I received a complimentary copy of a Summary Love Affair. This review reflects my own thoughts and opinions.

Elizabeth has three grown daughters and was recently forced into retirement as a schoolteacher. Plus, she is dealing with the recent death of her husband, Hugh. Overall, her world is a little unsettled.

Elizabeth’s daughter, Petra, decides to come home for the summer. As we get to know Petra, you get the sense that she has always felt like a lost soul and that maybe she didn’t fit in anywhere. One day, while searching through the attic, she stumbles across her mother’s wedding dress and a diary which she presents to her mother. These found items seem to create angst in Elizabeth’s as her past comes crashing back. What we learn is that Petra is not Hugh’s biological daughter but rather the result of an affair with Hugh’s best friend, Chris – a secret that she has kept her entire married life.

Elizabeth decides she needs to come clean with the secret and shares it with her children. Although her children are upset by this information, Petra decides to take her future in her own hands and meets and begins to build a relationship with her biological father.

The remainder of the story deals with how Elizabeth, Petra and the two daughters deal with the situation and their various emotions. What I really like about this book is that it dealt with messy situations, as dynamics are in most families. However, the drama was limited, and it explored family relationships in an open, honest, and reasonable manner. Overall, the characters treated each other with dignity and respect and took ownership for their actions. It was a very refreshing summer read.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book. It was a great story with many interesting characters. The women in this book are strong characters but each have their own issues to resolve. It is interesting while reading the book to see each of the women are able to find their inner strength, deal with their issues and move ahead into happier lives. This book talks about making not necessarily good choices and dealing with the fallout and how it affects other people.

This is a story about a mother and her three adult girls. Each one seems to be at a crossroad in their life. Their mother, Elizabeth, lives in Maine and the girls reconnect there for the summer. It is a summer of discovering who they are, why they are the way they are, and figuring out what and where do they want to go from here. They also learn about secrets, as they learn one, and also about keeping secrets. The four of them are living their journey and becoming who they are meant to become at this stage in their life. It is a wonderful story.
I received an ARC from Kensington through NetGalley.

a story of three sisters who find out one of them has a different father, their mother had an affair, good story of family dynamics. I love a book by Holly Chamberlin.

This new novel -- A Summer Love Affair by Holly Chamberlain is set in Maine where 30 year old Petra comes for a summer to find herself. She finds her mother's diary and family secrets from a past summer. I found it hard to get into this particular story and characters. Not my particular favorite but well written and will likely be much enjoyed by Chamberlain fans.

I like Holly Chamberlain’s books. I did struggle with this one, however. It was very slow paced and I didn’t really connect with any of the characters nor like Any of them. Why the sudden urgency to divulge a secret that has been under wraps for thirty years? Petra’s lack Of ambition and lack of direction drove me crazy.
I just wasn’t crazy about this one.

Who says you can't go home? Petra Quirk is headed that way in hopes of finding herself. However, what she finds isn't what she is looking for. She finds out the man who raised her is not her biological father and her sisters are only her half sisters. This book is told in dual times between the past and present. We also read about her two sisters and their own private struggles.

I have always been a huge fan of Chamberlain's work and this proved to be no different. The novel examines relationships between mothers and daughters as well as sisters.

Well-written family drama.

This novel is based on family dynamics around three sisters who find out that one of them has a different father. Their mother's affair, with her husband's best friend and best man, shakes up everything they knew about her.

The steady exploration of differing personalities and paths of life being affected made this an interesting experience.

Though no the light bead read I expected, I did enjoy this book.

This book, at 78...yes SEVENTY EIGHT chapters, was a bit daunting to start. Did I really want to commit my limited reading time to this book? I'd never read this author before,. Would the book be fabulous, or would I stumble to the end just glad it was done? For me, it was a bit of both.

Elizabeth is the widowed mother of 3 daughters, who has been 'retired' by the school district she's taught at for years. Cam, the oldest, is doubting her husbands loyalty to her with a family friend, who also happens to be an old girlfriend. Jess, the middle child, is always angry or fed up with her boyfriend or pissed at her erstwhile business partner who flakes when Jess needs her the most. Petra the youngest, is in transition, working her online vintage clothing store but not really feeling the love for the job any longer.

All these women, as you can tell, have issues at the beginning of the book. Adding to their problems, is the secret that Elizabeth feels the need to share with her children. While the secret Elizabeth has been hiding effects only one of her children in a very direct way, the knowledge that their parent has kept this secret from them for decades, touches each of them differently. Learning that parents you thought were rock solid can be fallible, launches each daughter into looking deeper into their own lives.

