Great summer novel. Romance, heartbreak, family drama. Finding out you’re adopted and then traveling to find your birth mom has the potential for disaster. The plot was intriguing and I finished it in a couple hours. Thanks NetGalley for an arc.

A light, heartwarming book with romance, family drama and friendship. If you’ve enjoyed the other Fire Island novels by this author, you’ll love this one too. Many of the same characters reappear with some great new additions as well. Could read as a stand alone, but reading the other 2 first makes for a great reading experience!

Thanks to Berkeley and NetGalley for a copy of this book!

Rosen does it again.

I am a very big fan of Fire Island and Seven Summer Weekends. I was very excited to see a third Fire Island themed book being published. This book did not disappoint.

The story follows Maggie May. A 30 year old who is set out to find her birth mother... with the help of her childhood best friend- who she just got engaged to be engaged to.

Each chapter is from the point of view of a different character and is set to a theme song. Which you could find the playlist on Spotify at the back of the book. There is lots of music references in the book. Many that I grew up listening to with my parents, and it was a nice way to put yourself into the book.

It was nice to see many of the original characters from Fire Island in the book. While you don't have to read the other two books to understand what is happening, it is nice to understand the references. I highly recommend doing so. I personally read Seven Summer Weekends and then Fire Island and it helped me connect the dots.

I personally love the write style of the author. She really lets you understand the connection the people have to the island. It reminds me of all the summers I have spent in Cape May- a magical place that sucks you in and makes you forget there is a completely different world happening on the outside of it.

It does have some heavy topics- alcoholism, death, adoption. But don't let these steer you away.
I personally loved the book and hope to see more.

I would pack this for a beach trip and I guarantee you will devour it under the sun in no time.
I anticipate it will be on many best of 2025 lists.

On shelves everywhere May 20th.

Thank you to Berkeley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the digital advanced copy.

3.25 stars, Song of summer is lovely summery women’s fiction with the perfect amount of romance that also includes a great representation of friendship. I would highly recommend!

Maggie May learns she is adopted at the age of 9. She had a good childhood, but once her parents passed, she did a 23 & me test and found her mother. Her best friend and birthday buddy Jason became engaged to be engaged. They were safe with one another. She managed to find a way into a family wedding with the help of a new friend Matt. Matt pretended to be her boyfriend, but he made her feel things she never had before. A lot of family drama, wonderful stories, relationships and the realization that following your heart can be scary, but worth the risk. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

read if you like:
👵🏼 adoption stories
📍 fire island
👰🏻 wedding crashers

summary:
This book was such a pleasant surprise! It follows Maggie May Wheeler, a 30-something year old, running her deceased parents record store in Ohio and engaged to her childhood best friend. As she grieves the loss of her parents, she decides to find her birth mother — who gave her away when she was born. Her search leads her to Fire Island, where her birth mother is the guest of the wedding of the year. She finds herself befriending Matt, a local man on the island, who offers to let her join him at the wedding. As she learns more about her birth mother, her family and Matt’s family, she begins to realize she may belong more than she thinks.

This book is an amazing balance of romance, family and humor. Each chapter is from a different characters point of view, so we follow the weekend organically from various family members and guests. While some of them are more likable than others, it’s a balance of whimsical and real. I couldn’t help but love Maggie — she’s vulnerable, strong and full of grace, and you can’t help but root for her happiness despite everything going on around her. The family members quirks also made the book more fun. As for the setting, I’ve never been to Fire Island, but the author paints a picture of it perfectly!!! She describes the idyllic, small and lazy beach community in such a loving way that it makes me want to visit. The charm of it adds to the story and characters themselves, and you can almost feel like you’re a part of the weekend with them.

The ending of this book is so perfect — it wraps up so idyllically. Think the Notebook. If you need a happy and pick-me-up read, DEFINITELY pick this up when it releases on May 19! Thank you to Berkeley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Maggie Mae Wheeler has been living a nice life. She enjoys that her life is consistent - she lives in the apartment above her family's business where they lived for the early part of her childhood in a quaint Midwestern town. She runs the record store downstairs. Every year, she and her best friend, Jason, celebrate their birthdays together with family. She learned she was adopted when she was in the second grade but had no major desire to find her birth parents as she loved her sweet adoptive parents and felt that she didn't need anyone else. Her adoptive parents were older and have passed but she still spends her birthday with Jason's family. After their 30th birthday party, they climb up to their old tree hangout and retrieve the letters they wrote to themselves when they were 13, describing how they expected their lives to be. For the most part, Maggie's life matches what she wanted. She's content, but still hesitates to take the next step with Jason. Knowing where she came from so she can know who she is and where she's going seems like the best start so she decides to find her birth mother.

The story is told from multiple POVs and each chapter has an accompanying "theme song" (so the book has a Spotify playlist and you can find the link on the author's website). Although it deals with some heavy topics, it is written in a more lighthearted way so I found that it hit that sweet spot between being too fluffy and being too heavy. I loved almost all of the characters, especially Maggie's grandfather, Shep, and her fake boyfriend, Matt. The chapters were short and it was such a good story that it was a really quick read. It is a sweet, heartwarming story that would be perfect to read in a cute beach town! This was the first book that I've read by Rosen and I will definitely be coming back for more!

