Thank you to Jane L. Rosen and Berkley for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Songs of Summer. I absolutely adored the second book in this series, so I was thrilled to receive an early copy of this one. While it’s part of a series, it can easily be read as a standalone.

I read it over the course of a few days, then carved out the rest of my weekend to fully enjoy it. It’s sweet, emotional, and touching—a perfect summer read. I especially loved all the musical references throughout the book. The accompanying Spotify playlist was such a thoughtful touch and really enhanced the reading experience.

The story follows Maggie May, who decides to take a 23 andMe DNA test in hopes of learning more about her biological background. To her surprise, she discovers her birth mother, Beatrix Silver, has also submitted her DNA, and Maggie is able to identify her. With both of her adoptive parents now gone, she turns to her best friend—and boyfriend—Jayson for support.

Together, they visit the university where Beatrix works, only to find out she’s away—reportedly on Fire Island for a wedding.
Jayson and Maggie have a deep, loving bond. Jayson is ready to take their relationship to the next level and make it public, hoping to propose and formally welcome Maggie into the family. But Maggie hesitates—she wants to meet her birth mother first, to better understand where she came from and feel more grounded before making such a big decision.

Determined, she travels to Fire Island on her own. After checking into a less-than-ideal hotel, she ends up at a local pub where she meets Matt who is warm and a talkative who shares her love of music. They strike up an easy friendship, and when Maggie confides in him, he reveals he knows Beatrix—she’s the maid of honor at his mother’s upcoming wedding to Jake.

As the story unfolds, Maggie learns that not only will her birth mother be at the wedding, but so will her birth mother’s father and sister. It becomes a pivotal moment filled with emotional weight, discovery, and connection.

They come up with the idea to attend the wedding together as fake dates, setting the stage for a heartfelt and transformative weekend.
I highly recommend this book and would give it a solid 5 stars. I’m genuinely sad to see the series come to an end—it feels like it was just hitting its stride. I haven’t read Fire Island, the first book in the series, but now I can’t wait to go back and start from the beginning!

Maggie was adopted as a baby and now that she's 30, thinking she's ready to get married, she has a desire to reconnect with her birth mother in order to find out her heritage and where she comes from. With the help of her best friend and boyfriend, Jason, she tracks down her birth mother and finds out she will be attending a wedding on Fire Island. Taking a trip to Fire Island on a whim, Maggie observes her biological family from a distance, all the drama and messiness included. When a handsome local, Matt, says he will take her as his date to the wedding so she can get a little closer to the family, Maggie says yes. This could be her chance to see everyone up close. But what she doesn't account for is playing the role of Matt's girlfriend feels like more than just a role. But where does that leave her and Jason? And what will happen if the family realizes who she is while at the wedding?

With each chapter title as a song from a playlist, Songs of Summer is a beautiful story of found family, love and reconnecting with true family. Music is often the soundtrack of life, and Songs of Summer plays it out perfectly.

I missed that this was the third book in the series until after I had read it, and honestly, other than realizing there was some backstory I was missing, this works okay as a standalone and probably even better if you know the backstory. Atmospheric and with fabulous music references that I really enjoyed, and a really sweet family connection.

The absolute perfect book to read this summer!

Maggie May Wheeler just turned 30. She lives above Maggie May Records, the record shop she owned with her late parents, who adopted Maggie as a baby. Maggie loved the life she lived, and is incredibly grateful for her parents, and the life they gave her. However, she's always wondered about her birth Mom. After finding out who her birth Mom is from doing an ancestry test, Maggie travels to Fire Island in search of her birth Mom. When she arrives on the island, Maggie learns even more than she anticipated about her birth mother, birth family, and family history.

I absolutely loved this book for so many reasons! First, the ties to Judaism, and all the Jewish references throughout the book. Each chapter was named for a song title, and there's a playlist to go along with the book. Taylor Swift, ABBA, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus all on one playlist? Literally a book after my own heart. I absolutely adored the plot, with Maggie learning about her birth family, and learning more about herself, and the friendships with her childhood best friend, Jason, and Matt, who she meets upon arriving on Fire Island. In this book, Maggie is discovering her past, while also uncovering her future. This book was a true journey through the pages, and all the song references were music to my ears!

This was my first book by Jane Rosen, and I look forward to reading more!

Thank you to Jane Rosen, and Berkley Publishing for my e-arc, in exchange for my honest review.

