Interesting page-turner that's perfect for a summer read - this will be an easy one to recommend to patrons looking for an exciting beach read.

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER is a dark and alluring novel that absolutely pulled me in from the start. The writing, setting and complex story transported me to Greece and into Rachel’s life as she lived a life-changing summer as a teenage and then found herself revisiting that time though a new perspective fifteen years later.

At 17, Rachel and her best friend Caroline planned a backpacking, island hopping summer across Greece. When they find themselves on a small island, Rachel is immediately taken with the beauty and doesn’t want to leave. Beaches. Parties. Dancing. Endless nights and long days in the sun. New friends and new adventures.

And then Rachel meets Alistair. She’s drawn to him even though he’s twenty years older. It’s easy for Rachel to romanticize her time with Alistair and she shines under his attention. But the summer didn’t end the way Rachel expected or planned.

Told in dual timelines we meet Rachel fifteen years later, still in love with Alistair. Even though she’s been married to someone else for the last ten years. When she and her husband take a vacation back to the Greek islands where Rachel spent that fateful summer a chance encounter resurrects long suppressed secrets and memories.

The story unfolds slowly through beautiful imagery and intoxicating writing. But be assured that the slow unfolding was for me very much a compulsive read. With echos of MY DARK VANESSA this book is weighty and uncomfortable, but also something I found I could relate to in parts, in words, in emotions.

Rachel’s story is haunting and heartbreaking and does an incredible job portraying how our memories can play tricks on us, how we see what want to see and is an interesting commentary on the gap between what we choose to remember vs. what really happened.

While Rachel’s story is not my own, I could very much relate to the dynamic with Alistair and what it’s like to be involved with someone who is manipulative. I could also understanding her draw to him and how her perception was so specifically crafted by Alistair.

I also felt a complete understanding of her complex relationship with Caroline and the other girls on the island. What it’s like to feel like the shadow friend. Female friendships, particularly at that age, can be filled with jealousy and insecurity, and the desire to fit in and to feel like part of the group.

The book seduced me from the first pages with its picture perfect description of summer in Greece. It drew me in with the complicated and complex nature of female friendships. With the confusing lure of first love. And with Rachel, who is being forced to revisit the story she’s been telling herself all these years later and perhaps face a truth that’s been there all along.

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER is a must read. Huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins for the gifted ARC.

Based on the cover, one might think The Girls of Summer is a fun beachy read, but it's not. It's a dark and disturbing tale of sexual exploitation, rape, and trafficking. The Girls of Summer has many trigger warnings, so I would advise readers to check for them before starting the book.

At times, I struggled to read it because of the subject matter, but the writing style was engaging, and the story kept me interested. Also, I was often frustrated with our main character, Rachel. I could understand why she was infatuated with a much older Alistair when she was seventeen. But as an adult, Rachel's obsession with him, her inability to see what was wrong with their romance, and the summer they spent together annoyed me. There was almost no character development or emotional growth from her teen years to her thirties.

Overall, The Girls of Summer is a well-written debut that deals with some heavy but relevant topics. This book would be a good book club pick.

This is a hard one to rate. I went into this expecting a breezy summer read. This was anything but. Told in duel timelines of Rachel now struggling with her marriage and the banality of it and the Rachel of the past that she yearns to get back to. A time in her young days when she spent a summer on a Greek island and fell in love with an older man. The writing was atmospheric and well done but I found the main character boring dull, and hard time feeling bad for her and her bad decisions. This story was much more about trauma and the way it can stay with us.

When Rachel arrives on the Greek Island at 17, she’s ready to go home, that is until she meets Allistair and falls head over heels, all consumed in love with him. Allister is twenty years her senior and works for a wealthy and powerful man so they have to keep everything hidden.  Even after all that time and being married to a wonderful man, she’s still madly in love with Allistair. When she reconnects with a few women who were on the island at that time, she’s left questioning everything from that time including the love her and Allistair shared.  
 
The Girls of Summer alternates timelines between present day London and 15 years ago, Greece. I wouldn’t really classify this book as a thriller more of a slow burn drama. It was an interesting book that covered many difficult topics well. However, I’m still conflicted, I enjoyed parts of this book and didn’t enjoy other parts. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book, I’m just someone that would have appreciated the trigger warnings as it was hard to read at times. The last 25% really hooked me, I think it ended well.

