I have read all of the other books in this series, and this one is BY FAR the best! The characters are relatable and seem reasonable, they have a great inner voice! The spicy scenes are among the best of any summer romance I read this year! Super spicy, but not at all cheesy or cringey! We follow a 21 year old who is getting ready to start her senior year of college, but takes a summer in the town where her Dad lives to spend some time with him. She has big plans to have a summer fling, but ends up befriending a local guy. After spending time in the friend zone and counseling her through a few encounters, OF COURSE, he turns to more than friends. But unlike other books where that's the end, we get to follow their early romance and watch them navigate the twists and turns of a few family secrets. I loved the addition of a plot that was more than just the two of them getting together. Highly recommend!

The audiobook has multiple narrators, which really helps to keep you in the story and get to know the characters. The voice acting was wonderful and the spicy scenes were enhanced by the tone and pacing the actors provided. Amazing job!

This is my first book by Elle Kennedy, but it won't be my last. I loved Cassie's internal monologue as she progressed from awkward and unsure to being a confident young woman. Tate was a little bit cocky but also sweet and I loved his relationship with his parents. The story contains plenty of family drama on all sides, sentimentality, and the romance between Tate & Cassie is both steamy and sweet. I'll definitely be reading the rest in this series, and look for this author in the future.

I absolutely loved this one!! And my favourite in the series yet!! Cassie was such a great character and I loved her right away. I felt for her how she felt like she to keep the peace with both of her parents and I really thought the journey she went on with both her mom and dad through the book was heart wrenching and my heart just really felt for her. I really liked Tate too and his banter/friendship with Cassie was so cute! You could feel the chemistry between the two of them from the first! I loved the spicy scenes too and thought the virgin heroine trope was done really well! i also loved going back to Avalon bay and the characters from the pervious books! I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration was so good and didn’t want to stop listing to this!

Caitlin Elizabeth and Teddy Hamilton narrate Elle Kennedy’s new adult, friends-to-lovers romance, The Summer Girl (Avalon Bay #3), exploring how small-town secrets threaten a summer fling that unexpectedly evolves into first love. College student Cassie Soul returns to Avalon Bay for her first summer since her parents’ divorce to visit her grandmother, who plans to sell their family’s boardwalk hotel. Cassie’s turning twenty-one and hoping for a summer fling. She thinks she’s found the perfect guy when she meets Tate Bartlett on her first night in town.

Despite being a player and no stranger to flings, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy, Tate, is a surprisingly sweet guy. And he’s not a heartbreaker. It’s obvious Cassie isn’t a girl you can have a casual fling with, and nobody gets hurt. So, he puts her in the friend zone. But the more he gets to know her, the harder it is for him to deny and fight his attraction to her. He quickly realizes, too late, that friends-zoning Cassie was a monumental mistake. Soon, all Tate can think about is how much he wants more than anything to have a fling with Cassie this summer.

Because of their intense attraction, they surrender to their feelings for each other and become intimate, stretching the boundaries of their new friendship. They agree to keep their fling a secret, not realizing that there are far more dangerous secrets than theirs at stake. Like many small towns, Avalon Bay has secrets that could devastate Tate and Cassie’s relationship and their lives once revealed.

Elizabeth and Hamilton’s vibrant, expressive narration drew me into Kennedy’s steamy, captivating summer romance and kept me avidly listening as the novel flew by. Their narration perfectly captures the character’s personalities and the novel’s shifting moods, tones, and depths of emotion that Kennedy wrote into this story. Elizabeth’s narration is exceptional. She becomes each of the characters, regardless of age or gender. Elizabeth’s Southern and French accents are lovely. Her voice for Tate is closer to how I think the character might sound. Hamilton’s narration for Cassie and Tate is fine. However, his narration/voice captures Tate’s friends and parents better. Elizabeth and Hamilton provide distinct narration that differentiates between the characters using pacing, intonation, inflection, and emotion to give them distinct voices that reveal their personalities, feelings, quirks, and states of mind. Both narrators brilliantly express their characters’ moods and emotional turmoil.