“Songs of Summer" by Jane L. Rosen is the perfect blend of humor, heartfelt family dynamics, and small-town charm. I was swept into a world where quirky characters, touching relationships, and laugh-out-loud moments harmoniously coexist.

The story unfolds effortlessly, with a cast of vibrant personalities that feel like your own neighbors. The family dynamics are both relatable and endearing, sprinkled with just the right amount of wit and warmth. Rosen’s knack for capturing the essence of small-town life is impeccable, painting vivid scenes that are as cozy as a summer evening on the porch.

What truly stands out is the balance between humor and heartfelt moments. I found myself chuckling at the sharp, clever dialogue and then a few pages later, pausing to appreciate the depth of emotion woven into the family’s journey.

If you're looking for a book that feels like a comforting summer breeze—light, joyful, and full of heart—"Songs of Summer" is a must-read. Jane L. Rosen has crafted a tale that sings with authenticity and charm. Highly recommended!

A charming summer novel packed with humor, heart, and romance. I breezed through this but wish I would’ve saved it for a summer day by the beach—so I could feel as if I was a bystander on Fire Island while the hijinks ensued!

An easy read about a woman who has found and is determined to meet her bio-mom. Maggie May is 30 and about to marry but first she needs to meet Beatrix who is also getting married-on Fire Island. This is part of a trilogy but is just fine as a standalone. There's family drama to be sure and some romance. There's also music-song titles serve as chapter titles among other things. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Will make a good beach read.

What songs make you feel like Summer? 🌞🎶

When you read this sunny new read by Jane L. Rosen, each chapter has its own song. Beginning with "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart, ending with "I'm Gonna Be(500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers, with a whole lot of great music in between. If that playlist doesn't have you singing along in your car, I don't know what will.

Now, about the story. Full disclosure: I have not read either of the previous Fire Island books. Did not bother me one bit. This narrative stands on its own two feet just fine, in my opinion.

Thirty-year-old Maggie May Wheeler is finally ready to find her birth mother. A DNA test identifies the woman she needs to find. A little detective work reveals a small window in which Maggie can be reunited with Beatrix Silver -- and it has to be on Fire Island. So, Maggie packs her bags and takes the ferry to the island. What follows is heartwarming story that takes some surprising turns. The island population has some expected and unexpected connections in store.

If you are looking for a great read for vacation, the pool, or to put in your beach bag -- this is just what you need. You are also likely to get one or more of those summery songs in your head on repeat. Enjoy!🎧😎

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and both times I started out thinking the story would go in a completely different direction than it did. She has a way of setting up the plot with something big and unexpected.

I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives—it added depth to the story. However, if you’re listening to the audiobook, it might be a bit hard to follow at times due to the quick chapter changes and shifting points of view.

I appreciated how each character gradually began to understand what was really going on. The story kept a good pace, never felt stuck, and I was consistently eager to keep reading to find out what would happen next.

Some of the song pairings felt a bit forced, especially with chapters that were only about four minutes long, but it didn’t take away too much from the overall experience.

SONGS OF SUMMER by Jane L. Rosen is the third novel in her On Fire Island trilogy. These intertwined stories offer a marvelous escape to a beautiful summer setting populated with kind and caring people. This time, there's the wedding for ferryboat Captain Jake and newly full-time island resident Renee which is "crashed" by Maggie May Miller, a young woman trying to get to know her birth mother. Maggie poses as girlfriend for Matt whose Mom is the bride. There are secrets and deception as well as efforts to deal with the consequences of long-ago actions. One of the best parts is all the "love" Rosen shares for music – Maggie May has her own record store and Matt writes for The Rolling Stone. Each chapter references a song like 500 Miles, What's Going On? (Marvin Gaye), (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay, or Should I Stay or Should I Go? and Rosen must have had such fun choosing them (she even created a Spotify list). ** 4.5 stars overall **

Maggie and Jason have been best friends forever.
In fact they’re secretly engaged. Maggie decides that she needs to find her birth Mom before she can go forward with her life.
This was such a nice story. It’s full of some family drama and romance. It’s full of great characters and will touch your heart. It makes for a great beach read!

I truly enjoyed this book, and would probably have enjoyed it even more if I had realized it was part of a trilogy. Don't get me wrong, it can easily be read as a standalone, but I think that I would have enjoyed it even more having read the earlier books. The characters were incredible - I loved all of them. They were dynamic and flawed, real and emotional. Their interactions felt authentic and I truly enjoyed all of their stories. I loved the descriptions of Fire Island and all of the sites and scenes. It was all well developed and flowed seamlessly. I laughed, I cried, I yelled at the pages and I just wanted to give the characters hugs. I felt connected to the story from page 1 through the end. Maggie Mae lives in the midwest, but finds herself spending time on Fire Island to find her birth mother at the wedding of the season. While there, she finds herself in the middle of a family drama and falling for a fake boyfriend. A great book for the summer!

