A couple have an affair in Greece -
Beautiful location - 15 years later she can’t forget it - there is trauma love and discovery - well written

The Girls of Summer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fiction Mystery
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 5/31/23
Author: Katie Bishop
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 320
GR: 3.95

TW ⚠️: Sexual abuse and manipulation by an older man to a teenage girl

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Rachel and Alistair’s life-changing summer love affair on a sun-trapped Greek island has consumed her since she was seventeen. But as Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of so long ago, and reconnects with the other girls who were similarly drawn to life on the island, dark secrets about her first love affair begin to rise to the surface.

My Thoughts: The story is narrated in a dual timeline between the past and present, by our MC, Rachel in her perspective. The past is the story that changed her life and why currently it still affects her. For a debut novel, this was fascinating. I just wanted to put it out there, while this was a very good read, it will be triggering for some readers, please make sure this does not trigger you. This really is a gripping story on how an older man takes advantage of a young girl and she is convinced that it was love and does not see the betrayal. The characters were fleshed out and well developed, intriguing, dark, and creatively immersed into the story. The author’s writing style was complex, disturbing, suspenseful, and keeps you engaged. If you loved Dark Vanessa, you really will like this story. I highly recommend it, just know that there are triggers. Publishes in May of next year, preorder now!

Rachel met Alistair on a picturesque Greek island and even though he was twenty years her senior, she fell instantly in love. She always thought he felt the same, even when he abandoned her. Even when, years later, she is married to someone else. But now she is forced to confront her past, and with that, dark secrets about the man she is still linked to surface, changing her life in ways she really doesn't want to consider.

I am terribly conflicted about this book. I loved the author's writing style and the story flowed really well, even with the switch between Rachel's past narrative and her present. I consumed it eagerly and quickly. I would pick up her next book in a heartbeat.

And yet I wouldn't recommend this one.

The Girls of Summer followed too closely to another infamous party island, headed by a rich predator, and for some reason that made the narrative a bit too awkward and forced for me. I'm not exactly sure why. It's almost as if the reader is just supposed to "get" that, and so the setting felt more dreamlike than fully fleshed out. I'm not necessarily saying we needed all the sordid details, but Henry Taylor (oh my stars please just stop repeating his full name ad nauseum) seemed far too enigmatic, the villains too sanitized. And the Greek setting could have been anywhere. Purposefully done perhaps? But this could have been a slice of land off the coast of England.

And then there is the main character. No, characters don't have to be "likable" to work, but I need someone whose personality and actions elicit some sympathy and understanding. Rachel just comes across as ridiculously naïve, as though we're just supposed to feel bad for her because she's young (we send our 18 year olds to fight and die for our country in the military, so youth just isn't enough). And that only works so far as she ignores ALL red flags/cries for help from other/all warnings from others. And then continues purposefully ignoring all the red flags well into adulthood. This felt more like a warning for parents to never let their daughters leave the house than a #metoo commentary.

I understand that a story of a young woman who "gets it" right away wouldn't make for a very long book, but her actions throughout are so complicit that it just felt icky trying to root for her. And I sure don't want to feel like I can't or shouldn't sympathize with a victim. Also, the way she treats Tom is just indefensible and her obsession with sex just drones on and on. Her either having it and thinking about felt like 75% of the book. I mean, if that's your thing, live it, I suppose, but it's a bit repetitive to the point of boredom here.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press for offering this book to read for a review through NetGalley and its influencers program.

First of all make sure to check trigger warnings for this book.
The book follows our MC Racheal from the age of 17 into adulthood. Imagine having spend the time of your life on an island with some girls you meet there, but years later you realize you were manipulated/brainwashed and things weren’t really as you remembered them. Racheal thinks that the time she spent on the island having a romance with an older man were magical, later she finds out there was more going on then she wanted to see.
I really enjoyed the story overall, I was very frustrated with the MC and all the other girls who couldn’t tell what was happening to them. I don’t know if it was an effect of being young and naïve or being manipulated.

TW: human trafficking, sexual assault/rape, drug use, suicide to name a few.

*SPOLIERS AHEAD*
This one was super cringey to read as a female who has had their own experiences with predatory circumstances and it made me think of Epstein the whole way through. I did very much enjoy the story, but towards the end I felt that things weren't tied up as well as they could be and/or the story lines between characters were thrown out the window to get to an ending. The separation of her marriage felt very cold and although there was information there about the decisions made to finalize the separation, I didn't feel like I had enough closure as a reader. It seemed the MC just stayed with her friend and that was that, but I understand the MC wasn't exactly an open book of emotion considering her trauma.

