I really enjoyed this book! The family drama was very Succession-like. Alice was an interesting heroine and I enjoyed seeing her relationship with her family. I also loved her chemistry with Jack. The rest of the family was entertaining as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow - this really was a storm of a book. I was really annoyed with it at first then I realized you are supposed to feel that way so you can understand the characters and the game they are playing. This was full of twists and turns and the ending was a complete and total surprise. I liked this book a lot. It has tons of plots that make you understand more why certain decisions were made to bring it to a close. Definitely get this for the beach this summer - it will keep you hooked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with the eARC of this book.

This was a wonderful read full of family drama, a hidden love affair, and plenty of humor. This is a wonderful read if you're looking for a historical contemporary book.

This is one of those books that I don't know how to feel or what to say about it. There were parts that I absolutely couldn't wait to get back to and there were other parts that I had to slog through to read (and if I had to "hear" about Jack's tattoos I thought I would scream. The premise of the story is that one of the richest men in the world (kind of like Gates or Jobs) has died and has set a task for each of his children and his wife from beyond the grave. Three of the kids are still tied to him for money (or so we think...), but one renegade daughter was "kicked out" from the family for revealing some damaging incidents that happened in her father's company and it is her struggle that makes up the majority of the book. The personalities of the four children is interesting and if the reader can get beyond some of the slow parts the book tells a good story.

After Franklin Storm passes away an infamous billionaire. His 3 daughters and son are summoned to the Storm Island with their mom. Alice is the black sheep of the family and has not been back to the island or in contact with her family for 5 years. . Upon their return they are each handed letters of tasks that need to be done in order to receive their inheritance with the acceptance of Alice, she has a task but no letter. With these letters secrets, drama, lies, money and messy lives are revealed.
I didn't connect with any of the characters and it was an okay book, there was a lot sibling arguing and drama and I honestly couldn't wait to finish it. Nothing about this book really wowed me.

Deserving of the coveted spot in your beach tote this year, These Summer Storms is a fantastic family drama featuring tons of secrets, surprises, a yummy love affair (or 2), and four of the world's wealthiest siblings.
Each sibling brings their own unique character development and voice in the story. I loved learning about how each of them contributes to the family drama and watching a few dark and twisted secrets reveal themselves. I loved Alice and Jack together, embarking on a secret love affair with complicated layers and enough steam to singe your fingertips. Everyone should have a copy of These Summer Storms in their beach tote. It's the quintessential summertime read. It's my first book by this author and the book is so well written I wouldn't hesitate to read another. Highly recommend!!

I adored Sarah MacLean’s first foray into contemporary lit - it was fast-paced, deeply compelling, funny, and full of characters who I could have spent another 500 pages with. Sarah keeps saying on Fated Mates that it’s not a romance, but it’s not *not* a romance, and even in a twisty world we get a HFN for most characters, which was very satisfying for me as a romance reader. The complex and intricately woven interpersonal relationships are a highlight but so is the rich sense of place. This book will be a summer hit, meant for reading in hot humid weather and thunderstorms!!

Big thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with this advance reader copy.

Sarah MacLean’s historical romance books have been a long time favorite of mine. Being allowed to read an advanced copy of “These summer Storms”, was a true treat! Her take on a contemporary story weaves a tangled tale of love, betrayal, hurt and secrets unveiled. It’s complicated and compelling, a true piece of art. I’m so excited for old and new fans of Sarah to experience what it’s like to have a “Storm inside”.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Loved it.
Story is about a woman who is from a very wealthy family. Lots of family drama/ secrets! She has to go “home” after 5 years of not talking to her family for her father’s celebration of life. This story had all the feels! And a streamy romance!
The author does a great job of developing the characters, you really can feel their emotions jump off the page into your heart!

Thanks netgalley for this eArc!

"These Summer Storms" was truly a fantastic book.
This book hit me in a way it may not hit others as a girl who has also lost her father suddenly. I may not have as crazy of a family as Alice Storm does, but it didn't make it any less relatable to me. From the get go she describes grief perfectly, which is a very tricky feeling to explain.

The Rhode Island estate sounds absolutely magical, and just this extravagant place that holds so many memories from so many years.
Alice navigates the wild ups and downs of finding out her dad died, going back to the island where she last was before she left 5 years earlier, and finds out that there's a game if they want to get any of the inheritance.

Who better to tell her about the game, than her dad's right hand Jack Dean. Tall, broody, mysterious man, who just so happens to know how to drive Alice crazy. When I tell you the TENSION between them was crazy, I was waiting for them to break it every time they were in a scene together.

