This dual-timeline novel dives into the messy, tender layers of women friendship, regret, and the secrets we bury to survive. It follows two former best friends who are unexpectedly reunited after years of silence. One is recovering from an accident and missing pieces of her memory. The other? A writer grappling with secrets she thought she’d buried.

Set between cozy bookstores and beachside moments, this is a heartfelt read about healing, forgiveness, and the ways our past always finds a way back to us.
Perfect for when you want something warm, reflective, and just a little messy in the best way.

What I liked:
📚 The beachside bookstore and cozy atmosphere
💔 The raw emotions and complicated layers of friendship
🖊️ The ethical tension around storytelling and ownership of truth

What I didn’t like:
😶 Jewel’s deceit got a bit frustrating
💭 The pacing dragged in the middle
👀 Some of the twists were predictable

A Summer for the Books is an emotional, nostalgic story of two former best friends and the complexities of life, love, friendship, forgiveness, and identity. This multigenerational dual timeline story is told through three POVs with the use of journal entries and a book that is written about their past using aliases.

I liked the focus on the power of friendship and the importance of culture and remembering where you came from. I also liked that one of the MCs was an author and the other a bookstore owner plus the attempt at a book within a book. I thought the premise of the book had a lot of potential but the structure was hard to follow at times with the multiple names/aliases and being told through multiple formats of books. The timeline felt disjointed and the back and forth between journal excerpts, and excerpts from the book telling their past, and present day was confusing. I also felt like the slow burn to the big reveal wasn’t as exciting as it could have been and the ending was wrapped up rather quickly and unbelievable after everything they had endured.

I was thankful to have an ARC and ALC to follow along due to switching formats purposes. The audiobook narrator, Ariel Blake, did a good job with tone and dialect giving each character their own unique voice.

Thank you MIRA and Netgalley for my gifted ARC and ALC. All opinions are my own.

It was a difficult to keep my attention with the different POV’s and the switching timeline. It was confusing and I had to keep flipping back to see what was I missing? It just felt more like work than enjoyment.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Mira and NetGalley for a copy of “A Summer for the Books” in exchange for my honest review. This was such an amazing, heartfelt story of friendship and motherhood. I loved the dual timelines and the integration of the book excerpts to progress the storyline. I liked the characters and loved the parallel between Jules/Shelby and Lacey/Bee. I also liked the pacing of the reveals and letting the reader in on something the main characters may not know. I will say at times I hated the almost miscommunication trope and truths that the characters were keeping from one another.

🌊Book Review📖

Title: A Summer for the Books
Author: Michelle Lindo- Rice
Pub Date: July 15, 2025

Huge thank you to @netgalley , @harlequinbooks , and @michellelindorice for this nostalgic ARC

Blurb:

The story follows Shelby whom looses her memory after a biking accident. She has no recall over the last 10 years or even having a daughter. The only person she can remember is her best friend Jewel. When Shelby calls her best friend for help Jewel rushes to her aid without hesitation. However, on her arrival Jewel realizes that Shelby does not remember their well kept secret and that they had a fallout in their friendship causing an estrangement between them.

My thoughts:

This is a story that is told in a dual time line. Jumping from present to different years in time. A Summer for the Books is a very nostalgic story that is full of betrayals and many secrets. If you are in the mood for a heartfelt nostalgic read I recommend this for you. So grab a chair and listen to the waves as you read A Summer for the Books

This book was sooo incredibly slow moving that I just had to put it down. I really wanted to discover the mystery behind Lacey and what led to the demise of the friendship besides the adoption, but I just good not subject myself to any more of the slow build. The adults seemed a bit juvenile for me. I read 50% and decided to DNF it.

I received a copy of this ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Summer for the Books by Michelle Lindo-Rice is another phenomenal duty written by Howe!
This book simply put was just a lot of fun! 
The characters were so much fun, and their chemistry was adorable.
I thought the writing was quick, fun and engaging.
Overall, I very much enjoyed reading this story!

This had a really compelling plot but the writing fell so flat for me. The phrases used were disjointed and strange and everything was super over explained while simultaneously being so boring and vague. The reveal to Lacey was weird and unsatisfying as well.

Also…. using hubby and bestie instead of husband and best friend makes this feel very juvenile, like a story I would write in fifth grade. Please take the 0.3 seconds it takes to spell out the full word, thanks.

Review also on goodreads.

First and foremost, thank you to Net Galley for this opportunity. But now where do I begin?! There was so much going on in this book! From multiple points of views and excerpts from other books. It was a bit much to keep up with.

I did enjoy how the author touched on very real subject matter that affects and tests friendships daily. The smallest things left unaddressed can shake the most solid foundations. There were sections of the book where the story fell flat but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This book was a bit all over the place and I think the fact that it started out confusing and clunky is a big reason that it never moved past a 3 star read for me. The story is told from alternating perspectives, alternating time periods, and some as excerpts from a fictional book written by one of the characters. The writing did hit a groove at some point, but it could have been tighter all around.

