Book Review: All The Summer Girls

Author: Meg Donohue
Publication Date: May 21, 2013
Publisher: William Morrow

“Beach Book Extraordinaire! Donohue’s three protagonists are irresistibly sympathetic as they try to unbury their true selves from the ruinous secrets of their shared past.” --Elin Hilderbrand. bestselling author of Beautiful Day

In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiancé the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa is obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, the aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book--or a cocktail--long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired...again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women being to realize how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier--and the secrets that only now threaten to surface.

So it turns out she’s not nearly as alone as she feels.

 

“Live a little,” she said. “I guarantee you’ll thank me for this later.”

 

Vanessa lets her laptop cursor hover over the “Add Friend” button. She tells herself that she’s just saying hello. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. She clicks the button, finishes her wine, and waits.

 

Colin. When he’d reached out to ruffle her hair that afternoon in the bungalow, his hand had smelled like cigarette smoke and suntan lotion, a Colin-in-summertime scent that Kate, when she tries hard enough, as she does right not on an empty city street, can still – will always – smell.

Critics are absolutely right in dubbing this book to be a “beach read.” All The Summer Girls is light, fun, and allows the reader to drift away in the pages and on the coast near the Jersey Shore. We see three women, Kate, Dani, and Vanessa, are all facing somewhat burdensome or difficult issues in their life and they all find solace and tranquility in each other and the beautiful Jersey Shore one summer. Each of them has secrets that are weighing their heart down and they are each in need of a little change in some area of their lives or another. This book stole me with its title and did not disappoint one bit!

 

I always enjoy stories about friendships, especially from the point of view of different women. I usually specify which character was or is my favorite, but with this book I honestly have no idea. I loved all three of them and the friendship they shared with one another. Throughout the book, especially when you reach the second half, you can start to see why these women are so connected and where the bonds of their friendship formed. Like all friendships worthwhile, theirs had some rough spots, but isn’t the potential of any relationship determined by how you work things out?

 

The subject, or should I say occurrence/issue, that bonds these three women is emotional, raw, and should not be taken lightly. I was a little shocked at the major event that the women all felt guilty about, but it made for many exciting and pivotal moments in the book when the girls started to unveil their secrets and real feelings about what happened the last summer that they were together.

 

Meg Donohue stole my heart with her first novel, which was released last May called How To Eat a Cupcake. This was one of the first books that I ever reviewed on my blog and the first book I received from a publisher for review. This author and her books hold a sentimental value to me and my blog. I cannot tell you how much I love her writing and how much I highly recommend that you check into her books. She is a truly gifted author!

 

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at William Morrow in exchange for my honest review***