This is a very engaging read with a complex characters. This is the story of friendship, family, protecting someone you love + suspense and thrilling moments. It is a good book and I truly enjoy this and I love how the author brings up some complex issue in this book which is unexpectedly enlightening. As someone who loves thriller book, this is a very entertaining read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this arc! This was not really a thriller, so if you're looking for one, this might not be for you. But if you want a book with a great story and good writing you try it! At first it's hard to see where the story was going, but I really enjoyed finding out. I didn't think the characters were very well defined so when Tim reappeared in the story I couldn't really remember who he was. However, the story was interesting and kept taking unexpected turns. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Twenty years ago, Tansy fell under Selene’s charming and erratic spell, and they quickly became inseparable friends. After a shocking incident that ended up shattering their friendship, they ceased all contact with each other.

Now, Tansy is content working as an academic councillor at a small university and comfortably living on her ex-boyfriend’s property. Her quiet life gets disrupted again when one day Selene suddenly shows up with demands and threats if Tansy chooses not to help her. Eventually, Selene manipulates Tansy into aiding her, and their lives become entangled once again.

This suspenseful tale is slowly paced and told entirely from Tansy’s perspective.

Insta-love alert. And a steamy love scene. Both of which I could have done without.

I would have liked for there to be more character development. Selene seemed like the most fleshed-out character.

In other places, I thought there was too much detail. I don’t care to read at length about people doing their business in bushes, nor the steps of brewing tea in the middle of a compelling conversation. But I’m probably nitpicking here.

The parts that kept my attention were the ones that included Jupiter, Selene’s daughter. I was very invested in how Jupiter would come out of it all.

I recommend this to readers who enjoy slower-paced suspenseful stories.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Summer We Buried follows Tansy's first person narration as we meet her and the various other characters through her experiences. The story starts of with an encounter between Tansy and Selene, an old friend. Their friendship was complicated and filled with a secret buried deep down.

The author starts off alluding to this secret and builds up the story around Selene's request, expectations and personality. We also see the influence she has on people around her through Tansy's eyes. The story starts off quite slow and picks up momentum towards the middle.

Tansy, having ignored a secret from her past for a long time is forced to revisit the last summer that she and Selene were together, even as she navigates meeting Selene's younger brother and her daughter. There is some mystery to the plot, but not enough to be intriguing. Some of the plot lines could have been further developed to include details and situations that help us understand the characters better. I found Tansy's relationships and past to be under-developed as there was not enough of an explanation. There are just enough facts about what has happened. There are also some plot lines that do not get a proper conclusion leaving us to wonder as to what happens in the end.

However, all this does not take away from the fact that the book kept me hooked until the end. I got the chills in some sections and was even able to empathize with some of the characters' feelings. There is a lot of negativity, some abuse and a budding romance that make the story interesting to read. With all the troubles the characters face, we also see that a mother can do anything for her child and that love knows no bounds.

I would love to recommend this book to those who enjoy a good psychological thriller as the book touches upon some aspects of the human mind that makes us pause to think about people's actions and the reasons behind them! This is definitely worth reading at least once.

Thank you to Jody Gehrman, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a free copy of this in exchange for a review.

This book is more of a slow burn thriller, but it was needed to tell the backstory of the main characters and it picked up pace during the second half. The main 2 characters, Tansy and Selene, were best friends 20 years ago. A traumatic event tore them apart and they lost contact until Selene shows up on Tansy's doorstep asking to help her daughter, Jupiter.

It is a thriller about female friendship, mental illness, and how far friends will go to protect each other. There are so many plot twists in this book it had me hooked and I didn't want to put the book down! I could not recommend this more if you are a fan of thrillers.

Pub date: March 8, 2022
In one sentence: Tansy and Selene were best friends with a big secret, and twenty years later, Selene comes to ask for a favor related to her daughter Jupiter.

I love stories about female friendship and dual timeline thrillers, and this was such a fun read. I read it in one sitting curled up under a blanket on a cold night, and I recommend that you do the same!

Tansy is an interesting protagonist - as is common in psychological thrillers, she makes some poor choices that get her in trouble. When she says yes to Selene and starts to meet with Jupiter, you just know that this story is not going to have a happy ending. I enjoyed the tension that Gehrman built up in the story. The second half ramped up the action and also added some new secrets to build to an explosive conclusion. I guessed part of the ending, but there were enough surprises to keep me happy.

If you want a quick read thriller, I'd recommend this one!

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really clever mystery. 8 loved it and felt really invested in the characters. Brilliant fice stars x

Peppered With Twists…
What happened that night, twenty years ago? A slow burn, psychological suspense powerfully written with a solid cast of characters and an intriguing storyline peppered with twists and turns. As truths are uncovered and secrets emerge matters become more complicated making for a gripping read.

This book was a slow burn psychological thriller. While it took a bit to find it's stride (the first half of the book was slooow), the end result was a captivating read with complex, compelling characters.

As Tansy gets sucked back into the web of her chaotic friend, Selene, we learn what happened the summer they buried and how that still bonds them twenty years later.