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Songs of Summer is another great summer escape to Fire Island. I absolutely loved this trilogy, each book is perfect summer escape.

In Songs Of Summer, we follow Maggie who at 30 years old finds herself on Fire Island on a quest to meet her birth mom. She lands in a pit of family drama amongst some absolutely amazing characters. With a many love stories included, this is truly a perfect story for me.

And the icing in the cake...
Not only did this book have chapter titles, they were music themed. To a music lover, I found this to be perfect!

I won this copy and was provided an e-galley
This was an enjoyable read. It did take me a minute. Life always gets in the way.
I liked the many different points of views. It gives you all sides to the story and fire isalnd sound like a place I would like to visit.
I loved that all the chapters were song titles and I can't wait to get the playlist together
Grab this one on your next road trip or a trip to the beach.


My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story had a lot going for it—an evocative setting, nostalgic vibes, and a gentle romantic thread. It captures the essence of summer and fleeting youth with a warm, reflective tone that makes for a pleasant read.

The writing was smooth and easy to sink into, and there were moments that really resonated emotionally. However, the pacing felt uneven at times, and some characters or plotlines didn’t feel fully developed, leaving the story feeling a bit flat in places. I was looking forward to this being more of a romance and this was definitely more of a connecting with family which was sweet but not what i necessarily thought it was to start.

It’s a nice, mellow read for a summer afternoon, especially if you enjoy reflective stories with a bit of romance and a lot of atmosphere. I just wish it had gone a little deeper or taken a few more risks to make it truly memorable

The perfect summer read. 4 stars! This book was so well written! I loved Maggie Mays search for her birth family and the adventures and experiences it brings her through! The perfect mix of fun, inspiring, and sweet 💖


Thanks NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC!

(4.75 stars)
Sometimes when I love a book, I have a hard time writing a review for it! That’s the case for me with Songs of Summer. Jane L. Rosen has now completed her Fire Island Trilogy with this volume and it’s a wonderful conclusion to the loosely connected series. (You can definitely read them as standalones, but if you do read them all, you’ll love seeing some characters pop back up in the second and third books.)

This story is part family drama and part romance, and I just loved it. I bounced between the ebook and the audiobook (thank you to Berkley for the ebook and PRH Audio for the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Sarah Naughton), which was one reason I was able to breeze through Songs of Summer so quickly.

Maggie May was adopted by a music-loving couple who ran a record shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and Maggie is now running the shop, after her parents have died. She is extremely close to her lifelong next-door neighbor, Jason, and his family. In fact, they’ve become “friends with benefits” and are considering marriage, both of them having turned 30. But before she commits, Maggie decides she needs to find her birth mother. And she does, with Jason’s help. She tracks her down and flies to New York, to go to Fire Island, as her mother will be attending a wedding there. She wants to check her out and then decide if she’ll introduce herself or not.

Bea Silver (her birth mother) has quite the backstory. It’s actually written about in the first book, On Fire Island, but I honestly didn’t remember! She’s been estranged from her younger sister, Veronica, for decades, and they are thrown together at this wedding. Their dynamic was wild. I felt really awful about why they were estranged, but also felt that it was so long ago (when they were teens!) that Bea should have gotten over it at this point (she’s 50, for goodness sake!) So, while Veronica isn’t portrayed very sympathetically to begin with, I did feel for her and was happy with her character arc over the course of the book.

There’s another lifelong-friends “couple” in this story: Matt and Dylan. Matt is the son of the woman getting married and Dylan is the daughter of the groom. (The marriage will be the second one for both of them.) When we first learn about them, I wondered if it would be a situation like Jason and Maggie’s or not. You’ll have to read the book to find out. Somehow Maggie gets sucked into the whole Silver family drama, all while not revealing her true identity. Will Maggie let Bea know that she’s her daughter? Will Maggie commit to Jason or will she find her horizons broadened with the people she meets on Fire Island?

There are so many terrific characters in this story. I particularly loved Bea and Veronica’s dad, Shep, who was in the earlier books too, and is in his 90s. I also loved the contemporary and secular Jewish rep.

