Member Reviews

This is not it for me. I get the point of it is to show a teen get manipulated by an older man. I just did not connect to this at all. I was expecting more.

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Stolen straight from the headlines of the #metoo movement and Jeffrey Epstein scandal, I found the book too long and too wordy. Read the papers instead. Get the condensed version.

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The Girls of Summer follows Rachel's journey to come to terms with her past. The chapters alternate between then and now, giving the story some dimension as it follows two timelines. While I enjoyed the story of Rachel's long lasting love for Alistair and her slow uncovering of different views from that summer, I did find it to be just that, slow. I found the beginning started off strong, but the majority of the book was a slow pace and glossed over many of the parts that would have made the novel more gripping or impactful. Rather, I felt the parts of the book that should have been the most important, were brief and vague.
I would be hesitant to recommend, as this would not be one of my first picks after having read it.

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katie bishop's debut is just one of the many books on power and exploitation that came out in light of the #metoo movement, but it does not feel any less important. the story follows rachel as she reminisces about her vacation to greece fifteen years ago, and the relationship/mutual infatuation she had with alistair.

bishop does a great job of tackling such heavy themes with three dimensional characters and nuanced perspectives.

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I really wanted to love this book. I feel like I have been reading the same mundane, #MeToo, predictable thrillers lately. The one good thing about this book was the setting. The frustrating thing about this book is the main character acting like a moron and making several bad decisions and believing it is ok. I also felt the ending did not wrap up the book well.

Another no for me. Disappointing. Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, Katie Bishop and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Already available

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This one wasn't particularly for me, as far as "tropes" go. #MeToo can be written about, but this wasn't my favorite way. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

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This was such an interesting book. It made me feel like i listening to one of my true crime podcasts.

Unfortunately, the middle section was really slow for me and it took me a very long time to get through, but the last 15% really picked back up for me. Overall, a pretty good read.

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This was a moody thriller. A pretty classic then/now dual timeline mystery. The setting is beautiful! All about a fun setting in beautiful destinations. Greece is a place that I haven't made it to yet but I will get there someday! It is an unsettling book with some manipulation and taking advantage of young women in a way that impacts not only the past but the present and future.

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I loved this one! In fact I loved it so much I reread it when it was published. I love when books take place In countries I want to visit

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I really struggled with this book. Jules was my favorite character (sadly, she plays a minor role) and the others I could've done without. However, after listening to the author's note at the end I realized that I truly liked the author's intention for the book and think it would've been a great story. Unfortunately, this execution wasn't that for me.
Not terrible, but not great either.
2.5 stars rounded up.

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A book told with two timelines, "then" and 'now", this books explores the experiences of young women on a Greek Island and their encounters with men. And how each girl has a different perception of that summer. It tackles tough topics like sexual predators and illicit behavior. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. While I personally did not enjoy it. I do recommend for public libraries.

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As the summary indicates this book is dark. Darker than I was expecting honestly! That said, I found it very compelling and thought the dual timeline was well-used as a strategy to show how the main character was abused and assaulted and the emotional strength required for her to finally come to terms with it in the present. I enjoyed the book and could not put it down once I started. Would recommend if you like a dark psychological book.

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Personally, I felt like this title started off really slow. It definitely was an original storyline and had potential. Parts of it just fell flat to me and were really predictable. I wanted to love it, but I just wasn't pulled into it the way that I would prefer with a thriller/mystery.

I felt like Rachel was really naive, which I guess makes sense for a teenager. But reflecting back on her experiences, I was surprised that she couldn't see what was done to her.

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There is something just a tiny bit too Jeffrey Epstein about this book. I mean I get it, but this is pretty cringey.

A young girl from the UK goes on a trip to Greece with her high school friend. She becomes entangled with other young girls in a sort of sex trafficking situation with a wealthy man and his charming assistant. She falls in love with the assistant and basically trusts that they are in love.

In present day London, she somehow gets pulled back into this mess. Because apparently you can get older but not everyone learns things along the way.

This is harsh. Sorry.

Basically this is the story of what happens to a young girl that is naïve and gets pulled into something horrible by a bunch of adults that should know better (and probably do) but do it anyway. From the girl's perspective.

