as if I were right there with all of these women, stressing everything they were going through.


The twists and turns in THE SUMMER THAT MADE US will have you staying up late just to read one more page. Before you know it, you have read three more chapters. Don't you love when an author has that kind of power over you? I sure do and that why I always run to Robyn Carr's books. She never fails to pull on my heart strings and never disappoints. By the time I finished, I had a huge lump in my throat, tears streaming down, and a stupid smile on my face. THE SUMMER THAT MADE US is filled with family, forgiveness, love, grief, and letting go of the past.
One by one, the women return to their summer cottage and stories are shared, events and good times remembered, and slowly they become a family again. Who could ask for anything more?

Two Sisters, their husbands and daughters, family secrets and deep hurt. This a a well written novel about facing the reality of family struggles and putting aside past demons and hurts to find love and acceptance. Love trumps heartache every-time! This book is thought provoking. Sometimes catastrophic illness is a true motivator to change.. Robyn Carr is an awesome story teller!

This book will hit you in the feels the whole way through. It starts with a crazy family, 2 sisters who married 2 brothers and their 6 daughters, 3 for each. The summers at the lake (an institution for those that live in Minnesota) seemed idyllic until a summer that changed them all. Just hearing those events make you want to cry, but worse is after no one has the energy to deal with other crazy life events and the families fracture, fracture in a big way so it wasn't just sister against sister, but mother against daughter, families blasted apart.

I loved that Megan wanted to bring back the summer lake adventure, but hated her reason why. As the younger women all started to show up, it was hard not to smile, to see them get to know each other as adults, to be there for each other as they all faced the past. It seems like the mothers had a harder time, they had more issues to work through, but they did, which lead them to facing down their daughters. I don't think either of them could have done it on their own, but together they were stronger, much like they were in the past.

I loved that the whole family was able to find peace at the lake, that losses were laid to rest, that the past was moved on from and that once again ties were built strong, because they needed those ties at the end, to grab a hold of each other for one of their own.

I was sent a copy of this book from the publisher, but it did not sway my review. I have only previously read one Robin Carr novel and I really enjoyed it, so I was excited to get back into her writing style.

This story took me a little longer to get into than the last Robin Carr book I read. I am glad I did not give up on it, but I prefer something that will catch my attention right away. The story did start to grow on me as it went on.

This deals with so many different issues: illness, relationships, teen pregnancy and adoption, and of course family. I enjoyed the plot and the writing, but I could not connect with the story as much as I would have liked. This definitely had everything you would want in a great read though.

Overall, still loving Robin Carr and I will continue to read her upcoming work. I also want to read some of her previous work based on some others recommendations. This was not my favorite, but I still really enjoyed it.

I love the way Robyn Carr tells a story. In this stand-alone novel we learn about the women of the Hempstead family: mothers, sisters, daughters, cousins all spent their summers at their Minnesota lake house until a tragedy ended the tradition. That tragedy was the tipping point in most of their lives. Now one of the cousins is in the end stage of cancer and her one wish is for everyone to come back to the lake house. What will happen when everyone says yes to her invitation? The Summer That Made Us is a page-turner of a novel. I love stories about second chances. Each person who returned to the lake seemed to have earned that second chance but will the secrets and misunderstandings from decades earlier be explained and resolved? I enjoyed it all and recommend it to fans of Robyn Carr and stories about families.

When I first started this book, it almost felt like it could have been a memoir.

In the Hempstead family, two sisters married two brothers and, when one sister is battling cancer, her wish is to return to the family summer home, which had not been used in years. The summer home had been in the family for a long while but had been unoccupied after a tragedy struck one summer when the sisters were young.

This story made for a nice, but sometimes sad summer read. Great characters, a good story filled with both love and sadness.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34051969-the-summer-that-made-us

The Summer that Made Us by Robyn Carr is a great read. At its center, lies a family struggling with their lives. Each one feels stressed. A past event has kept them torn apart. Now, in the present they go back to the place where all went wrong. Some want to forget it, while others want to remember the good that was there. Hope, fear, anger, and a sadness lingers on every page. I was taken into each character's feelings. They felt hesitant about the future. Loss, death, and managing relationships both personal and in the family is a hard thing to juggle. I understood the characters' actions. However, I didn't feel as close to them as I have with other characters. Robyn Carr is phenomenal writer. Her stories have always inspired me. This book, is inspiring in many ways but the emotional entertaining connection wasn't really there for me. I didn't really want to dig deep in this tale. But I continued. The themes and points were on target. Just didn't feel as engaging as Robyn Carr's previous novels. The Summer that Made Us fits perfectly with the pages' content. I do recommend this book. It drags some but it's still worth reading.