A Summer to Remember: A Novel
Written by: Erika Montgomery

A Summer to Remember is a debut novel by Erika Montgomery and what a first novel she has given us. This is one book I know I will recommend again and again. I enjoyed the way it was written, the story it told and the memories it brought back to me.

Frankie Simon owned and ran a memorabilia store that she and her mother had opened years ago. Frankie’s mother died recently and Frankie obviously is still wrapped up with the memories of the years they had together. Frankie’s childhood memories were of the ones her mother and she made together. Her mother Maeve Simon took care to keep the past hidden from her daughter.

Frankie had unanswered questions, who was her father being the biggest one. Then out of the blue a package arrived from the man her mother had been living with before her death. Inside was a picture of her mother with a man, a famous actor Mitch Beckett standing close to a banner that said, “Welcome to the Fourth Annual Stardust Film Festival.” Along with the picture were two letters one addressed Dearest Mitch and one addressed to My Beloved Gabe. Thinking some of her questions might be answered she decides to go east to Harpswich, find Louise Chandler (who runs the festival) and see if any of her questions can finally be answered. Would she find her father? Would she learn more about her mother? Would she find something that she had always longed for?

Erika Montgomery entwines three story lines within this novel. Frankie’s story of trying to find out more about her mother, Louise and Ross Chandler who may be able to help her and had been best friends with Mitch Becket and his wife Gloria Cartwright (famous Hollywood actors, both now gone) who had lived in quiet Harpswich, Mass, with their son Gabe. The story weaves around these people and their legacy The Stardust Film Festival. The thread that ties these people together is Frankie’s mother Maeve. She’s gone but the catalyst to what gives this book its story.

It’s an emotional story that moves easily through the present and past memories and brings readers into the stories that are bringing readers towards the answers Frankie, Louise and Gabe are looking for. It was a beautiful, heart-warming read about truths, forgiveness and new beginnings.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for allowing me the privilege of reading this ARC.

This book, in my opinion, is a great beach read. Mostly set in Harpswitch, Massachusetts, a small beach town, this book laces nostalgia with family secrets, betrayal, and romance.

Frankie Simon lives in Los Angeles and runs a movie memorabilia shop. She receives a mysterious package containing a picture and two unopened letters. The picture shows her mother, now deceased, with a famous movie couple. Noting the date, Frankie realizes that this could be a link to finding out who her father is. She flies to Massachusetts to attend a film festival honoring the movie couple in hopes she may find some link to her father.

The book is filled with movie nostalgia that movie buffs will love. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. The story moved well and was told by two narrators and switched between present and past to provide the background history and the present day occurrences.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

I loved this book and that's saying a lot. I don't toss 5 star ratings out like skittles! Very well written with complex characters and a great story. The writer brings the characters and story to life. It flows like a river.

I liked how the book revolves around movies. I’m not a movie buff, but I enjoyed all,the references to different movies. I liked that Frankie ran a memorabilia shop. She sells movie history that makes people happy to posses items from movies that had significance. I was surprised at some of the angles the story took and one of the theories was proven completely wrong, which was clever deceit on the author’s part. It’s a good story about family, secrets, unanswered questions, and Hollywood stuff.

This was a great book with a creative story and interesting characters. Definitely a beach read as it moves along at a quick pace. The love story ramps up pretty quickly between two people who apparently don't like each other in the beginning, but isn't that the beauty of a fun beach read! Enough mystery to keep you wondering how it will all end. I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

A Summer to Remember by Erika Montgomery is a book for romance, mystery, and old Hollywood lovers. I was interested in this book because part of it takes place in Cape Cod, a place I visited before.

Frankie sells memorabilia in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Her mother is a collector of 'movie' items and Frankie continues the profession after her mother's death. She comes across letters from her mother's collection, after her death. The letters are from a classical Hollywood actress, Glory Cartwright. Frankie is not aware of the connection of her mother to the famous actress. She approaches Glory's son about the letters but he refuses them. Frankie makes a trip to Cape Cod to deliver the letters in the hope of finding out the identity of her father.

