Perfect summer book! I loved reading about the past and present of our darling characters set in beautiful New England. Sweet, heartwarming story of old friends and coming back together after time apart.

I love books about relationships, friendships etc and this was one of the perfect books.
Four friends reunite at the place where they had the best summer and old feelings are stirred and lives are looked at.

This was a great read for me and I loved it!

So perfect, exactly what I’ve come to expect from Nancy Thayer - she never disappoints. I’ve loved this book.

It’s 1995 and four totally different young adults are matched to live in the basement of a hotel under major construction. They become friends bonding over hopes and dreams, sun and sand, not to mention limited funds from summer jobs in a beautiful Nantucket setting.

Fast forward 25 years to a reunion bringing the mature group together again, back to the same but much different setting. They are accompanied with their young adult children who will bond and have experiences of their own.

Realistic and enjoyable characters, secrets hinted at are revealed, unapologetic as to who they are and what they want. Coming of age in two different eras…1995 and 2020. The story moves flawlessly between the two groups and keeps the story interesting. Can these young adults have the nerve to make changes their parents couldn’t? Are the parents ready to take a change they’ve put off for too long? Perfect beach read by this tried and true author.

Thanks to Ms. Thayer, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone!

Nancy Thayer is another favorite that signals it's almost summer to me. I love her Nantucket setting and her books are the perfect beach read!

In Summer Love it goes back and forth between the summer of 1995 and 4 twenty somethings spending the summer working in Nantucket and living in a half demolished/renovated hotel and the present day when all 4 of them and their families get together. In the present day their 20 year old children get the chance to explore the island like they did. What will they find out about themselves, their friendships and their dreams they hoped for years ago.

I enjoyed Summer Love! I absolutely love the Nantucket setting, and seeing the summer of 1995 with the carefree 20 somethings and summer love. In the present day I like seeing their kids meet and the friendship dynamics. This is kinda a coming of age story mixed with a reminisce of the past.

Nancy Thayer is a rare author that you can read any book, synopsis unread and be guaranteed a great story. Summer Love is no exception.
I truly loved looking back on the summer of the past and how 4 strangers, renting rooms in a basement , formed a bond that would remain strong 20 years later. The present day summer is filled with friendship, family, nostalgia and learning what dreams came to fruition after their first summer together. A cast of characters that will stay with you long after the summer ends. The perfect beach read.

Twenty five years ago, four college students rent basement rooms in a falling down hotel under renovations. They're all strangers in the beginning but become fast friends and almost inseparable by the end of the summer. For Wyatt and Ariel, it's almost love at first sight. Shy but handsome Wyatt is a scientist working as an assistant to his famous father. He knows he'll never leave the town he grew up in to work in the field he loves. How can he ever find a woman who'll settle for Missouri? Ariel has dreams of publishing her own novel. She's been accepted into an excellent creative writing school when the summer is over, but she can write anywhere, right? Nick is an extrovert, determined to make it rich and manage his own string of hotels. By some coincidence, he just happens to fall for the daughter of a rich hotelier willing to offer him a position after the summer. Sheila is engaged to her high school sweetheart,. Although she's naive and shy, she just wants a little adventure on the island before she settles down into marriage, but she finds more than she bargained for by summer's end.
Now, this summer, Nick has invited the group and their families to join him at the hotel he owns... the same one they stayed in that summer. As "the oldies" reminisce, their children, now college age themselves, go off to create their own Island memories.
I like the alternating chapters between that summer and this summer. The descriptions of the beautiful island and the magic of the summer were wonderful. But at the end, I was thinking hmm, that was it? I'm struggling with how to rate this book because while it was a good escape for me from a grey and overcast spring day, there really wasn't a clear plot and by the end the friends barely seem to tolerate each other. Just an ok read for me.
I received an advance reader copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

I struggled to connect with these characters. Lots of insta-love and trite dialogue. I wanted to like it so badly because it was a fun premise… I hoped it would be a fun summer beach read… but it was a miss for me. Regardless, thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the advance copy.

