I was happy to have received a copy of @michellemajorauthor new novel #themagnoliasisters. Being born in the beautiful state of North Carolina, I could appreciate the backdrop that the city of Magnolia provided. The character of Avery was complex, bold, and at times unlikeable. She had the task of coming back to her hometown to settle her father's estate. Along with the usual family drama such as finding out you had sisters you never knew existed, comes a surprise romance. Grayson Atwell is the neighbor we all would love to have; a single father and firefighter that is looking for love?

Overall the book was very enjoyable and the characters were well developed. Even though Avery at times was brazen, she turned out to be a strong character that I could really relate to. There were several plot elements in this book, but they all came together perfectly. This was the first book I have read by Michelle Major, but it won’t be the last. This was the perfect read to help me escape!

4.5/5

Three adult sisters find one another after DNA testing matched them. The three had undergone DNA testing for different reasons and were surprised/nervous/delighted to find that they had siblings that they didn't know about. The three glow closer together during the course of a summer spent at Lake Tahoe.

I really loved this one. Serenity, Reagan, and Lorelai all have a lot of mess happening in their own lives and are just trying to hold their heads above water while everything unfolds. They're all at a big crossroads in their individual lives when the book begins. It's so wonderful how each of the three come together and share their lives with each other, even knowing that they could potentially be judged for the baggage they bring into the sister relationship. They're all flawed and vulnerable, but going through their mess together helps them lift one another up. I love the way they're all so protective of one another.

It's true that there is a lot of drama in this story. It seems like bad thing after bad thing after bad thing happens. But the whole point is that the three are helping one another through the messy parts of their lives. I would recommend that you suspend your disbelief that so many crazy things could happen to these three women if it seems like a lot to you, so you can enjoy their relationship growing and changing.

Also, I'd like to say that I never could have predicted what connected them. Never in a million years. I really like that I was surprised when that big reveal happened.

This was such an intriguing book from start to finish...dna tests, family secrets, sisters who have never met, count me in!! I loved getting to know each of these characters and her story line because I felt like I identified with each of them in some way. If you love a good mystery then you will love this book!!

A lot of drama... over-the-top drama... a bit unbelievable drama. BUT... there were threads of redemption and hope and family connection that almost made up for the drama. I didn't particularly connect with any of the characters at all - didn't relate, didn't find them likeable, but my interest was piqued. Not quite happily ever after, but I enjoyed the mystery behind how the sisters were related even if I found the lack of communication in the individual families a bit frustrating. Not my favourite title from Brenda Novak, but it wasn't bad either.

Have you every wanted to take a vacation from real life? Have you ever gone through a time in your life where it was apparent that life as you knew it had to change, a lot? Put those two things together with an unexpected result from a DNA test and you have One Perfect Summer.



Serenity, Reagan and Lorelei all took at DNA test for different reasons, and through it, found out that they were half sisters. While Lorelei knew nothing about her family or family history as she had been found wandering the streets as a toddler, the other two, Serenity and Reagan have always known where they came from--or did they?



The women decide to meet for a week at Serenity's family cottage to get to know each other and try to figure out how they could be half sisters. As luck would have it, all three undergo significant life upheaval after they plan their trip, but before they meet, and so are dealing with important life choices, as well as their relationship with each other.



During the course of the story, the women deal with ghosts from their past, men in their lives and the secret that brought them together. However, there is an old saying that if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras, and to me, the most likely horses about why they are related (sperm donor fertility treatment or adoption) never seem to be considered, and yes, in the end, they do find a zebra but to me it just sort of fell flat.



The story also gives each woman a love interest in the book and, in the end, there was no real resolution there either. Maybe that's how real life is--there is a hint of happily ever after, but no real resolution of that plot line.



I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. Grade: B.

When three separate women submit a DNA sample to 23andme, they were not sure what to expect. What they found were half sisters. Serenity Alston is a true crime writer and blogger. She decides to submits her DNA on a whim to be able to write a feature about this issue.The results surprise her as she has no reason to believe she was adopted or that her father had strayed. Reagan Sands works in New York in marketing and knows she is adopted. She does not know anything about her biological parents, so was hoping to find something about her family. Lorelei Cipriano is married with a 5-year old daughter living in Orlando. She was found abandoned when she was 2-years old so is hoping to find someone that she can call family. The three women connect online and after many discussions, they decide to meet and spend a week together at Serenity’s family’s cabin in Lake Tahoe. When they meet, things do not go as smoothly as planned.