Thank you St. Martins Press for this ARC in exchange for a review.

The Girls of Summer follows a group of girls as they recover for a traumatic summer in Greece. It was interesting to see how abuse can be perceived from a teenage girl’s point of view. How even after 15 years, abuse can be perceived as love. While the narrator was unlikeabke and unreliable, it was still a good story.

When sun-soaked summer days meet deceptively dangerous summer nights, you get Katie Bishop's debut novel, The Girls of Summer. This intoxicating novel follows seventeen-year-old Rachel on a summer trip to Greece and shows how she gets entangled in a web of manipulation and deceit at the hands of an older man. For fans of My Dark Vanessa, this unconventional coming-of-age story will bring all women back to that vulnerable age of the late teens; a time when you think you are strong and invincible, but in fact are prime to fall victim to seduction and exploitation.

The Girls of Summer takes summer lovin' and wraps it up with a nefarious bow. Unsettling, yet timely, this novel will reverberate with anyone who has spent time in a toxic relationship. Told in both past and present by teenage and 30-ish Rachel, The Girls of Summer examines how we rewrite our personal narratives to make them more palatable, shying away from the glaring truth until something forces us to face it head-on.

Spoilers Ahead ... Going into this novel, I knew that there would be some version of a sex scandal, as this book is described as being post-#MeToo. I found The Girls of Summer to be inspired by Jeffrey Epstein's sexual deviances, told through the eyes of a naïve young girl unaware of what exactly she has stepped into ... or, at least, blindly refusing to call it for what it is. An important novel of the times.

The synopsis of this book intrigued me. The MC Rachel spends a summer on a Greek island at 17 and has a love affair with an older man Alistair. Flash forward 15 years and she's still in love with him even though she's married. Her husband Tom and her return to this same Greek island and as Rachel connects with other girls she knew from that summer, she finds that her memory of things might be skewed.

I appreciate the way in which this topic was addressed and handled with care. Being able to relive the summer nights from the other perspective was enlightening as a reader and for Rachel. Throughout the book there is suspense, curiosity, and tension. While reading parts of the book you definitely get an ick-factor and at times it can be difficult to read, but Katie Bishop did a great job of being sensitive towards the characters. I really loved how the story was woven together between the different times.

TW: themes of power, sex, and consent

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!
Young Rachel is backpacking during a summer in Greece when she meets the charming Alistair and is introduced to his lavish lifestyle. She’s head over heels for this man, not taking off her rose colored glasses for a second.
Fast forward to 16 years later, she’s married to Tom-a safe, secure spouse for her that is ready to start a family. However, when Alistair comes back into the picture she can’t let him go, but will she see him in the same light she did 16 years ago?

This story is told over to two time periods, then and now, and is so atmospheric. You’ll feel transported to Rachel’s adolescence as she explores the beaches of Greece while her naive self learns about the real world. The writing is very well done, dark, and moving.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑰. 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.”

I was attracted to this book from its cover right away; any time that I can escape to an island location in a book, I’m sold.

Katie Bishop’s writing is intoxicating; she describes the beauty of the island and its pull over Rachel super well. The past and present timelines are both quite interesting, where I was quickly turning pages, as the things Rachel experience in the past catch up to her in the present. Bishop touches on teenage infatuation, the way travel has you forming attachment to strangers over a period of a few days, and the way it is hard to recapture old feelings, as much as we may want to. The chaos of the island and the way Alastair was able to manipulate teenage Rachel was infuriating; it is clear Bishop did her research as she writes unflinchingly about grooming and sexual exploitation. I struggled with Rachel in the present however; she shows as much maturity as her teenage self, especially as she pines for Alistair from her past and ignores Tom, the man she married. I found her to be very selfish and hard to empathize with, partly with how she treats Tom and partly how obsessed she still is with Alistair (although it does show the continuing effects that grooming can have on women as they age). The story is pretty linear too; you have an idea where it’s heading about a third of the way in, which in itself isn’t a bad thing but it didn’t leave for a lot of surprises.

