Ahh, summer thrillers are the best. This would be a wonderful pool/beach book. Rachel makes you want to shake her during her summer in Greece but the naivety of teenagers is written well. Bishop really captures that time when you are technically an adult but still have the mind of a child. Adult Rachel though? Like, honey. C'mon! Be smarter than that. There was some excellent commentary about rape culture and how woman feel like it is their fault (it's not!) Check StoryGraph for some CWs because there definitely are some!

Wow, this was a super compulsive read! Written in a dual timeline between “then” and “now” we hear the story of Rachel who spent a sun drenched summer slinging drinks in a beach bar on a Greek island and falling in love for the first time with a man named Alastair. She was only 17, and he was 37. Fast forward 15 years to find Rachel married and unfulfilled, partly because she has lived those years in a time warp reliving that magical summer and that love affair. Rachel’s husband takes her back to that island for a much needed get away and with the hoping she will find her sparkle again and new life might be rekindled in their relationship. But instead, Rachel is forced into a dark awakening. She needs to reconcile the realities of that fateful summer in order to take control of her future and find contentment. This story is powerful and a little heavy as a book that will join the “me too” group of literature. I think fans of My Dark Vanessa and Night Swim will appreciate this one. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on June 6, 2023

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the free book. 3.5/5
This book is one that I will be thinking about for a while. Rachel, in the past timeline, made me feel so much for her. She was a girl who thought she was in control and getting one thing, while not seeing the big picture. I liked how Bishop handled this topic with care. She wasn't afraid to explore the gritty side of teenagers 'partying' with older men, yet Rachel never felt older in the past timeline than the seventeen/eighteen year old girl she was. However, I did find it harder to spend time with the timeline with Rachel as an adult. I understood her decisions, but it was so hard to watch at times. Bishop had a way of unfurling the plot to keep me fully invested in where this story was going. I do wish the pacing had been a bit different. I feel like it would've been more powerful to spend a bit more time in the events that happened after 90% of the book. But this book is timely and important, and I think it will resonate with lots of readers.

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER
Katie Bishop

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER is both more than I expected and less than I wanted it to be.

Questions of consent, a handful of messy characters, and a vacation that turns into a lifestyle-what else could you ask for out of the next BIG book of the summer?

Apparently, a lot!

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER is the story of Rachel and the summer she’ll never forget. Rachel went on vacation in the Greek Islands only to end up staying longer than intended. She meets a man named Allistair who is sexy and older and mysterious. There is something about him that drives Rachel wild.

Years later, Rachel still hasn’t forgotten about her summer in Greece or Allistair. She is married and trying to create a life worth remembering yet is hiding parts of herself from her husband and it’s creating mixed results. She’ll never be the same after that fateful summer and maybe she doesn’t want to.

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER is approachable and thrilling and I was invested in the characters and the story from the beginning. My complaint is a big one and one I couldn't get over. The author gave me a character to hate with a cause that I wanted to fight for. A complete contradiction.

And I wish I didn’t feel so conflicted.

I appreciated seeing the question of consent explored through this lens. However, I felt the book normalized inappropriate behavior without being declarative enough in its message. I gave THE GIRLS OF SUMMER three stars for its mixed messages and for wasting an opportunity to talk about an important topic.

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER comes out on June 6, 2023.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martins Press, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER…⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rachel and Caroline are just 17 when they decide to take a year off school and travel to Greece. They find themselves on a small island meeting some other young women who work at a local bar. Rachel is the awkward one who is used to being in Caroline’s shadow but she gains attention from an older man (in his 30s), Alistair, and soon finds herself wanting to spend as many moments of her time with him before she is supposed to return home to London. The insular daily life grows on Rachel, her secret love affair with Alistair, upscale parties at a well known businessman’s house, giggling with a group of girls as they come and go from work at the bar, drinking and beach days. Almost 18 years later, Rachel and the group of girls from that summer reconnect and Rachel is forced to consider that the summer of love wasn’t quite as innocent as she once considered.

This book has been compared to My Dark Vanessa and that is a very apt comp. It is important to know that, despite the cover and title, this book is not a romance and not light. Difficult and trigger-worthy topics are taken on. If you have read My Dark Vanessa and are interested in the #metoo movement then I think this is a book for you.

It is difficult to say I really enjoyed this book given the topics it tackles but I would say that the author deftly and considerately takes the reader into the life of Rachel. The writing and pacing created a sense of suspense as well as the unfolding awareness by the main character of what really happened that summer held my attention. This is one of those books where you can see where the book is headed and wait for the character to come to the same realization. It is very well done!

I look forward to reading more by this author and if you can manage the content, highly recommend it to other readers. Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. The Girls of Summer comes out June 6, 2023.

