I was hoping that this book would make up for last year's That Summer. It didn't. This book needed to be another 50 pages. I felt like the characters that were important weren't fleshed out. What happened to begin unravelling Gabe and Ruby's relationship? Why didn't Rosa have more of a payback for dishonesty? And are we really supposed to believe that Eli was going to let his daughter marry her potential brother? And so what if Sam is gay?
It's 2022! There were some plot holes here that were big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through. It feels like Jennifer Weiner was just trying to rush out a novel. I have been a fan since Good In Bed. This is beneath her talent.

Oh my goodness! Jennifer Weiner knows how to create characters: correction: she knows how to give life to them! Because those multi characters she’s created for this book are absolutely breathing, talking, sulking, screaming, laughing real people! Those embellished, extra detailed, perfectly developed back stories, characteristic attributes give you enough clue what a talented author she is!

This book could be a little long because of impeccably developed, long perspectives of the characters. But this time I honestly didn’t care! I loved each of the flawed characters, their strengths, their weaknesses, their secrets, their resentments, their struggle against being trapped in their own house with their families, getting through Covid-19 months without choking each other!

Sarah; at the age of 40, hurt by her husband’s Eli’s estrangement during pandemic days even though his shortcomings started bugging because of sharing same space in quarantine for a long time, having suspicious her husband is cheating her after 14 years of happy marriage.

22 years old art student Ruby, stepdaughter of Sarah, declares her decision to get marry with her pandemic boyfriend Gabe in three months. That stubborn girl knows her ways to get what she wants, still resents her birth mother’s abandonment when she was just a little baby. Does she have second thoughts about her abrupt decision? Of course she has not she is way too much headstrong to say she made a mistake!

Eli, devoted husband, dentist who truly reminded me of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Abe Weissman ( if this book could be adapted into series, my candidate to play him is definitely Tony Shalhoub) also made a big mistake 23 years ago and now he thinks his mistake will catch him unguarded to ruin everything he’s worked for years by destroying his family.

Ronnie; grandmother at the age 80, widowed, spending days at their beach house in Cape Cod, feeling so exciting for her grand daughter’s wedding to bring the entire family one more time. Once upon a time she was an author whose books were adapted into series at 80’s. Why did she stop? What kind of secrets she’s buried!

Poor Sam, Sarah’s twin brother, who lost his wife, taking care of his stepson Connor also has a big plan that he didn’t share with his family.

Sam was one of my favorite characters, who stays in the middle, always putting others first, changing his lifestyle to harmonize with the people he’s dating. And he was always the one who got dumped! I gave him virtual hugs during my read!

And let’s not forget Rosa, groom’s mother, who dreamt of becoming famous in NY when she was young and gave up her theater career to be mother of Gabe, raised him by herself, becoming a nurse to give him enough opportunity to chase his dreams.

When she hears more about Gabe’s fiancée she realizes her big secret about her past will ruin everything about her son’s future.

The author made me brilliant job to gather those characters at the Cape Cod house which is also the main character of the book, keeping the secrets of its inhabitants and guests for years!

The conclusion was also well wrapped up!

I think this is so far the best work of the author. I feel in love with characterization skills and wished this book never ends!

I’m rounding up 4.5 stars to 5 dysfunctional, scandalous, secretive family stars!

Special thanks to dear Ariele Fredman, Atria Books and NetGalley for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my truly honest opinions.

Jennifer Weiner has the winning equation. Her books never disappoint, and this one was no exception! This book had me hooked from page one. I consumed it in about one day, and it was so fun to read. Have already recommended to friends!

Anything that Jennifer Weiner writes is going to be a must-read for me, so being sent an ARC of her newest novel The Summer Place was such a gift. And goodness does Weiner deliver in this book! Just a heads up, there are lots of characters to keep up with, but it’s worth it.
It’s midpandemic and everyone is stir crazy and trying to find some sense of normalcy, when Sarah’s step-daughter, Ruby, announces her quick engagement to Gabe. They’ve already decided on a small wedding at the Cape at Sarah’s mom’s home where Sarah spent her summers and had her heart broken for the first time. Sarah’s not thrilled about the wedding and neither is her husband, Eli, who suddenly seems to disappear. His body is present, but the once attentive and engaged partner is a ghost of himself, clearly dealing with a serious struggle. The character list grows to include: Sarah’s mother dealing with current medical concerns and a past she was never honest about, Sam (Sarah’s brother) that’s still trying to figure out who he really is after being thrust into parenthood, Gabe’s mother that did the best she could and an entire slew of additional friends and family.
Jennifer Weiner does something that few authors can master; she tackles heavy subjects (gender fluidity, death, infidelity, parenthood, divorce, etc) in a manner that allows readers to still see the joy and love. The Summer Place was such an accurate portrayal of life - that there is humor to be found in really awful situations and that even when things are good, really really good, most people still second guess their decisions. While I definitely didn’t agree with all the choices the characters made (hello morals deliminas), it made for an incredibly juicy and entertaining read. Pre-order The Summer Place, add it to your TBR because it’s going to be the perfect companion for your summer reading at the beach! An absolute 5 star smashing success.

An incredibly sincere thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another amazing book by Jenifer Weiner. The beginning was a tat difficult, but once I understood the characters in this book, I could not put it down. This tells a story of a family and all the issues that one faces in their lifetime, from first loves to end of life regrets. This book was phenomenal, it makes one take hard look at their own life and ask yourself if your happy and doing the right things in your life. This involves being honest with yourself and those who you love. Great read, will be recommending this to numerous patrons as well as people in my life. I also feel this would be an amazing book club book.