All three of these women are at a point in their lives where they need to make some serious decisions about their future. Through their own mistakes and things that happened to their lives because of other's actions, they have to make some decisions that will impact their lives. I liked these women. They all had some baggage, but they were fighters and did not give up. I loved watching them tread new waters and make the effort to get to know one another and form a sisterly bond. They worked together to determine their paternity and despite some setbacks and deadends, I was excited to see if they would be able to figure it out. All this time, they were dealing with their own personal challenges and I loved how they worked together and helped each other. The secondary characters were well-developed as well. Some of them I loved, some I wanted to drop-kick. Overall, this was a great story. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, the plot and the resolution. I definitely recommend this one for a great summer read.

Serenity is a writer doing a story on family ancestry. She decides to do the 23 and me test to give the story some background and is stunned to find she has 2 half sisters. She invites Reagan and Lorelei to spend a week at her family cabin in Lake Tahoe. All three women are at important junctions in their lives and the sisters help each other navigate their different paths. I liked all three of the sisters but wish each of them had a little more detail in the book. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak is a story of three half sisters, who found each other after sending the DNA into 23andMe. This book was easy to read and perfect for an escape from winter weather or the pandemic. I will reading more books by this author, I recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

One Perfect Summer confused me. Oh, I could follow the story well enough, but it just felt like this one didn't know what it wanted to be. For the most part, it's women's fiction, and I really liked the sisters. But the ending was - well, it was strange, for lack of a better word to describe it without spoilers. It wasn't impossible, so it's not like it stretched the believability scale, but it just didn't seem to fit. The rest of the story does have its moments and I did get really interested in the sisters' lives, but it slows down considerably at times, which only served to pull me out of the story. It also needed some tightening up in my opinion, Parts of the story were a little disjointed. I think this one could've done well with some shine and polish, and there were some things left unresolved, so between that and the ending, I'm curious about whether there will be another book. As it stands, I'm on the fence about my thoughts on that, so I'm not sure I'd continue on with these characters. They were okay for most of this book, but the story isn't one I'll think about long into the future.

Great story by Brenda Novak! Imagine taking a DNA test and finding out that you have two half siblings! Nice story, very current and easy to breeze though. I really liked the different points of view. Highly recommended!

Serenity Alston is a true crime writer and also manages a blog. She decides to submit her DNA to an ancestry site so she can write more authentically about the process in her next feature. However, she got much more than she anticipated when she discovered two half sisters. It’s a complete mystery to her as she had no reason to believe she was adopted or that her father had strayed. Reagan Sands is a high powered marketing executive working in New York and is aware that she was adopted but has no idea of the identity of her biological parents. Lorelei Cipriano is married with a 5-year old daughter living in Orlando. She has no knowledge of her ancestry as she was found abandoned when she was 2-years old. The three women connect online and after a time, decide to meet and spend a week together at Serenity’s family’s cabin in Lake Tahoe.

I was drawn immediately to this story having had a similar experience when I joined Ancestry.com a little over a year ago. My outcome has been a happy one but they don’t always have good or satisfactory endings and can unleash long-held family secrets that were intended to stay that way.

This story was particularly interesting as all three women were at important junctures in their lives. I won’t detail them here as I enjoyed finding that out on my own and think that’s preferable for most readers. I liked all three women and they were definitely flawed but had hidden strengths. It was admirable how they made the effort to get to know one another and form some kind of familial bond as they also worked to determine their paternity. There were lots of false starts and wrong paths taken but what I enjoyed the most were how they tackled individual challenges they were facing in their personal lives that served to help create and deepen their bond as sisters.

These are three very different women who decided to commit, in essence, to being in relationship with strangers. The timing of their discovery of one another felt serendipitous to some degree but because of my own experience it felt realistic. I also liked the narrator who found subtle ways to distinguish the voices of each sister. Her pacing was on target and she managed the storytelling very well. There’s a definitive end here but I would be pleased if there was further exploration of their stories as this was a really good, entertaining reading experience.

One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak was a story about family and secrets with a bit of mystery. Serenity decided to join an ancestry site, but the last thing she expected was to find out she has half-sisters. Two of them to be exact. She wants answers and to get know them. So, she decides to invite Regan and Lorelei to her family’s summer home. I loved that we get not only their story as they meet and get to know each other, but also learn about their separate lives and what they are going through. This women’s fiction story was emotional and intriguing.

Happy reading!

While I thought the theme of this book was very now and of the times, i felt like I just couldn't get into the characters as much. The beginning hooked me though and I wanted to read more about the main character's husband and what he had done wrong. But honestly, the book petered out in the middle and I wasn't able to finish. I did really like the author's writing style and would totally read something by her again.