The Girls of Summer is a story of secrets, omissions, the loss of innocence, manipulation, and confronting the past. Although a straightforward plot, it is still a powerful read and Bishop shows a lot of promise in her writing. I’ll be looking for more from her in the future. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was definitely not what I expected. I thought it was going to be all about a girls adventure on a Greek island, but it was definitely not that! It was much much darker. I didn't expect it in any way, shape or form. The sexual crimes that were committed in this book kind of leave you in a fog, just like our main characters felt. It definitely was not the cute summer read I was expecting!

Katie Bishop has written the most intriguing book that I have read yet this Summer. The Girls of Summer is a non stop whirlwind of a ride that she brings to the most shocking finish! It is a fabulous summer read, actually an all year read. When I started the book, I had a pit in my stomach, simply from her writing with such an indelible tension..I almost knew what was going to happen. It was as if I had my hands over my eyes, and peeked out at intervals. What a story! It could be true, but I won't mention any spoilers or names that have been in the news in recent years.
Ms. Bishop writes with such a beautiful prosaic vernacular..that I had to write down some of her sentences so I never lose them. This is a must read, and especially a must read for any young girl who thinks she owns the world and goes off to places in the world with simply a backpack. I love this book because it is an eye opener, even as a fictional story; every young woman needs to read this book in preparation for a world they do not want to be part of. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin' Press for the ARC in exchange for this very honest review....I could not put this book down.

At the age of seventeen, Rachel Evans and her friend Caroline decide to spend the summer months before her final year at school vacationing in the Greek islands. A chance meeting with Alistair an older man under the employ of an affluent businessman, marks the beginning of a torrid affair, with Rachel over the moon with the attention she is receiving from Alistair. Rachel and the other girls she befriends on the island, spend their days working in the bar Alistair manages, attending parties at the mansion of his employer and Rachel begins to dream of a future with Alistair. But the summer ends in tragedy and scandal, with Alistair abandoning her and leaving Rachel shattered.

Rachel, now in her thirties and never having gotten over Alistair, visits the island with her husband Tom where she meets one of the girls from that summer who stayed on, it triggers a sequence of events that has Rachel revisiting the past, trying to determine the truth behind what really happened that summer and dealing with the shocking revelations that come to the surface.

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop is an intense read that ventures into dark territory. The pace is on the slower side in the first half of the novel as the narrative moves between past and present detailing both Kate’s state of mind in the present day and the events from that fateful summer. The author is unflinching as she touches upon sensitive topics such as predatory behavior, grooming, and sexual exploitation of vulnerable young women. The author does a wonderful job of setting the scene with vivid descriptions of the island and the upbeat vibe of the young vacationers. Seventeen-year-old Rachel, naïve and easily manipulated and the smooth-talking Alistair and with his shady dealings are well-fleshed-out characters though the present-day timeline with mature Rachel and her cluelessness is not convincing and much of what transpires in her life in the present day is difficult to justify. A seventeen-year-old dazzled by an older man and romantic dreams is believable and the long–lasting effects of trauma and betrayal are believable. But adult Rachel’s reactions, her unwillingness more than inability, to see what truly happened all those years ago for what it truly was and her subsequent actions were difficult to digest beyond a point. As the narrative progresses, I found myself unable to sympathize with Rachel and there really isn’t much mystery or suspense that holds the plot together. Overall, I really can’t call this a thriller. The premise of this novel isn’t quite original, and for those who follow the headlines for crimes of this nature, nothing will really surprise you as the story moves toward the ultimate reveal. I will say that the author has promise and I would be eager to read more from her in the future.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you @macmillan.audio @stmartinspress @netgalley for a copy of this book. I had a few issues with the story that made it a 2 star for me.
- the idea of a 17 year old traveling a summer in Greece by herself
- non-consensual sex
- manipulation of young women by much older men
- Rachel's behavior as an adult and how see treated her husband Tim

I did enjoy how all the author described that summer in Greece and can see how these young adults were so drawn to the lifestyle. Listening to the author's note also made sense as to why the story was written as it was and upped a star.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this read. I can say this is a hard read as it contains heavy topics in this book but I found the book went a bit too slow for me. But I get it, it carries heavy topic matters and sometimes it is required to go a. bit slower but it needs to be interesting when it is slow as it was hard for me to keep reading it because of that.

