This is one of those books that is all-consuming until you finish. I couldn’t put it down. Brilliant plot, incredible characters, 10/10

I really enjoyed this sexy thriller about a super wealthy family trying to deal with the death of their patriarch. So well done and enjoyable—perfect summer read. The characters were complex, and my sympathies kept shifting as I read. I was unsure about moving this to the top of my TBR pile, but I am so glad I did. Definitely time well spent!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Romantic, adventurous, and full of heart, this historical romance delivers passion and intrigue with every page. Sarah MacLean crafts complex characters and a slow-burning love story set against a rich backdrop. Perfect for fans of strong heroines and swoon-worthy moments.

This story was not what I was expecting! It was really good. So many twists and turns.
My heart hurt for how dysfunctional this family was but it really did make the story so good 🤣 I wanted to punch all of them at some point though.
The ending was not what I was expecting at all!


Thank you NetGalley and Sarah Maclean for the ARC!

This is a perfect summer beach read! Set on a private island near Wickford, RI, the adult children of the uber wealthy Storm gather to discover their dad has a to do list for each of them before they can inherit any money. The list is another way to control his family from the grave. Alice, who stood up to her father and hasn’t spoken to him )or any of her family) for years is not interested in playing his game and doesn’t want the money. But in order for her siblings to get their inheritance she must stay and her siblings are determined to make sure that happens.

This book had everything I love in a summer read: juicy family drama, a built-in love story, a bit of mystery laced with juicy secrets, a family brimming with love, haste, and sharp sarcasm, a stunning private island setting, and so much more. I went in knowing only the basics, and honestly, that is all you need: a billionaire father dies and leaves behind very specific conditions that his wife and children must follow if they wish to claim their inheritance. Very Succession-esque, but with a family that is slightly less unhinged and far more lovable in all their messy, chaotic glory.

I absolutely fell for this family…their flaws, their fights, their bond and especially their banter. The dialogue is razor-sharp and laugh-out-loud funny. I found myself grinning and laughing throughout, completely swept up in the antics, the secrets, and yes, even the tender, heartfelt moments. If I were part of a billionaire family (wishful thinking), this would absolutely be us.

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of this gem, but the moment I discovered that audiobook royalty Julia Whelan was narrating, I knew I had to wait and listen. And wow, so worth it. I read and listened to this one, but if I had to choose just one format, the audiobook would win without question. Certain scenes involve a computerized voice (IYKYK), and hearing Julia deliver those moments in that voice was nothing short of brilliant. Laugh-out-loud brilliant. Clever, hilarious, unexpectedly heartwarming, and totally unforgettable.

This one hit all the right notes for me…funny, heartfelt, swoony, and smart. If you enjoy stories about wealthy people behaving badly (in the most entertaining ways), do yourself a favor and grab this book immediately. 5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ , without hesitation! I will be thinking about this family…even the dead billionaire father…for a long time. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go revisit my own last will and testament.

A special thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing a gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

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THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK OF THE SUMMER, HANDS DOWN!!!!

Alice has been estranged from her family for five years, since she finally stood up to them, but is called back home- to the island- when her father passes for his funeral. Unbeknownst to them, he had one last hooray planned for them in the form of an inheritance game challenge before they can walk away with his billions.

Okay. This book was perfection. I read this and simultaneously listened to the audio and Julia Whelan (shocker) was amazing. I laughed out loud at so many parts of this!! I gasped at the reveals, I teared up at the emotional scenes, and I kicked my feet at the romance. This book had it all and I ate it up. This is one that I will definitely listen to again and again and highly recommend to all my fellow book lovers! My favorite summer read so far!!

The perfect beach read! A little suspense, a little mystery, a little love story and a family with a lot going on. Watch out for the Storms

Sarah MacLean trades in bodices for boardrooms in her irresistible contemporary debut, These Summer Storms — a sharp inheritance drama with a swooning heart, set among the crumbling glamour and cutting glances of an old-money family marooned on their private Rhode Island island. At its center is Alice Storm, estranged daughter of a tech titan whose sudden death jolts her — Amtrak, not chopper, thank you — back into the orbit of a family she’s spent five years avoiding.

The storm in question is Franklin Storm, father, mogul, myth. He’s dead now, but he’s not done. Tasks from beyond the grave, an island lockdown, and one extremely ill-timed one-night stand with Dad’s protégé: the setup sounds farcical, but MacLean renders it with wit and ache in equal measure. Alice is a perfect heroine — spiky, vulnerable, deeply tired of managing her mother’s emotional withholding (“Emotions were not a commodity in which Alice’s mother invested”) — and her siblings are drawn with the kind of detail that only comes from decades of bruising closeness.

The romantic thread, with its glowering, too-handsome antagonist-turned-confidant, delivers the MacLean heat longtime fans will expect, but what lingers is the intricate choreography of familial grief. Even at their most vicious — vaults are involved — the Storm siblings pulse with unspoken understanding. You don’t have to like them to recognize them.

Franklin remains the book’s absent center: magnetic, maddening, impossible to forget. In death, as in life, he sets the terms — but MacLean gives Alice the final word. This novel is not just a smart, sexy summer read (though it is that); it’s a meditation on the enduring, disorienting gravity of family.

The family dynamics of the Storms were so complex. The storms had so many family secrets and so much sibling rivalry. I enjoyed the tension caused by the deep hidden secretes. While being trapped in an island for 5 days while grieving seems like a pressure cooker of a situation, I loved that it all ended with a lot of character growth.

I loved that majority of the book surrounded Alice and her point of view while I also loved the Sam and Emily chapters. I wished we had gotten chapters from Greta and Elisabeth.