Oof. This was...not good. At all. I was super intrigued by the premise: three half sisters discover each other after taking a DNA test and spend a summer together at a lake house. Fun, easy breezy, right?

There was WAY too much drama going on here that was just so absurd: [Serenity is a true crime writer who divorced her husband after learning he was buying and selling child pornography. Ex is now in jail for 5 years and his entire family believes Serenity set him up. Ex's mother texts Serenity out of the blue to say she wants a box of photos her son kept under the house (???) and immediately after Serenity says she'll ask the ex's brother to help get them, the mom replies with "What's going on between you two? Don't tell me you're together..." Out of nowhere, no reason for her to think that. ...only, Serenity and Sawyer DO sleep together as soon as he comes over, so.

Lorelei grew up in foster care and has one foster sister who's an addict, another is in a religious cult. She's thrilled to find biological siblings, especially since she recently learned her husband and best friend have been carrying on an affair and are going to have a baby. Throughout this entire mess, both the husband AND best friend act like Lorelei is the bad guy, they're the victims and should be forgiven. Mark finds out where Lorelei is staying and shows up unannounced, after he convinces her to come to dinner to talk, it turns out Francine was also invited so the THREE of them can chat. Francine went so far as to say "We could never be happy without you." Ugh.

The third sister is Reagan who is basically the Francine in her situation: she slept with her married boss and has just discovered she's pregnant. But in her case it's a-okay and her sisters are sOoO understanding.

The neighboring house is being used by three brothers and I legit thought Finn was going to turn out to be a serial killer. No lie. He turns out to be Lorelei's love interest and was clearly meant to be seen as a good guy but he was just SO awful and creepy. One of the first times he meets the women, he immediately talks over Lorelei. To Lorelei's daughter. He butts in, he is incredibly invasive with his questioning of the sisters, and once Lorelei's husband shows up, he's full on caveman. I honestly expected this book to turn into a thriller and was just waiting for him to murder someone.

One of Finn's brothers recently lost his arm in a motorcycle accident. Lorelei's 4-year-old daughter is naturally curious and asks him about it every. single. scene. she's in with him for a good while. He eventually loses it, only for everyone to see him as the bad guy. "Right now, he resents me and Lucy, even though I'm here to help him" is an actual line Lorelei says. Finn enlists the sisters to be nice and supportive of this stranger and when Davis has had enough, she makes him out to be the villain. "He needs to quit feeling sorry for himself. It might sound harsh, but babying him isn't doing him any good. He's not the only person in the world who's ever suffered." gphlfpdn Later on in the book, Lorelei confronts him: "...would it kill you to be kind? And to show a little gratitude to your father and your brothers who are trying to hard to be supportive?" The poor guy just lost an arm and is being bombarded by four complete strangers who are expecting him to magically Get Over It.

It's also revealed that the sisters are related through their father, a priest who roamed the US raping young women. Lorelei eventually finds out what became of her mother (she was found abandoned as a little girl which led to her being placed in foster homes): "Your adoptive mother was murdered, Lorelei. The PI found an article about her body being discovered by a nature enthusiast in a swamp in Florida." LOL WHAT.

I...don't know what happened here. I've read another of Novak's books and enjoyed it! This one was ridiculous.

One Perfect Summer is Brenda Novak's newest stand-alone novel. I want a second book to follow up on the events of this one because I felt like there were many loose ends in the end. The characters were in the better place from the one the began and yet I couldn't help but feel like they could have gotten in an even better one.

The story revolves around 3 women who found they are half-sisters after they took a DNA test, each for her own reasons, and decided to meet up and learn more about each other. So far so good. The problem for me is that all of them had something going in their lives and they didn't bother to spend much time getting to know each other.

I was not a fan of Reagan's storyline. We all make mistakes but I have some hard limits on what I can accept and her sleeping with a married man while she knew that he was married was unacceptable. And she never told his wife either. That woman deserved to know what her husband did. Can I also say that when she slept with the man she didn't use protection? That dude could have been a walking STD.

Lorelei recently discovered that her husband was cheating on her with her best friend and they are expecting a child together. I could definitely see where she was coming from and why she felt like she did. I would like to see her life after the events of the book and if was able to leave the bitterness behind.

Serenity was the most level headed of the three and it's not like she had it easy either. I liked her the most out of the three sisters. I also felt like she had the most complete story.

In the end, I felt like every plot that was closed was done in a rushed way. There were many more things to tell and it's the reason why I am hoping for a second novel. I also hope that one day we can find out what happened to Finn and his brothers. It's frustrating to think that so many little things were left without closure.