The novel is set in contemporary times and also in the past. Other main characters are Louise and Russ, who were friends of Glory and her husband Mitch. I liked the Hollywood touch of the novel. I was interested in the adventure of Frankie and the budding romance between Frankie and Gabe was expected. However, the mystery of Frankie's mother's life in Cape Cod and her purpose held to the end and made the novel an interesting read.

This was a beautifully written and intriguing story. I read this book in a little over a day and a half because I just could not put it down. Old Hollywood glamour mixed with an enchanting Cape Cod setting. Family secrets, a little mystery, some sweet romance. This is sure to be one of my favorite books of 2021.

An adorable book. The story is about Frankie Simon, a girl who sells movie supplies in a store that just opened on Hollywood Boulevard. For her, it is more than hers, her sustenance, as it is a place that connects her with the only family she has ever known. One day, she receives a mysterious package containing a photograph of her mother with famous Hollywood stars. Frankie wants to learn more about the life of her mother. She also wants to discover the meaning of the contents of this package. I love that this book mentions a lot of cool movie facts. I've always been a movie fan, and Frankie's optimism was easy to feel. It is a book that I enjoyed until the last page. I thank NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

“Summer to Remember” is the debut novel from Erika Montgomery.

The novel’s heroine is Frankie Simon who is grieving the death of her mother, Maeve. While she is trying to keep her mother’s store open, inflated costs make keeping the business afloat a challenge. Her mother’s boyfriend gives her an envelope that he found while cleaning out his filing cabinet. Inside the envelope are two unopened letters; one addressed to Gabe and one addressed to Mitch.

These mysterious letters send Frankie to Cape Cod looking for both of these men, either of whom could be her dad. While in Cape Cod, Frankie learns more about her mom as well as the men who could be her father.

I have read plenty of novels where the main character goes in search of her past to find her future, but Erika Montgomery manages to keep the material both fresh and poignant. In this author’s hand, the characters, especially Frankie, leap from the page.
I found this to be a sweet story and the perfect read on a warm summer day.

Thanks to Erika Montgomery, the publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

Thank you NetGalley, Erika Montgomery and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of A Summer to Remember. This is my personal review.
Frankie operated a Hollywood memorabilia shop that she had with her mother Maeve for many years.
The story was written so I felt a connection with each and everyone in the story. There are so many feelings as I read that I could not wait to know what was happening next as I read.
This is one that is a great book to grab and give yourself I chance to unwind and relax as this amazing story unfolds.

A Summer to Remember by Erika Montgomery is the perfect beach read! Frankie is the owner of a Hollywood memorabilia shop and loves to sell items that have personal stories and connections to the stars. Her mother, who recently passed away, had worked behind the scenes in Hollywood and collected items from all the sets she had worked on.

When she was given sealed letters and a photo from her mother's estate, she wondered if the man in the photo with her mother, the husband of 70s star Glory Cartwright could possibly be her father, who her mother had never named. She had to find out, so made her way to the film festival on Cape Cod that Glory had started before her sudden death years before, which many thought was a suicide. Her trip sets in motion a shocking journey into her mother's past, family secrets and the possibility of a new love...something Frankie thought she would never find.

Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. If you enjoy novels about the secret lives of stars, this one is for you! 3.5 Stars

4.5/5⭐️

I really loved this one! It features a dual timeline, switching between late 1970s-1980s and modern day.

I must admit that I had preconceived notions from the cover that this would just be a sweet romance, and while there is some of that, there’s so much more. I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s a story about multiple topics…losing a sense of oneself due to a spouse’s decisions, gut-wrenching decisions made for those we love, discovering good/bad family history that was kept from you, the bonds of women’s friendships, forgiveness…I could go on and on. There was so much more to this story than a simple romance…it brought in lots of different emotions for me.

Frankie is a young woman who owns a movie memorabilia store in Hollywood. Her mom, who has recently died, left her some info which leads her to Cape Cod in search of the father she’s never known. She discovers a secret whole other life that her mother lived that was intimately connected to a famous Hollywood couple with secrets/troubles of their own.