This was a very slow and flat story. I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters. It’s cute if you are just looking for something easy to read at the beach or to “kill” time on a long flight.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my review.

This story was very slow for me. It's a dual timeline and follows four different people who go to work at Nantucket for the summer and then get back together there years later. I just never really connected with any of the characters and really wished for more excitement of some kind.

Thanks to Random House~Ballantine for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

I read to escape so I can visit places I have always dreamed about. I pretend I am strolling down the sidewalk with the characters, gazing into the quaint shops and watching the world go by. Thankfully, Nancy Thayer has given us a memorable escape to Nantucket in her amazing new book, “Summer Love.”

I fell in love with the young Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt and Nick with their youthful exuberance and lives full of promise. I wanted to be there with them as they made the best of basement living as well as enjoying life on the island where anything was possible. I could just envision them with their eyes wide open, taking in the hustle and bustle and the romantic sunsets. Life was simpler in 1995 and Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt and Nick took everything they could from their summer on Nantucket to become the successful adults that came back to visit twenty-six years later. They appeared to be happy but not all of them had achieved the dreams they once had.

Nick was a successful hotelier with a beautiful wife and daughter. I expected no less from him as he always had high expectations for himself. Sheila had a big family and a loving husband, but little time for herself. She saw this week as a time to relax, reflect and enjoy the peace and quiet that she desperately needed. Ariel and Wyatt fell in love the moment they met all those years ago but was she happy with how her life turned out? Could Ariel ever recapture the dreams she once had? Accompanying the old friends were their children; the next generation of young people to chase their dreams and fall in love on the enchanted island. Their parents shared stories of their summer, reminisced about the fun they had and wished they could do it all over again. The island offered their children a chance to spread their wings and have the time of their lives.

Every year I hope to read a book that will change my life and this year, “Summer Love” was the one that captured my heart from the first page and pulled me into a story of love, friendship and chasing your dreams. Ms. Thayer’s masterpiece is a beautiful, poignant and touching tale that takes us away to a magical place where dreams come true, and friendships are made that will last a lifetime.

I've really enjoyed this author's work in the past, and this novel continues the light, beachy feel of her past books. However, this one fell a bit flat for me - I didn't find that the characters had as much depth as I wanted and the ending felt somewhat rushed as other readers have mentioned. Overall it was still an enjoyable read, just not terribly memorable - I will continue to read her work in the future!

Summer Love moves seamlessly between 1995 and 2000, between four recent college graduates in the past and their three children in the present. Nantucket provides the magic that brings their stories to life.

Wyatt, Ariel, Sheila and Nick arrive for their summer jobs, meet and become instant fast friends and roommates. After a summer of somewhat menial work, all will follow their dreams. Ariel will be a published author, Wyatt a scientist, Sheila married to her college boyfriend Hank and Nick will simply be very rich. Fast forward to their twenty-fifth reunion on Nantucket. Nick (yes, rich) has invited them to stay in his deluxe hotel, the one they lived in years ago while it was being renovated. His daughter Jade-Marie works for him and will follow him in the hotel business. Wyatt is a college professor and scientist. Ariel is his wife and, although she has been published in some sources, still wants to write a novel. Their son Jacob is with them. Wyatt has planned his future as a scientist like his father and grandfather. Sheila is married to Hank and has brought her daughter Penny to the reunion.

As we see friendships begin in the summer of ’95, we see new ones beginning in the present. The parents are reevaluating their lives and their children are planning new paths, not the ones chosen for them. Secrets are revealed, new relationships are formed leading to a satisfying conclusion. I love Nancy Thayer’s books but this one was a little formulaic. Still, 4 stars. Nantucket can get nothing less.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Nancy Thayer for this ARC.