The book is filled with music references and each chapter is titled with a different song. I can’t wait to check out the playlist that Rosen has put together!

Again, my thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to PRH Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Jane L. Rosen is quickly becoming for Fire Island what Elin Hilderbrand is to Nantucket. Songs of Summer is the 3rd in her Fire Island series, but you don't necessarily have to have read the other two to read this one. There are many recurring characters and locales, however, each novel tells its own story.
Maggie May Wheeler was adopted and content with her life except she has always longed for more family. After getting engaged to be engaged to her childhood best friend, Maggie decides she needs to figure herself out more. That starts with finding her birth mother. Her search leads her to Fire Island, an idyllic summer getaway where her birth mother is attending a wedding. As Maggie observes her biological family from a distance, she sees that they come with a lot of drama. Torn between diving deeper into their world or returning to her peaceful life and cozy relationship, her decision gets more complicated when a handsome local offers to take her to the wedding — if she will pose as his date. But playing the part starts to get real; and Maggie hasn't even MET her birth mother yet.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for this digital e-arc.*

4.5/5 - This book was so close to five stars for me! Just a couple of things keep it from getting there for me. First, the beginning felt pretty slow. And I know we need to get the Maggie/Jason backstory, but I didn’t get right into it like I did with the first two books. With that being said, I was so happy to dive back into this series and revisit some of my favorite characters. Shep finding a loophole in that his wedding invitation didn’t say “non-transferable” had me cackling.

This book takes place over 4-5 days, but it feels like so much longer. You get sucked into the island life and each day expands to fill weeks, months even. With that being said, the shortened timeline does give a little bit of a question mark over the intensity of the Maggie/Matty relationship. But with THAT being said, given their instant chemistry I appreciate that they were, in fact, able to keep their hands to themselves as Maggie was still dating Jason. I don’t have patience for books where characters are supposedly actively trying not to cross that boundary but they “can’t help themselves”. You’re a full-grown adult, not some hormonal teenager. You CAN control yourself. (Anyway, that rant over).

I also appreciated that this book was pretty spice free. Sex is mentioned and even implied, and I know that the author isn’t one to shy away from an open door scene (see the previous two books in this series). But the reality is, is that kind of thing would not have fit into the story and I appreciate she didn’t try to cram something in at the last minute once the Maggie/Matty relationship was in the clear. I’ve read a few books recently where I feel like the author has included spice just to have it in there because they think that’s what readers want/expect? But I’m here to tell you, it’s not necessary. It’s not additive. And I feel like this book really proves my point.

I know I’ve said a lot about the romantic subplots here, but there’s more to this book than that. I also really enjoyed the suspense of when Bea was going to find out that Maggie was her daughter. It was interesting to see Maggie interact with Bea and Shep as one-sided strangers first.

I don’t know how I feel about how everything went down with Jason. I didn’t love the timing of it? But I appreciate that he really wasn’t painted out to be a bad guy at all. We saw beforehand why things maybe weren’t quite right from Maggie’s end, but I wish we had seen any hesitation on Jason’s end before everything went down.

Overall, I really liked this book. I loved seeing how Ben and Addison’s family has grown. I love that Renee is getting a happy ending with Jake. And I liked seeing grown up Dylan! But my last complaint…I understand this weekend was about Jake and Renee and their wedding, but we couldn’t have squeezed in a homeowners ballgame? Not one? Come on!

Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What does it take to get a 5⭐️ rating from me? It’s easy. A book needs to make me feel something—joy, sorrow, hope, anticipation—something. It must have characters that feel real enough for me to connect with. And it must occupy a place in my heart beyond the final page. SONGS OF SUMMER checks all three boxes.

This is the third trip I’ve taken to Fire Island courtesy of Jane L. Rosen and each time felt like coming home. The final book of the trilogy is the perfect way to bring together all the characters I fell in love with through the first two books as well as introduce some new ones.

SONGS OF SUMMER is a love story. In fact, it’s many love stories. There’s a romance - or two or three. There’s a bit of family drama rooted in the love between siblings. There’s found family and the love that exists between people who show up for each other. There’s a connection between hearts decades in the making. And, finally, it’s a love story for a place both vibrant and peaceful where hearts find a home.

Ms. Rosen has written a beautiful story that touched my heart in all the ways I hope for when I start a book. The playlist that accompanies her words is perfection and gave me all the feels. You’ll love this escape to Fire Island. (This is the third book on a trilogy and can be read as a stand-alone, however I encourage reading all three novels for maximum enjoyment.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.