I will add the trigger warnings to my Storygraph review if you want to check them out. I can be found
under the name Pomoevareads on Storygraph.

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for an eARC of The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop!

This one was different from my typical reads, which I enjoyed. Not a "thriller" for me, but more of a psychological suspense with a mystery, atmospheric element.

The book follows Rachel, who's been in love with Alistair for 15 years, despite being married to someone else. She was a teen when they met on a remote Greek island. And he was 20 years her senior. Rachel becomes obsessed with reliving the events of that summer - Eventually reconnecting with the other girls she spent her time with on the island. The way they remember that summer is a lot different from the way she recalls it, though. Rachel's been suppressing secrets for years - and it's time that they come to light.

This book grapples with serious topics and themes such as sex, power, consent, trauma - And takes us from Rachel's arrival on the Greek island when she was 17 to where she is now - A woman in her early 30s who still doesn't quite understand just what happened to her that summer. This one sure gets you thinking, which I appreciate.

I'm looking forward to seeing what this author comes up with next!

I think this is a well written and intriguing story that is definitely worth the read if you're in the mood for something a bit dark and, at times, uncomfortable because it deals with some sad topics.

Rachel goes with her friend Caroline to a small Greek island at the end of their vacation. What should have been a short stay results in something more when Rachel (17) meets an older man, Alistair. If you are like me, then perhaps you're getting the idea that this is going to turn into a bad situation. There is definitely a little too much attention for the younger women on the island by older men.

While this story plays out, the present time is also being told every other chapter. Rachel is now married... (happily??? Doesn't seem so much??) And when they visit the island, Rachel seems a bit unbalanced by her past catching up to her.

This was a difficult read for me considering the topic, but overall, I thought it was well done.

Content warnings for rape, sexual assault, pregnancy issues

Out June 6, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

This book elicited so many feelings from me… not all what I expected to feel. I wanted to reach in the book and slap the FMC on more than one occasion but I do believe that’s what was intended so I have to say, well done.
I listened to the audio along with reading the digital version and the narrator, Annabel Scholey, is what really made the book for me. She was very in tuned with the emotions of the story.
This one is rife with sensitive topics so please check TW before you read.

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

I was really looking for a book to get me into the summer mood, and this one had the perfect setting!! I loved the idea of backpacking to a beautiful tropical island and just seeing what the world had to offer. I didn’t expect the book to get so morbid and troubling, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. The storyline kept me on the edge of my seat and it was nice to see everything fall into place at the end.

Rachel is 17 the summer she arrives on a remote Greek island and meets Alistair. He is 20 years old but charming and quickly sweeps her off her feet. Things quickly spiral out of control with Rachel and her friends though and almost 20 years later, Rachel is forced to revisit that summer and everything that really happened.

This is a tough subject to cover and hard to read about. But it was well written and the writing really put me in Rachel's shoes. Rachel wasn't real likable and it was hard to feel sorry for her, especially when she was essentially ignoring the trauma her friends were experiencing. But she was also 17 years old so it was pretty believable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available June 6, 2023.

I had a really hard time getting into this one bc of the very descriptive, repetitive writing style - this felt more like litfic style writing (which i don’t mind, i just wasn’t expecting that going into this). the present day chapters became a slog to get through because it was just our MC being like ‘i can’t believe i came back here where i have this HUGE SECRET and this THING HAPPENED in my past but i won’t TELL you anything about it’ over and over. the past chapters that actually tell the story seemed fine but i just was not captivated enough to finish.

Suspenseful, dreamy, and emotional, Katie Bishop puts it all in these pages! I don’t know how to tease the premise without giving it all away, so here is just a snippet:

As protagonist Rachel struggles to find balance in her real life, she becomes consumed by her past; specifically one fleeting summer that changed her life forever. As the story unfolds, so does the illusion she calls her memories.

Within the first third of the book, I fell deep into the story and I couldn’t put it down. Bishop created such an immersive universe between the Greek islands and the UK. I felt like I was Rachel, realizing my teenage whirlwind vacation wasn’t the magical fantasy I was remembering. Bishop invokes the unsettling feelings of her characters in her readers. You can read between the lines and it’s frustrating not being able to yell into the pages!

The chapters go back and forth between present and past format and Katie Bishop illustrates the different perspectives so well. It was intense and heavy, but tinted pink.

I really enjoyed this, and if you’re looking for a suspenseful story to keep you hooked as the summer rolls in, The Girls of Summer is exactly what you’re looking for.

As a mother of daughters, this book was SO hard to read.

