A sweet story about how even later in life you can shed those things that hurt you and people you hurt. It’s about learning to let go, forgive yourself and finding the place you are meant to be at.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a perfect "beach read" that drew me in, kept me interested, and made me disappointed when it had to end. Great writing brought the Alabama Gulf area to life and the characters were strong and interesting. I highly recommend this book, 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the ARC of this book, the review is unsolicited and all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lauren K. Denton for a copy of The Summer House, for an honest review.
Shortly after Lily Bishop and her husband move to Alabama, things unravel and her life is turned upside down. Left with hardly anything, Lily has to find how and where to start over. As fate would have it, she makes the right connections at the grocery store.
She answers a help wanted add about being a hairdresser at a retirement community, where she can live and work.
She takes a leap of faith and digs deep to believe in herself and her hairdresser abilities.
We meet Rose Carrigan, who owns and operates the community. She is alone as well and the two forge of relationship of trust and admiration. They lean on each other and make strides to make a new life.
This story has such heart. The setting, the theme and the subjects are real. I enjoyed the path these ladies took and the friends and family members we meet along the way.

This was a 4 star read for me and I have recommended it to friends and family.

This book was a light and easy read with lots of southern charm. Personally, it was a little too cliche and “vanilla” for my taste, but there was nothing really wrong with it!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I loved Glory Road, so grabbed this summer read expecting a dramatic story. While I enjoyed this easy summer story, it was not as deep or contemplative. Lily wakes up one morning and finds a good-bye letter and divorce papers waiting for her, her husband gone. They had just moved to Alabama a few weeks earlier, and she had nowhere to go. She finds out the house belongs to the company, so she needs to move out. While in town, she comes across a sign advertising for a hair stylist in a local community. Having worked with her mother in her salon for years, she calls and applies for the job. Lily starts her life over at Safe Harbor, a retirement community (although not advertised as such).

I loved Lily. She was smart, loyal, feisty, friendly and more than willing to live life at Safe Harbor. She made friends with several of the retirees, but she was not about to sit still. She had something in her personality that got others coming out of their shells and trying new things, all while dealing with her own problems. Rose is the owner of Safe Harbor and she is definitely playing it safe. She has no friends, does not participate in community activities and runs the place with an iron fist. She and Lily become friends and gradually, Rose changes and becomes willing to take chances. She has many things in her past that she feels guilty about and needs to forgive herself and move forward. The other residents are all wonderful and add so much to this story. They are young at heart, gossip, have afternoon cocktails, boozy book clubs, and love taking care of themselves with hair appointments and colourful clothing. There is a bit of romance, an adorable child and some humour. This is not an exciting or dramatic story, but there is some soul searching, second chances, new beginnings and chance taking. It is also a story of community and friendship. It was a delightful summer read. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

Lily Bishop finds a note from her one year plus husband telling her that he has left. His employer asks her to promptly vacate the house she's in, as it was provided by the company. And, Worth (the husband) has left his job, too. Adrift, Lily follows a lead to the senior living community of Safe Harbor. Luckily they are in need of a hair stylist and that is her go-to occupation. The community director, Rose, gives Lily a chance and a place to live.
Lily is less upset by her husband's departure than you would expect. At the community, she finds new purpose and new friends who help her navigate her circumstances. And, there's also a new chance at love with Rose's nephew, Rawlins. As life would have it, Rawlins carries his own baggage. It was a fresh read, though a bit "lucky" for Lily in what comes her way.

Denton is always a great read. You want to live in the charming southern towns she creates in her readers' imagination. This story tells of two female main characters who have been alone for too long. Mixed in with a beauty salon, it's a feel good story about becoming your best self, and finding someone you cam share life with.

The Summer House by Lauren K Denton is a the perfect summer read on a slow summer Sunday with a glass of sweet tea. I was drawn into this story right away with the opening of Lily finding the note from her ex-husband. I'm also a huge fan of books with an younger character forming a bond with an older mentor. Those stories are so sweet. And the one definitely worked for me too. It was fun to watch their friendship. And of course I loved Rawlins! Give me all the single dads. This was a fun, quick read! Recommended!


Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book.

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Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated, but a flyer at the grocery store for a hair stylist position in a local retirement community provides a refuge while she contemplates her next steps.

Rose Carrigan built the small retirement village of Safe Harbor years ago—just before her husband ran off with his assistant. Now she runs a tight ship, making sure the residents follow her strict rules. Rose keeps everyone at arm’s length, including her own family. But when Lily shows up asking for a job and a place to live, Rose’s cold exterior begins to thaw.

