Okay, I cannot take it anymore. I am marking this at my first DNF at 8%, which I absolutely hate to do. I knew from the first page that I was not going to like this book... this is honestly one of the worst books I have ever TRIED to read. If this is a book for a black woman and only a black woman, it should clearly be marked. There is so much racist drivel spattered throughout and the main characters are snobby and rich and I would despise these people if they were in my presence. This was written by a woman who CLEARLY wants to keep black separated from white and that is just not something I am interested in. This is a romance novel that is supposed to be about love...and love is what I am interested in...peace, love, and happiness. 8% in, you are still reading about " the Black woman with an all white wedding party" so, what? There's only one black woman this could happen to, so it has to be capitalized? I hated this book so much that I wish I could be taking pictures of everything I am seeing. Sorry, Netgalley, I just couldn't do

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This was the first read by the author, Hostin for me. I found this to be a great read, with excellent, well-developed characters, plot, and story although it dragged in some places.

So good!!! I'll start by admitting that I am a summer "Vineyarder" so I knew that I would fall in love with the book just based on that premise -- and I was right. I loved everything about this book from cover to cover. The story and characters were great, and I loved how easy it was to read. It's obvious that the author has spent significant time on the island because all of the details were spot on. I plan to re-read it this summer!

Summer on the Bluffs is the epitome of Black Joy! Ama was one of the first Black women to wear the trading jacket on the New York stock exchange floor. She was a fierce woman and nothing stood in her way. Along with her husband, Omar, they built an empire of their own. When Omar passed away Ama knows she has a few secrets to tell her three goddaughters. As the summer in Martha’s Vineyard winds down, each young woman is given her truth. They must decide whether to grow with the news or let it weigh them down. This book is filled with prevalent topics in today’s society and would make for the perfect book to take to the beach!

A very enjoyable summer book. I enjoyed the characters, but felt I was being told the story rather than being able to “experience” the story unfold. The elements are all there for a summer book, the wealthy, love, secrets and family. It was refreshing to see Black people as residents of a wealthy Martha’s Vineyard enclave.

Perry, Olivia, and Billie are three very different grown women, but they have one thing in common - Ama and her late husband adopted them a “goddaughters.” This summer on Martha’s Vineyard will be Ama’s last summer, so she has invited her three “goddaughters” to Oak Bluffs to see who will inherit the house. The three grown women are all struggling with secrets, and Ama has a few of her own.

I enjoyed this book, but it is a book where you are told a lot of the story vs. experiencing the story. If you like that type of storytelling, you’ll really enjoy Summer at the Bluffs. I’m in a season of my reading life where those books kinda bore me. While I could tell I like the story, I just wasn’t a fan of the way the story was written. It’s definitely a classic beach read. Also, the audiobook is really well done - I enjoyed the narrator.

I saw Sunny Hostin mentioned that she had written a book on the View and was curious how it would be, so I was excited to receive an advanced copy to read!

This was a great, refreshing, heartwarming book about heart, love, relationships, family, and secrets. The story was deeply moving and at the same time uplifting.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

Back in the 1970s, Ada Vaux Tanner became one of the first Black women on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, fighting hard to earn the fortune she would one day use to build a beautiful "cottage" in Martha's Vineyard and to make sure her three goddaughters had everything they could ever possibly wish for. Now, as she turns 66 and five years after her beloved husband Omar died, Ama is ready to give the keys to the cottage to one of her goddaughters, and has invited the three of them out to the Vineyard for the summer. While Perry, Olivia, and Billie all would love to own the house that was more home to them than any other place they lived growing up, they each have their own challenges that they're bringing to the table — and Ama has some secrets that she needs to share with them before any bequests can be made.

Told in alternating points of view from the four women at the center of the story, as well as a few flashbacks to Ada's early days in New York City, this relationship-centric read focuses on a well-to-do Black family in the upscale African American community of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. So many relationship fiction titles are centered on rich families dealing with secrets and problems, but so few of those families feature people of color. This story is a welcome addition to the genre, and I look forward to additional stories about Ada and her goddaughters.

Read if you: Want an entertaining and absorbing beach read (mostly) set on Oak Bluffs, a historic African-American community on Martha's Vineyard.

Librarians/booksellers: Purchase for your readers that want an African-American centered "beach read" or "women's fiction" read.

Many thanks to William Morrow/Custom House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this cupcake of a book. I am so glad to see Black people represented in a beach read. This is the perfect book to read while lounging around on a beach or on your sofa. I hope that this is the beginning of a series, because I just think that there is more to each character that should be explored. As a Black woman from Louisiana, I did find the description of New Orleans to be a bit unreal, but other than that, I really loved this book.