The Summer Place was a DNF for me. I'm very disappointed because normally I really enjoy Jennifer Weiner books.

I felt like none of the characters were likeable and everything seemed to drag. Finally at 57% I stopped reading.

Please don't let my thoughts dissuade you from reading this novel. Fans of the author, family sagas, and/or dramas would probably enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing an ARC at my request. I'm sorry that I didn't care for this book.

Jennifer Weiner does it again with this captivating story of the intricacies of relationships with a hint of pandemic that is relatable to our reality over the last two years without overwhelming the storyline.

As Ruby and Gabe prepare for their wedding on the Cape after starting their romance in quarantine, the families discover that their histories tie them together in unexpected ways. Weiner craft-fully ties each character’s past into the storyline in a way that will remind you that everyone has more going on in their personal lives than meets the eye. Prepare to fall in love with and relate to each character as they navigate life after the pandemic.

This is a well crafted, entertaining beach read involving multiple characters within a family, all of whom have big secrets. However, it bothered me that all of those secrets involved infidelity, and in many cases, paternity issues. I will admit that I was invested in the various plot lines, and was eager to see how they would be resolved. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a delight albeit feeling a bit of a departure from the author’s typical fare. The ending felt a bit too hastily tied up and the character fleshing out seemed lacking but overall an enjoyable read.

I have enjoyed all of Jennifer Weiner's "summer" books. This book had many characters all with their own surprises. Just when you thought the plot had twisted for the last time, another twist was waiting.

I've read other books by Weiner, and this wasn't one of my favorites. The writing is great, and the detailing is spot-on. However, I didn't find any of the characters likeable, for various reasons. There were some interesting twists and some predictability, and it was a quick read. So if you don't mind feeling fully invested in the characters, this could make a good beach read.

I am so happy to have been able to get an advanced copy of The Summer Place. I am a huge Jennifer Weiner fan and this is the perfect ending to this series. 5 stars I will absolutely staff pick and recommend this book at work!

This was the first book I read by Jennifer Weiner and it surely won’t be the last. This book is written in multiple POV format, with a cast of characters all coming to terms with their own secrets in a shared family history. I connected with many of these characters and found myself cheering for them and hoping they found peace. While some of the plot details seemed very unbelievable, I enjoyed how the author wove the details together and felt compelled to keep reading and eager to see how everything would resolve. This would be a great beach read!

I enjoyed this book with its insights into how the pandemic and quarantine have changed relationships. Looking forward to more books by Weiner, thanks for the review copy.

A beach read from Jennifer Weiner? Yes, Please. The Summer Place is a kinda conclusion and homage to the summer and a house, in particular, located on the Cape. In this, the final entry, the house, too, gets a say in things which is really fun.
What's not fun is what appears to be a family genetically disposed to infidelity. If that is a no-go for you, skip this one. If not, then perhaps the multiple sets of coincidences that are paramount to the plot might be off-putting. As this is Jennifer Weiner, I hung in there as I know I am going to chuckle, if not laugh, and most likely cry at some point. She didn't disappoint me in this area.
I was able to most identify with Ronnie (aka Veronica) the matriarch of the family. Specifically, her lifelong desire amongst other things, was to have her grandchildren come up to her Cape home for the summers and be kids with great memories spent living a life in the sun and water with their grandparents.
There are plenty of characters to identify with regardless of where the reader finds themselves in life currently. And as always, these characters are flawed and human. But in the end, I give this one a 3.5 star review as the numbers of improbabilities were difficult to believe.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for access to an early copy. All opinions are mine.

The Summer Place is the perfect beach read. It is in the Summer series, but you don't need to read them in order to understand this book. I loved all the different characters, even the house itself, revealing their different secrets. It was a book I couldn't put down, and easy to read.

These "Summer" books are very enjoyable and entertaining. They have little Easter eggs with previous characters turning up in the later stories, so that's fun. They are all centered around the Cape, which provides an excellent setting.

