I really enjoyed this!
My test of a good novel these days is if it makes me feel anything, I don't know how many hyped up books I've bought recently that I set down half-way because I just didn't feel anything or care what happened to the characters.

But this book definitely tugged at my heart multiple times. I won a copy in a GoodReads giveaway and slipped it in my suitcase for a weekend trip on impulse. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was grabbed right away by the writer's approachable and polished style. It ended up being a really entertaining and interesting story with the sweetest ending . As someone who recently attended a college roommate's wedding, I totally related to the INTENSE emotions that come to fore on being forced to see all your old friends, old loves, etc.

I would have more information about some of Becc's friends as adult women, especially the wild roommate Maggie, but that is really my only criticism.

A fun and fast summery read that will transport back to you to your 20's, remind you of your first love, make you think, and make you FEEL.

Summer Hours was a quick read and I spent most of my time really enjoying the storyline. With the past and present writing style, it felt disjointed at times. But over all, the story flowed well.

Throughout the book, I was left frustrated at Becc and Eric for the lack of communication and empathy for each other. They were best friends in high school, and their immaturity was keeping them from admitting their true feelings for each other. Becc found herself in a controversial relationship which impacted her friendship with Eric. I didn't feel like Eric had any right to be upset with Becc for her mistakes when he in turn was making mistakes of not being the friend he should have been after graduation.

The last bit of this book was sluggish. I found myself skimming the pages until the ending. I loved how the book ended and felt like the character development finished out okay.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for my free ebook of Summer Hours. The Kindle copy format was challenging to read and should be looked at further to have it translate like a hard copy book. Also for that reason, it was hard to follow along with gaps in pages and spacing issues.

Becc and Eric love story is not easy , take a lot of trials before finally blooming. A little bit complicated to read. It would be nice to have a little more in the end.

I loved Amy Mason Doan's "Summer List" so much that I could not wait to read her new novel. Honestly, I might like this one even more. I was totally engrossed in Rebecca's story and enjoyed the suspense in the first part as I wondered who she was on the road trip with. I wish that her relationship with Francine was more developed, but that is my only criticism. This would be a great book for a summer trip! Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Wonderful.

This is a beautiful and lovingly-crafted story. I went into it expecting a typical "love triangle" romance and there is definitely that element. It is about matters of the heart, and temptation, and it is pretty steamy in certain scenes.

But it's not a trashy book, and it was so much more than a love story.

It's about reaching back and reaching out, making peace with our youthful decisions and indiscretions, and searching for happiness in the things that matter rather than in worldly, surface accomplishments. Becc, Eric, and the rest reminded me so much of my oldest friends. The ones who I can call at three a.m. but who sometimes drive me batty because I know them so well! By the end of the book I was so anxious to find out what would become of them all.

Also, I read this during a drizzly week in the Pacific Northwest so it was fun to feel like I was escaping to the sunny beach in a convertible.

Summer Hours will tug at your heart -- trust me!

I received a digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the opportunity.

The Summer Hours is an indelible story that paints the complicated portrait of friendship across the years. Beautifully rendered, Amy Mason Doan crafts an immersive world filled with vivid locations and complicated people. I sank into all of it, and didn’t want to leave.

This one got to me more than I expected! I wasn't sure which way the story was going at first, and I was so mad at Becc for the choice she made to sleep with Cal, who had trouble written all over him. I felt protective of Eric, her best friend who is so very clearly the better person for her, and the better person. But our 20s are for crashing and burning, and learning. The author does a great job of making Becc's decision believable. She wants to be a rule breaker like the kids at her high school who used to cut school, and smooth, handsome, confident Cal certainly has his "charms." Poor Eric can't compete...until he's a little older.

In the end, the various plots and character arcs of Becc's far-flung friends and love interests are woven together quite cleverly, and I can honestly say I didn't know what was going to happen right until the last page.

I greatly enjoyed this title and will be recommending it.

