Review: Summer Island

Summer Island by Shelley Noble

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a sweet novel about three different generations of women coming to grips with lives changes. Divorce, loss of job and fiance, death all take apart in this fast read novel. This was a slower-paced novel than I had hoped for, and there was no romance. As one reviewer has said, this book touched on many subjects as far as the women went but didn't dig much deeper than the surface. We did get extended looks at a water reclamation project and tiny homes for veterans. While these were interesting subjects, they didn't do much to further the storyline. As far as a beach read, goes-this may not be the book for you if you are looking forward to romance, sex, or back-stabbing and mystery. One thing I am wondering about, and the author didn't mention, was that Ty seemed to have some slight, very slight Autism issues. I wonder if he was meant to? I was satisfied enough with this book to finish it. *ARC provided for review by the publisher Avon Books, the author, and NetGalley. SYNOPSIS: " New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble pens a heartwarming story of a mother-daughter road trip to the beach and to self-discovery. When reporter Phoebe Adams loses her job and her fiancé on the same day, it never occurs to her that she'll also have to support her mother, Ruth, through her divorce from Phoebe's father after thirty-five years of marriage. They both need a haven, and Phoebe knows just the place--Summer Island, where Grandma Alice still rules the roost from the big New England beach house Phoebe and Ruth once called home. But "home" has changed. There's a trendy new look downtown. Large beach houses are replacing the old. The Harken house next door is in disrepair. Phoebe's plan for a peaceful retreat is quickly hijacked when globe-trotting Great Aunt Vera makes an unannounced pit stop. With Vera around, no one can stay morose for long, not even Lars, the grumpy widower next door, or his son Ty, formerly geeky middle child all grown up into a handsome and enigmatic man. Soon they're all enjoying things they used to do and discovering new ones. Each adventure opens a part of themselves they've neglected for too long and brings them closer together. But when an accident threatens to destroy the tenuous tie between them, Phoebe realizes how fragile life can be, and that she has some serious choices to make about her own life. It will take the support of her newly awakened family and the magic of Summer Island for Phoebe to embrace the challenge of an unexpected future and to trust her own heart."

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