Elizabeth and Hamilton breathe life into every emotional beat within Kenndey’s novel such that I can’t imagine anyone else but them narrating The Summer Girl. Elizabeth’s narration of Cassie’s emotional trauma and angst when dealing with the trauma of her parent’s divorce and her mother is phenomenal. Elizabeth imbues Kennedy’s emotional scenes with so much raw emotion that Cassie’s pain is so visceral it’s a living, breathing entity. She becomes Cassie’s cruel, calculating mother entirely. Hamilton’s narration shines most with the emotional, humorous, and steamy scenes. In Tate’s scenes with his family, Hamilton captures Tate’s feelings perfectly.

The novel’s tone ranges from humorous, intimate, angsty, intensely emotional, and sizzling hot, and the narrators deftly shift between these tones without affecting the novel’s excellent pacing. During the novel’s intimate scenes, Hamilton and Elizabeth use their full vocal ranges to express/portray the intimacy between the characters and their chemistry, sensations, desire, and passion for each other. Both narrators wonderfully capture Kennedy’s emotional and romantic story. I love Elizabeth’s narration for both Tate and Cassie more.

Kennedy develops Cassie and Tate’s relationship through humorous, sexy, and sweet banter and interactions and sweet, steamy, intimate, and sexy love scenes that also contribute to the characters’ development and evolution and the story’s progression. Cassie’s down-to-earth, sweet, funny, relentlessly optimistic, and girlfriend material. Kind, thoughtful, compassionate, and a good friend who genuinely respects women. I love how being friends first, then lovers, helps Cassie and Tate grow and encourage each other to face their fears, follow their dreams, and be honest with their parents about what they want from their lives and how their parents treat them.

Sweet, funny, sexy, emotional, steamy, angsty, and romantic, The Summer Girl explores themes of first love, falling in love, taking risks, small-town and family secrets, self-esteem, toxic parents, second chances, self-confidence, belonging, and following your dreams. I highly recommend the audiobook to fans of steamy new adult romances focused on friends-to-lovers, summer flings, and timed relationship tropes where heroes fall fast and hard for the heroine.

Advanced listening copy provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for review.

The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy
If summer romances are your thing, read no further...The Summer Girl is your book, and it's a sizzler. Lots of romance, a surprise twist that turns the novel upside down, and the coolest grandmother, who has it together, and makes those around her see the light.

The Summer Girl
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Elle Kennedy

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

Synopsis: College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston. Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday…and maybe find herself a summer fling. On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy. Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good time. But the moment he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with. Cassie is gorgeous, hilarious, and, frankly, the coolest person he’s ever met. The last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart, and so he reluctantly puts her in the friend-zone…only to realize he made a huge mistake. Soon, his attraction to Cassie becomes impossible to ignore. He wants that fling now. Big-time. And maybe even something more. As Cassie and Tate walk the line between friends and lovers, they’re about to discover that their situation is the least complicated part of this equation. Because Avalon Bay is full of secrets—and their relationship might not survive when those secrets come to light.

My Thoughts: This is book no. three in the Avalon Bay series. While this can be read as a standalone book, you will get a better sense of the supporting characters and small town by reading the previous two novels. Cassie is home for the summer and returns to Boston it the fall for her last year at college. Her grandmother sold the family hotel and is selling the family house at the end of the summer. She meets Tate, known playboy. A friendship sparks and they both want more on the cusp of some Avalon Bay secrets. This follows the tropes of friends to lovers and summer fling. Content warnings of supporting character infidelity and emotional abuse, and toxic parent.

The story is narrated by Cassie and Tate in this dual narration. Cassie is insecure, caring, avoids confrontation, even at her expense, and is sometimes afraid to stand in her truth. Tate is a bit of a playboy, charming, cares about others, and is loyal to a fault. While third act break ups are common in this type of novel, I was taken back by it and started yelling at the book. I won’t say more to not spoil for other readers. The message of the story really is hope, hope that we can stand in our truth at all times, hope for love, and hope for found family. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, compassion, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, humorous, thought-provoking, endearing, and engaging.

I had the opportunity to have the digital and audiobook for this novel. I loved the narrators. They did a phenomenal job at voice variation and really brought to life the characters from Avalon Bay. This was a lighthearted, endearing, sweet read. My only con is that the ending felt rushed and left me wanting a little more. However, I love Kennedy’s writing style and did throughly enjoy this book, mostly. I would absolutely recommend this one and all from this series to other readers.

