Thank you St. Martin's Press and netgalley for an advanced copy of The Girls of Summer. This one started out a bit slow but as I came to know the characters and got the present and past worked out I did enjoy this book. I think that it might possibly not be for everyone - I caught myself thinking it reminds me a bit of #metoo with a bit of Epstein Island and while not exactly like My Dark Vanessa - it did have some similarities there. I understand that this is Katie Bishop's debut novel. The writing is excellent and I look forward to reading something else by this author in the future.

Rachel was only 17 when she and her friend, Caroline, took the summer to head to Greece where they could island hop and see the sights. They stayed at hostels and made friends with other girls traveling while sharing brochures on things they had seen.

While on a fairly remote island, they met up with girls at a bar where everyone danced and drank way into the night. Rachel met an older man named Alistair who invited them to a big party at a huge mansion on a hill. He said he was looking after the place for a friend. Rachel fell in love with Alistair while they again drank heavily. Rachel was supposed to return home soon, but decided to stay and worked at the bar where she could also continue her relationship with Alistair.

Now, at age 34, Rachel is married to Tom. However, she cannot stop thinking about Alistair. So, when they took a trip to the island where she had stayed, she found out where Alistair is and has arranged to meet up with him.

So many things in this book that made me cringe. First, I would never have allowed a 17-year-old girl to travel to another country to tour it and stay at hostels. Second, Rachel’s obvious uncaring attitude toward her marriage with Tom was cruel. I did not like her at all. How can a 34-year-old woman remain as naive as she was at age 17, or is she just living in a fantasy world? I realize that this book is a take on the Epstein scandal. What happened there was wrong, but I have to say that it takes two to tango. So, at what age does someone learn to take responsibility for themself?

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

So dark so chilling told in two timelines.Summertime a young girl being taken advantage of by an older man.Darkness follows her and now an adult who she is coming to terms with what happened to her all those years ago.Well written not a lighthearted read reminiscent of Dark Vanessa.#netgalley #st.martins books

Achingly poignant and at times hard to read because of the reality and truths of what so many women experience and live woven into the story. I’m not typically drawn to the thriller type books but the blurb for this one caught my interest.

It is such a heavy, sad story that I know I’ll be thinking another for awhile and is going to take some time to process through after finishing, but it was really well done. So well written and the pacing was just right, giving you just enough to maintain the tension and need to know the full story of what happened, and keep you hooked till the very end.

Told in dual timelines, this was a powerful story of powerful, dark and thought-provoking moments, even disturbing at times and was definitely not what I was expecting. It was more suspense/contemporary than thriller, in my opinion, so I wouldn't expect a big reveal, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

I thought the scenery was absolutely fantastic. I loved the Greek island setting and really thought it added to the immersive nature of the book. The author does a great job really building up the atmosphere for the story to happen.

Huge thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my promo box and advance copy of The Girls of Summer. This is a super buzzy book for the summer and I am glad I got to read it early!
I was extremely impressed that this was a debut. Let me say that right off the bat. I feel like this one is a hard one for me to review. This is a very character driven mysteryish- drama. It’s not a thriller. At all. Which is okay. However, I think I expected something more nefarious and it was extremely realistic. I knew what was going to happen fairly early on. The atmosphere in the novel is wonderful. The author does a great job of transporting you to the Greek island.
It is told between past and present format. Part of my issue was I really disliked the present. It was slow and Rachel (the main character) is annoying AF. She is selfish and makes horrible decisions. I wanted more from the past and the group of girls that were pulled into this horrible situation. The author did a good job of showing us how viewing things through rose colored lenses can really manipulate a situation. I don’t want to say more so that the suspense is still there if you choose to read it.
I applaud what the author tried to do and the points she was making. I enjoyed it but, I didn’t love it. I feel like @scaredstraightreads said it best “Fans of Before We Were Innocent and My Dark Vanessa will enjoy this fast and furious read”. I will say I liked it better then both of those.

