Thank you so much for this ARC!

Truthfully, the book was very hard to get into and I decided to try again a year later, on audio. The audio book held my attention much longer.

The setting is amazing, what is not to love about being young, carefree and falling in love in Greece. Aside from that, there is no more razzle dazzle. This book is heavy, serious and very slow moving. The main character is just not a person I cared for - her poor decision making, risking her great life with a wonderful husband for a summer affair in Greece by a man that got her pregnant and didn't care.

Again, I did listen and it was an enjoyable read, however there was no true climax to the story (I was waiting!). The MeToo movement doesn't become truly apparent and discussed until the last 10% of the book.

I'm drawn to books set in Greece because I studied abroad there during college and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I really wanted to love this book, but overall I was really disappointed. To me it was marketed as a female empowerment thriller with a #MeToo narrative. That is not what I got.

Rachel and her friend, Caroline, decide to spend a summer living abroad in Greece. This summer is the final one before their last year of school and want to do something that makes them feel a sense of freedom and independence. Rachel takes to Greece really well. She loves it there and befriends a group of girls who bring her into their fold - working at a bar together and attending lavish parties at the mansion of their employer. To Rachel, it all feels like a dream, especially when she meets Alistair. Alistair is older and also employed by the same employer. Rachel falls head over heels for him. The dream slowly becomes a nightmare, but Rachel doesn't seem to recognize it and continues down a path of destruction.

The book is told in alternating timelines - past and present. In the present day, Rachel is 30 and married, but she is still stuck on the past and her obsession with Alistair. This book is dark. I don't mind dark books, however, I feel that there should be some redeeming qualities in a dark book - like characters you can root for. Unfortunately, I found Rachel awful. She was incredibly self-involved, naive, immature, and ignorant. And as an adult, she doesn't get much better. I found it incredibly hard to believe that a seventeen year old was that oblivious to the disturbing things going on around her and that she would continue to staunchly defend abusers.

Although the story kept my interest, I didn't particularly enjoy it. It almost felt like I needed a shower while reading it. The writing itself was good, but I'm not sure if I'd want to read another book by Bishop.

Beware of all of the trigger warnings on this book: Non-Consensual Sexual Relations, Abuse, Substance Use, Grooming, Exploitation, etc.

I tried a few times to get into this book and really struggled. I think the themes of age, consent, and early formative relationships are really important but I struggled with the rambling content and a strong dislike for every character. I didn’t feel much interconnection between the main players and while I’ve had similar experiences, the dark undertones and cheating made me pull back from the content pretty heavily. Overall not for me but I do feel like there were important things to be said here.

While reading this, all I could think is what a good Hulu series this would make for. I am down for books to read in the summer that leave me entertained, connected to friendships and that I am sucked into like a bucket of popcorn. And this did that!

I loved this book! It was well written and transported me to the Greek Isles as the Girls of Summer tells the story of girls who end up working on the island in a local bar. Occasionally they're called up to the BIG HOUSE owned by Henry, and sinister and salacious things happen up there. When a body of one of the Summer Girls is found, an investigation into Alaister and Henry and the girls reveals secrets.

DNF. I can’t do the weak, begging for acceptance thing. I cannot relate and it becomes annoying especially when it’s a grown woman who is whiny and needy.

This is a book that reads more lit fic than thriller. I don't know if I can say I enjoyed this one, but I did feel engaged with Rachel and her story throughout the dual timelines. She's cruel, vindictive.. a lot naive. It makes for an interesting protagonist, even if you're reading because you loathe her. It was a bit difficult to actually connect with her, but the overall story made for a compelling read overall.

This was a sloooooow read for me, took me a chunk, it was easy to get back into when I would pick it back up. If you like to read heavier topics in heavily character driven stories, this one may be a hit for you!

This review may be *slightly* biased because I was lucky enough to read this book while on a trip to Greece, so I was completely immersed in the atmosphere of the story. This book starts off with reminiscing of a dream summer holiday of freedom and youth, and slowly gets darker as the events of the past are brought to the narrator's present under new light. Since this book deals with relationships with an unbalanced power dynamic, readers should be aware of the trigger warnings of grooming, sexual abuse, and suicide. Ultimately, this is a story of healing, but it can be dark and unsettling to get there. Fans of My Dark Vanessa will really enjoy this book, and I know it's one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

✨ PRINCEMAN REVIEW ✨

📝 Seventeen year old Rachel heads to Greece to spend the summer before her final year of school. There, she meets the charming Allistar, and is swept away with his attention. She dreams of something more with him, until scandal breaks. Left heartbroken, she heads home. Flash forward over ten years later, and Rachel returns with her husband. It's only then she realizes that what she remembers may not entirely be the whole truth of what happened in Greece all those years ago.