At thirty, Maggie May Wheeler finally decides to shake up her cozy life and search for her birth mother. Along the way, Maggie crashes a wedding, discovers her dramatic and lovable second family, and meets an intriguing stranger. Sometimes, complicated drama makes for a very enjoyable read. Jane Rosen does an amazing job capturing the chemistry, quirkiness, and drama of the characters, making the book truly fun to read.

A quick summer read (on a January wintry day) that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to BookBrowse and Berkley Paperback for the early read in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book! It was well written and had a great storyline that was captivating. I have never read a book with a concept of the main character crashing a wedding in hopes of finding her biological mom, but it was a great book. I recommend this book to those who want a fun summer read with romance vibes.

Thank you to Netgalley and Jane L. Rosen for a digital copy for me to review.

3.5 ⭐️ Charming story, characters & setting.
Luved the multiple references and character connections to the author's previous two books set on Fire Island, tho this was my favorite by far!

With thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this e-ARC.

A compelling story with a couple of female characters to root for. Maggie May irritated me at times,vas she seemed immature for her thirty years. And at times there were several minor characters popping in at once, which muddied the waters and made the story hard to follow. Overall a good "beach read" particularly for a female audience.

I’ve been enjoying Jane L Rosen’s other Fire Island books. Her style of writing each characters perspective at the moment it’s needed is beautiful. This book is a romance, but more than that it’s about found family.

My only question is whether or not there were too many characters guiding chapters. A few of them felt unnecessary to the plot or the main characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this e-ARC!

The story of Songs of Summer was sooo good, I just want to wander to Fire Island! Perfect book for summer escape.
I enjoyed the characters and well placed family drama. And it left my with very refreshed feeling.

I will absolutely recommend this one to my friends!

Hop aboard the ferry for another wonderful trip to Fire Island! With Jane Rosen as your tour guide, you will be reconnected with a few old friends and make several new ones as you enjoy another summer getaway. At thirty years old, Maggie Mae Wheeler is living her dream as the proprietor of Maggie Mae Records, the shop owned by her parents prior to their death. She’s living in her childhood apartment above the shop and is soon to be engaged to Jason, her best friend since they were kids. But when Maggie finds a note she wrote to herself at age thirteen, she realizes there is still one unfulfilled dream she has in order to fully understand who she is. Meeting the birth mother that gave her up for adoption would fill the emptiness of family that she yearns for. The search leads her to Fire Island for a summer where drama, romance and so much more awaits her.

Aptly titled “The Songs of Summer”, the chapters in the book are called “tracks” and are very cleverly named. If it’s okay, there is one small pet peeve I feel compelled to release. In this story as I find in many stories that are set “on Long Island”, authors will say “in Long Island”. It’s one of those things that even after 47 years of not living in NY, just feels wrong. I guess you can take the girl out of NY but you can’t take NY out of the girl. Thank you, I feel better.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this delightful book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Publication date: May 20

Jane Rosen has become one of my must read authors. I hope she puts out a Fire Island every summer now that Elin Hilderbrand is retired from her Nantucket books. Always a fan of spin off books...but I wish there was a little recap in a foreword to refresh the memories of continuing readers. After 2 years the details of the back story and characters get a little blurry.

In Songs of Summer, Maggie crashes a wedding party in a Fire Island community to scope out the birth mother who gave her up for adoption thirty years earlier. As someone who didn't meet my bio dad until I was in my sixties, I was intrigued by the concept.

The actual story took a while to warm up for me. I was initially turned off by the drifting, aimless nature of Maggie's character. She's thirty, managing the record store she inherited from her adoptive parents, and dating her life-long best friend Jason because she can't think of anything better. Jason wants to get married, but for reasons she can't understand, Maggie drags her feet. When she (with Jason's help) tracks down her birth mother, she goes in cognito to see if the woman is someone she'd like to know.

Maggie became more alive for me—almost like she woke up—once she ventures to the small Fire Island community and out of her comfort zone. I enjoyed the portrait of the small no-cars allowed island community and the unfolding of Maggie's connections within it.

Songs of summer was a very enjoyable read. I would call it a light read with a lot of heart and some interesting themes. The setting, characters, and events seemed believable in a Disney kind of way. I enjoyed that the desire to belong to a family, even a messy semi-dysfunctional family was at the center of the story. I think anyone who enjoys a sweet book with clever dialogue and a taste for good music would find this novel very entertaining. It was interesting that the book referenced Mama Mia as that is what it reminded me of. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read good rom-com books with satisfying endings.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun read! Not too heavy but full of emotion and discovery.

A great summer beach read full of heartwarming scenes, a bit of humor and plenty of family drama. The characters were well thought out, each with their own personalities and back stories. This was a fairly quick read and the story was one that I won't soon forget.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely LOVE this book! Honestly, the way Jane writes about Fire Island makes we want to book a vacation now to this haven in NY. Very likable (and relatable!) characters. Tiny bits of it seemed a bit far-fetched (the world isn't *that* small!) but for the sake of the story, I loved it!