Lily and Rose form an unlikely friendship, and Lily’s salon soon becomes the place where residents share town gossip, as well as a few secrets. Lily soon finds herself drawn to Rose’s nephew, Rawlins—a single dad and shrimper who’s had some practice at starting over—and one of the residents may be carrying a torch for Rose as well.

Neither Lily nor Rose is where she expected to be, but the summer makes them both wonder if there’s more to life and love than what they’ve experienced so far.

One of The best books I've read in a long time!

Thank you NetGalley Publisher & Author for this gifted ebook.

Heart-warming! The type of book that will leave you feeling uplifted with a full-heart!

This book is one of those warm, cathartic reads where I felt that I experienced all of the ups and downs with the characters as I read. By the end, I had the warm-fuzzies. A truly great feel-good read that is perfect to escape life for a bit and unwind, whether on vacation or a staycation!

The opening chapters are full of quiet heartbreak. Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a note from her husband and divorce papers. In some ways, she feels like she always knew this is how they’d end. And yet, that doesn’t fix the shock, the sadness, and the memory that their final embrace was in retrospect, a goodbye. She just didn’t know it yet.

But despite the hard moments, this is also a book that felt fully like a story about healing. I found it so cathartic to read, from watching Rose and Lily form a friendship, and watching Lily find her way through a new life now that she had been suddenly released from the life she thought she knew and wanted. Through the hard times, I felt that Lily found something much more valuable and fulfilling, even if it wasn’t the life she imagined for herself.

Both Rose and Lily are compelling characters, and their stories are so seamlessly intertwined. Rose is more reserved and distant than Lily, but they compliment one another in an unexpected way. They felt like the exact person that the other needed to pull them through the trials they are facing.

And of course, there is a romance. It is the sweet kind of butterflies-in-your-stomach romance that just made me happy to read about. It felt like it was happening to me! This is the sort of story that could be called predictable, but also carried the lesson that when love is right, it can be easy. It can just simply make sense. The contrast between Lily’s relationships were so striking and that made the love story so satisfying!

A beautiful story with characters you will not want to leave behind, and uplifting themes of forgiveness, healing, and second chances. A lovely book that lifted my spirits!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for my copy. Opinions are my own.

Lauren Denton has done it again. What a wonderful story - what wonderful characters. I love how she weaves unique characters into her stories. Ms Denton writes in such a way that she puts you into the middle of the story. I so wanted to comfort Lily and befriend Rose. While there is romance, there is so much more to this story, which is what I love. The complicated relationships between Rose and her brother, the relationship between Lily and Worth, and the relationships between members of the retirement village all play important roles in the book. I'm looking forward to the next book by Ms Denton.

I really enjoyed this story if unlikely friendship. It was a fun and lighter read; perfect for a lazy Sunday.

The Summer House is delightfully easy read about two women with very difficult life situations. By bringing these women together to help one another cope with these issues, Lauren Denton shows the world the importance of one generation to another. Throughout the novel, the women, appropriately named Lily and Rose, can been seen blossoming into better versions of themselves. Definitely worth reading!!

The Summer House was such a wonderful, unexpected read! I loved the atmosphere set by Lauren K. Denton and the characters as they moved through the simple parts of life. Lily Bishop wakes up to a letter and divorce papers from her husband. With nowhere to go, she spontaneously applies for a job as a hair stylist in a retirement village. Cue in Rose, who runs said retirement village and isn't the warm and fuzzy type of person. Matter of fact, Rose doesn't get involved much with the activities of the village. Once Lily and Rose meet, you can tell that Lily is going to be a positive influence on Rose and her life. The two women help each other in ways the other would never expect. Lily finds herself in this village and feels closer to her deceased mother.

Now with that being said, this book was beautifully written. This was my first novel by Lauren K. Denton and I would definitely read more from her. Not only is her writing style elegant, it's relatable. She writes characters with emotion and you see how they develop throughout the story. I also enjoyed all the side characters from the village. Usually in novels, the side characters are superficially developed and you don't really care for them. Denton, however, was able to make the reader care about what happened to these side characters. Another thing, this whole story had major Steel Magnolias vibes with the hair salon and the women.

I did not have any major dislikes of this novel. The 4-star rating was more or else based on the fact that it wasn't overly gripping. I enjoyed every page but I didn't close out of the e-book saying 'wow that book was amazing!' I did think the book was cute and it was a happy go lucky kind of read - hence the 4-star read.