I really disliked Sam at the Bennie by of the book and was surprised by how much I appreciated him by the end. I loved that Greta got a happy ending. Emily got depicted as a helpless “baby” of the family and yet she had done so much with on her own without any one noticing.

Great summer read. I will for sure recommend.

This had a good sense of place and strong writing. Unfortunately, none of the characters were really likable, and the drama was a bit over the top. The ending was a bit of a letdown and the reveals were out of nowhere. Still, it’s a juicy family drama with a great setting.

I will say, I am a fan of Sarah MacLean’s historical romance novels and was very excited when I heard she was writing a contemporary book. However, this book was very difficult to read. That isn’t to say others won’t enjoy the book – it simply wasn’t for me. The Storms are a thoroughly dysfunctional, extremely wealthy family coming together after the death of the father, Franklin. Of the four siblings, Alice has been estranged not only from their father, but from the entire family. When Alice left, or rather was forced to leave, no one reached out to her as they were afraid of their father’s wrath. His retaliation. Except for Emily, the youngest sibling who wasn’t afraid of emotions like the rest of the family. But when Alice was finally ready to talk, Emily had given up waiting.

I found myself not liking any of the characters. I kept hoping someone would improve by the end of the book but that didn’t happen. So many of the conversations were full of nasty, hurtful comments, especially toward Alice. And their father continued to be cruel and manipulative from his grave. I didn’t find the ending of the story any better; it wrapped up too easily considering how painful the rest of the story was.

On a positive note, the author’s descriptions of the island were fantastic. Her knowledge of the area lent an authenticity to her narrative and imagery of the island.

I’ve enjoyed all the previous Sarah MacLean books I’ve read. I just found reading this one to be like looking at a car crash on the freeway. Being fascinated but not wanting to watch all the carnage. Or in this instance, the havoc Franklin brought on everyone throughout their lives, even after he died. I want to thank Sarah MacLean, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy. I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As someone who isn't a historical romance reader, I wasn't personally familiar with MacLean's work but knew she's a very popular romance author. Initially I wasn't planning on reading this because of that, but after hearing so much buzz I figured I'd give it a try. Unfortunately it didn't quite meet my expectations. It was an entertaining and quick read, but I never felt invested in the story or characters. It also was fairly predictable and the ending was very unsatisfying. I"m definitely an outlier though so if it sounds up your alley give it a try!

I thought i was gonna love this after seeing great reviews, and it starts out so promising but after the first few chapters i was soooo bored. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if it was written in first person because my biggest issue was that the characters felt so distant.

I love MacLean’s historical romances, and was excited for this new foray into contemporary fiction! MacLean is a master storyteller, which came through in this book. My main criticism was with the romance subplot. It felt like it moved too fast without the depth that you’d get in a standard romance novel where the relationship is the center of the plot. Beyond that, the book was an engrossing read. I do also wish we’d gotten a little more of the story - the end felt a bit abrupt to me.

WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. READ IT NOW,

I had the opportunity to receive this novel as an ARC from Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books! I am SOOOO happy that I was given that chance. This book was full of mystery, hope, secrets, and more. Each page left me wondering what would happen next, and I was ENTHRALLED. SO GOOD.

LOVED!!! These Summer Storms was the perfect summer listen—rich people problems, messy family dynamics, and a private island off the coast of Rhode Island?? Say less. I EAT. UP. stories like this, especially when wealth and power are tangled up in every relationship. It’s giving drama, secrets, and just the right amount of tension.

Huge thanks to @prhaudio for the free audiobook—Julia Whelan, you are and always will be my star. No one brings characters to life like you do.

I reserve the right to bump this to 5⭐️ at any time.

Take "Succession" and center it on a Shiv Roy who gets out of the family business and stays out. Now kill off Logan and send her back into the family fray to deal with an unresolved relationship with her father and her privileged background. Add in an attractive outsider who will back her up. That's "These Summer Storms."

What's good: It scratches the itch I had for "Succession." Overall, there's talk of business, there's a love story, there's a twisted family dynamic.

What's iffier: It is a business themed beach read at its core, complete with a some overly tidy plot points. There's something in the end that I never quite understood. And in addition, the characters LOVE to refer to characters by their first and last names. "Nobody ever went poor overestimating Franklin Storm," for example, is the type of thing spoken by one of the adult children. It's fine to do this here and there, but it's done a LOT, which grates.

With gratitude to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
4.75 ⭐️
5🌎, 5📖, 5🖋️, 4.75 👫, 5❤️, 5🎧, 2🌶️


Were you obsessed with Succession? Do you love a juicy family drama with a touch of romance? If so, you need to read These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean.

This was my first Sarah MacLean book and definitely not my last. I was hooked from page one and couldn’t put it down.

The story kicks off when Alice’s estranged father dies, dragging her back into the privileged world she walked away from five years ago. She’s reunited with her complicated siblings and icy mother, only to discover her father left them one final game to play… along with his mysterious (and annoyingly attractive) “Fixer.”

This family is the definition of dysfunctional. The characters are messy, flawed, and so compelling. It’s chaotic in the best, most addictive way.

I loved every minute of this book and can’t recommend it enough. For the audiobook lovers, this one is narrated by the GOAT, Julia Whalen and its as expected another perfect perfomance!

While I loved the storyline of the family on an island, destined to “play” for their inheritance from their father. The pace felt too fast. The love story rushed, the changes to quick. However, the sibling banter felt fresh, quick and real. And while it honk the love story was too quick it did have chemistry from the first moment onwards that made it more believable for me.