4.5 Stars: The Summer Girl is the third book in the Avalon Bay series and although it can be read as a standalone story, I enjoyed catching up with the main characters from previous books in the series. Cassie Soul used to live in Avalon Bay, until her parents divorced and her mother got custody of her and they moved to Boston. Her grandparents owned the Boardwalk Hotel, but with his death, she is no longer able to run and maintain it. None of her children want to operate it, so she sold it and it is being reopened. Cassie returns to Avalon Bay to spend one last summer with her grandmother before she moves to live closer to her grandchildren. There will be grand opening gala that all her family will be attending as well as birthday celebration as she is turning 21. Her friends are hoping that Cassie will find someone and have a summer fling. There is a lot to look forward to this summer, especially spending time with her father, 2 half-sisters and step-mom.

I really enjoyed this story. Cassie has a lot of baggage from the divorce, being raised by a narcissist and not being liked by her step-mom. She is also sad that this will be her last chance to spend time in Avalon Bay with her grandma. She meets a handsome young man the first night there, but he is a local and just recently broke up with his girlfriend, but there is something that pulls them to each other. I loved both Cassie and Tate. Tate has been in previous books, so I knew a little about him, but this story showed us a lot more and made me appreciate this man, who may have been a "player" but was not a cad and never jumped around. Their romance was a slow build, with friendship first. The setting of Avalon Bay is a great one and having Tate and Cassie living next to each other added to the tension. Cassie's mother makes an appearance and is she ever a piece of work. I won't say more about her, but I'm surprised Cassie was as kind and level headed as she was. I enjoyed seeing Cassied grow, develop and realize that all was not the way she perceived. There is some angst and drama that has to be worked through before a happy ever after, but it was well done! There is some open door romance, but I skimmed those parts and still enjoyed this story. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Caitlin Elizabeth and Teddy Hamilton. It worked well as both Cassie and Tate narrated the story giving us both of their POVs. If you enjoy a good summer romance, then I recommend this story, in whatever format you prefer.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I thought this was really well written, elicited many emotions, and still has me thinking about the story. I really enjoyed her story telling. Since reading this ARC, I’ve already finished one of the previous books in the series and will be reading the remaining book in the series later this week.

My girls who are deep into reading CoHo will love this one. Even though it's definitely too spicy to keep on my classroom shelf, many of my girls are reading books that rank a solid two chili peppers above this one! What they'll love is Avalon Bay--from the interconnectedness of the characters to the careful development of a place that I sure wouldn't mind visiting! The main characters are endearing and leave room for cheering on the good guys. The nod to the past and the demons we leave there also makes this enjoyable for readers outside of the characters' demographics! The narration was spot on, and I found it highly listenable. I appreciated the development that their voices lent to the already well-developed characters.

The Avalon Bay series gets better with each and every book. The Summer Girl is by far my favorite in the series. I adored Tate and Cassie. The sizzling chemistry between the main characters is swoon-worthy. With unexpected twists and turns, the story keeps readers eagerly engaged. Light, sweet, funny, perfect summer read it had me smiling from the beginning. Lots of funny banter. Tate is adorable. Cass is sweet and I loved how it tied the series together.

This is the third book in the Abalon Bay series that I've read (or heard, rather) in audiobook format and it does not fall short from the first two books.
I really enjoy this type of rom-com in audiobook because i fell like it makes everything I have going on while listening to the book feel so much lighter.
The story was great, I've already reviewed the book and as previously mentioned, enjoyed it no less than the rest of the series.

5 steamy stars for both the story itself and the audiobook.

I absolutely loved our MCs and could read three more books about what they tackle later in life. If you love a swoony romance, this is for you. This one does have some spice to it, fyi. I think my favorite part of this was, believe it or not, the conflict. It was believable. It made sense. I got it. I loved it and the resolutions. 100% just mark this one as to-read.
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via netgalley.

Welcome back to Avalon Bay, where the sun is shining and the relationships are blooming. This is book three in the series and so far my favorite of them. While the book is in a series, it is in fact a standalone book that integrates the world of Avalon Bay and some of the previous characters. If you have not read the other two books, don't fret because Elle Kennedy gives you a glance at the characters and a decent description of them throughout their appearances.

Cassie is visiting Avalon Bay to visit her dad and his family as well as the grand reopening of the hotel that has lived in her family for decades. Cassie is looking for a summer fling, partially to get over the trauma of her mother and the family drama, partially because she is a virgin. She wants to have fun before going back to school in Boston.

