The Forever Summer
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4.3 • 278 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
When a DNA test reveals long-buried secrets, three generations of women reunite on Cape Cod for the homecoming of a lifetime.
Marin Bishop has always played by the rules, and it's paid off: at twenty-eight she has a handsome fiancée, a prestigious Manhattan legal career, and the hard-won admiration of her father. But one moment of weakness leaves Marin unemployed and alone, all in a single day. Then a woman claiming to be Marin's half-sister shows up, and it's all Marin can do not to break down completely. Seeking escape, Marin agrees to a road trip to meet the grandmother she never knew she had. As the summer unfolds at her grandmother's quaint beachside B&B, it becomes clear that the truth of her half-sister is just the beginning of revelations that will change Marin's life forever. The Forever Summer is a delicious page-turner and a provocative exploration of what happens when our notions of love, truth, and family are put to the ultimate test.
Full of delicious descriptions of coastal New England and richly imagined characters, The Forever Summer is an emotional, hot-topic page-turner and a summer must-read
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clunky characterizations mar Brenner's (The Wedding Sisters) novel about three generations of women linked by a DNA test. When 22-year-old Rachel Moscowitz contacts 30-year-old second-generation attorney Marin Bishop with news that they may be half-sisters, Marin's life is in disarray. She's facing a broken engagement, being fired for a workplace affair, her parents' separation, and now the discovery that the man she calls Dad is not her biological father is simply too much. Why did her mom, Blythe, keep it a secret, and why does she insist on joining the two younger women on a trip to Provincetown to meet their grandmother Amelia? This is a summer of revelations about infidelity and of change: for Amelia and her partner Kelly's long relationship, for Rachel as she tries to grow up and falls in love for the first time, for Marin, whose life turns upside down; and for two very different half-sisters forging a connection. Brenner tells these messy personal stories well, but some characters lack complexity. Only Amelia and Kelly emerge fully-fleshed. Too often, Rachel resembles a lovestruck teen and Marin a conceited adolescent, while Blythe tends toward the pathetic rather than the sympathetic.
Customer Reviews
The Forever Summer
This book is such a perfect beach read! Love the characters and the setting. Get ready for a lot of family drama.
Great Subject Matter - Trite and Awkward Writing
I wanted to love this book; who doesn’t love a good summer read about the beach, strong women and secrets? But I was sadly disappointed by shallow characters despite great back stories, the writing felt very juvenile and I never felt I really knew any of them except maybe Blythe. The “strong women” are whiney, self centered and immature, even grandmother who is the wizened matriarch - and anything but strong. Situations were not believable - Blythe sneaking out to meet hottie nursery guy for dinner and no one wonders where she is? Rachel should be getting to know her new family and yet she’s more interested in panting after the cliche hot guy who “can’t be with her but can’t stop himself” ugh, the worst kind of unbelievable romance shoved into a story do everyone gets a happy ending.
I realize “beach fiction” will never win any literary awards but the writing of what could have been a great novel was especially terrible. I will not be reading any more of Brenner’s work no matter how compelling the synopsis might be. Predictability is not the worst thing if the writing is done well. In this case I just spent a lot of time groaning and hoping it would end quickly.
Not strong women...
The book was ok but I was expecting the characters to be different because of the “strong women” quote on the front. These characters were whiny women trying to escape responsibility and blaming everyone else for their problems. I wasn’t familiar with the author and I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t expecting a little substance. It’s a typical beach read.