This book is amazing, and if you want something with a little "Knives Out" vibes, but add some romance then this book is for you.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for the ARC to get to experience this book early.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

After five years, Alice has been called back home after the death of her father. He kicked her out of the family for being different from the rest of the Storms and she hasn’t looked back. She wants to get through the funeral and leave as soon as possible. But her father laid out plans for his family in the event of his death. An inheritance game. Now, Alice has to spend a full week with the family who doesn’t consider her family anymore and growing attraction for the man in charge of making sure they complete the game.

This was a very entertaining read of rich family drama secrets, and eventual personal growth.

Sarah MacLean could write a phone book and I would read it, enough said. But, this twisty, juicy, family drama (a departure from her usual genre of historical romance) is exactly what you’re going to want to have packed in your beach bag this summer. When the estranged siblings of recently deceased billionaire, Franklin Storm, land on Storm Island off the coast of Rhode Island, they must grapple with secrets, inheritance games, and the reshaping of their lives as they know them, in both the before and after, of the world that Franklin leaves behind. As is typical of MacLeans writing, this novel is visual, fast paced, and laced with a few twists and secret trysts that will leave you breathless. Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for my gifted ARC!

I really enjoyed this one! It was like if Succession followed everything post Logan Roy, but in New England. Franklin Storms is a billionaire who passes away and left letters and an inheritance game waiting for his family before his funeral. The dysfunctional family dynamics and drama felt so real and kept me hooked. The slow burn romance was exciting and 🔥🔥. I was on the edge about what would happen with the inheritance and all of their relationships. Highly recommend picking up this book by Sarah MacLean when it comes out July 8th!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!!

Just wow! Five stars! Tech billionaire, Franklin Storm is dead and he brings his family to their private island to complete individual tasks to gain their inheritance. Alice Storm may have been exiled for the past five years, but the rest of the family kept her away as well. Now she must return and face her siblings, Greta, Sam and Emily in a week long set of tasks that lets them all know Franklin Storm is even controlling them from the grave. It begins when Alice boards a train for Rhode Island and meets a guy who punches the paparazzi for taking her photo and they have a one night stand. She decides they will not tell one another their names. She soon discovers his name is Jack Dean and I loved every scene with the two of them. This book gave all the twisted family "Succession" vibes with a love affair or two. This is one Storm you do not want to miss. I hope their are more Storms to come because I am invested in these characters and did not want this book to end!

These Summer Storms is a rich, immersive read with emotional highs and lows, a romance that builds slowly but surely, and family drama that feels raw and real. It’s an unforgettable story that will leave you thinking long after you’ve finished the last page. So, if you’re looking for a novel that explores complicated family dynamics, scorching chemistry, and the kind of emotional reckoning that makes you want to both laugh and cry, this book will steal your heart.

As someone who has been reading Sarah MacLean's historical romances right from the beginning, I knew this would be amazing. No, this is not a historical, and no, the plot is not strictly organized around a romance. But Sarah is uniquely talented at creating rich, complex narratives about families--whether biological or found--and here she put all her skills to work.

The result? A fantastic story about the dysfunctional Storm family attempting to cope with the death of its larger-than-life patriarch. Secrets, old rivalries, and long-standing grudges rise to the surface as the four Storm siblings and their emotionally detached mother navigate a series of challenges to secure their multi-billion-dollar inheritance. Drama (lots of it) ensues, and I loved every minute of it.

Fans of her romances, take heart: it does feature a budding romance between the black sheep daughter, Alice, and her father's fixer, Jack Dean. (Naturally, the hot fixer has an incredibly hot name. And face. And body.)

I suspect this is going to open a whole new audience for Sarah, beyond fans of her historical romances or podcast. (Sidenote: if you love romances of any period or genre but aren't listening to the Fated Mates podcast, what are waiting for?) Hopefully, we'll get more contemporary family sagas/romances like this one from Sarah (in addition to more of her historicals).

I'd say that this is perfect for fans of Emily Henry or Abby Jimenez, and that's true. But this is also uniquely Sarah MacLean. If you aren't familiar with her work, pick this one up--you won't be disappointed!

Sarah Maclean's contemporary debut does not disappoint. Alice has a dysfunctional family that she hasn't seen in years. She's also in close proximity to a sexy man that she does not want to be attracted to. A series of demands from a recently deceased father, family dynamics that could blow up at any time, and a sexy man all trapped on a private island prove a read that readers will not want to miss.

Well written with multi-faceted characters, a compelling and believable lot and great dialogue; this book is a great summer read.

These Summer Storms is such a fun read, and I'd love to see it on screen like a Succession 2.o. Four estranged adult siblings and their mother play a twisted, hilarious inheritance game on a private island, all at the whim of their deceased and decidedly megalomaniacal billionaire father. Sabotage, secrets, yachting, a hot but mysterious love-interest... Sarah MacLean knows exactly what her readers want out of a summer beach read and totally delivers.