Cassie is somewhat shy but mainly insecure. Can you blame her with the constant teardowns and manipulations she gets from her narcissistic mother? So when Tate, the golden boy of the sailing world peaks Cassies interest she takes her shot only to be friendzoned almost immediately. Not because Tate didn't want her, but his fuckboy mentality and the past of overly emotional relationships has tainted the situations. Cassis and Tate become friends, living next door to each other, and supporting eachother through a variety of situations within the book.

So what did I love about this book?
I loved Cassie. Her character background was fantastic and how she was portrayed was well done. I wish that there was more to her character flaws than a large chest and being a virigin (not a flaw but a main obstacle throughout the story). I also thought that Caitlin Elizabeth was the perfect choice for 20 year old Cassie. She had great inflection and connection to the character.
Aside from the character, I thought that Elle Kennedy did a great job with some of the scenes throughout the story. My favorite two scenes would have to be the window sex scene and the after math of blowup at the hotel. Both scenes were emotional in there own way, but also rehooked me everytime.
Elle Kennedy also did a good job at depicting a narcissist and the relationships that can come from that.

What was a bust for me?
Overall I loved the character Tate and the narration by Teddy was good so long as he was only voicing Tate. The other voice narrations, especially females was meh. Not my favorite for sure.
I wish there was more to the ending than what it was. It made sense but something felt like it was missing. No spoilers here.

I would definitiely recomment this book, especially the audiobook. It is a good summer read if you are looking for fling energy and a sprinkle of drama and competition.

This is a book that I will be recommending at my store for sure. Especially for season readers looking for their next summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the audioARC of The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy in exchange for my honest review,
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I ended up DNFing this at almost 10%. I couldn't do it. Yes, I was annoyed with the MCs right from the beginning. I could give grace to the female narrator, but I couldn't handle the dynamic of the male narrator. It was like listening to a child and an adult. It did not work at all. I could not stick around for it to become a love story with the voices scratching at my ears.

My friends love Elle Kennedy's books, so maybe I will have to try reading my eyes because the plots sound cute and fun.

Thanks, Macmillan Audio, for the gifted audio!

Whoa, I was not expecting the plot twist at the end of that one! Elle Kennedy always writes a terrific romance, and the characters are so interesting. Cassie and Tate make such a great couple, and the family members and townsfolk are very colorful.

The Summer Girl is the third book in Elle Kennedy's Avalon Bay series, and I listened to this one as a standalone. I had no trouble following along, but belive me, I'm going to borrow the first two books from my library as soon as possible. What a fun idea for a series.

The audio version of The Summer Girl is beautifully performed by Caitlin Elizabeth and the marvelous Teddy Hammilton. They do a great job with the characters in this entertaining story.

Absolutely LOVED this book as I did with the two previous books in the series. Love the cast of characters and the small town vibes from the friend groups. The audio was perfectly done and is definitely a book and series I will reread

A cute and compelling start, but it takes a hard, fairly ridiculous turn about 2/3 in. It became a bit of a slog after that.

This book was charming and funny and everything I could ask for in a summer read! It's definitely my favorite of the Avalon Bay series so far because of Cassie and Tate’s infectious chemistry and listening to the audiobook IMMERSED me in the story; I was engrossed from start to finish. There were a lot of moments I saw coming because I’m a sucker for the let-me-help-you-find-someone-oh-waitttttt trope but the big plot twist at the end left me JAW-DROPPED. Elle Kennedy never lets me down when it comes to a book that is straight FUN with a tiny taste of deeper character study. GET ME TO AVALON BAY STAT!

the narration for this was so good! they both portrayed Cassie and Tate perfectly.

Cassie had one mission this summer, have a summer fling, but gets a lot more than just that. Cassie finds some new friends in Avalon Bay, and one of them is Tate. He’s a player, but a good one that has no bad rep. He wants to stay friends with the blabbering copper haired girl but their connection is too much. I loved them, they just really bloomed together.

Cassie’s mom was awful, I don't know if I've ever known an actual narcasist but the way she would make everything about her, her, and only her made my blood boil. I thought she was actually progressing and doing better and then she does that… i can’t believe she has no remorse or guilt.

this was such a cute read that had me smiling so much, Cassie and Tate were adorable together and I loved their dynamic, they were so playful with each other and Tate was exactly what Cassie needed and vice versa, they helped each other become better.

This was a perfect, charming little summer read. I found it to be light and easygoing without being too tacky!