There is resolution for each daughter and for Elizabeth. The book can be read as a standalone.

Seventy eight chapters? It probably could have been shorter. Sometimes the book was wordy and the descriptions were drawn out, but on the whole, it worked. I'm glad I read it.

Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book. The review is my own.

Thirty-year-old Petra Quirk has always felt as if a vital element of her life is missing. It’s not until she moves back to the small town of Eliot’s Corner for the summer that she learns why. Rummaging in the attic, Petra comes across a diary. The discovery prompts her mother, Elizabeth, to make a confession to her three daughters. Decades ago, she fell in love with her husband’s best friend, Chris—and Petra is Chris’s child...Elizabeth ended the affair before she learned she was pregnant, and Chris has no idea he’s a father. Elizabeth loved Chris deeply yet refused to tear her family apart. Even since Hugh’s death, she’s resisted contacting Chris. But Petra, floundering and unsure of her path, is compelled to search out her biological father, though she knows it will complicate her relationship with her family.
I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I have some of the other books this author has written. It moved very slowly, and there just didn't seem to be much of a plot at all, once Petra discovered Chris was her biological father. I didn't really feel any chemistry between Elizabeth & Chris, and I couldn't stand Jess (one of Petra's sisters). Her constant put-downs of Petra and Elizabeth got on my last nerve. Overall is was an ok story, just not great.

I have mixed feelings about this book, I loved the authors style of writing and the idea of the story she was trying to weave but for me it was too long and too in-depth . I found myself skimming over certain parts near the end. The story started off well telling the stories of 4 women, mom and her 3 daughters who are all struggling with secrets or situations in their lives that are causing them to reevaluate or confront so they can all move on or accept what life has thrown at them. It’s a story of love lost, love found, coming of age, finding oneself, reevaluating what one has and lost. I do love the authors style of writing her words on paper are beautifully written.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own . I would still encourage others to read this book and I think my book club would find a lot to discuss after reading it .

I was kindly given an ARC of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am so sorry to have to say I did it like this book very much.
I never felt connected to the characters and did not really care what happened to them. In my opinion it took over 25% before the story took off a bit and even then I had to struggle to finish it.

This womens fiction book is about a young woman who hasn’t found herself yet. She comes home for the summer and finds her Mom’s old diary in the attic and discovers the man she thought was her Dad is. Or her biological Dad.Her sisters and her struggle with this but there is a happy ending.

Thank you NetGalley, Holly Chamberlin and Kensington Books for the copy of A Summer Love Affair. This is my personal review.
The book was set in a beautiful location. The characters were for me just ok. I did not really connect nor care about anyone in the story. The book was a slow choppy read for me.

I typically enjoy Holly Chamberlin's books but this one just did not resonate with me. I found the writing lacking her usual ability to engage the reader.

How would you feel if you found out at the age of 31 that the man you always believed was your father was not your bio dad? That's the reality facing Petra and her mother Elizabeth. Elizabeth married Hugh but she carried a torch for Chris, his best friend,. There were two daughters and then there is Petra. This moves back and forth between the past and the present to tell both women's stories. Petra wants to know Chris and Elizabeth must reconcile with herself. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. No surprises but a good read for fans of family drama.

A Summer Love Affair is an engaging story of how four women learn to cope with a long buried secret that changes everything they thought they knew.
Elizabeth has finally come to relate the biological father of her youngest daughter, Petra. There was never a doubt that her father, Hugh, was not her true father. Elizabeth had had a short lived affair with Chris, her husband’s best friend who she always loved even though she married Hugh. The relating of the affair affects her daughters in ways relative to their personalities. Petra is searching for her purpose and finding and getting to know her father is what she needs. Cam has marriage struggles of her own and is more grounded in the secret and in her advice. Jess is a no gray area woman and feels betrayed by her mother’s affair. Elizabeth is hopeful the revelation will not permanently change her relationships with her daughters. The story is an examination of the interactions between mothers and daughters when life is not all it seems to be.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A woman makes a confession to her three grown daughters, that she had an affair with her late husband's best friend.

I was unable to finish this book, unfortunately, and thus will not be posting a full review to my blog. I found the writing odd and the story did no capture my attention. Thank you for the opportunity.

A Summer Love Affair goes back and forth between present and past for Elizabeth, a widowed mother of 3. While I loved the charming descriptions of Eliot's Corner, I felt the story overall was a miss. Elizabeth's relationships with her daughters felt weird and the interactions just seemed a bit off to me. I wanted to love this book, but it was not the summer romance I was hoping for.