A family vacation turned into a tragedy. Bella was having such a hard time dealing with the loss of her dad and her sister that her mom took her to spend the summer at her grandmother's house. Three generations living under one roof, and each one keeping their own secrets. Home For the Summer is heartfelt and enjoyable. This is the perfect beach read.

Touching story of family and loss. Very sad, would not recommend to those who want a quick summer beach read..

I have read many of Holly Chamberlin's books. I have enjoyed all of them., I was excited to read this ARC.

From beginning, I became a part of this family. I felt their grief, sorrow over their loss.
"Forgiveness means letting go of all hope for a better past" ...also
"Sanity means letting go of all hope for a better past."
The past couldn't be changed- Future could be modeled on a brighter plan.
Changing our memories is sometimes a daily challenge.
We need to be open to new memories in place of our older memories. Respect life by embracing it.

A family reconnects
A different view on teen drug abuse/addiction ~Narcan.

After Frieda's husband and younger daughter are killed in an accident, Frieda and her older daughter Bella return to Frieda's Mom's house for the summer. Bella is withdrawing from life and Frieda will do anything to try and reach her daughter. With the help of Frieda's mom Ruby, some old and new friends, and the love of family, Frieda and Bella are able to heal from the tragedy. This was a beautiful story of love and family, and learning to live again. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corporation for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I read Holly Chamberlin's books when I need something entertaining and uplifting and this was both. It was about love and loss, family and friendship. It is perfect for reading on the beach but even though it was easy reading, it still had great character development and depth. The moral of the story reaffirms Tennyson's line 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.

I completely and thoroughly enjoyed his novel. I was able to relate to all three of the women and felt the author showed us their generational differences with fine writing and a deft hand while also showing the respect and love of each of the women in bridging those differences.

This is the second Holly Chamberlin book I've read, and I can honestly say I'm not a fan. (Spoilers ahead!)

I can't quite put my finger on exactly why this book didn't resonate with me.

A woman is tragically widowed while on vacation with her family: her husband and youngest daughter are killed in car accident. She and her older daughter must return home and pick up the pieces of their lives. Fast forward to the following summer - about 15 months later - and the two women have moved in to Maine to live in their mother's (Grandmother's) house for the summer.

And so the story begins.

Some impressions I had while reading it were:

The widow, Freida, has not seen her father since he left her and her mother when she was 11. Her mother, Ruby, has been in contact with him off and on, but he never reached out to his daughter in all the years since his leaving. Yet he starts calling to talk to Freida while she is staying at the house with her mother.

This story line was, in my opinion, useless. I didn't feel it helped the story at all, and I found myself skimming those parts to get to the next scene.

In chapter 8, right near the beginning of the book , Freida bumps into a man she used to know when she lived in town when she went to school. As soon as he enters the picture, you know he is going to be her love interest. However, right when she meets him in the gardening store, we read that: "Freida bet he could still fit into his high school basketball uniform. The thought made her flush with embarrassment."

Really? I didn't think this was necessary, it seemed over the top.

Bella is your average teenager, dealing with grief and survivor's guilt from the trauma of the loss of her father and sister. At the beginning of the book she is sullen and at times hurtful, and selfish. Throughout the story she changes, makes a dangerous friend (only one person as a friend in the entire summer?), smokes pot, starts to lie to her mother and grandmother. Then the dangerous friend gets more dangerous and so Bella suddenly reverts to being the 'good kid', the voice of reason. Is this reality? I don't know, as we really have no way of knowing how this character was before the accident,so we can't know if this is common for her or a new persona coming out of the summer experience.

The final main character, Ruby, the grandmother, put me off because she was written as if she was a 40-year old, not a 64 year-old woman. I am all for people who defy their ages, but all three characters seemed to have the same voice. The voice of a middle aged adult in the way they spoke.

I did enjoy the hints of Maine - the mentions of Wells and Ogunquit as I am a frequent visitor to the area and so it was nice to read the descriptions of the locations however, I thought that these people should really have spent more time at the beach. In only a few mentions did they spend any time there and while I understand being busy, it just seemed that if you are going to write a book that takes place at the southern coast of Maine in the summer, your characters should spend more than one rainy day at Marginal Way, an evening picnic at Ogunquit and shopping in Portland. (Seriously, no mention of the trolleys?)

As this is the second novel I have read from this author, and neither of them impressed me, I doubt I will read another. But I thank Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts out with a terrible tragedy (no spoiler here, since it is in the description) -when the family is on vacation, a car crash claims the lives of the father and younger sister. A year later, Frieda and her older daughter Bella are left to try to piece their lives back together. Frieda's mom invites them to her home in Maine for the summer to heal, but also because she is avoiding dealing with something in her own life. Other friends and characters come into the story, but every one is still dealing with their own losses, some recent and some more distant.

Sounds more than a little depressing, doesn't it? I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that despite the heavy topics, this is a story that is more characterized by healing than loss, and a sense of hope is present throughout the book. It is clear that despite being touched by tragedy, the characters have a very strong bonds with each other that helps them deal with their losses. Yes, there is loss, but there is also so much love.

This is a good book to pick up if you are looking for something with a little more depth and character development than some of the other light summer books set at the beach.

Frieda suffered an unimaginable loss when her husband and one of her daughters were killed in a car accident. Now, she and her surviving daughter, Bella are having a hard time, both emotionally and financially. It seems the only option for the little family is for them to return to Frieda’s mother’s farm in coastal Maine, at least temporarily. There, Frida and Bella are slowly coaxed back to life by new friends and old and family members long absent. A lovely story about going home and finding reasons to carry on even when you don’t think you can