A sweet light pre-summer Beach Read that will put a smile on your heart! Susan Mallery writes tender characters that leave great impressions.

Honestly this book is kind of bonkers. There’s a lot of small details that get exaggerated which I feel like pull you out of the story - one example is someone who has seven degrees?! But then how or why or what they are isn’t explained, and you’re just distracted thinking why did they tell me something so odd about this character that it would only make sense if it was somehow important and yet it isn’t? Also the adults have a lot of outdated views (ie. shaming girls for kissing too many boys). Probably wouldn’t recommend to my fellow millennials or gen z although I could see older readers liking it.

I enjoyed this women's fiction novel featuring three women (at different stages in life) coming together to read classic romance novels and also find ways to move forward with their own lives and futures. A true bonus was being reminded of these older, classic romance reads!

Susan Mallery’s stories always come to life in beautiful ways. This is no exception! Love the plot, the stories, the love that builds and builds. Perfect beach read.

I felt deeply connected to the story. The emotions were literally just a direct result of the incredible reading experience itself. It is such a special talent to be able to create that and Mallery’ story telling is a league of their own.

I rarely find a Susan Mallery book I don't like, and this one was another winner!
I always love the books, set in California, and the ocean of course. For me though, this one was all about the strong female relationships and how these friends helped each other grow and change and embrace new opportunities in their lives. There were tears, and laughter and love and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The Summer Book Club is the perfect beach or pool read for spring break or this summer. Featuring three friends - Laurel, Paris, and Cassie - all at different stages in life and love - who are uncertain about taking chances, but determined to find happiness. I enjoyed how their stories weaved together and the discussions of the older romance books they were reading. Susan Mallery's books are always a comfort read for me, and this one was no different! I recommend this to fans of contemporary romances where friendships feature as much as falling in love. I received an advanced reading copy of this book, the receipt of which did not impact my review.

Wonderful story for everyone to enjoy. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

The Summer Book Club is a story of friendship, bonding over books, new beginnings, taking chances and romance. Three women; recently divorced Laurel, single Cassie who has moved to California to claim an inheritance and been kicked out of her siblings home, and Paris, a woman who has been divorced for many years and finally learned to deal with her temper and emotions, are in a summer book club. They are reading romance books from the 1980s and decide to follow the heroines in the books by taking chances that may lead to love.

That is all I will say about the plot of this book. I loved these three friends. They are women who had to deal with things in their past to become the women they are by the end of this book. Susan Mallery has created three wonderful characters, ones that I would like to meet and become friends with. They have a great relationship and support each other in many ways. Although Cassie is new to this group, they accept her and invite her in to their group. The secondary characters also play important roles in this book. We have Laurel's girls who are dealing with an absent father and all the feelings that brings up, a team of archaeologists working on Cassie's land and Paris' ex-husband who has returned to take care of his grandmother and his son from his second marriage. The various storylines blend together seamlessly, making this a wonderful story that I recommend.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I liked this story, but it is not one of my favorites by author Susan Mallery. I felt that the title didn't fit the book since they only met once or twice, and it didn't fit into the book as much. I looked at all of the characters but felt like Mallery could have gone into more detail with some parts of the book, like the cave.

Wow loved this book by Susan Mallery. Each of the ladies has found their passion in their work and made careers out of things they are good at. Although issues arose in each of their lives they chose to forge ahead and not look behind. They created businesses where there were none before and stuck together so that they could support each other.
They took in a new member who was feeling thrown out by her family and helped her to realize that we are giving a life to share with others but to do good in our own ways. Not in the ways that only benefit others and not ourselves.

I've read Susan Mallery before, so I was excited for this one. But, ultimately, it was a big let down for me. There was so much potential. Now, I will say, I am not a huge fan 3rd-person writing. But if the story is good, I can easily get past it. This was not the case. There was so much potential here, but it just fell flat in the end This book follows three women struggling with navigating different areas of their lives. One is moving away from everything she's ever known, one is facing her past, and the other is worrying about how her life decisions have ruined her children. Again -- potential. But when you take something that can be so good and keep it monotoned, it loses it's appeal. Mallery flirted with the idea of fake dating, but never actually played into it. She flirted with self-acceptance, but the characters, for the most part, weren't actually learning self-love. It just felt like there was so much depth missing from each of the characters. The title is also quite misleading as the book barely delves into the book club and focuses more so on their individual lives and how they intertwine. I wanted to love this, but I just really missed the raw emotion that was needed here.

You can't go wrong with a Susan Mallery book. This starts out with 2 best friends and ends up with a book club of 5. The guys are likeable., the kids can be a pain but in the end it works outs. Laurel and Paris will always be friends and have each others back.

Three different women with different paths and concerns in life, but they have one thing in common – a love of books.

The book itself doesn't focus on the "summer book club" – there are many other things going on.

While reading this book, I had the feeling that it was real – as if the events were really happening somewhere in a small town in the US.

Laurel & Colton, Paris & Jonah, Cassie & Raphael – these couples were so well written, the development of the women and their backstory was enough to warm my heart on a cold winter evening.

This could be a very cosy family film

I loved this book. The situations felt realistic, and the characters' actions believable. The author writes about the lives of three women: Laurel and Paris, who have been friends since the first grade, and Cassie, a newcomer to town. All three women have baggage that keeps them from moving on with their lives. I loved seeing each woman face their pasts and fears and find hope for the future with each other's help and support.