Don't go into Katie Bishop's The Girls of Summer thinking this is a summer beach read. It's so much more than that. It's about desire and control and consent. It's Rachel's story of finally finding her own power and forgiving herself. The Girls of Summer is an emotional, engaging read that is sometimes hard to work through, to know what's happening, to watch all unravel. It's raw, but it's also inspiring.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to review. Katie Bishop is a writer to watch.

I wasn’t expecting The Girls of Summer to be such a heavy read. It’s weird to say I “enjoyed” the book based on the content. This is a powerful story filled with intense topics that reminds me of the same vibes as My Dark Vanessa, Before We Were Innocent, and The Ingenue.

Bishop alternates between Rachel’s present day life and the abrupt re-exposure to her past that brings complicated memories hurtling back to her. I loved how these timeline shifts wove together. Each is atmospheric and filled with emotion. The reader is aware of the truth about Rachel’s past before she is and it breaks your heart at times to see the realization arrive. The pacing gives the story a slow burn quality, but the content kept my attention so solidly that I never minded this. Bishop’s writing is propulsive and with each new chapter I was invested in what would happen next.

I highly recommend checking trigger warnings on Storygraph before picking this one up.

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

Rachel was only 17 when she spent the summer far away from home in Greece. Told in the Vennemann now, we see how Rachel was infatuated/in love with an older man, Alistair, and how the time she spent there with him, still controls her life today.
When the other girls who were part of her group, divulge their feelings about what actually happened on that island during that summer, Rachel needs to decide if her memories are actually accurate or if her younger self only saw what she wanted to believe. It’s a dark story, one that is centered around men with power and privilege, and the young girls who are caught up in their twisted games.
More than once, I yelled at my Kindle and at Rachel. She was young and naïve, so what happened to her in the then was understandable. I had a harder time seeing her so many years later still wearing blinders about what occurred on that island. However, it was a sad and tragic story,one without any winners.
Did I like how it ended? Yes and no. Rachel in the now was a hard character for me to like. I won’t say more since I don’t want to spoil the ending. 3.5 stars.

This one just wasn’t for me, I found the writing style to be a little too overwritten for me and I didn’t connect with the main character at all. She lacked maturity and growth over the course of the book and I just couldn’t get behind her.

he Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Many thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC! Pub day is today! 🎉

Similar in theme to My Dark Vanessa and The Ingenue, this slow-burn, atmospheric read explores complicated topics of consent, power, sex, and memories. I’ve seen it touted as a thriller, but I would not call it that. Mystery maybe, contemporary fiction with a focus on recent ‘me too’ revelations, absolutely.

The past and present alternating POVs were well done and enhanced the book. The backdrop of the idyllic Greek islands contrasted with the tension that was created with the relationships. The characters, while not likable, felt like they stayed true to who they were, and their actions made sense. None of the revelations felt particularly shocking.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and kept turning pages to see what would happen next. If you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller with twists and turns, this is not it. However, if you’re looking for an atmospheric read that dives into ‘me too’ themes, this is it. Research triggers before diving in.

I loved the setting and dual timeline aspect of this book. Katie Bishop had an intriguing writing style that I enjoyed and found easy to read.
Please look up TWs for this book. It ended up being waaayyy darker than I expected and therefore won’t be a go to recommendation for me.

Thank you St. Martins Press for the advanced copy!

Thank you for the ARC of this book! While it was a fast paced read and I feel like at one point or another we all wonder about the one who got away, the what ifs that come with it. This fell a little short for me. It was well written and intriguing but a 17 year old traveling overseas alone seems a bit terrifying and it was hard to relate to as a 33 yo old woman who’s parents were pretty strict and never would’ve allowed this.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

We follow Rachel as she visits a Greek Island where she used to line as a teenager. Rachel begins to reminisce about her time in the island when she was seventeen and the person whom she was in love with Alistair.

**check content warnings**

This book is very atmospheric and a slow burn. The writing style is easy to consume, however, every time I put this book down, I was not drawn to pick it up and continue. Maybe it was the age gap romance? Maybe the dual timelines? Maybe the lack of maturity in Rachel?

I will definitely check out Katie Bishop and her future works!