Girls of Summer is a novel of Rachel’s life today with her husband Tom and visions of her past wild love with Alistair while living for a summer on an island off of Greece for a gap year as a teen. The story seems to move along slowly, with Rachel eventually realizing she was part of a much bigger story when she thought she was just living a dream of a life with a man who was 20 years older than she was. The story unfolds as the veil Rachel has been hiding behind slowly lifts, and she and her friends stand up for themselves.
The story moved quite slowly and I found myself not quite enjoying just how slowly the story went along. The topic of Me Too and trafficking can be a tricky one to write about, though the author does this well with a delicate hand.
I can see why some might really appreciate this novel, though it just was not for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

There are some things I think it's important to know going into this book. Despite the Booklist review that says "plot-driven tension will appeal to fans of psychological suspense" it was definitely not in that category for me, but wholly in the category of women's fiction.

This is a slow moving but beautifully written coming of age story about a 17-year-old girl who travels to Greece and encounters an older man who she falls in love with. It's not until she's older that she comes to realize the depths of the manipulation that occurred, not just to her, but to whole groups of girls who were recruited for more than work in the bar he managed. Yet she still clings to the fantasy of that time, when there were endless parties, little responsibility, and the hint of a future that might be.

The story only hints at the atrocities carried out on the island, and during one fateful trip to England. I wanted the author to just come out and say what we already knew. There are many TW for this book: Grooming, rape, abortion, suicide, drugs. It's not until the last 1/4 of the book that the pace really picks up. Despite that I gave the book 4 stars because of the beautiful language of the book, and the way it was able to evoke a time that many young women encountered during my generation, and maybe even today.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance reader's copy.

3.5 gap year reconsiderations

Rachel and Caroline head off on some summer adventures the summer before they finish school. The last stop is a Greek island. The girls find a beautiful setting and parties with plenty of free alcohol. There’s even a place to stay in return for working at a local bar.

Rachel gets so drawn into this life that she stays on the island while Caroline returns to England. Rachel has fallen in love with Alistair, and she loves spending time with him. She just has to keep the relationship a secret from everyone else, he is twenty years older after all. There’s a terrible tragedy on the island that summer and we only learn the full story by the end of the book.

The book has an alternating timeline for 15 years in the future where Rachel is married, but still pining for Alistair and life on the island. She seems to remember only the idyllic times and not the truth of what happened that summer.

This one was a bit slower to read and I went into it blind. This book made me think about how often this situation must happen, men with power and money, enticing girls to “party” with them, and how often things get out of control. The interesting thing is that in today’s climate, more of these people are held accountable for their actions. However, it is still a difficult battle to prove in court. The title might be a bit deceiving, this is not a fluffy beach book.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬💭:
After reading plenty of summer romance books, i needed a summer thriller to cleanse my palate. This was the perfect solution to my yearning.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for my copy and all the goodies included in my PR Box! Also to Macmillan Audio for my audiobook that I used to accompany my reading.

𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛📝:
When Rachel was a teenager, she spent the summer in Greece. Here she meets Alistair, a much older man who captivates her and so begins their love affair. Years after, she is married to someone else but increasingly becomes obsessed with her past. She decides to revisit it, but secrets begin to surface.

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. I don’t wanna give too much away, but this was a heavy, yet intriguing one. With themes of power, sexuality and consent, this definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. You will need to proceed with caution. If you read the synopsis, it will give you an idea of what it’s about, which i didn’t do lol and ended up captivating me anyway. The complexity of the main MC’s experiences and how it affected her in the long run was recounted well by the author. The eeriness of it all was certainly compelling. Despite it being character driven, the audio made it interesting with the narrator giving a standout performance in her story telling.

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚: 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘦, 𝘔𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘔𝘦𝘛𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯

I would not categorize this as a thriller as it is currently billed, however I enjoyed it nonetheless. The Greek setting was wonderful, and it is told in two timelines, current day when Rachel revisits the remote Greek island with her husband, and the past as she reminisces of a time in her late teens when she spent time there in love with someone else that was 20 years older than her. Her obsession with her past love continues as she reconnects with the girls she spent time with on the island, and secrets about her said affair begin to come to light, causing her to potentially see things differently than they were back then. I enjoyed going on Rachel’s journey with her, frustrating as it was at times given how stubborn she was, but understandable I suppose. This is a slow burn, character driven novel that was a little heavier than I thought, definitely not what I expected, but I liked it overall and it was very well done for a debut. The audiobook for this was great as well and I enjoyed listening and following along with the book.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the digital copy to review.