The story itself is interesting. Beset friends leave a baby on the doorstep of a bookstore. The reader doesn't get to know which one was the mom until nearly the end of the story. Fast forward 20 years and one is a best selling author with writer's block and the other owns the old bookstore and has an adopted daughter. Plot twist, the 2 women haven't spoken to each other in 10 years. When one gets into a bike accident and forgets the past 12 years, the two are brought back together and they need to address the past in order to move on.

The characters were interesting, but the pacing and constant switching between the past and present and fact and fiction hurt the flow.

The book opens with two friends- each struggling with where their lives have taken them. Everything changes when Shelby suffers an accident after cycling, and instantly forgets the past decade. Putting the fallout behind them, Jewel rushes to her friend’s side- looking to repair her friendship and maybe get some fresh perspective on the work and personal problems in her day to day life. While finding their way back as friends, Jewel and Shelby are managing problems in the present while simultaneously trying to come to terms with their shared past.

While I appreciated the creative story telling of using “novel” excerpts as well as journal entries, it did add enough interest in my opinion. I would’ve preferred simply having a dual timeline vs the fake history rewritten as a story. The characters were not interesting to me and I wasn’t invested in the romance elements either. I wish more time was dedicated to character development because I do believe that they had potential to be good!
I felt as though the buildup to the tension was a bit too long but done believably. However, despite the present problems being large and complex, everyone got a happily ever after easily and quickly. This seemed highly unrealistic and was disappointing because I would've liked to read more about how these conflicts got resolved.

While I was initially interested in the premise, this is not a read that I’d personally recommend.

Looking for a book to add to your list before school starts? Then this is definitely one that you should check out.

This review is for A Summer for the Books by Michelle Lindo-Rice. This is a standalone novel about a woman who loses her memory after a biking accident and reaches out to her former best friend for help.

I really tried to get into this book, but I couldn't. To be completely honest, there's way too much going on. The characters don't have a lot of dimension, and the dialogue both between characters and internal falls flat.

It follows Shelby Andrews, her adopted daughter, Lacey, and the former best friend, Jewel Stone. There are also several excepts from the book within the book, called That Was Then, written by Jewel. I don't feel like the excepts were necessary and might have done better just as flashbacks rather than creating an entirely new story and characters. It's also hard to get into a separate book when you can't get into the book it's written into. I know that's a lot of criticism, but that's how confusing the book is. It's just a little tough to read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. These are my honest thoughts and opinions

The cover for this one is beautiful and the reason I wanted to read it!

That being said, though I did enjoy it, I don’t think the vibe of the book matches the cover. There’s A LOT happening in this one. Shelby and Jewel are estranged best friends who come back into each other’s lives when Shelby gets into an accident and essentially forgets the past decade of her life. She doesn’t know that they haven’t spoken in all the time and reaches out. Jewel answers the call to help, and goes back to help get her back on her feet.

The story is told in present day through a dual POV, but also goes back in time not though flashbacks, but through chapters in Jewel’s debut novel, which was based on real events that happened to them one summer through their fictional counterparts, Honey and Sugar. There’s also a POV from Shelby’s daughter Lacey, who plays an important role in the story.

There was a lot of buildup and there were a lot of different storylines to keep straight. I also didn’t think the ending was strong enough- everything was wrapped up a little too nicely and the conflict with Lacey was resolved really quickly. I also thought that Jewel became more and more unlikable as the story went on and by the end, I found myself actively rooting against her.

Shortly after Shelby drops her college-age daughter, Lacey, off for a summer at the beach, Shelby is involved in an accident. As a result, Shelby has lost the last 10 years of her memories. She doesn't recall having a daughter, and she doesn't know that she hasn't spoken to her best friend, Jewel, in 10 years.

A Summer for the Books has 3 storylines that the reader is following: excerpts from Jewel's book, present day Jewel and Shelby, and Lacey and Bea. The storylines all had parallels and I found myself having a hard time keeping the characters and the individual storylines straight. It's very obvious that the characters all cared deeply about their friendships. Books about books, writers and bookstores are always a winner for me.

A SUMMER FOR THE BOOKS – Michelle Lindo-Rice
Mira
ISBN: 978-0-778-33439-2
July 15, 2025
Contemporary Fiction

Eagle Point Beach, Delaware – Past & Present Day

Jewel Stone is a bestselling author with a loving and supportive husband, Roman. However, they are going through some financial difficulties. She needs to write a follow-up novel to her bestseller, while her husband is out of work and struggling to find a new job. Her publisher has given her advances and allowed her to stall while she deals with writer’s block. Then one day, Jewel receives a fateful call. Her old (and now estranged) friend, Shelby Andrews, calls her. She needs her because she has been in an accident. Can Jewel come?

