Unfortunately had to DNF this book. I found the characters to be unlikeable and just wasn’t connecting with the story. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

This book shows the power of forgiveness, love and commonality among a family torn apart. You are pulled in several different points of view with this book but all are related somehow. This book was hard for me to get through. It took me a few tries and starting over but I finally plowed through it. It got more exciting towards the end. It has 141 chapters - short but choppy but makes it a very long read. The cover has zero relation to the story - its not set on a beach, and I honestly can't remember how often, if any, a beach was brought up. Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy for my honest opinion.

This book is set in Maine with a pair of 60 year old sisters fighting over the family estate. Carol and Bonnie and their adult daughters are the main characters. Bonnie has stayed in their small town taking care of their mother and the family home. Carol is returning from New York and her career in tatters. I didn't care for the women and their problems. I am usually a Holly Chamberlin fan but this one didn't hit the mark. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you so much for the copy of All Our Summers. I tried to pick this one up a few times, but I was not able to connect with the story line and characters. I found most of the characters to be unlikeable and the story was moving very slowly for me.

Unfortunately, it did not work for me. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this one.

I will not be sharing my thoughts/reviews outside of Netgalley in a review

What a charming read! Delightful beach reading. I really enjoyed this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a quick summer book. Lots of short chapters to keep the story moving. I would recommend for an easy beach read !

Nice, well written story. It wasn't really what I expected when I picked up the book. I was expecting more of a beach read. Still a good story and I would recommend it.

It's summer in Maine. Bonnie loves summer time. Even when she has to spend the time cleaning the family home.Bonnie is in her sixties and has gained weight. She isn't into fashion. Bonnie is a widow. Bonnie plans to move after her husband's death. Bonnie has been busy over the years being a care taker in many ways. Carol has sold her business. I really liked Bonnie from the beginning. Carol wants to take the family home from Bonnie. Bonnie's niece is twenty five and wants to join the peace corps which I loved. Although Bonnie was a instant favorite I loved all the characters. I wondered why Bonnie and Carol didn't make up and move in together and share the expenses. I liked the words of wisdom that by Bonnie making Carol out to be the bad sister she makes herself out to be the good perfect one.

A family drama about two estranged sisters and their family as they all end up living in the same community one summer.

I have read other books by the author so I was pleased to receive this for review. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the ARC. My review opinion is my own.

This was by far not my favorite of the author. First i am perplexed as to why they published this cover touted as a summer read when it is not. This is not beach reading or has anything to do with summer. I admit I was attracted by the cover and looking forward to a fun beach read of a uplifting nature perhaps set by the coast. Instead I found myself depressed reading this and unable to finish it. This is the story of two sisters in their sixties, one glamorous and one not . One overshadows the other and ignores her needs. the strange coastal town they live in ignores the one resident sister and sides with the glamorous one. They fight constantly and both were not strong charcters or respectful of the other. I have no idea what having a sister is like but I cannot imagine being in my sixties and carrying on like this with a sibling. It was not a book I chose to finish as I could not connect with the whining and complain when they actually had a fabulous life style in a free house left to them in a coastal area.

This book does not have sympathetic characters. Each character misreads basic social cues, thinks negative thoughts and the worst of each other. No one listens. There is no action--only shared meals with strained conversations or just a jumble of the characters thoughts with no empathy or thought of why other characters behave and act as they do. The book was not fun to read, there was no compelling purpose other than each character only wanting what they wanted. The title is *All our Summers,* but other than the story taking place over summer, it really had nothing to do with summer. I quit reading the book after trying to read it over three weeks of time and only got through 50% of the book. I couldn't take the whiney, unsympathetic characters any longer.

This one was a bit hard to get through for me, it took much longer than it should have to read. I'm not sure if that was because the book was different from my expectation - as mostly a cover reader when picking titles, I thought sure this title would have a plotline that revolved more around traditional summers in Maine once Carol came home from New York. Instead, the cover seemingly had nothing to do with the story, which was more rooted in family drama and miscommunication than anything else.

Carol Ascher left Yorktide forty-five years ago, leaving behind her younger sister and family to live in New York. Now, she’s decided to come back to try to fix those relationships, especially the one with her daughter Nicola, who she sent to live with her aunt and uncle in her teens.

Will she be welcomed home? Or is it too late to repair the wrongdoings and missed opportunities?

I had not read any books by this author, but received this title thanks to Netgalley & Kensington Books, in exchange for my personal review, and I just found the book to be okay.

What I did like about the story was how each of the characters were woven together by their family ties, but I just wish it didn't seem so drawn out, and that the positivity of the last few chapters happened earlier on in the book to keep me interested. 3.5 stars, I just wish the potential it had related to me a bit more!

I was looking for a fun "beach read" type of book, and this book wasn't it. The characters were whiny and unhappy and downright cruel to one another, and it became difficult to read after a while. Also, the chapters were so short, some of them just a paragraph, and it disturbed the flow of the book. I wanted to read this book because I'd enjoyed the author's work in previous books, but I was disappointed.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very well written book. I don’t normally like books with multiple narrators, but I really enjoyed the story, they all tied together very nicely. There’s a lot of twists and turns and family drama it was just a very good summer beach read.

EXCERPT: The distinct sound of a key in the front door caused Bonnie to turn from the table of photographs. It was probably Nicola, Bonnie thought, though her niece usually knocked before entering when she saw her aunt's car in the drive.

'Hello!' Bonnie called out as she made her way to the door. She felt a smile come to her face. She always felt like smiling when Nicola was around.