I wish I could find something positive to say about this book. The story was slow moving and dull. The main character, Becc, had no spark, no sizzle. She was just dull. She over analyzed everything. Eric was so confused and confusing that it was hard to keep up with what he thought or felt about anything. Serra, Becc's friend, was somewhat refreshing but even she was predictable. All in all, I just did not like this book.
I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summer Hours has completely and pleasantly shocked me! I went into this novel thinking it was going to be a cute read that I would enjoy, but I was way wrong...I loved it!! I connected with Amy Mason Doan’s writing style immediately and felt she did a fantastic job with telling a full and thorough story! I didn’t want the book to end, but I felt so satisfied with where Amy took the endearing cast of characters throughout this novel (which was about 20 year time span)! The timing was spot on—the entire book flowed organically and never seemed rushed. Summer Hours is a 5 star read that I will absolutely be re-reading (it’s just that good)! I have never read Amy Mason Doan, but I promise I will be 1-clicking anything and everything she comes out with in the future! A definite must read!

The Summer List was my favorite book of 2018, so I could not wait to read Summer Hours and I absolutely loved it. From the characters who you feel like are your own friends because with the way Amy Mason Doan writes, you are feeling every emotion alongside them, through the tour through California, I could not put this book down and had to keep reading to find out what happens.

Becc story is relatable from so many angles, what teenager isn't ready to break free of what is expected of them when the graduate high school and go off to college? The story follows Becc from a high school senior enjoying the last summer before college with her best friends Serra and Eric to a 33 year-old driving up the coast of California to a wedding reliving a decision at 20 years old that she knew would hurt those around her who loved her most. As Becc gets closer to her destination and deals with her past, she learns to also confront the mistakes she has made.

Its a coming of age story where I think you can't help but root for Becc to find her way. As much as I didn't want the book to end, I thought the ending was absolutely perfect. Highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read more by Amy Mason Doan!

Childhood best friends who have lost touch. They are later reunited and find out what they really mean to each other.
A very emotionally up and down story worth reading.

Endearing and page-turning

This is a very special book. I requested it because Mason-Doan's "The Summer List" is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I was very happy to see that this is just as well written, entertaining, and moving.

Like "The Summer List," "Summer Hours" is about reaching out to the friends who matter to us, even if many years have gone by and life has divided our paths. Issues of sexual exploration, first love, and coming to one's own in the professional world are explored with remarkable subtlety and passion.

But most important to me, I truly cared about every single one of these characters from the first chapter to the end, and simply had to know what would happen to them. Although the idea of traveling to a wedding and reckoning with distant friends and lovers has been explored in a lot of books and movies over the years, there is so much more going on in this story. I tried to predict what would happen in the past AND in the present storylines, but I couldn't, as this is a far from formulaic book.

An escapist, clever, funny, and heart-warming tale from a novelist who is fast becoming one of my favorites.

Sensitive, smart, summery, and sexy

What a fun and heart-tugging read! Summer Hours is about a 20 year old on the brink of womanhood, and that same girl, all grown up, looking back on the one intense summer affair that changed her life forever. The relationships and mistakes in this novel felt very true to me, and Becc – the classic ‘good girl’ with a hidden “bad girl’ inside-- was a lovable heroine throughout the story., even when I wanted to yell at her not to give in to passion and betray her best friend.

But her fate is decided the second she and the irresistible, sexy, older Cal are thrown together when they’re both hiding out from a party and they feel an undeniable attraction. We can only hope that their secret affair doesn’t get exposed. Sigh. No spoilers.

Years later, we see Becc desperately (and creatively) trying to make amends with the person she hurt, and also attempting to come to terms with the career choices she has made. Has she become just like the grownups she and her friends used to mock? This is a lovely, heartwrenching, bittersweet kind of book, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to end, but I was bracing for something pretty specific. I was happily surprised that I guessed wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed Summer Hours and have recommended it to friends already.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an extremely heartwarming and fun read with a surprising amount of depth.

The plot flows along well and the character development of even the minor players is strong throughout. Since finishing this one, I've thought about it many times, which to me is the sign of a worthwhile story.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author for the early copy.

I'm a sucker for novels about "the one that got away," and SUMMER HOURS delivered that in a juicy and suspenseful package brimming with life. It's a decade-spanning, multilayered love story with plenty of warmth, intelligence, and a satisfying finale that I'll admit brought a little tear or two when I set it down.