I'm probably not going to be the person that recommends this one.

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Rachel has been in love with Alistair for fifteen years. Even though she’s now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her.

Rachel and Alistair’s summer love affair on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island has consumed her since she was seventeen, obliterating everything in its wake. But as Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of so long ago, she reconnects with the other girls who were similarly drawn to life on the island, where the nights were long, the alcohol was free-flowing and everyone acted in ways they never would at home. And as she does so, dark and deeply suppressed secrets about her first love affair begin to rise to the surface, as well as the truth about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man, who controlled so much more than she could have ever realized.

Joining a post #MeToo discourse, The Girls of Summer grapples with themes of power, sex, and consent, as it explores the complicated nature of memory and trauma––and what it takes to reframe, and reclaim, your own story.

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First off- thank you so much to NetGalley & St.Martin's Press for my gifted copies of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this one so much more than I actually did.
First of all, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of this book. It's set in summertime in Greece, and it was definitely a weird cult-y environment, it did seem like all the girls there really looked out for one another and it became more of a sisterhood than anything. There were so many moments while reading this that I just wanted to reach through the book and give Rachel a hug. Save her from what was happening, because it directly impacted who she was as an adult.
The book is told in alternating timelines, Rachel and her time on the island, and then present-day Rachel as an adult, struggling through every adult relationship she's been in because of her past with Alistair. The fact that he didn't take any responsibility for his part in that, really irked me and had me livid during multiple parts of this book.
Overall, it's not the light beachy read that I feel like I've seen bookstagrammers market it as. It's much darker than that, and while the atmosp

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What I liked:
Focused on me too

A bit of mystery

Women who worked together

What didn’t work for me:

MC did not mature at all

Overall, the book was ok and kept my interest. I was very disappointed that the MC was immature as an adult.

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There was something about this book that just didn't quite click for me... And if I had to guess what it was it's that so much of this story just feels like it's coming out at the wrong time... Even I can admit that's not really a fair critique of the book.

It's told in two timelines, one set in the past where our main character, Rachel, is on holiday with her friend and gets pulled under the spell of a man a decade older than her and then Rachel when she's roughly a decade later back on the island with her husband. It's the way that the book is so short and bounces between these two points in time and the moments in each timeline that added to this mostly feeling like an incomplete thought. In the past the reader can clearly sense that Rachel is being abused in some way, but there's also a larger threat looming. Then in the present we see Rachel and her husband having troubles in their marriage and Rachel returning to the man that was clearly trafficking her in her youth. So in terms of making the reader feel ill at ease, the book succeeds...

The biggest issue is that the culmination of the novel feels very been there before and the journey to get to the conclusion already wasn't the smoothest. In the end it's not so much that the book is bad necessarily, but that it's forgettable, there's no way to sever this book from a book that covers similar ground because the characters themselves are so bland and the way that the book is written doesn't feel distinctly its own.

The writing might be decent, but the third act is clearly rushed. So much of the narrative eventually becomes montages, flashes of scenes that feel half finished when compared to what the book spent the early runtime lingering on. In the end it's hard to recommend this, not because of the subject matter, but because even without reading it the odds are most readers will have already consumed this very story and there isn't anything more added to the conversation by having spent time with these characters.

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Thank you to @netgalley and @Stmartinspress for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @macmillian.audio for a free download of the audiobook.

I really wanted to like this book more. The mystery of a secret past was intriguing and who wouldn’t want to read about Greece. Older men taking advantage of younger, vulnerable women just didn’t play for me. Also, the threat of infidelity is not something that I enjoy.

Thanks to the audio, I did finish the book. I see lots of 4-5 star reviews, just not for me.

3 stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #stmartinspress #macmillianaudio #ltbreaderteam #thegirlsofsummer #katiebishop #smpinfluencers

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I really enjoyed The Girls Of Summer. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I picked it up but still an overall good storyline and fun read! Visiting Greece has been on my bucket list. Who wouldn't want a love affair on a Greek Island. Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for this title.

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I was immediately interested in the travel aspect of this book. It took a very interesting turn that I wasn't expecting. I loved learning about the characters and their relationships. I'd recommend this book to friends for sure. It was thrilling and engaging.

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