The Girls of Summer is a dark atmospheric read and I thoroughly enjoyed the cautionary tale it told. This book is vibrantly clever and well delivered. Revealing the darkness and raw emotion that a lot of people deal with today. With a first page that reels the reader right in, the story jumps from past to present. While we're still in the wake of the #metoo movement, "The Girls of Summer", follows Rachel and her memories of a summer she spent in the Greek Islands. While she is unhappy in her present, we're left unwrapping her past to find out what led her on her current journey. A difficult read that has a few moments that leave you with a broken heart, and a terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, The Girls of Summer is a book that needs to be read. This book is raw and believable, and left my mind spinning. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

this story was a bit of a trigger for me as i was manipulated and was psychologically abused by my first love as a teenager too but nonetheless I was completely engrossed into the story from the first page. This is a very emotional read but one i recommend.

thanks netgalley and publisher

all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow. This book was dark and compelling. Told in dual time lines, the story focuses on Rachel who was preyed upon by a much older man when she was just seventeen. This book speaks very clearly to the me too phenomenon making it highly relevant

The Girls of Summer alternates between the now and then of the life of Rachel. The now being her life in London and the then being the summer she spent in Greece.

I thought this book was okay. The summary was intriguing, but the execution fell a little flat. There were so many characters I had a hard time keeping everyone straight. All in all the story was interesting, but kind of long winded.

I was given this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

This novel goes between two timelines as Rachel remembers a love affair she had during a summer on a Greek isle. For her, this is the love of a lifetime, but is her memory faulty?

This book is a moving and careful look at how difficult victims of assault have in sometimes even realizing they are victims.

While everything on the island seems amazing at first, years later Rachel begins grappling with the fact that all is not what it seems.

The book is sensitively and well written and the dual timelines lend a different perspective. I enjoyed this book a lot.

This book was an intense read. It goes from Now to Then and centers around a main character named Rachel that is telling her story of a time when she was 17 and stayed in an island in Greece. She shares what happens to her as she’s falling for an older man and the girls she lives with and the work they do on the island. Trigger warnings!

I liked how Rachel looks back and then also gives us glimpses into her present day life and the complications she deals with as an adult. I’m rating this four stars. It was a bit long at times but overall a really good book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for the purpose of this review.

Rachel is 17 when she decides to take a gap year and ends up on a Greek island with a bunch of other teen girls. Her decision to stay at the end of summer is one that changes her whole life- she just doesn’t know it yet. We hear about her life in chapters titled “now” and “then” and the reader begins to piece together the sinister things going on once we get past her distorted perception. It took a while for Rachel, now 35, to integrate the past with sex trafficking and abuse by older men in positions of power. We watch as she has to grapple with what she thought was true versus the awful realities of what happened to her and the other girls of summer. This is a novel where we see the aftermath of trauma, resulting in a complete rewriting of her relationship with Alister. It’s also a story of redemption as the girls reunite to take action against their abusers. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars rounded to 4

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: June 6, 2023

This book did such an amazing job giving me unsettling vibes and an eerie sense with the atmosphere. This is my first book by Bishop and I was definitely intrigued!

I would rate this book 3.5 stars- I loved how Bishop brought the world to life however, I didn't like any of the characters. They didn't really grow to me which left me disappointed. The story also gave me "The Last Housewife" vibes but it felt a lot slower and bogged down with too much detail in some parts.

Overall, not a terrible book but not one that blew me away either.

I was so happy to receive an offer for this ARC. It was so twisty from beginning! Would definitely recommend!!!

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once it grabbed me it held tight until the end. I started off not liking the main character, Rachel, until I realized that she and I have a lot in common. I’m sure many female readers will feel the same way. I strongly related to being a naive 18 year old girl who made bad decisions. I was moved by the idea that we all rewrite our past to some extent, remembering things as being better than they really were. Highly recommended!

I don't know if I've ever read a book quite like this & the perspective was really interesting. Rachel was rightfully a frustrating character in both timelines, but I think the book handled the dual perspectives well and revealed things nicely. Would definitely be interested in reading other books like this

3.5 stars for this thought-provoking Me Too-era reminiscent tale of a summer spent in Greece.

Rachel is seventeen when she arrives on this small island of Greece for a holiday with her best friend. She is quickly drawn into a life of the illusive business man Henry Taylor and his charming assistant, Alistair.

