Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The Best Summer of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck

Genre: Women's Fiction/Dual-timeline
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: June 27, 2023
384 pages
About the Book:

Twenty years ago, the summer of '77 was supposed to be the best summer of Summer Wilde's life. She and her best friends, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--the Four Seasons--had big plans.

But those plans never had a chance. After a teenage prank gone awry, the Seasons found themselves on a bus to Tumbleweed, "Nowhere," Oklahoma, to spend eight weeks as camp counselors. All four of them arrived with hidden secrets and buried fears, and the events that unfolded in those two months forever altered their friendships, their lives, and their futures.

Now, thirtysomething, Summer is at a crossroads. When her latest girl band leaves her in a motel outside Tulsa, she is forced to face the shadows of her past. Returning to the place where everything changed, she soon learns Tumbleweed is more than a town she never wanted to see again. It's a place for healing, for reconciling the past with the present, and for finally listening to love's voice. 

My Rating & Thoughts:    


This is a dual-timeline story that switches between 1977 and 1997 and follows four best friends who are arrive at Camp Tumbleweed to be camp counsellors for the summer after graduating high school. This summer was suppose to be the best summer of their lives but being at camp isn't what they had planned and this becomes a turning point in their lives. First I'll admit I struggled with the girls names, it was too much for me. There were times that I liked specific characters, but each one had moments where I didn't understand their actions or choices. There was one particular character that I never connected with, I found her selfish and annoying for most of the book. The friendship between the girls is said to be strong, but watching them interact with one another felt like they couldn't be their true selves with each other and felt surface level. True thoughts or feelings were not revealed until it was "Truth Night". There were so many secrets being kept, and not only between the girls, but also with some of the parents. The one that frustrated me the most was the one that was kept between a couple for close to 20 years. The bits with The Preacher was too much for me. I did really like the guys Tank, Levi and Mal, as they provided support or spoke up when required. Overall there were times that I invested and curious to know what was going to happen but this one missed the mark for me. I have enjoyed other books by Ms. Hauck much more.

(I borrowed this book from the libraryopinions expressed 
in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

No comments:

Post a Comment