What I 🤍:
☀️ Summertime
🇬🇷 Greece!
🕰️ Duel Timeline
😭 Emotional
💪 ME TOO MOVEMENT

Wow, this was a heavy read. It starts on the slower side, and then your gripped into the story hoping that Rachel can find some sort of peace. After being groomed and abused, she was left forever changed. My heart really went out to this girl. And, it opened my eyes to the realities of what can happen to young, beautiful, teenage girls. It's heavy, so this may not be for everyone.

This was a dnf for me. The book was just very bland and I didn’t find myself reaching for it at all.

I'm going with the full five stars for this one because I found it unputdownable reading, at least in part because it traces an emotional trajectory that I and so many female friends have travelled as a result of the #MeToo movement of recent years. We've all had sexualised experiences since we were children that, with hindsight, we normalised as 'just the way things are' rather than recognising them as being man-made - quite literally - power structures which can and should be dismantled.

Bishop has written a slow and nuanced book that enables us to see via the eyes of Rachel, a mid-thirties woman whose life sort of stopped after the summer she was seventeen when back-packing to a Greek island she met a man who she has created as 'the love of her life', a narrative in which she has deliberately blinded herself to the story of which she was really a part.

I can see how this has been compared to My Dark Vanessa because it explores complicity in a wholly sympathetic manner, offering compassion and understanding without judging.

And my biggest takeaway is a reminder of how vulnerable teenage girl-women are even when - especially when? - they consider themselves street smart, grown up and invincible. We've all been there, whether through Rachel's naivety or Helena's seeming vibrant confidence - and those of us who never found ourselves in the same situation as these women can only be grateful.

Powerful and compelling.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the opportunity read and review this arc honestly.

The book was well written, however the first half was pretty slow. It dealt with a lot of heavy topics so be sure to check trigger warnings. Overall I thought the book was ok, partly because I couldn't stand the main character and had trouble empathizing with her. Overall the book was ok, but not sure I'd go out of my way to recommend it to others.

*Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the copy of this book*

At seventeen years old, Rachel and her best friend decide to travel before starting their college career. When they end up on a beautiful Greek island, Rachel wants to stay in this paradise beyond their intended travel date. The main impetus for this decision is largely due to the whirlwind romance she embarks on with a wealthy, much older, man named Alastair. Drawn into the party lifestyle of alcohol and drugs, her naiveté and the glamor of the picturesque landscape and lifestyle prevent her from seeing the reality of the situation. Fifteen years later she is back in London and married, but she can't help to think back on the glory days and her first love, Alastair. The events of that summer have completely changed her and prevent her from enjoying her current life. She is soon forced to face the facts of what truly happened that summer.

This story was very straightforward and alluded to a mysterious occurrence that changes everything. However, it was very evident what was happening from the beginning - there were absolutely no plot twists. This book was quite long yet felt like nothing of import really happened in the bulk of the story. It was very hard to champion for the main character - which left me so conflicted because she absolutely was a victim. I understand the reasoning for the portrayl of the main character - trauma rewriting memories to mask/protect from the truth - but I felt like her actions as an adult (and some during her young adult life) were quite unredeemable. I do think the author did a good job of depicting Alastair as an evil and conniving predator and how abuse, especially at that pivotal time from childhood to adulthood, can have lasting repercussions on the victim.

I am obsessed with this book! One of the best I've read in awhile. I have been pushing this book upon my family, and the ones that have read it, loved it too! I was totally engrossed in the story, and picked this book up every chance that I could.

i wanted to like this as I love thrillers, but at 15% I could not get into it. It was very slow, the characters and plot did not pull me in. Did not finish.

If you remember the feeling of foreboding isolation during the early covid lockdowns, then you have a good idea of the vibe of this book. In addition to that, we have a very skeevy older man hitting on a teenage girl vibe, with on-screen SA also included. I found this to be a heavy, hard read. The MC was hard to relate to. A lot of the things she did simply didn't make sense to me. I kept trying to find ways to understand why she made those choices, but I never quite made it there. This was a difficult, sad read.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

"The Girls of Summer" by Kate Bishop is a beautifully written ode to friendship, growth, and the indelible mark of youthful summers. Bishop's prose is lyrical and evocative, perfectly capturing the bittersweet transition from adolescence to adulthood. Set against the backdrop of sun-drenched days and starlit nights, the novel explores the deep bonds between a group of friends navigating the complexities of life and love. It's a heartwarming and poignant story that resonates with anyone who cherishes the memories of summers past. A truly enchanting read.

This was a great read and will definitely recommend!! The cover is also so cute. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

This is a very well written book on a very sensitive topic and how traumatizing it can be to people for the rest of their lives.

This was a fun thriller. I enjoyed reading it. It was a good popcorn thriller. Great for summer reading