As always, I looked very forward to reading a Jennifer Weiner summer book! This one did not disappoint. It kept me hooked from beginning to end. While I kind of knew how things were going to end up in the conclusion, it was still important to the story to find out how each of the characters reached that ending. I read this in the winter, but it really transported me to summer time! I loved this book and am already looking forward to her next one.

This will be a great beach read. I'm always so jealous of people who summer at the beach like the characters in this story. It was interesting to read about everyone's lives and secrets. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

THE SUMMER PLACE is a delightful read - classic Weiner. Although the plot line is somewhat implausible, I was more than willing to suspend my disbelief because of Weiner's great characters and great writing. I felt empathy for all of the characters, even when I wanted to slap some sense into some of them. I read the book greedily, even as I wanted to slow down to savor it - still read it in a day. Oh, well, I'm sure that Weiner will give me another novel to devour soon. I just love her books.

Why is it that I can never EVER put down Jennifer Weiner's books once I start them. I mean I seriously considered calling out of work to finish this book. I can't even begin to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, there is a LOT to digest in this book. I can't really go too into it because I don't want to give any spoilers away. The book focuses on one family...an extended family. You have Ronnie (Veronica) who is the head of the family in a way. She has twins...Sarah and Sam. Ok stay with me here.... Sarah is married to Eli and they have two boys together. Previously Eil was married to Annette and they had a daughter Ruby. Ruby is engaged to Gabe and the book centers around that wedding..or at least that is what sets the wheels in motion. There is also Gabe's mother as well.
Ok now you have Sam, Sam has a stepson Connor that he is raising on his own. Sam was married to Julia, but Julia had died in a car crash. That's not really a spoiler because she has already passed when the book starts. Every single character (except obviously the young kids) have some sort of secret and these are the types of secrets that can destroy people.
Ok that is the best I can do without giving anything else away. This is going to be a great summer read!!

I adore Jennifer Weiner and look forward to her books every Summer, but this one is not on the top of my favorite list. This book follows quite a few characters (each chapter is from a different person's POV), during the summer after the start of the pandemic. When Sarah's stepdaughter Ruby, announces she is marrying her boyfriend- everything starts to fall apart and many secrets will be revealed. It was a little chaotic and honestly, so much so that it was very unrealistic. I will always be a fan of Jennifer and continue to read her books, just looking forward to seeing what she has in store next time.

I love Jennifer Weiner; she’s a true queen of the beach read. I did like the book. And while I always adore reading about a beloved location like the Cape, and Ms Weiner is a master bringing a place to life, there are a few things in this latest novel that may make some readers uncomfortable. This book is more explicit than Ms Weiner’s other novels. And the whiff of possibility that a major sexual line may be crossed while one of the main characters stays silent rang false to me. A few sex scenes felt gratuitous as well. I wanted to love this but I couldn’t help feeling on edge reading it. I liked the main characters very much though! Motherhood and marriage and regrets and women's choices are well represented here. The pandemic also overshadows the action and most likely has some influence on the decisions these characters make. All in all, fans of Jennifer Weiner will find much to enjoy. Thanks very much to the publisher for the opportunity to review this title!

I will preface this review saying that I have read all of Jennifer Weiner's previous books and was so excited to see she'd written a new one. Overall, I liked this story but found so so many parts to be just far-fetched and unbelievable (one example is a man recognizes a woman (from behind) on a NYC street whom he hasn't seen in 20+ years - really?) There were so many unbelievable scenarios (too hard to describe without spoilers) and I found it a bit dragging for me. Overall a 3/5 start. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. While I will keep reading Jennifer Weiner's books, this wasn't one of my favorites.

This takes place after the pandemic (if only it was as "short" as it was in the book!), when Ruby announces her engagement. Relationships, secrets, and drama keep everyone busy leading up to the wedding. Some contrivances but an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC. I wish I could provide feedback on all the typos I found! Hopefully someone will catch them before the final version!

I really enjoyed this book, but this family was MESSY. Like good lord. I did feel like there were some points where the story just drug on, and those could have been cut out. Overall I really enjoyed it though! A family full of secrets and drama but also so, so much love.

The many characters in this novel had so many issues and secrets that at first I thought it was too silly and too unbelievable; every possible issue the author could think of was packed into one or other of the characters' bags. It remained unbelievable (and light-weight if not silly!) but improved as a fun read considerably as it played out, with the author managing to bring all the issues to satisfactory (if unlikely) resolutions, and the family happily back together. Definitely a light beach read; one of those books where the most terrible issues and the emotions of the characters grappling with them draws no empathetic emotions from the reader (well not me, anyway). I guess that is the difference between a light beach read and a thought-provoking bookclub read.
Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance digital review copy.

I was lucky to get a copy of this book and I am glad, as this book took me out of my reading rut. I always enjoy how Jennifer manages to weave together characters from her previous stories into her current ones. This is a story about families and their secrets with a twist of and A Midsummer Night's Dream I enjoyed reading it. This was probably my favorite of her Cape Cod books.

The perfect summer beach read - I am really enjoying this latest set of novels by Jennifer Weiner set in Truro (including the overlapping characters), including THE SUMMER PLACE. It has the author's signature mix of humor, realistic family and romantic relationships, and suspense/family secrets. I'd absolutely read a follow-up about any of the characters!

Jennifer Weiner has a way with words and I usually can never put down her books. However, The Summer Place, left me wanting more. The story kept me entertained but was very far fetched. I found myself in disbelief many times.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

The Summer Place paints a picture of a family with lots of secrets. Focusing on the wedding of daughter Ruby, this secrets come tumbling out one by one. A good beach read; it could have been better with less political posturing. Recommended for all lovers of family drama. #TheSummerPlace #NetGalley #SaltMarshAuthors