Author:
Mary Alice Monroe
Publication
Date: June 17, 2014
Publisher:
Gallery Books
Series:
Lowcountry Summer # 2
The Summer Wind is the
second book in Monroe’s Lowcountry Summer trilogy, following the New York Times bestselling The Summer Girls. This series is a poignant and
heartwarming story of three half-sisters and their grandmother, who is
determined to help them rediscover their southern roots and family bonds.
It’s midsummer and Eudora, nicknamed Dora, is staying at Sea Breeze, the family’s ancestral home on Sullivan’s Island. For years, Dora has played the role of the perfect wife and mother in a loveless marriage. Now her husband filed for divorce, her child is diagnosed with autism, and her house is on the market. Dora’s facade collapses under the weight of her grief and she suffers broken heart syndrome; Mamaw and the girls rally around Dora, but it’s up to Dora to heal herself as she spends the summer prowling the beach, discovering the secrets of the island and her heart. This is a summer of discovery for all the women of Sea Breeze. Carson returns from Florida to face life-changing decisions, Lucille confronts a health scare, and an unexpected visitor has Harper reconsidering her life’s direction.
When tropical storm winds batter the island, the women must band together and weather the tempest; both the one outside their windows and the raging sea of emotions within each of them. They must learn again what it means to be a sister. It is up to Mamaw to keep the light burning at Sea Breeze to guide the girls through the lies, the threats, and the rocky waters of indecision to home.
It’s midsummer and Eudora, nicknamed Dora, is staying at Sea Breeze, the family’s ancestral home on Sullivan’s Island. For years, Dora has played the role of the perfect wife and mother in a loveless marriage. Now her husband filed for divorce, her child is diagnosed with autism, and her house is on the market. Dora’s facade collapses under the weight of her grief and she suffers broken heart syndrome; Mamaw and the girls rally around Dora, but it’s up to Dora to heal herself as she spends the summer prowling the beach, discovering the secrets of the island and her heart. This is a summer of discovery for all the women of Sea Breeze. Carson returns from Florida to face life-changing decisions, Lucille confronts a health scare, and an unexpected visitor has Harper reconsidering her life’s direction.
When tropical storm winds batter the island, the women must band together and weather the tempest; both the one outside their windows and the raging sea of emotions within each of them. They must learn again what it means to be a sister. It is up to Mamaw to keep the light burning at Sea Breeze to guide the girls through the lies, the threats, and the rocky waters of indecision to home.
July
was said to be the hottest month of the year in Charleston, and after enduring
eighty Southern summers, Marietta Muir, or Mamaw, as her family affectionately
called her, readily agreed.
Desperate
to keep them on the island, Mamaw had resorted to a bit of manipulation when she’d
threatened to cut them out of the will if they did not stay for the entire
summer. She chortled out a laugh just remembering their shocked faces.
“And
I believe, in all your wandering, you will discover a place of stillness and
peace. Find yourself, and you will find your way home.”
The
opening lines of this book pulled me right back in to this series and Mamaw’s need
to pull her granddaughters, Dora, Carson, and Harper, back together again for
the summer. The writing is so descriptive that I did not need a refresher at
all from the first book in this series. I was right back on the beach at
Sullivan’s Island, which is a beautiful place if you have never been there,
with the full cast of characters that Monroe gave us last year. This time we
are focused on Dora, who is dealing with a divorce and a son who has autism and
needs his mom’s love and attention. Dora needs a lot of love and support as
well from her family, and Mamaw knows just the cure for all of Dora’s
struggles.
What
I have loved most about this series so far is the relationship between Dora,
Carson, and Harper. With no siblings of my own, I will find comfort in the
siblings that I read about and I love to see how their bonds break and are
healed once again with time, love, and patience. Each of their lives are headed
in different directions and they all have separate worries and struggles that
keep them stressed. It’s always nice to see them work through things together,
along with the help of Mamaw who always know how to make things better.
Sullivan’s
Island, or any beach in general, makes a perfect setting for any summer book
that I want to read. I have to say that Mary Alice Monroe has a way with words
when it comes to her characters and her locations. No other author has ever
made me want to be sitting on the beach more than Mary Monroe. Another plus
about her books is that she always manages to incorporate some type of wildlife
and the preservation of it. In this book she focuses on dolphins. In another of
my most favorite books by her she focuses on loggerhead turtles. She is a truly
amazing author with many perks to her stories!
***A
free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Gallery Books in
exchange for my honest review***
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