In this one, all of the characters are a hot mess. They all have a secret that they intend to reveal after the wedding. But they are all in agony of these little secrets and it sort of spirals out of control. Plus some secrets will not wait, no matter what you are hoping for.

It's just fun. I definitely recommend it. This one may not be as deep in some ways as some of the previous books, but it is also possibly more enjoyable purely from an entertainment perspective.

I love Jennifer Weiner! This book was so good. All the characters were so developed and I was so invested in each of them. The pandemic elements were so relatable, but not too in your face. This book was unputdownable. This is going to be the go to beach read of the summer for sure!

I have always been a fan of Jennifer Weiner, but I think that this book takes her writing to a whole new level! Wow! This book is told from the point of view of so many characters (including a house) whose lives get tangled up in so many ways. Yet, I never had to reread a passage, confused about who was speaking or what was occurring. The characters were simply that well-developed. A must read for your summer vacation!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This is the second book I've read this year that manages to incorporate elements of the pandemic years without making it the main focus of the book and that is a good thing. This excellent family saga is a reminder that families and life are messy and complicated and full of sacrifices, especially the relationships between mothers and daughters. Being "stuck" together during the pandemic may have magnified some of those issues (we all have "orthopedic flip flops" in our lives), but we're all coming out on the other side in one way or another.

2.5 stars // Not a huge fan of this, but overall it hovers between okay and good. This is third in the “summer” collection and although some characters overlap (I do like that touch!), you don’t need to read them in a specific order to understand them. Each novel can stand alone.

Lots of family drama, secrets, and misunderstandings. Too much to be even a little realistic. I spent most of the time thinking that it’s just too much or being anxious that someone would find something out. Cut the drama in half and it would have been better.

I liked the theme of the house caring for its occupants and liked the way things wrapped up. My favorite of this collection by FAR is Big Summer. I recommend it more than I would this one!!

Fun, fast read about 3 generations intertwining relationships. I most enjoyed the family relationships. I loved how things from the characters past haunted them and yet by the end did not define them and even helped them see their future in a new light. Some of the overlapping relationhips were fairly hard to believe. But the afterward states the author was thinking of midsummer's nights eve when she wrote this so that make more sense. I did wish there was a little more of the "house" in the book as that character in the end was so important. Loved the grandmother. Really all the characters grew and shared so much of their inner lives. It helps you understand how what you see of people's actions can hide so much confusion and depth in their own hearts. (less)

I am a big fan of Jennifer Warner and this new beach read is filled with family secrets, mysteries and drama which did not disappoint. Once again I was drawn in immediately and couldn't put the book down until the end.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC

This is a fun family drama from Jennifer Weiner (author of Big Summer). It follows a family as they plan a quick wedding for their 22 year old daughter and her boyfriend. It flips between the point of view of 8 different family members and you learn all the secrets of their past and how they connect to each other.

This one has themes about relationships during the pandemic, including strains on a marital relationship from being together 24/7, new couples moving faster than normal due to quarantines, and navigating dating apps. I took a poll in my stories about whether you enjoyed reading about the COVID-19 pandemic and 90% (!) of you said you didn’t. But I actually found this refreshing. I felt seen

My issue with this one was that it was predictable. Wild coincidences happened throughout the whole novel that were so improbable that it felt ridiculous they were happening. It felt like a plot device that was too heavy handed. It almost felt like the movie Valentine’s Day.

And I found myself not quite connecting to the characters. Not sure if this is because there were so many points of view but I wasn’t invested or super excited to pick this up.

Overall, I enjoyed and would recommend if you like women’s fiction and family dramas.

I appreciate Jennifer Weiner's writing style and there were several characters who I could have potentially connected with. I'm still reading fiction to escape from the turmoil of the pandemic, so this book wasn't a favorite for me since it is set in the current pandemic phase of our lives.