A more in depth scenery of the police investigation and outcome would have made a bigger impact on me as a reader and probably would've earned a higher rating. The conclusion was there, but after 75% of the book being the MC's experience on the island and how things escalated, I felt a bit snubbed not to get that detail and desire for justice in the end.

Overall a good read and very important for girls and women everywhere who have found themselves in these kind of predatory situations and not fully recognizing the traumatic experiences for what they were until they were much older. The denial and confusion of the MC as an adult was powerful and so very realistic as frustrating as it could be for anyone on the outside looking in who could have been thinking "How could you NOT know?!" while reading.


*Will post about this title on my Bookstagram in the future, closer to the pub date and when there is an official cover to show!

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I must say, I actually quite enjoyed this book. I slow burn of a character drama with some mysterious and tense undertones, this is a story that takes you on a ride. I LOVED the build up of intensity simmering beneath the surface and that you KNOW is not good, that things are going to go in a very bad direction. I loved the layering of the story and the way that each new chapter peels away a new reveal, sucking the reader in deeper.

This should be read without spoilers but will be perfect for readers who loved My Dark Vanessa. A must for this fall!

Rachel, a naive seventeen year old, takes a summer trip with her best friend to Greece. Upon finding a beautiful island and falling for the slightly older Alistair, Rachel decides to stay. What happens next, and throughout the next fifteen years of Rachel’s life, is straight out of the headlines, bringing to mind the Epstein/Maxwell sex trafficking trials and media attention.

I enjoyed this one, as the novel goes between past and present. It was very well-written and the pacing was perfect. There are several trigger warnings, so it’s not for the faint of heart. But if you’re one who loves “straight from the headlines” stories, add this to your list.

This was not a light and fluffy book by any means. The Girls Of Summer is a gripping and powerful book that I was easily swept into. I really enjoyed the two timelines I found the character of Rachel to be very interesting and I was very invested in her and how she would navigate the trials in her marriage, as well as the things that occurred in her past. This is a book that stays with you for a bit once you finish, The subject matter may trigger some, but I found this story to be extremely well written and very compelling. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC.

This book showcases the electrifying thrill of first love with an older man, edged with a spark of danger. Split between then and now, the narrative weaves together the young girl who believes in love and the mature thirty-something-year-old who hesitates to re-evaluate her memories of that summer. This book brings the #metoo movement to life, taking readers inside the mind of a young girl caught up in the excitement of something she doesn't quite understand. It's an examination of how easy it can be for people with power to manipulate others and rewrite narratives to fit their own purposes.

After weeks island-hopping, staying at hostels and partying, 17-year-old Rachel and her best friend get a job at an island bar working for the mysterious Mr. Taylor. Rachel falls in love with Alistair, his right-hand man, even as their world gets darker and darker the further she gets drawn into it. But a tragic death sends Alistair fleeing, and Rachel's left on her own to rebuild her life. Now, struggling with her marriage, Rachel returns to the island with her husband, stumbling across an old friend who can help her do something she's always dreamed of: find Alistair. But her friends from that time are asking hard questions, forcing Rachel to question and re-examine what really happened.

This book takes readers on a captivating emotional journey as Rachel struggles to be honest with herself and heal. The author's skill shows in the differences in the narrative style between young Rachel and adult Rachel. Equal parts heart-wrenching and empowering, Rachel looks back in order to move forward. It also showed how Rachel's unhealed wounds reverberated into her marriage, causing hurt and pain. The person I most felt sorry for was Rachel's husband, Chris, though, as he had no idea the outside forces causing havoc with his marriage.

This dark thriller has the reader working to put together the pieces of how that long-ago summer ended in a death and who was really to blame.

Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great read if you go in expecting the dark themes of it. Towards the beginning you partially expect it to happen, but reading it unfold through the eyes of someone who doesn’t realize (or won’t allow themselves to) what is happening causes a new level of stress and anxiety throughout. The timeline is both past and present and I did find myself struggling to finish, especially when I felt the MC was being intentionally naive. I did not feel an attachment to anyone or anything, I really feel like if we fell more in love with the island and saw it as magical as Rachel did it may have helped. I also don’t understand the Caroline situation - they were friends for 17 years and never spoke again?

Regardless, I do think it is an eye opening read. Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the copy.