Although I love reading Nancy Thayer's Nantucket stories, this was not my favorite. It was enjoyable, but I felt that it seemed a bit rushed, and the ending wasn't complete enough for me. Four recent college graduates find jobs on Nantucket in the summer of 1995. They experience a summer of friendship, love and dreams of the future. Twenty five years later they have a reunion on the island with their children who are recent college graduates. Will history repeat itself??? I think Ms. Thayer has left the door open for a sequel. I would like to see if that happens.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Nick is hosting his old friends Ariel, Wyatt, and Sheila 26 years after they met at the hotel he now owns on Nantucket. The four of them were an odd group, with different backgrounds and hopes for the future and now they're all reflecting on that golden summer. This dual time line novel moves back and forth in time to tell the story of what went before and how they live now. Wyatt, a scientist, fell for Ariel at the moment he met her; they now have a son who is reluctantly following in Wyatt's footsteps. Sheila doesn't bring her husband Hank with her from Wisconsin but she does bring her daughter Penny. Nick married Francine and their daughter Jade-Marie is learning the hotel business. This is classic Thayer territory- good lucking young people chasing love and money with one big secret hanging out there. It's light, it's somewhat predictable, and it's got nice Nantucket atmospherics (although not as many local places are featured as in some of her novels.) Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Thayer's fans will be happy with this one, which will make a good beach read.

The Summer Love of the title refers to two generations of visitors to Nantucket. The first generation visits both in That Summer and THIS summer while their adult children are central to This Summer. I typically love Nancy Thayer books and this is a pleasant read but I wanted more depth in the stories. The instant love breaking out everywhere was a bit much for me and I wanted more character development rather than being so driven to the finish line. Many will enjoy this for the light read it is and it's always fun to visit Nantucket with Thayer. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Every year I eagerly anticipate the newest Thayer novel. Through her books I have become obsessed with Nantucket and feel as if I know the is,and, although I have never been there.
Summer Love is about four strangers who rent basement rooms while working on the island one summer and Become friends. Twenty five years later they reunite on the island, with their kids in tow. The switching back and forth was effortless. I love all the vivid descriptions of Nantucket and all the different locations. I liked all the characters except Wyatt. He was a bore and extremely self centered.
Nantucket is magical and you never know what might happen.

In this dual-timeline story, 4 college students who have just graduated and are about to embark on their new "adult lives" spend the summer in Nantucket, renting bargain-basement rooms in an old hotel near the beach. Although Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt and Nick started out as strangers, they built a lasting friendship. Twenty-six years later, Nick, who bought that hotel , renamed it The Lighthouse and turned it into a luxury hotel, invites everyone back for a reunion, along with their families. Ariel & Wyatt, who fell in love almost immediately that first summer bring their grown son, Sheila brings her daughter but has to leave her husband and sons behind at home,, and Nick is married to the girl he fell in love with that summer as well and they have a daughter of their own. As the parents enjoy their reunion, the next generation enjoys exploring the island together, forging new friendships and maybe even a romance or two.
This was the perfect beach read. I loved the dual-timeline, and the few scandals the author tossed in there. I enjoyed seeing the 4 of them "grow up and mature" that summer and then see how it all turned out 26 years later. This is definitely one to add to your beach bag!

Four young adults meet in Nantucket for a last summer before becoming “adults” Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt and Nick come from different backgrounds and are all headed in different directions but somehow become fast friends. This story goes back and forth between the summer they met and present day when they all gathered in the same hotel they lived in the basement of and lovingly called the “Sand Palace”. I really enjoyed this story and am wondering if there may be a sequel due to the fact that a couple of storylines were not resolved and the other storylines felt as if they could go on. Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pros: known author with a great reputation and great books published in the past. Nantucket is a beautiful setting for the book. Dual timeline story.

Cons: I just couldn't connect with the characters or their lives, past or present. I'm sure its just me or something, as I've enjoyed other books by this author in the past.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.