Laurel is a divorced mother of two tween girls, Jagger and Ariana. Her husband left them to "follow his dream" and took all of their savings. It took her a while to get back on her feet using her resale business, but things are looking better now. Unfortunately, her bitterness and anger toward her ex has affected Jagger, who frequently comments about how terrible men are. Laurel is advised to find a good male role model or two - a task easier said than done, especially as she has no interest in another relationship. How she finds that male role model to be friends with is amusing. I loved watching Colton become part of their lives. He's excellent with the girls and the perfect example to show Laurel that not all men are jerks. It's easy to see them grow closer, and Colton's feelings are apparent. But Laurel fights her feelings for him until it's almost too late. Run-ins with her ex complicate their lives.

Paris is also divorced with no children. She runs a successful farm stand, and I loved seeing her marketing creativity. Her divorce happened ten years earlier when her husband could no longer handle her volatile temper. Years of therapy have taught Paris how to handle her emotions, but she still doesn't trust herself, so she has avoided any romantic entanglements. Her life and sense of calm are upended when her ex, Jonah, returns to town with his eight-year-old son, Danny. Jonah holds no grudges against Paris and makes it clear that he would like to be friends. I got a little frustrated with Paris as she frequently mentioned her past treatment of him as a reason he should stay away from her, even though she realizes she still loves him. I loved Jonah's patience and persistence as he helped Paris overcome her guilt and fears.

Cassie is the newcomer to town. The youngest in her family, she was the most affected when their parents died when she was fourteen. She coped by becoming the person who stepped up whenever her older brother or sister needed help, putting her dreams and activities aside. She also tends to form relationships with men/boys who need fixing and then gets dumped when they no longer need her. As the story opens, Cassie's brother and sister sit her down and tell her it's time for her to live her own life. They use a "tough love" method of kicking her out and sending her to California to check on the property she inherited from their uncle. Cassie is hurt, angry, and a little scared, and determined to survive her six-month exile and return to Maine as soon as possible. She doesn't count on making two good friends in Laurel and Paige, discovering a connection with the land she inherited, or finding a man who sees past her insecurities.

I loved the intertwining of Laurel's, Paris's, and Cassie's lives. Paris was there for Laurel when her husband walked out, and Laurel gave Paris the support she needed to confront her anger issues. I loved how they welcomed Cassie into their circle. Each was always ready to back up the others in an emergency - emotional or physical. They were also prepared to call each other out when they avoided the truth of their feelings about the men in their lives or the issues they tried to ignore. With her years of therapy, Paris is especially good at getting to the heart of a problem.

I also liked the realistic depiction of the children's reactions to various things. I ached for Jagger and Ariana as they dealt with their father's desertion. Each girl handled it differently, and I liked seeing the results as the summer progressed. I especially enjoyed seeing the changes in Jagger as she got to know Colton and his parents, Jonah, and Raphael. Jonah's son Danny was a sweet kid who was dealing with his mother's death. I liked his quick connection with Paris. I laughed when his love of Paris's dog, Bandit, resulted in his pestering Jonah for a dog of his own.

I wish there had been an epilogue, as I would love to see how everyone's lives are going a few years later.

Another great book from Susan Mallery. Once you start reading this book you will not want to put it down. There are three main characters Laurel, Paris and Cassie. This story tells how they find love. Their romances are hard for them, to be able to trust someone, when they all three have heartache. They all fall in love.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. The Summer Book Club follows three women. Each facing some type of problem or struggle in their lives and how they lean on each other to get through it. This book was adorable and I loved all the characters and saw similarities in my friendships.

Perfectly Within Expectations. Susan Mallery has a type of tale, at least over these last few years at minimum. It isn't quite "Hallmarkie" in that it generally features a group of female leads that share the spotlight, but those who enjoy the Hallmarkie type will likely also enjoy this type of book - particularly the women it is clearly catered for. Yes, the male characters can be a bit wooden and one dimensional, but again, Mallery knows her target audience well, is clearly very popular within it, and clearly these benign affronts work within this space for this author - and aren't ever really "offensive" to anyone. They're simply too cardboard to have any real agency or motivations of their own, and mostly exist to affirm whatever the women in their lives are doing in the moment / serve whatever emotional or physical needs the woman they are paired with may have. Again, perfectly in line with what Mallery's audience clearly expects, and a perfectly fine tale within these confines. If this type of casual, non-preachy, female friendship type of tale is what you're after, you've found a great book within that space. If you're looking for something *more*, no matter how you define "more"... you need to look somewhere else. This is one of those books that isn't really going to challenge anyone or anything, it is more of a comfort read. I won't necessarily say "vacation" read and I despise the term "beach read" because not everyone reads any given type of book at the beach and whatever book you may be reading at the beach is by definition a "beach read", and at 400+ pages it would need to be a decently long vacation for anyone to read this book while on vacation. Still, it is that same kind of relaxing type of read that many ascribe to those scenarios, so perhaps for some it will truly be a "beach read". Very much recommended.

Susan Mallery is one of my go to authors because she writes women’s fiction in a very relatable fashion. The stories usually deal with new beginnings, families or female friend struggles, The Summer Book Club tells the story of three women, two already best friends that join a book club and a tight friendship
This was not one of my favorite Mallery books; but if you are looking for a quick read than this one might be for you.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for my ARC.

The Summer Book Club, by Susan Mallory, is a quick-reading women’s lit novel featuring three women with their own personal struggles. They come together during a book club, which is indeed a minor portion of the story, and form a bond. Together they overcome their obstacles and disappointments and move forward in their lives. It’s theme of better together than alone, rings true.

This story of friendship shows how it truly takes just one or two people who believe in you, will listen to your unfiltered honesty, who will stand by your side, and will journey through life with you. This novel showcases the flaws and regrets, the victories and personal triumphs, the ups & downs that come along as you live life. There were a few elements I wasn’t a fan of, which felt like silly oversights and poor judgment, and there is a certain formulaic quality to these kinds of stories, but overall, it was an encouraging, feel-good, easy-to-read story.