I’m a big fan of Jennifer Weiner's books, especially for beach reads. This did not disappoint! The storyline was a bit more complicated that her other books and so it took me a bit to get into, but once I did but I appreciated it because it made it more complex and interesting! The family drama and secrets are off the charts. That being said, sometimes I felt like they were almost too off the charts which made it far fetched so that is why I didn’t give it a higher rating.

Thank you to Atria for providing this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Summer Place is the perfect beach read. It follows an idealistic, multigenerational family impacted by the pandemic. The story shows what can happen when the world changes and people change, as a result. The characters are likable, well developed, flawed and carry secrets that will impact their present and will shape their future. The story line is unexpected and the twists and turns caused me to speed read to learn the ending and resolution. A heart warming story that offers escapism and will leave you with the best book hangover.

This book was amazing! Another spellbinding book by Jennifer Wenier. No one writes characters the way that she does. You get so much info about each person you feel like you are apart of the book itself. It was such a fun and lovely time reading this book.

I loved this story. I haven't read all of Jennifer Weiners books, but the ones I have read I've really enjoyed. This book does not disappoint. There is a lot going on so pay attention! It's family drama at it's best. Perfect spring or summer read.

So, I think this is Jennifer Weiner's idea of a family epic; I like it much better than those long genealogy stories. All of the players in this story tell us about themselves, their hopes and dreams, faults and secrets--so many secrets! This book is one big jigsaw puzzle, but instead of pieces, it is people that all twist and turn and eventually fit together. It is a great beach read...or an anytime read and as we are (hopefully) coming out of the pandemic, we can all remember what it was like to have EVERYone at home ALL the time. My one complaint about the book (and it is quite nitpicky) is I could have skipped the house having a conversation with the reader, it was disconcerting for me and briefly would break the spell of the book. But even with that, once again, Ms. Weiner did not disappoint.

The relationships across three generations of family are explored in this Jennifer Weiner beach book that is sure to make a splash this summer. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and a family tree with birth years included might have been a little helpful. But the story is fast-paced and takes us from NYC to LA to Cape Cod as the Levy-Weinberg-Danhauser clan prepares for a family wedding. We get to examine lost loves, old affairs, dreams chased or relinquished, long-held secrets, the search for one's own identity, and the impact of the pandemic on relationships. With the exception of three brief parts where the Cape Cod house acts as narrator - a little gimicky and unnecessary - overall I really enjoyed the book.

When I received an ARC of #TheSummerPlace from #Netgalley I was uber excited. I love Jennifer Weiner, and have read all of her books.

I rushed through everything that had to be done, got my fuzzy blanket, and curled up on the couch ready to be transported...... Then.... Nothing.....

Is this a bad book? Not at all. Was I engrossed? Nope. In fact, I was disappointed.

The story starts with a family - dad, stepmom, and their daughter Ruby. Ruby came home from college due to the pandemic. She brought her boyfriend. A few months later, they are engaged and decide to get married.

Now for the complications - everyone in this story has a secret - Ruby, her fiiancee, the dad, the stepmom, the Uncle, the grandmother, the fiancees mom.... This books starts with most of the main characters telling their story - this takes up over 25% of the book. Then their stories progress are we get closer to the wedding date.

I appreciate that there were some great things about this book. The relationships were complicated and nuanced. Living in such close proximity during the pandemic rang so true. The wife annoyance with the sound of her husbands flip flops was spot on! I would have ripped them off his feet...lol

However..... yes, here comes the bad.... I didn't LIKE any of the characters. and once you found out what some of them were hiding, you were like "really? that's your big secret?" Yawn. I also though the coincidences were just too much. And the infidelities seemed to be glossed over once they were discovered. I would think that was when the drama would begin...

The writing. Excellent. The details - amazing. But overall: Meh...

I have read numerous books by Jennifer Weiner and "The Summer Place" was just as good as her other books. This book is about a family and the twists and turns and love and heartbreaks that happen to all of them. It is about making the most of your life and learning what you want your life to be. All of the characters touched me. I found myself talking about the book to my my friends and family as I read the book. I would definitely recommend this book!

This book has incredible character development which weaves together a story of family dealing with a post-pandemic world. All of the characters are so expertly crafted along the way, which gives the reader a unique glimpse into the struggles each family member is navigating in present time, while also visiting the past experiences of each character. All of the characters’ lives are woven together throughout this book. There is fear, deception, anxiety, anger, love and grief described in such intricate detail throughout the story that I couldn’t help but want the best of these characters. The setting of this book is truly what makes it a summer reading pleasure! I want to plan my own trip to the Cape.

While the setting and character development are exceptional, I can only give this book 3.5 stars. It was not my favorite of the books by this author, and it is not a fun, light summer read, which is more of what I was expecting from the title.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for this digital advanced copy.

I was thrilled to read this ARC as Jennifer Weiner is one of my very favorite authors! The Summer Place felt like catching up with an old friend. While I have enjoyed her recent books they didn't capture me like her earlier works. The Summer Place takes place on her beloved Cape as her recent books have, but have the feel of her older books. I loved the talk about COVID and how it impacted the family and I loved all of the tangled relationships.

I have been a fan of Jennifer Weiner's writing since I read In Her Shoes many years ago. So when my request for an ARC of her upcoming release was granted I was pretty excited!

The Summer Place is about a family coming together for the wedding of 23 year old Ruby to her covid boyfriend Gabe. This is the first book I've read that overlap with the covid pandemic and I appreciate that she set it in the summer of 2021 when vaccines were widely available and people became optimistic again.

