What a debut! I loved the glamour of old Hollywood, even the dual timeline. The story and characters are complex but had my attention from page one. A great rainy day read for me, but any afternoon will do.
We join Frankie in her journey as she discovers bits of her past, gets answers to assist finding herself and a little mystery, and romance. Will she find answers to all her questions? I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the advanced copy for my voluntary review.

This review will go to Goodreads about April 11, 2021, and Amazon on release day

I enjoyed every bit of this novel! I can’t believe it’s a debut. Although there are a few kind of cliched bits here, overall I really loved it. And the little bits of mystery that were revealed as Frankie discovered bits of her past kept me reading. I highly recommend.

This is a great beach read -- starting with the title and the cover! A great blend of old Hollywood glamor and intrigue, along with some mystery and lots of romance. I look forward to recommending this to readers who enjoy some of Mary Kay Andrews more recent books.

"A Summer to Remember" definitely made me want to pack up my regular life and move to a New England Coastal town! Erika Montgomery's book is a winning combination of mystery, discovery, and romance, offering a steady stream of intrigue and captivating characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this light and unique novel. There were so many secrets to uncover and stories to unfold, it was truly unputdownable.

Finding Answers Both Expected And Not. This was a solid tale from multiple perspectives across dual timelines of some people searching for answers, others running from them, and everyone arriving at the unexpected. As a debut novel, it does a great job in making me want to see what other stories this author has to tell, as this one was excellent and very well written. In a sense, it uses the standard trope of trying to find one's parents, but it also does a superb job of upending the trope a bit and putting an interesting spin on it in so many ways. Truly a great read, and very much recommended.

A Summer to Remember is a fun, feel-good novel that would be a perfect beach read. If you can't go to the beach and want something light and enjoyable, it's perfect escapism too. After Frankie's mother dies, she's feeling more than a little adrift and alone running the memorabilia store she owned with her mother. When she finds letters from a movie star to her husband and son it compels her to pay a visit to the small East Coast town where the son still lives, hoping to learn more about her mother's past. There she meets Gabe, the son, who has a chip on his shoulder, a dog by his side, and a boat to live on. She also meets Louise and Russ, the close friends of movie star Glory and her husband Mitch. The book then alternates telling the story between Frankie as she learns more about her mother and possibly finds a place to call home, and Louise, who both remembers her time with Glory and struggles with the relationship challenges she's facing with Russ after he's forced out of full time medical practices. This book has plenty of atmosphere, glamour and fluff, but it's also great in that it takes on the relationship of an older couple and how changes in life can affect the status quo. It also features some mystery - who is Frankie's father, why did Glory choose to take her own life - that bring the characters together and help them find some peace and happiness.

Erika Montgomery did a wonderful job of intertwining the past with the present. What an emotional journey it was through love, loss, and finding oneself. This was a page turning, don’t put down until finished book. Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my requested copy of the ARC. The opinion given was all my own.

Reading this book was like opening a gift, delightful and joyous. The author quickly captured my interest with a fascinating set-up for an interesting encounter between the 2 main characters. Carefully focused on the interconnected lives of 3 couples with a backward glance to the catalyst of this story, the protagonists’ late mother, Maeve.

Finding 2 unopened letters quickly propels Frankie to a small Cape Cod town where her mother worked for a time with a golden screen couple. She is seeking to give the letters to their son, Gabe. The move to Cape Cod sets up a delightful dynamic and pulls the reader to want to seek out the mysteries surrounding Frankie’s mother and her unknown father.

This is why I read and love the opportunity to review books that make me happy and have the potential of giving enjoyment to other readers. Thank you Netgalley for this charming novel.

I received this book "A Summer to Remember" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. Exactly what I needed to read after reading an emotional historical fiction. This book would make a great beach read. It's a love story and a story about friendship. I really liked the characters. Starts off a bit slowly but picks up and I really like the end.

An easy read story that will be perfect for the summer months. Movie lovers and readers that enjoy jumping between timelines. Slow, but keeps your heart into it until the end.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The plot of this debut novel is so enthralling. I, too, am obsessed with movie memorabilia and the thought of finding an old photo of my mother with a famous old movie star would spiral me into so many questions, like our main character Frankie. I was observed with the flashbacks and loved reading about old Hollywood adventures and scandals. I could have stayed in this book universe forever. It does take a little bit to get the story started, but once it takes off you’ll need to fasten your seatbelts!

A Summer to Remember is the sweet story of Frankie, a young woman with a Hollywood Collectables shop who gets the rare opportunity to search for her father after her mom passes away. Along the way, she meets some incredible people, uncovers some life changing secrets, and ultimately falls in love. The book alternates back and forth with the present and the past. The tale is filled with well developed characters, a fairly slow moving story line, and a satisfying ending. I would have given it more stars if there had been more drama, or action, but it turned out to be more of a gentle read.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book!