This story kept me glued as at least two mysteries loomed to be solved. And yes, there were tears as I became involved in these characters’ lives.

Much thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for providing me the early ARC for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

This is a lovely book that really draws you in rather quickly. A young woman, Frankie, runs a movie memorabilia store in Hollywood that she and her recently deceased mother had begun. She receives a package from her mother’s former boyfriend that opens up a lot of questions about her mother and who she really was. Enclosed are two letters that need to be delivered along with a photo of her mother and two of the biggest stars in Hollywood from many years before at a Cape Cod film festival.

Frankie decides to go to the Cape and deliver the letters in person but also to learn more about her mother. What she learns will change her life in countless ways as she meets people who were close to her mother, but who were also hiding secrets that really had impacted their own lives for 30 years and needed to be uncovered.

The format of the book is very effective. There is the story of Maeve, Glory, her husband and their friends in this small Cape Cod town set in the past and then there is Frankie’s story in the present as she tries to unravel the secrets of the past. I really enjoyed this story of the power of long buried secrets and betrayals and the power of memories to define us. This is a very interesting book and I highly recommend giving it a chance to work it’s magic.

Frankie Simon's life has been characterized by the charm and glamour of Old Hollywood through the lens of the memorabilia she sells in the shop opened by her late mother. When she is sent a mysterious photograph of her mother with a famous movie star in Cape Cod, Frankie sets out to discover the secrets of her past that she has never been able to answer. It turns out the folks in Cape Cod have a few questions of their own, and Frankie's arrival sets off a course of events that changes everyone who knew her mother 30 years before.

This book was not what I expected. There was a lot of reliance on Old Hollywood references and I think someone more enchanted by the world of movies and memorabilia would be much more charmed by the book than I was. It had elements of a sweet summer read set in Cape Cod, but it was just much more about the old movie stars and the folks that worked for them.

Perhaps if I had had different expectations, I would have enjoyed this more, but as is, I just found it to be okay. Nothing terrible, but nothing amazing for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Frankie Simon helps people connect with the past. Her movie memorabilia shop is one of the only places where visitors can actually touch the merchandise and feel themselves transported back to another time. But when she finds out that her mother was friends with glamorous movie star Glory Cartwright, she begins to wonder how much she really knows about her life. Frankie travels to Harpswich, Cape Cod in search of answers to her questions about the past, as well as guidance for her future.

This book truly captures a summer to remember. I love spending time on Cape Cod, and Montgomery did a great job evoking that atmosphere. Just one nitpick - there's no town called HarpswIch - although there is a Harwich! I also loved the Hollywood flashbacks - they added mystery and glamour to the story. The plot flowed well with a few twists and turns I didn't see coming, and the ending was satisfying. Beach readers are sure to enjoy this one!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Summer to Remember was a cute and sweet read and I can definitely see this book being a great beach read. While I did read this book in two days, at some points the story did feel long and while I loved the conclusion at the end, I wanted a little more devoted to it. I also wish this book had an epilogue so I could see where the lives of these characters ended up a year later. For a debut book, I thought it was really strong and I'm eager to read more from Erika Montgomery in the future.

I enjoyed this story. It makes for a great summer read. I liked the ending, and the way the end was written leaves it open enough that we can hear from these characters again. I look forward to reading more from this author.

2.5 rounded up for that beautiful cover. I wanted to love this one. It's a little family drama and Hollywood glamour mixed with mystery and drama. But I thought it started slow. You could feel a build up but I felt a bit lost in the details of it all. When we got the final twist, I just felt let down and was glad I was nearing the end. I think I just wasn't feeling the romance, the drama of it all. But the writing was great and I did love the moody atmosphere of it all.

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

With several twists and turns, this story kept me reading till the end...unable to put it down! Secrets and love of family and friends twisted their way through a story of Hollywood, gained and lost. A real treasure to read. Great characters and wonderful story@

LOVED. Exciting read with an immersive setting. It has a bit of a mystery element but plenty of feel-good family and romance along the way. Perfect for a summer beach read. Highly recommend. Similar vibes to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.