While some of the twists were foreseeable instead of truly surprising, I did enjoy this book and would read others by this author!

This is not a fast paced thriller by any means, but the almost meandering nature of the story draws readers in in a much different, more subtle way. The writing and character work in this novel was strong and kept me interested in unraveling the threads of the story's past so I could try and guess what would happen in the present.

I'm still unraveling everything from this book - it's a slow burn but in just the right ways. At it's core, The Summer We Buried is about relationships - friendships and family - and what. you will and won't do for the people that you love.

I enjoyed the atmospheric prose and character development in this novel. The plot is somewhat slow moving and I would definitely not categorize it as a thriller. Still, it’s an enjoyable read and worth the time!

The book was simple and yet intense. Perfect for mystery thrillers who need a simple and cozy read. The characters were well set - up and it was not any random coincidence that an event occurs. However, I had a little feeling that there would have been something more sinister between Tansy and her ex, owing to which they shared sooo many things!

When Tansy was 18 years old she became close friends with Selene. Selene was tough and had street smarts, something Tansy admired. Their friendship later ended with a scandalous murder cover up! 20 years later Tansy and Selene meet again. Selene has a daughter attending the same college that Tansy works at. Selene wants to draw Tansy back into her life by insisting that her daughter’s boyfriend is abusing her and she wants Tansy to help. Will Tansy get drawn back into Selene’s world?

I would describe THE SUMMER WE BURIED as a slow burn psychological thriller. Toxic relationships are on full display here, which makes for some very interesting content! I found this to be a very entertaining read.

TW - Abusive Relationships, Sexual Assault

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

This was my first time reading a novel by Jody Gehrman and she did not disappoint.
You follow Tansy’s first person narration as we uncover the mystery of her past and how something you hide from can never stay buried. 20 years ago Tansy gets herself into an unwanted situation, Selene saves her by murdering her attacker. Unfortunately this act destroys their tangled web of friendship until years later, Selene is back to call in the favour for saving her life. Selene thinks her daughter Jupiter is in an abusive relationship, as Tansy is a guidance counselor Selene wants her to start investigating their relationship.

At first I found this novel to be a slow burning mystery instead of a fast paced thriller, once the pace started to quicken I found myself picking it up every spare minute I had. It had interesting twists and turns that kept me intrigued, I found I was holding my breath as the plot started to thicken. As you progress through the book you are faced with negativity, relationship abuse, mental health concerns and how far a mother will go to protect her child. I thought I could predict the ending, to my excitement Jody threw in a curve ball I did not see coming!

Due to the slow burn at the start, I give The Summer We Buried 4 stars out of 5.

Thanks to Jody Gehrman, Crooked Lane books and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Publication date is 22 March 2022, add it to your calendar! You will not be disappointed!

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for sharing this title with me.

I thought the book was okay. I really wanted to like it knowing the genre and subject. I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters so I wasn't cheering for them and wasn't concerned with their outcome.

On a more positive note, the book was well written and an easy read.

Last year, I read my first book by author Jody Gehrman, and when her latest, The Summer We Buried, became available on NetGalley, I requested it. Thankfully, the publisher awarded me a copy, and it made it to the top of my queue this week. I was a little worried after reading some of the initial reviews... not that they were bad but they weren't amazing either. That said, I dove in and found myself immediately hooked on the story.

Tansy and Selene were friends 18 years ago. Something bad happened. We don't know what it was, and they stopped speaking to one another. Until today. Selene shows up on Tansy's doorstep and demands the woman do something to help her daughter. Tansy is shocked... that meant Selene was pregnant when they last saw each other but never said anything. Who's the father? And how did Tansy never hear of Selene's younger brother... a hot man with a protective hold over his niece. Tansy is blackmailed into helping the young girl, Jupiter, who might be in an abusive relationship. What falls out among them all over a three to four week period is intense!

Truly, the plot is enigmatic and intriguing. I found myself thinking it was such a basic story to begin with, but Gehrman adds layers of complexity with unraveling the past, lying to Jupiter about who knew whom before she was born... and when Tansy's ex's new girlfriend gets involved, the story seems ripe for a chaotic climax. Which we do get in an off-written scene, and the subsequent drama is thrilling. I kinda guessed the truth about what happened, but it doesn't make the plot any less stronger. I found myself eager to pick this up all day on the weekend, and I highly recommend it for the way in which the story is told. Definitely drawing me to read the author's earlier works now too.

I enjoyed this book but only from the middle onwards. The beginning and setting up of the story just too way too long.

A summer, a friendship, a crime. Put those three things together and you have a great psychological book you wont be able to put down. Thanks to #Netgalley for this ARC and a new author for me. Twenty years ago Tansy and Selene, friends - cover up a murder that shattered their friendship.

Years later Selene is back in Tansy's life and all that ugliness comes back to haunt her. Loved the story, the suspense and the fact that I read this book in two days - you know it had to be good. A cant-put-down story you will really enjoy.

Put it down on your list to read - it wont be released until March of 2022 - but it will be a book you will look forward to reading. #fourstars #netgalley