This was a wonderful quick read that made me feel like the sun was on my face and the ocean was breaking on the sand in the background. I really liked how the characters were flawed and broken, but each holding a secret that you just had to find out.

I really didn't expect to fall in love with this book like I did, and I was sad when it was over, but these people will live in my mind for a long time.

My review will go live on the Book Confessions blog on 12-2-2020.

I thought this was a sweet book that had some interesting twists and turns. The characters were complex and real and very relatable. A great beach style read I found that it captured the magic of the movies and the rosy glow of memories. You could feel the passion coming from Montgomery and her writing style was easy to read but still complex and layered.

A mother’s death results in her daughter finding letters which lead her to discovering a part of her mother’s past that she never knew existed. This is a story full of grieving, longing, regret, guilt, love and comfort.

The book is written in several timelines and although I think the story is best told this way, I personally do not like this style. I often lose interest when reading in different timelines. This is because I am absorbed in the story and then it abruptly changes paths. Half the way through the book, I was interested in where the plot was going, but not invested or cared much about the characters. I felt a turning in my feelings in the last one-fourth of the book. When all the answers were being revealed, I finally was fully engaged.

I do think the author wrote a good book, just not my favorite style, so not particularly a book for my taste.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read the advance reader copy, with no obligation to write a review. My review is written freely as a hobby, and is totally my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.

This novel is the second one I read this week with a slow burn but utterly beautiful love story set in the world of movies. Movie buff and memorabilia collector and seller Frankie Simon receives two letters from her recently deceased mother. The letter were written by a yester-year movie star to her husband and son. Frankie decides to track down the surviving son so she can give him the letters and that sends her on a journey where she discovers things from her mother's past, about her own history and the meaning of family ... all while falling in love.

A Summer To Remember, a debut novel by Erika Montgomery and to be published May 11, 2021, is the perfect beach read!

At 30 years old, Frankie Simon imagined a different life for herself – certainly not heartbroken, grieving and selling movie memorabilia in a shop on Hollywood Boulevard. Since her mother’s passing, Frankie has been trying to keep her mother’s store open, but rising costs are making it a challenge. One day she receives a package in the mail containing two unopened letters from long ago and an old photograph. The letters are addressed to the son of a deceased Hollywood star and she immediately contacts him hoping to forward a piece of his past. Ignoring Gabe, the rude addressee, Frankie sets off to hand deliver the letters and, in doing so, discovers that her past is linked with Gabe.

Although it took me quite a while to get into this novel, partly due to the flashbacks and partly due to my difficulty following the storyline, I loved reading about old Hollywood and getting a glimpse into lazy days celebrities spent vacationing in Cape Cod. I was reminded that we need to take opportunities when presented, ignore gossip and understand that our future is inextricably linked with and shaped by our past. Montgomery appealed to my nostalgia with her movie references and to my love of adventure with Frankie’s quest to unearth her past.

You’ll read about love, loss, secrets, betrayal, friendship and the necessity of finding where one belongs in this well-written, heartwarming look into old Hollywood and the relationships that endured the stress of the glitz and glamour.

Thank you to Erika Montgomery, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in one sitting. The characters aren't perfect and it made it feel more realistic. The transitions from the past and present were well-done.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written multi-layered story set in the past and present, A Summer to Remember is a delight.
In present day we have Frankie, owner of a LA film memorabilia store, finding two unopened letters written by Hollywood legend Glory Cartwright to her husband and son. They were in her recently departed mother’s possession along with a photograph of her mother, Maeve with Gloria and her husband, film star Mitch Beckett at Glory’s Cape Cod film festival. . Frankie is astonished not only to learn her mother knew them, but was at the festival where Frankie had tried to convince her to go many times. Realizing the timing is right she wonders if Mitch Beckett could possibly be her father and sets off for the Cape to find out.
The story in the past starts with Louise Chandler and her husband Russ meeting Glory for the first time as she and Mitch are coming to live on the cape for a year to escape Hollywood. Although she’s never really warmed to her husbands best friend Mitch, she and Glory soon become fast friends.
Beautifully written with an easy flow from past to present filled with wonderful characters you feel you know. I highly recommend A Summer to Remember.
Thank you to #St. Martins Press and #Netgalley

This is an intricate, beautifully crafted tale. So many different layers. I was intrigued at first that it started in Hollywood - it seems like so many books I've read recently take place on the East Coast. Then, it shifted to Cape Cod. However, the ties between the two made sense. Movie fans will love all the references.

Frankie is a Hollywood memorabilia dealer who recently lost her mother. She doesn't know who her father is. She heads to Cape Cod to try and piece together some clues and manages to unravel not only her own story but that of many others. Some of it is painful, most of it is cathartic.

There were a few parts that I thought were tied up a little too neatly, were too coincidental, but they served their purpose and were not completely unbelievable.

All in all, I loved this book. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review