Some books just scream summer reading. The covers alone make you want to pack up and head for the beach, and the setting and characters are perfectly designed to complement the smell of the salt air. Jamie Brenner’s The Forever Summer is exactly one of those novels and is an absolute necessity if you’re heading out for some fun in the sun.
(Second only to sunscreen in your beach bag priorities. You don’t want all of the joy sucked out of your summer reading by a nasty sunburn, do you?)
The Forever Summer introduces us to Marin Bishop, a near-thirty lawyer who has always lived her life according to plan—until she loses her job and fiancé in one fell swoop. Just when she thinks her life couldn’t be in bigger shambles, Marin is contacted by a young woman named Rachel who claims to be her half-sister. Caught up in a web of family secrets and a lifetime of sudden unknowns, Marin, Rachel, and Marin’s mother, Blythe, head off to Provincetown to meet Marin and Rachel’s long-lost grandmother, Amelia. At Amelia’s beachfront B&B, it becomes clear that Rachel’s existence is only the tip of the iceberg of hidden truths, and as the summer unfolds, so do a bevy of secrets that bring to light the many definitions of family and love. The Forever Summer is a gorgeous novel about the mosaic of relationships that build our lives and a reminder that every little piece plays a role in who we are meant to be.
Jamie Brenner creates a stunning tapestry of characters that weave together to create one beautiful story. From Marin and Rachel to their families and everyone they come to know in Provincetown, each character is as unique as a seashell, layered with rich complexities that make them so easy to love. As a born and bred New Englander, I loved being able to travel to the Cape through the pages of this book (and without all of the traffic!), and I could so easily feel every detail of the cottage, the beach, and the dishes that were prepared in Amelia’s kitchen. As with Brenner’s previous book, The Wedding Sisters, what I loved most about this novel were the relationships, and how each one was packed with depth and surprises that I didn’t see coming. Like life itself, The Forever Summer was never once predictable, and I couldn’t wait to find out what each chapter had in store.
If you love stories about family, relationships, long-buried secrets, and the many ways in which we love, The Forever Summer is an absolute must for your summer reading list. Snatch up this book, grab your beach bag, and prepare to fall in love with a sea of characters you’ll never forget. You’ll be so caught up in the world Jamie Brenner has created, you won’t even notice when the sun goes down.
For more on Jamie Brenner, visit jamiebrenner.com and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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