The door creaked loudly as it opened inward and a woman's figure stepped inside. The dustcloth Bonnie had been holding fell to the floor. She felt her stomach drop along with it. Her right hand went to her heart.

'What are you doing here?' she gasped.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol’s teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she’ll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenth-century family home on the rocky Maine coast.

But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she’s moving back—into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She’s the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie is concerned, Ferndean is part of their heritage—not just another of Carol’s improvement projects, to be torn apart and remade according to her whim.

The entire Ascher family is in flux, uncovering secrets that upend their relationships. Carol’s longing to be welcomed home is fueled by a painful truth she’s carried for years. It will take an extraordinary
summer—in a remarkable place—to lead these women back to each other, buoyed by the tides of friendship and forgiveness.

MY THOUGHTS: If you are looking for an uplifting read, it isn't All Our Summers by Holly Chamberlain, despite the beautiful cover. I usually love this author's books, but All Our Summers is full of bitterness, envy and despair. I could feel my insides curdling in places as I read. It is a downright depressing read. Even the ending wasn't enough to redeem this in my eyes. Had it not been such a quick read, I may well have abandoned it.

There is not one likeable nor interesting character amongst them, except for Judith whose role it seems is to restore some semblance of family ties to this resentful bunch. Bonnie and Carol are sisters in their sixties, Bonnie a widow, Carol retired, who are squabbling over the family home. Personally, I couldn't understand Bonnie's desire to leave her lovely cottage, full of memories of her happy times with husband Ken, to live in a rambling, old homestead, hard to heat (this is Maine!), and requiring a lot of maintenance. Now, before I am shot down in flames, I love old homes and have owned and lived in a number of them and, unless you have unlimited funds, they are not the sort of place you want to spend your final years in, particularly when on your own. Now, there are some obvious solutions to this problem, but none that either sister is prepared to consider.

No one in this family is speaking to everyone else, or if they are, it ain't nice. Bonnie and Carol don't have a nice word to say to one another; Bonnie's daughter Julie isn't speaking to her husband; their teenage daughter Sophie is fed up with the antics of both her parents; Carol's daughter Nicole wants nothing to do with her mother. Really? This was like watching the Jeremy Kyle show 🤷‍♀️ Exit stage left in high dudgeon to the sound of a slamming door.

And that enticingly beautiful cover had nothing to do with anything.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

#AllOurSummers #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Holly Chamberlin is a native New Yorker, but she now lives in Portland, Maine - the aftermath of stumbling across Mr. Right at the one moment she wasn't watching the terrain. She's been writing and editing - poetry, children's fantasies, a romance novel or two, among many other genres and projects - her entire life. She has two cats, Betty and Cyrus, and when she's not writing her hobbies include reading, shopping, and cocktails at six.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Kensington Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of All Our Summers by Holly Chamberlain for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

All Our Summers by Holly Chamberlin is a contemporary family saga read that is told from multiple points of view as it follows the ladies of the Ascher family. Each of the members of the family is dealing with their own situations leading to a multi layered story.

Bonnie and her sister Carol grew up together in Yorktide, Maine in their family home known as Ferndean House. Carol, the older of the sisters, couldn’t wait to escape the small town and once she took off to New York she rarely looked back. Meanwhile, Bonnie stayed in Yorktide where she married and had a daughter all the while taking care of her own parents.

Over the years Carol established a hugely successful business and had a daughter of her own in New York. However, during her daughter’s teenage years she asked Bonnie to take her in not revealing the secret as to why. Now that their parents are gone and their daughters grown Carol returns to Ferndean just as Bonnie was going to move into the old family home.

All Our Summers was an easy to follow along story as you learn of all the secrets and problems of all of the ladies in the family. Being a fan of a good family drama I was immediately engaged but I did find myself questioning some behaviors of the ladies along the way finding them a bit childish. Other than that I did find this one entertaining and in the end would give it 3 1/2 stars overall.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I love books about sisters, and this one fit the bill. The two main characters are in their sixties, Carol and Bonnie; Carol left their small Maine town and became a successful interior designer in NYC, while Bonnie stayed home, married, and had a family. Why did Carol send her daughter Nicola to live with Bonnie and Ken? Now that Carol is returning to claim her half of the family home, what are her intentions? Julie, Bonnie’s daughter, is distraught after learning her husband has an affair. How does her relationship with her mother, aunt and mother’s cousin help in her finding herself? These answers and more will be evident as you read his enjoyable novel. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This wasn’t my favorite summer read. While I did enjoy the shorter chapters, I felt like they were a bit choppy. I also felt as if the book just kept going around and around in circles. I was anticipating a summery vibe from the cover but instead felt like it was more family drama that could’ve been easily solved if the characters hadn’t have been so entitled.

This book was really difficult to read. I didn’t really enjoy it. I think the cover is misleading and the chapters are extremely short and choppy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital copy of this book.

3.5 Stars! Nostalgic, tender, and optimistic!

All Our Summers is a compelling, heartfelt tale that sweeps you away to Yorktide, Maine and immerses you into the lives of the Ascher family complete with all the heartbreak, secrets, smiles, tears, strength, loyalty, resentments, and compassion that surround them.

The writing is smooth and light. The characters are complex, hurt, and vulnerable. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into an uplifting tale about life, love, loss, family, friendship, parenthood, infidelity, and the complex relationship that exists between sisters.

All Our Summers is a sentimental, warm, touching, family saga by Chamberlin that drags slightly in parts but overall does a lovely job of reminding us of what’s truly important in life.