A well=written novel with great character development. This book had me engaged from beginning to end, although it was not what I had expected. A worthwhile, engrossing read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for the ALC. Such a fun summer read that made me both want to go on vacation and avoid it.

👏🏼 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

👯‍♀️ The Girls of Summer by Katie Biship
✨ Publication Date: June 6, 2023

Synopsis:
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.

Now she is obsessed with reliving the events of that summer in Greece. But dark and deeply suppressed secrets about Alistair rise to the surface, and she is forced to reconsider the story she’s been telling herself.

Thoughts:
🗣️ I loved the author’s note which made me want to like this book more than I did but it didn’t help.
🗣️ While the concept was interesting with a great location, I felt that there were more slow paced parts that kind of took me out of enjoying the story.
🗣️ A slow paced, slow burn read

When Rachel started her summer vacation to Greece with her best friend Caroline, she never could have imagined the ways it would impact her life for years to come. She ended up staying on the island as she fell in love with Alistair, a businessman 20 years older than Rachel, who was 17.

I loved the setting of this novel. It painted a young vibrant party scene against a picturesque Greek Island. This novel handled the difficult subject matter of sexual assault, human trafficking, and abortion very well. It was easy to see how the girls got swept up in everything and how blurred the lines were between consensual encounters and assault for the girls, while still making it very clear how wrong the encounters were.

This novel did move very slow for me. It was also frustrating to see the lack of growth in Rachel for most of the story. The adult version of Rachel seemed so stuck on the child version of herself she hadn’t moved on with her life. I understand this is the premise of the story, but there had to have been at least some growth in her. She did have some growth at the end, but it happened so suddenly I struggled to believe it.

Despite the lack of growth and slow pace, I really enjoyed this story overall and would recommend it to most people.

☀️𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓☀️

This book was SO powerful and incredibly thought-provoking. I finished this last week and I’m still thinking about it daily.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Published: June 6th, 2023
@stmartinspress @katiebishopwrites

“𝑨 𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑽𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂, 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒖𝒎𝒂, 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆-𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒔.”

Here’s the best way I can describe this book: if you were one of the girls on Jeffrey Epstein’s island (except here it’s set in Greece) and were amidst all the heinous sex-trafficking and drug/sexual abuse BUT you were in love with Jeffrey, and then you decided to write a novel about your experience.

This book is the story of that woman and how she decides to claim it as her own. It’s complicated, dark, innocent, and riddled with trauma. I loved this book and think it was written beautifully; it was hard though and not at all a fun, summer romance novel (as I thought when I first received this package from the publishers) so beware!

AND this was a DEBUT novel. It is beyond me how this is her first, congratulations @katiebishopwrites . Your novel is stunning!!! This book is truly a work of art.

Add this to your summer TBR if you want an honest, tense, mesmerizing story about exploitation and retribution🖤

Thank you so much to @stmartinspress and Netgalley for sending this package, phenomenal book and box. Many, many thanks!!!

What was the last book that you couldn’t stop thinking about?

3.75
This was well-written and definitely discusses some rough topics, especially in regards to grooming and taking advantage of impressionable women.

I enjoyed it while reading it but a week or so later, the story doesn’t stick with me too heavily. I think it was a good novel and had a lot of important things to say, but I almost immediately forget most of the plot.

I did remember being a bit disappointed in the main character, Rachel. I hoped she would become wiser as she became older and realize some of the destruction that Alistair caused before she ruined aspects of her own life, but she fell into the same pattern and hurt others in the process. Though I do know that this is often the case in a real life situation, so I can’t be too upset with the route that the author took.

The audiobook narrator was fantastic and I zoomed through the audio. Thanks to Macmillan for the copy!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫
𝐁𝐲 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩
𝒪𝓊𝓉 𝒩𝑜𝓌!

An atmospheric coming-of-age story set on a Greek Isle, that recounts an affair between a teenager and an older man. Rachel, only 17 at the time, was blinded by the attention she received by Alister, a wealthy businessman. Jump ahead, and Rachel, now in her thirties, hears disturbing reports of what kind of man Alister truly was, and must reexamine her fantasy of their love affair. This took me a while to get into, but the ending is certainly worth it, as it drives home the point of how we look back at the past and our youth.


Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted books and thank you @macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook.

I really liked this audiobook narrator. Her voice was really easy to listen to with all the perfect inflections. I really enjoyed the story and all that happened. The last chapter felt really rushed and pieced together. I wish it was a bit more detailed in the trial/outcome portion.

I thought this would be a quick beach read, but was so much deeper and thought-provoking than that. This book touches on the trauma and blindness that often comes with sexual assault and grooming.

The Girls of Summer was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023. The hype for it was. there. I actually snagged a copy before I started seeing it show up all over my Bookstagram feed! Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me. I think some will describe it as a slow-burn, and it is. However, I never felt like it got exciting or had me on the edge of my seat.

I switched to the audiobook in the hopes of staying more invested, but even after I hit the 60% point, while things burn a little more, it really doesn't pick up enough for me. I will say the audiobook narrator was great and I feel grateful to @MacMillan.Audio for granting me access to the audiobook. An amazing narrator can't makeup for a meh plot though. So even at the end I was left wondering what genre I would shelve this book into, because I don't think it's a mystery nor a thriller. Perhaps general fiction?

I liked the plot and it definitely made me want to travel to an island minus the horrible things that happen to the women. That being said, this book was a reminder of staying vigilante, trusting your gut, and keeping an eye out for red flags

Thank you to @StMartinsPress and @NetGalley for granting me access to that title!

I wanted so badly to love this book and toward the end, part of me did. However, it was just too late.