She extends her stay beyond a vacation only to get further ensconced into this life of partying, bartending, and her secret romance with the much older Alistair.

Sixteen years later, Rachel is still adrift. In a long-term but stagnant marriage and a regular routine, it seems as though she’s never left the events of that summer behind. But as she reconnects with other girls from the island, her memories reshape into something much more sinister.

Honestly, this book was hard to read at parts. Rachel was so young and trusting and so clearly in denial about everything that was going on around her. It was clear that she never fully processed or moved on from the repressed memories she had from her experience, meaning she wasn’t ever fully present in her own life in all of these years following. Much of the book is spent with her listlessly being miserable without addressing or healing from the trauma(s) she experienced during the events of that summer.

Overall, I think an important examination of the complexities of exploitation and grooming in young girls but definitely not a light read.

A quick and easy read if you want a mystery fix. I found much of the story to be predictable, though I think all the characters are well written and interesting in there own way.It gripped me right from the beginning to the end and I completed it within a day.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls of Summer is a great read! This story made be both angry and sad for the characters. This story is told in dual time-lines. Rachel is complicated. Before she finished high school, she had the opportunity to spend a summer on a beautiful Greek island with her friend. A summer trip turns into something more when she meets Alistair. A very much older man that takes her breath away. She falls so deeply for him, but there is more to this than meets the eye. Adult Rachel’s life is not turning out the way she hoped. She feels like something is missing, and that missing piece is Alistair. Her memories of the past may not be what they seem and she’s trying to recapture the feelings she had that summer. But, is what she remembered, really what happened. Was it love or something sinister that she just ignored? Rachel made me angry but I also felt for her. Her life was missing something, but that missing piece is not from missing love, but more overcoming abuse she suffered and never fully processed. A good story evokes emotions and this was a good story! Thank you NetGalley for this book. I am not required to leave a review.

Katie Bishop's The Girls of Summer is a eye opening book of female trafficking. Rachel and Caroline decide on a summer of travel to various Greek Islands. But only Caroline returns home. Rachel gets involved with and older man and stays. She and other girls are used as bartenders and guests at parties where drugs and alcohol are plentiful and they are there to keep men entertained .
Written in Here and Then, we see how that summer affected her life to the point that she cannot function in her marriage.
I thank netball eh and Katie Bishop for an ARC of this book.

A teenage romance never forgotten…characters who come alive on the pages are intriguing. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. It is a mixture of love and sadness, along with regret. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review.

This is the first book I have read by Kate Bishop and I can’t wait for the next! I finished this book in 24 hrs and was unable to put it down. From the opening chapter I couldn’t have guessed where the plot and story were taking me. Bishop handles a difficult topic deftly by making the reader come to the same understanding as the main character we as the book evolves. The emotions of the main character can be felt and the descriptive writing made me feel as if I were right there in the moment! Thank you so
much for the advance copy!

Thanks so much St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review.

Rachel has been in love with Alistair for 15 years. Even though she is married to someone else. Even though it started when she was a teen. Even though he is 20 years older than her. Even if she hasn't seen him in years. They had a summer romance on a Greek island. Now, she's obsessed with reliving those events long ago and the truth is coming out to what really happened that summer.

This book has a lot. Rachel thought she had a whirlwind, yet complicated romance as a teenager with an older man. Then while she is on holiday with her husband on that same island, she runs into someone from her past. The truth cannot be kept hidden, and she struggles with grasping what really happened to her as an innocent and naive 17 year old. Parts of this book were hard to read, and you can see the impacts it has had on her over time. Even in her marriage, she is struggling with wondering what if. This book has a lot of dark and hard topics and will leave you with a lot to think about. At times, Rachel is a frustrating character but it is because she is working through trauma and struggling with accepting the truth.

This is one of those reads that will stick with you. Told in dual timelines and influenced by the #metoo era, Katie Bishop had an important story to tell with this one.

Thank you to Net Galley for the Advanced Reading Copy. The book went back and forth in time between high school girls enjoying a summer holiday in Greece and the present time in London. I enjoyed the “Then” portion of the story much better than the “Now.” I think we all have that person we met in our teen years, perhaps a first love, that we always wonder about…what if it worked out, how might life be different, etc. I didn’t like the main story line (who would?) and was surprised that it wasn’t revealed in the synopsis of the story. There are definitely many triggers to be aware of. All in all, just ok for me.