We have teenage young women living in Greece, thinking they've found an amazing situation. But from my side you see that they are being manipulated and groomed. There is sexual assault and definitely gaslighting and mental abuse.

Alistair is SO good at his manipulation, that even 15 years later, married Rachel still fancies herself in love him.

It was a heartbreaking read, and not for everyone. But watching the women come together years later and see the men held accountable was satisfying.

Well written even though it was a difficult topic.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press for an ARC and MacMillan Audio for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a slow-burn thriller set in Greece. Rachel and her best friend are off to Greece for a summer break. What could go wrong? Rachel meets an older man and plans are changed.
I love the dual timeline storytelling--it works well with this story. Each chapter is headed with “then” and “now”, putting the reader in the correct time frame. The entire story is narrated by Rachel, the reverse order keeps the reader on their toes. This title turns out to be a darker story than the title implies, but it's well-told and refreshing,

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital copy of this title.

Unfortunately the story didn’t pull me in. It’s told in dual timelines and I was hoping eventually it would be engaging but for me it was a very slow pace read.
There are very well descriptions of the location and smells that can whisk anyone away but it just didn’t work for me.
The narrator, Annabel Scholey did a good job portraying the MC and other characters in the story. I enjoyed the tones and accent she used.

A very special thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio for the ALC and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted book.

The Girls of Summer is a debut novel by Katie Bishop. Told from duel timelines from one characters point of view, this story was very slow to unfold.

Rachel, now in her thirties remembers her one summer in Greece, as a seventeen year old, as a crazy time in her life. It is one she never forgot mainly because she fell in love. But now, older and faced with new information, she now has a new lens to see that summer through, the one she held onto so fondly for so many years.

The Girls of Summer didn’t have many twists and turns, but I was intrigued the whole time while reading. It didn’t take long for me to see pieces of the puzzle started to click together. But even having an idea, I dreaded as the story unfold, to see what was going to happen with these young girls. I didn’t really love any of the characters, but the writing was very good. I can’t wait to see what Bishop writes next.

Thank you to St Martins Press for the ARC copy to read and provide an honest review.

The Girls of Summer is a debut novel by Katie Bishop. Told from duel timelines from one characters point of view, this story was very slow to unfold.

Rachel, now in her thirties remembers her one summer in Greece, as a seventeen year old, as a crazy time in her life. It is one she never forgot mainly because she fell in love. But now, older and faced with new information, she now has a new lens to see that summer through, the one she held onto so fondly for so many years.

The Girls of Summer didn’t have many twists and turns, but I was intrigued the whole time while reading. It didn’t take long for me to see pieces of the puzzle started to click together. But even having an idea, I dreaded as the story unfold, to see what was going to happen with these young girls. I didn’t really love any of the characters, but the writing was very good. I can’t wait to see what Bishop writes next.

Thank you to St Martins Press for the ARC copy to read and provide an honest review.

I was looking forward to a mystery/suspense (as this is marketed) set in Greece. Perfect for summer, right?

Nope, it’s all about the main character being groomed and then perpetually being in love with said groomer.

No thank you- I am not about lifting up this gross behavior.

This was a very interesting book dealing with a tough subject and at times it was tough to read. The writing was good, but I don’t know if it was the style or what but I had hard time really getting into the story and I didn’t really care about any of the characters. The story is told in two perspectives past and present. Rachel has never truly recovered from the summer when she was 17 taking a vacation on a small island. But she doesn’t even truly understand what happened that summer and she is still struggling to manage the trauma she can’t even acknowledge. This book definitely made me think and I think it did accurately capture how easy it is for a young and vulnerable girl to slide in commercial exploitation of children.

Thank you to the author and publisher, as well as NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this book ahead of its publication date in exchange for a fair and honest review.

MAJOR trigger warning for sexual assault and suicide in this novel, some of the contents left me feeling a little unsettled, as well as unsatisfied with how everything played out.

I have enjoyed novels like this in the past, but I will say that it felt entirely too predictable with the way Rachel seeks out Alistar from almost the first moment. I hated to read through the novel and see that she hadn't really learned anything from such a toxic relationship and continued those behaviors throughout the book. She was very self sabotaging, and at times, I think she got a weird thrill out of doing what was bad for her.

I am a huge champion of seeing female characters champion their own self growth and discovery, in a way, Rachel did that, but it didn't come without plenty of cringey moments and her own toxic behavior toward other people who genuinely loved her.

The sections from Rachel's past, when she was staying in Italy, left me feeling incredibly sad. Some of the scenes are hard to read, so again, use your best discretion when choosing to pick up this book.

That being said, the novel does have resolution related to the #MeToo movement at the end, which was uplifting and left me with an overall positive view of the book.

I give this novel 3 of 5 stars.