The Girls of Summer is not your typical summer read. It is dark, drug addled, and full of manipulation. We are transported to the past with Rachel's remembrances of her summer in Greece. There, she meets an older, sophisticated man from London. She allows herself to fall under his spell and eventually is betrayed. In the present, she and her husband travel to the same Greek island where that "infamous" summer occurred, and she relives that moment in time and struggles with determining if she lost a love or was bamboozled.

Warning: this story is very heavy, so not the beach read most may be looking for. Themes of abuse and sex trafficking are in the forefront.

While this may not have been my cup of tea, it is well written. It shows a side many of us are not familiar with: that dark, seedy life of powerful and manipulative men and how easy it is for women to fall prey to them. It is a tragic and cautionary tale for us all.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

I’m not sure what I expected going into this book, but it wasn’t what I got! The cover makes it look like a book of summer fun - and it’s definitely not that. I’m impressed that this is a debut women’s fiction novel because it did not read as such. Told in dual timelines, The Girls of Summer follows Rachel both through her summer in Greece at age 17 and when she and her husband return to the same island for vacation many years later. Atmospherically, I was whisked away for a summer in the Greek isles. While reading, I was unfortunately unsurprised by the situations that came up in the book regarding older men taking advantage of young women.
I've seen this compared to My Dark Vanessa - it’s been a while since I read that, but I can see that likeness in terms of their dark sexual themes. This book, on the other hand, left me feeling a bit differently about the main character, as I couldn’t stand her!
I mostly listened to the audiobook, which was excellently narrated by Annabel Scholey. Her narration made the story come to life, especially in the beginning when it was setting the stage for the trauma to come. I found myself following along with the ebook in order to pay attention, which I don’t usually do.
Thanks to the St Martin's Press for the ARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I crushed this on my train home from a busy long weekend in New Jersey - I recommend the audiobook but be aware that this is a darker and heavier story than the cover portrays. It is available today!

Content Warnings: sexual abuse, drug abuse, lack of consent, human trafficking, grooming, abortion

This book was not for me. I felt it was very dark and not the light beach read I was looking for at the time. If this is what you're looking for, this book is for you.

This book will appeal to readers who like slow paced, darker style book. The plot centers around a young woman who is betrayed by an older man.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader's copy. My review is my own.

4.5 stars rounded up

The Girls of Summer, by Katie Bishop, is a fascinating story about a young woman whose adult life is shaped by, and shadowed by, her summer on a remote Greek island at age 17.
Told in two timelines, Then and Now, the central character Rachel is backpacking in Greece with her friend Caroline. When she falls for a suave, older man from London who works for an uber-wealthy entrepreneur, she finds herself being drawn into their world of excess—alcohol, drugs and sex. Sixteen years later, Rachel is married to solid Tom, who “feels like safety and suffocation, all at once,” to her. When they take a vacation to that very Greek island, it of course triggers all sorts of memories and deep feelings in Rachel, as she recalls her wild summer there.
Rachel is the protagonist and the story unspools from her POV as the ghosts of her past emerge and impact her present calm but uninspired life. As a character, I found Rachel unlikeable but well-written in that she did some foolish things and was fooled by people whose activities and their words sometimes concealed the worst intentions.
I think that this is a good characterization of an unsophisticated girl whose lack of self-worth left her open to social predators. The other characters in the story seemed two dimensional, but their roles were very secondary to Rachel’s tale.
Ultimately I found this novel very moving, and I think it hits the mark as a searing, and very personal, tale about a young woman who is exploited by deviant, powerful men.
The writing is strong and skillful at evoking the languid feeling of this bucolic island.
I highly recommend this great debut novel to readers who enjoy meaningful suspense.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

At first, I thought I didn't like this book, but I realized any book that could elicit such strong emotions was a winner. This was definitely a tough read. The MC Rachel was hard to connect with. She "dated" this older man years ago and fell hard for him. So hard that she can't forget him 15 years later. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say too much. I understood Rachel's behavior when she was younger, but she frustrated me so much in the present day. Please read the content warnings before diving into this book. This was difficult but such a timely read and important to understand how these types of situations could happen.