The balancing act of all the viewpoints took me a bit to get into but after the first few chapters it picks up steam and oh boy how these characters lives intersect. It's complicated for sure! The overlap does require a suspension of disbelief certainly, but Weiner pulls it off and wraps it up neatly without too much melodrama.

I can see this being a fantastic summer beach read, with some depth and character development.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC copy of this novel.

Family. Betrayal. Secrets

The Summer Place follows Ruby – a twenty-two recent college graduate who surprises her family by announcing she’ll be marrying her COVID quarantine boyfriend. Honesty, this story was way too far fetched and confusing for my liking. There were too many character with too many different unrealistic plot lines. As much as I wanted to like this book I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. I also felt the book was too long. I was getting bored at parts, and had to re-read in order to follow along. It didn’t feel like a “Summer” read to me. The Cape Cod portion of this novel seemed irrelevant given the rest of the family drama.

Thank you to @netgalley @atriabooks @jenniferweierwrites for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Drop this book into your beach bag! Jennifer Weiner delivers a well-crafted page-turner of a family saga that’s entertaining, insightful, intelligent and heartfelt in equal measure. Some readers may not care for the novel’s complexity in the form of multiple (8) narrators, but I loved the diverse voices and perspectives as well as the fact that most of the characters were given a voice. And while portions of the tale were too contrived to be relatable or believable, the dash of magical realism otherwise introduced - in the form of an anthropomorphic Cape Cod beach house protagonist - somehow made other chapters seem less far-fetched. Still, there’s a trip across a pond that struck a wrong note for me, and I never quite bought into Eli’s story. But I couldn’t put down this spirited novel in any event. I’ve also read Weiner’s other recent “Summer” books (Big Summer, That Summer), and The Summer Place is easily my favorite of the bunch. Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my!! What a wonderful book. I generally prefer psychological thrillers with duplicitous murders, scheming & whatnot. However, I’ve been a fan of Mrs Weiner’s since her beautiful All Fall Down. This book is so moving, interesting, heartwarming. Once you begin it, you won’t be able answer to do anything but finish it. Jennifer Weiner could write instructions for connecting a modem & I’d read it many times, her writing is so true & heartfelt. Five complete stars!!

I first discovered Jennifer Weiner's books at the beginning of the pandemic. Finding an author who so casually wrote in Jewish characters and themes meant a lot to me, and her writing style and characters hooked me further.

The Summer Place is a beautiful novel about family, secrets, and the power of a home to bring everyone together. I loved the dimension given to each character and hearing about their own perceptions of themselves and one another, and I was not expecting the amount of twists and turns the book took, though I should expect it by now from a Jennifer Weiner book! I love the subtle callback to That Summer (which in turn had callbacks to Big Summer); the Weiner-verse is a wonderful place to find yourself. In the midst of this cold, Canadian winter, I am grateful for the summer read to transport me to the beach for a while.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the chance to read this, I cannot wait to go out and buy the physical copy in May!

It pains me to give this a 3 star rating because I LOVE everything Jennifer Weiner has been giving us for the past few years especially and I was THRILLED to receive an ARC of this book when I was having an awful week in the middle of winter. That said, this is my least favorite of hers I've read in the last few years, and of this summer series. There was a lot of unbelievability happening, which I could have put aside, but the "all of a sudden" realizations, coincidences and the like just seemed like too much when put all together. Some of the characters felt flat (Ruby) and others cliché (Sarah, Eli) that would have benefited from deeper characterization. I did like the 1 year in to the pandemic timeline, since we're all sitting there right now - it was present but not depressing. It became a bit bungled for more towards the middle and end. I will gladly read everything Weiner puts out in the future because I still love her, and overall, I didn't feel like I wasted my time with this read, and enjoyed reading it.

Light reading, with some kind of unbelievable twists. But I wasn't expecting it to be a very serious novel so that was fine. I don't think it was a memorable book but it was good for entertainment without having to think much.

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner
I’m a longtime fan of Jennifer Weiner, and have watched as her writing has grown more complex and personal over the years. Anyone who follows her knows that 2021 was a very hard year for her. I’m delighted to see that she was able to marshal the emotions that surfaced through her personal trials to create a cast of characters who are vivid, complicated and oh so relatable.
The overriding story is a young couple who’ve decided, shortly after emerging from lockdown, that they want to get married. Technically, the story covers the short time from the announcement of the engagement until the actual date of the wedding. Adding in the backstory, this is a novel that covers generations, and the missteps and mistakes made at each level before the betrothed couple. At one point I had to stop and say, REALLY?? But it works and the way the story loops around to its beginning is nothing short of gymnastics!
I promise you will find at least one character to root for, and if not, you’ll fall for the house. This is a fascinating book of characters and their passions. Great new summer book for Jennifer Weiner fans!

Ruby announces her engagement to her boyfriend Gabe. Ruby's stepmother Sarah feels that this wedding is happening too fast and is worried, but Ruby's stepgrandmother is happy that the whole family will be coming together on Cape Cod for the wedding. In the days leading up to the wedding we meet the different family members and find out their stories. Each family member is dealing with past choices that are affecting the present day. There is a lot of drama and plot twists to keep the reader entertained. I enjoyed the book, but some of the plot seemed too coincidental and every character seemed to be dealing with infidelity.

There are no words to describe how thought-provoking and emotional this story is. It's a story full of life, love and forgiveness. There are many characters in this story; however, each character was well developed. Each has his or her own stories and yet it doesn't take away from the overall plot. In fact, each characters' stories add to the plotline and push it along. It takes a masterful writer such as Jennifer Weiner to write a story this great. As much as there are loads of characters, none were minor characters. Each one holds on their own and yet if one was missing the picture would not be complete. I can see this as a Netflix-limited series. In fact, I would love to see this on screen.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.