This novel would be for anyone who enjoys a cute story about characters finding themselves and finding the positives of their lives. If readers enjoy developed characters with background reasons, they will thoroughly enjoy this story. For readers who enjoy romance heavy stories, this one probably isn't for them - the romance is there but it isn't the focal point of the story.

This was a cute summer read. I'm not sure I've ever ever read a book that took place in this part of the country, so I appreciated that this really immersed me in the feel of the area. The characters were all likeable and interesting.

Lily woke up one morning in a new town to an empty bed and divorce papers on the counter. Lily becomes the new hairstylist in the retirement community Rose has built up. Lily and Rose form a friendship, which is rare for Rose. Lily also takes up with Rawlins; Rose's nephew. They all have to explore the past so they can move on in the future.

The book offers an eclectic cast of characters, so it was fun to meet everyone and read about their interactions. Something just didn't click for me in this book though, and I can't put my finger on it. I enjoyed reading the book (the audio version is good as well), but it's almost liked I wanted more, or to go deeper with the characters. Maybe I felt left hanging at the end? I don't really know. It's still a good book, and I'm not at all sorry I read it, so definitely give it a chance.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a great summer read about starting over in life and being happy. The characters were great and the author was very descriptive. I wish some of the story lines would have been expanded however.
Overall the book was enjoyable and a quick read even though it was predictable.

A novel with the quiet pace and easy feel of summer. Inside you journey with the lead character through discovery only a terrible loss can bring. You celebrate her arrival at depths she didn’t know she possessed and you celebrate all that this stronger woman will experience.

This is a sweet story of second chances. Our main character Lily wakes up with her husband gone and divorce papers waiting. To add insult to injury she finds out she has no place to live and no family to turn to. She sees an ad for a hairdresser opening at a retirement community and the rest is history. She meets such lovely characters at the Safe Harbor Retirement Village, including Rose the manager. Through the course of the story both find redemption and maybe a second chance at love.
I love reading Lauren Denton's stories because I feel so good when I finish one and I want more stories of my new friends. She knows how to weave a truly southern story. I hope she continues to tell her stories for many years to come.

Some books can be read and enjoyed year-round. Others are meant specifically for a certain season–like Christmas fiction. The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton is a book that begs to be read in the summer with a cold glass of sweet tea.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I received a copy of this book through NetGalley.

I read Lauren’s book Hurricane Season last summer, and really enjoyed it. I like her characters and how the story flows. I hoped that The Summer House would have the same feeling.

SUMMARY
Lily Bishop left her life in Georgia behind and moved with her husband to a small town in Alabama. They had barely settled into their little rental house, when she woke up to find him gone. He left only a note and some divorce papers.

With no friends, no place to live and no job, Lily has to start over from scratch. She finds an ad for a beautician in a community called Safe Harbor.

Safe Harbor is a retirement community run by the crusty, uptight Rose Carrigan. Rose carries a deep hurt inside, and can’t forgive herself for the wrongs of her past.

She makes up for it by pushing people away. She enforces strict rules in the little community, and interacts with the other residents as little as possible.

But when Lily asks Rose for the job, and the use of the apartment above the beauty shop, something stirs inside Rose. She gives Lily the summer house on a probation period, provided she does a good job.

So begins a sweet summer of learning, forgiving, and a little romance. Lily and Rose’s lives have not gone like they planned. But they learn they can start over, and still have something amazingly beautiful.

THE SUMMER HOUSE REVIEW
The first thing I have to say about The Summer House is that I want to move into it and live. Not just in the actual house, but in the town of Safe Harbor itself.

The scenery scenery sounds idyllic. If I could retire and move there, I absolutely would. Tomorrow.

The characters are all really good, too. I admired Lily’s strength and resilience. I think she lost herself in her marriage.

She needed the residents of Safe Harbor, as well as memories of her mother, to help her find herself again.

But I think I liked Rose’s character even more. Her struggles felt so real to me. Seeing her transformation throughout the book was my favorite part.

Lauren also does an amazing job of writing secondary characters. I loved all of the residents of the village. They each had their own personality and were all so charming.

There is a bit of romance in The Summer House. But it’s really not the main focus. It’s really about relationships and finding the strength to begin again–even if you think it’s too late.

The Summer House is full of southern charm. It’ll make you want to pack up immediately and move to the Alabama Gulf Coast.

This is the perfect book for summer reading–so you better grab it fast!