This book isn't a thriller and it isn't really a mystery. There's a slow burn and a slow build to reveal some terrible things that happened to Rachel and the women on the island that one summer.

The novel alternates between the past and the present and I have to tell you, I'm not sure there's a protagonist I've ever disliked more than Rachel. We're not talking the "love to hate" kind of dislike either. Rachel was naive, selfish, and repeatedly made terrible decisions over and over again. Unfortunately, Rachel didn't seem to change much from her past and present self, which made her that much more intolerable.

Alistair was also bad news and from the jump I couldn't help but SCREAM RED FLAGS RED FLAGS!

The book picks up and gets more solacious around 60% in but at that point, I struggled to remain invested.

I listened to this novel on audio and the narrator was great. For the pacing, I was definitely glad I listened to this one as I think I would have had to put it down had I been reading it.

Overall, this was a unique and beautifully written book. I will absolutely check out more by Bishop but this one missed the mark slightly for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for the copy.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

While I did not enjoy the plot/story of this book, the audiobook, and narrator did a good job. The voice was smooth and easy to follow. While it was a slower burn with tiny exciting moments, the narrator did well adjusting her voice to fit the scenes.

While I have difficulty recommending this audiobook strictly for the lack of plot, I would listen to the narrator in a different book.

- I really struggled to get into this one and follow the dual timelines but I did end up enjoying it. I’d like to give it another chance later because I feel like it has more potential…

Rachel Evans is a young impressionable 17 year old girl who goes with her friend the Greece where she meets a man 20 years older than she, and right away I did not like him. Alistair Wright was so manipulative and anyone with any experience in life could see that things were heading the wrong direction. Rachel totally falls for him and is "in love" with Alistair and she is unable at her age to see what is truly going on. Alistair works for a wealthy man who throws parties where young girls drink with the men and more sinister things happen.

The story is told in alternating THEN and NOW chapters which works really well. 17 year old Rachel becomes 34 year old Rachel who is married and lies about serious things to her husband and others. She still has feelings for Alistair and simply cannot see what her friends try to tell her what happened back that summer. She is blind to the truth. But will she remain blind to all that happened or will she finally open her eyes?

It was really, really difficult to feel sympathy for/relate to the main character. The cluelessness, even in light of the trauma she experienced, wasn't believable.

This was a good read! I really enjoyed it as a summer read. I would recommend it to others and read more books from this author.

This book! It was everything to me! The Girls of Summer is a book for so many women out there who have spent years normalizing events that happened in early adulthood, convincing themselves their experiences were “normal” and/or “their fault”. I’ve personally been on my own journey of healing from my experiences from 17-21, and this book has helped with this.

In addition to the content being relevant and important, the story is fantastic. It’s so well written. The plot is propulsive, making it so hard to set down. The pace is similar to that of the suspense/thriller genres, with the story having so much story forward momentum that keeps the reader engaged and trying to anticipate what’s next.

My only regret is that I didn’t get this book read before its release date. But, it’s been out a week now, and it’s amazing.

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator is wonderful. I’ve listened to her narration in another book before, and she does an excellent job. I started off at 1.5x speed to not miss any details, then sped up to 1.75x speed (which is my normal speed).

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advanced audio copy.

The Girls of Summer is a suspenseful debut novel with solid character development. Going back and forth between the past and present added depth to the characters as we learned their secrets and motivations and how those affected their decisions in the present. The Greek island setting was perfect for this unsettling mystery. Thank you for my advanced copy to read and review!

In The Girls of Summer, Rachel becomes obsessed with reliving the events from her summer on a remote Greek island fifteen years ago. Rachel has been in love with Alastair since she met him and even though she’s now married to someone else, she can’t stop thinking about the few months they spent together. The story alternates between the past and present as Rachel uncovers secrets about Alistair, their love affair and her time spent on the island with the other girls of summer.

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

🏝️I added this one to my tbr after seeing somebody compare the story to My Dark Vanessa. MDV was one of my top reads of 2022 and I needed to see for myself how similar the stories were. While they are definitely in the same vein, I ultimately preferred My Dark Vanessa. 🤷‍♀️

🏝️Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
As a teenager, Rachel fell hard for an older man (Alistair) while working a summer job in Greece. Even though he was 20 years her senior, Rachel has always felt mature for her age. Now as an adult, Rachel is married to Tom but can’t deny the love she still feels for Alistair. When the opportunity arises for Rachel to revisit the Greek island where it all began, she’s eager to take it. But when she gets there dark secrets from the past are brought to light and Rachel begins to think her summer love might be covering up something sinister…

🏝️I enjoyed this story overall and loved the ending! Parts of the story definitely reminded me of My Dark Vanessa and if you liked that book I’d recommend checking out The Girls of Summer! The pacing of this one was a bit off for me. While I enjoyed this one overall, comparing it to one of my all-time favorite reads makes me a little more harsh in my review than I might be otherwise. I did still really enjoy this one and I’d recommend it, just know that it deals with some heavy content.

Thanks @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for my advanced copy of this one!

3.5 stars out of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review

First off I want to start by saying that I enjoyed the narrator Annabel Scholey. They captured the voice of Rachel very well.

I really was hoping this would be a four star for me but it just wasn't. I loved the idea of this and I assumed that this would give me exactly what I was hoping for in a Summer read. I wanted to feel Greece, the heat, the food and the smell of the ocean but it just didn't hit me in the way I had hoped it would. I do think a lot of the problem for me was that Rachel really needed to have achieved some kind of growth from her 17 year-old self to the adult that she is now and there really was none. She seemed to have not grown.