Shelby has lost her memory of the past ten years due to the accident. All she can remember is her friendship with Jewel, so it’s no wonder that she called her. Jewel arrives and is hesitant at first, not realizing that Shelby doesn’t remember their breakup. It’s shameful because the two once had a close relationship that included a shared secret. Shelby soon learns that she has a nineteen-year-old daughter, Lacey, whom she adopted around the time period when she lost her memory. Could there be a connection? As Shelby and Jewel reconnect, it soon becomes clear that the elephant in the room is what happened in the summer of 2005. Meanwhile, Lacey is spending the summer elsewhere, searching for her birth parents…

A SUMMER FOR THE BOOKS is a thoughtful and engaging romance about shared pasts, shattered relationships, and reuniting old friends. On the outside, Jewel seemingly has it all with a writing career and an adoring husband. He doesn’t realize that her hit novel is semi-biographical. We don’t learn until well into this tale as to why Jewel and Shelby argued and split up. Their friendship had lasted years, and suddenly it splintered. We do know that in the spring of 2006, an infant baby was abandoned at a bookstore at Eagle Point Beach. It turns out it’s the same bookstore that Shelby now owns. The baby is around the same age as Lacey. Is she the abandoned baby? A lot of secrets are being kept, and it led to Shelby and Jewel’s breakup. Readers will soon suspect there is a connection between what happened twenty years ago, the abandoned baby, Lacey’s adoption, and the friction between Shelby and Jewel.


A SUMMER FOR THE BOOKS shifts from the present day, back to 2005, and then to other years. We also see a deleted scene from Jewel’s bestselling book and Shelby’s journals. It all provides insight into what was going on in the girls’ lives back then. Meanwhile, Shelby is recovering from her accident and hoping she can remember the last ten years. Lacey remains on her beach excursion with her best friend as they have fun and do some investigative work to try and figure out who her birth parents are. There are plenty of red herrings sprinkled throughout the story to give clues that provide the answers to the questions brought up in the story. Will it end up happily for Jewel, Shelby, and Lacey? You will have to read this to find out.

If you love a tale that tantalizes your curiosity and pulls you into the lives of the characters, then you won’t want to miss A SUMMER FOR THE BOOKS.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

This is a fun summer read and I loved the plot, main characters and it felt nostalgic reading it. Highly recommend!

A Summer for the Books by Michelle Lindo-Rice is a book with a dual timeline with many journal entries.

The book is a little choppy and somewhat difficult to read since it’s a book within a book. The journal entries are written using pseudonyms for the people involved, and they relate directly to the bestseller that one of them wrote many years ago. So, it was sometimes challenging to keep the characters straight.

Jewel and Shelby have been best friends since kindergarten and did everything together. When one of them got pregnant, they were there for each other, but neither kept the baby. Their secret unexpectedly destroyed their friendship ten years later, and they had no contact until this summer.

When they unexpectedly reconnect, we get to know each of them a little at a time, along with their history. Shelby’s adopted daughter, who’s now in college, is woven throughout and could be considered the third main character.

Jewel is married, and they face some stresses and financial difficulties, especially when she is unable to write her next book. Shelby owns a bookstore in a small beach town in Delaware, which serves as an essential backdrop.

Much of the story is set at the beach, and it plays a vital role in all their lives, even when it’s in different locales. Many stories are told and woven together, and most are integral in both timelines. There is a resolution to most of the stories, but several loose ends remain, and the ending seems rushed.

A Summer for the Books is a nice summer read, thanks to its engaging setting. With dual timelines and numerous secrets that impact the present, it’s a complex story about friendships, betrayals, and the cost of keeping secrets.

The review is posted on NovelsAlive.

“A Summer for the Books” by Michelle Lindo-Rice is the story of two best friends (Jewel and Shelby) who had carried a secret between them ever since they were teenagers. But ten years earlier, they had a falling out and went their separate ways. Jewel had become a successful novelist (although currently suffering from writer’s block and financial woes) and Shelby was running the bookstore in their hometown and had adopted a child, Lacey.

When Shelby has a near-fatal accident, she woke up with no memory of what’d happened in the past ten years. Her first instinct was to call her best friend, the one who was always by her side. Jewel rushes to Shelby and their friendship is rekindled. But will it be able to survive when the truth of everything comes out?

I wanted to love this story—and I really did in the first quarter of the book. But then I felt bogged down by the dual timeline and the parallel fictional story (which was basically autobiographical) written by Jewel. This was somewhat confusing. And I really didn’t like Jewel as a person much either. I found her selfish and self-centered. I wanted to smack some sense into her at times.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an arc of this book. I definitely want to read more by this author. This was my first book by Michelle Lindo-Rice, but it won’t be the last.

This was a new author for me. I enjoyed the second chance friendship of Shelby and Jewel and the backstory of what happened to tear them apart.