Imagine swabbing your cheek for 23andme and discovering that you have two half sisters that you never knew existed. That is what happened to Serenity when she took a DNA test for research for book she was writing. One sister had grown up in foster care, one was the only daughter of a single mother and Serenity was part of an intact family with both parents and more siblings. The sisters aren't sure how they fit together but decide to spend a few weeks together getting to know one another, hoping that during that time they will also discover something in their past that they have in common. Little did the sisters know that the weeks would turn into a summer that would change their lives forever.

I've never read a book by Brenda Novak and the pace and style took time for me to get used to. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be "chick lit" or "light romance' or exactly which genre I was reading until, finally, I stopped worrying about it and just enjoyed the story. The sisters were similar enough, despite their upbringing, to become good friends and an encouragement to one another through a very difficult series of revelations. There were hints of romance throughout which kept the story interesting and light. There also was the underlying mystery of how the three girls had the same father by such totally different mothers.

There were times I felt the book had some believability issues, such as a hospital sending home an amputee without follow up rehab, therapy or the ability to use cutlery in his "good hand.," but despite these moments, the over-arcing storyline was enjoyable and would make for a nice summer read.

A huge thanks to Brenda Novak, NetGalley and Mira (Harlequin) Publishing. I really enjoyed this read and can’t wait to fill you in!

Can you imagine waking up one day and finding out you have long lost siblings? Especially if you’ve had a Mom and Dad who have never told you any different? 3 sisters find this out and decide to come together for a summer vacation. It turns out to be a pretty interesting summer filled with lots of secrets, conclusions and meetings.

I’m not sure I’ve read a story like this before, huge kudos for an original story that really explores the ups and downs of this subject matter. I enjoyed the different writing perspectives from each of the sisters as well as other characters. I think it’s a perfect summer read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a definite must read!

This is one perfect book about one perfect Summer. Lorelei, Reagan, and Serenity live in different parts of the country, but find each other after taking a DNA test. The shocking results show that they are closely related. And they get together during the Summer to try to find out how they are related. In the process, they discover more about themselves and about what really matters. It's a nice story about family and looking for your own origins.

One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak has Serenity Alston surprised by the results she received after submitting a DNA test to 23andMe. She learns that she has two half-sisters. The three women will be spending the summer together in Tahoe. It will give the three women a chance to get to know each other and try to identify their common link. Each woman is going through a rough patch. Serenity just finished testifying at her husband’s trial after turning him in to the police. Lorelei discovered her husband cheated on her with someone unexpected. Reagan had a one-night stand with someone from work and cannot face returning to her job. Each woman will need to overcome their issues before moving forward. One Perfect Summer is a light read that touches on an interesting topic. Imagine taking a DNA test and finding out you have two siblings. I liked that the three women who were at an intersection in their lives. It was touching to see them go from strangers to true sisters. The point-of-view switches between the three sisters which can be confusing in the beginning until you get used to each ladies’ voice. It does mean that there is a repetition of information. It does, though, allow us to understand what each woman is feeling and thinking. I wanted to find out how the three women were related and came to be separated. When the solution was revealed, I was surprised because it came out of left field. I liked Lorelei’s daughter, Lucy and how she helped an injured man. I did find the pacing a little sluggish and there is foul language (too much) in this book. I was happy with the epilogue that showed the women rallying around Reagan for an important event. One Perfect Summer is a sweet story about sisterly bonds, second chances, overcoming the past, finding love, and family.

In One Perfect Summer, Brenda Novak has given readers a beautiful story of what it means to be a sister. The story explores the impact a DNA test has on the lives of three women who suddenly discover they are half-sisters.
Serenity, Reagan, and Lorelei have done a DNA test, each with their own agenda. Serenity, a writer, did it for research. Reagan was seeking family. Lorelei was seeking answers to her identity and why she was abandoned.
How can they be half-sisters? In order to get to know each other and see if they can establish a relationship, they decide to spend a week together. Not only would it be helpful to build their relationship but to search together for the answer to their most pressing question, how are they related?
The premise of the story explores how a simple test to find out about your heritage can expose unknown family members and lead to questions about your identity and your life as you’ve known it.
The story is well written and has many layers with each of the sisters' stories playing out as the book progresses. Following Serenity, Reagan and Lorelei’s stories evoked many emotions as I read. The doubts that plagued each sister and the strength they drew from each other was powerful. The questions and issues of DNA testing and its results are handled with sensitivity.
I highly recommend this book. One Perfect Summer is an enjoyable story that holds the reader from the start.
Thank you #Netgalley and #Mira for approving my request for an advanced reader's copy. All opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.