The author does an excellent job of portraying lovable characters without making anyone too perfect. We are living and breathing along with our heroine, Becca, and her circle of friends and lovers. These are the people we know and grew up with, work with, and laugh with. I think you'd have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy this gentle, life-affirming and beautifully written book. I loved it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley Inc. for the free electronic copy.

I absolutely adored Summer Hours by Amy Mason Doan. It was so much fun to read AND incredibly real and romantic at the same time. Lots of surprises and touching moments, a strong ending, and a lovely setting.

It's a story that's simple on its face. Growing up in a beachside town in California, high school best friends and "good kids" Becc and Eric know each other better than even their parents do. They resist the pressures to conform, they hang out at the beach and at their other best friend Serra's pool for long days of swimming and joking around, and all along they fight an intense attraction to each other. It's unspoken, but clearly causing them both many sleepless nights as they prepare to graduate and start their "real lives." But then they're ripped apart by time, distance, and the fateful decision Becc makes to have an affair with a charming older man one summer when they're apart after college.

But then, years later, fate throws the adult Becc one last chance to rekindle their friendship and try to make things right.

I enjoyed driving along in the convertible with these lovable characters. I could feel the delicious wind on my face and smell the ocean air. The plot is fast paced but more than once, I had to resist the urge to flip to the end to see how it all turned out and if they got the happy ending I wanted for them. My only complaint is that it wasn't a little longer because I was truly sad to say goodbye to this group of characters and hoped to learn more about one of them.

This will be a perfect choice for those looking for escapist yet high quality summer reading.


Thank you Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a heartwarming, intelligent, romantic, and enjoyable read! The characters are sympathetic but real and flawed, and the writing flows beautifully.

Rebecca and her best friend Eric have never given into their undeniable attraction, but they are clearly meant for each other. Or are they? When college sends these two to opposite sides of the country, Rebecca, weighed down by her good-girl image, gives into temptation and dates the one person she knows she shouldn't: the alluring older man who just happens to be Eric's worst enemy and "stepfather-figure." It seems nobody will get their happy ending.

But years later, with the wisdom of time, there's a second chance at love, or at least understanding, as she drives up the Californian coast highway to an old friend's wedding. I greatly enjoyed this coming-of-age/road trip tale and read it in one big gulp as I was very anxious to know what would happen. I look forward to more by this author.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes you from the very beginning of Becc and Eric’s story to their present day, more than a decade later.

I’m high school Becc and Eric has been friends. They spent time together with their other best friend, they were the three amigos.

But Becc always felt the most pressure to be perfect, to be the good girl.
She felt herself falling for Eric but by the end of senior year, nothing had happened.

Eric was in a bad place emotionally,he was upset about his parents’ divorce and his mom’s rebound. His mother was dating a younger man called Cal.

Becc tried to stay connected with Eric when they all left for college but they drifted apart.
She also had to deal with her attraction to Cal. He was over a decade older than her, handsome, rich, charming and single again after splitting with Eric’s mom.

Becc and Cal had a secret relationship. It wasn’t just a fling but when it ended and Eric resurfaced, Becc felt she could never tell him about it.
But if she couldn’t be honest with Eric, could she ever be in a relationship with him?

A decade later, Becc and Eric are driving together to their friend’s wedding. All we know is that they haven’t talked in all of these years. Becca feels that what happened was her fault and she’s hoping to reconnect after all this time. She wants forgiveness at the very least, she longs for a second chance.

It was a very detailed story. Sometimes I wanted to get to the answers quicker. That’s personal preference only but it meant I wanted to get to the bottom of their drama faster.

I got to read an early edition ebook from NetGalley. Thanks!

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Moving, heartfelt, romantic, and hugely entertaining story of characters who - for once - - feel like real people. So much more than a love triangle. I have abandoned many books recently but Summer Hours was so good that I wish it had been a little longer.

Beautifully written novel. Savor this one.

I loved Amy Mason Doan's first novel, so I was eager to read this one. And it didn't disappoint. The characters were beautifully rendered and so very real in their dreams, urges, and regrets. I raced through the book and loved every page. I think everyone will love it.