Jennifer Weiner continues to stun with her adult rom-coms. Her books transcend age groups. My mom loves her books and so do I for their humor, heart, and Jewish rep.

The Summer Palace is yet another great story by Jennifer Weiner. I fell in love with the family in this story and I am sure you will too! Highly recommended! #TheSummerPlace #NetGalley

I have been on a Jennifer Weiner binge this year. I have LOVED everything from her. I was super excited to receive the arc for this one. However, this one majorly missed the mark for me. This book was a disaster and unbelievable. The affairs and family drama that takes place is so convoluted and far fetched. I finished the store but was utterly disappointed.

Jennifer Weiner has long been on my list of auto-buy authors and her latest title is a staple of my beach bag every summer. But if I'm being honest, I was underwhelmed by her last few books so when I dove into 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘, I tried to manage my expectations.

I'm happy to report that this book is much more of what I've come to expect from Weiner - family drama, secrets coming to light and characters questioning who they are and who they want to be - than her last couple of novels even if still doesn't live up to her earlier work. (𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜: 𝙎𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙.) There's a little too much Covid, a few too many coincidences (the final one had me literally saying out loud "Please no!") and way too much infidelity. I'm not prudish about affairs in books but almost every character in this one cheats in order to figure out what they really want and it makes them hard to root for. Overall, I liked but not as much as I wish I had.

3.5 stars

to Atria Books and NetGalley for the copy to review.

I am typically a fan of Jennifer Weiner's from the very beginning days [Good in Bed]. I admit this one took me a little longer to get into than most of hers. It felt a little flat and there are so many characters to keep track of.

That being said, each character has a very rich, intricate history. You have to understand the histories to understand the present. And oh, what a present it is. All of these stories are strongly intertwined, only the players do not yet know it. It's when the secrets start being revealed that things start to get more interesting. I felt like I was ready for an epic family tale that was the basis for one of those 1980s nighttime soaps like Dallas or Falcon Crest.

What's interesting is how the story is also the product of the pandemic, so it does echo the flat strange lives we've all been living.

I also enjoyed the house being its own character.

Resolutions and endings as secrets were revealed seemed a little rushed and too neatly tied up with a bow. But I absolutely sobbed at the ending, feeling what the author has been going through in her own life [from what I have read online]. I think the ending of the novel finally woke up a bit because she was able to pour her feelings into the characters. And I felt it.

So while it isn't my favorite, I didn't feel like I had wasted my time with it. It kept me contentedly occupied on a rainy spring day. I'll keep reading her work.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me a requested review copy via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF @ 15%. So pandemic heavy and I read women's fiction/chick lit to get away from the pandemic. Sorry, but this one is not for me.

An engrossing novel that explores the ties that bind, longing and loss, and the power that lies in the choices we make when unearthing what makes us who we really are. A beautifully written conclusion to Weiner’s Cape trilogy. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for my gifted ARC.

This book was so good! There were so many twists and turns in the plot that I wasn't expecting. I felt like I could have just kept reading and reading, I didn't want the story to end. The characters were memorable and the setting was great. Highly recommended!

A fun quick read. Perfect for summer when you’re wanting light reads. Didn’t really connect with the characters, but still enjoyed it.

There is a reason why Jennifer Weiner continues to be a successful author, and this book is a great example of it. She has woven the stories of two families together in a way that leaves the reader with a book they can't put down. It features Sarah Danhauser, whose stepdaughter Ruby is getting married, setting in motion plans to have the wedding at the family house on Cape Cod - a last blast before Sarah's mother, Veronica, puts it on the market. The journey to the wedding weekend includes family secrets which kept me reading to find out how they resolved. The book also acknowledges the pandemic from the perspective of someone who lives in New York City, and I found it to be true to life. Highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book and it was the perfect summer read. I like the way her books are perfect women’s fiction but her recent ones also include a touch of suspense and mystery. Her reeds are comfort for me and I am a fan of life. I look forward to her next book. Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the copy.

Sarah Danhauser is shocked when her twenty-two year old step daughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend. Her stepdaughter, Ruby is set on having her wedding in three months and has planned to have her wedding at Sarah’s mother Veronica’s family beach house on Cape Cod. Veronica becomes thrilled with the idea and loves that the family is being brought together for one last time at the beach house since she is planning on selling it. Ruby’s wedding will bring up a lot of memories, regrets, and secrets between each individual of the family. This book is mostly told through the point of views of Sarah, Eli, Ruby, Sam, and Veronica.

My first ever Jennifer Weiner book was back in 2008 when I was 13 years old and the book was Certain Girls. My grandmother had a book fair at her work and was asking for recommendations on what to buy. She was recommended Certain Girls and she bought it for me. She did not know it was an adult book and that it probably was not appropriate for my 13 year old self. I never told her it was not appropriate for me and I ended up really loving that book and I still need to read the first book to it since Certain Girls was book 2, but you could read it as a stand-alone. It was not until I was out of college when I picked up another Jennifer Weiner book and I really still do enjoy her books. I tend to love the characters she writes since they feel so real and have all this baggage so they are not these perfect characters. She knows how to hook you as well. This book is told through many point of views and is told in past and present, so it can be a little confusing, but you will get the hang of it and become so engrossed. This is told more in the past flashbacks though, but ends up all connecting in the end. This book is beautiful, heart breaking, and juicy. I really did not want to put this book down because I needed to know what happened to each character in the past with what secrets they were hiding. Plus, I needed to know how their past choices and secrets would effect them in the end. This book concluded nicely and I just enjoyed every moment of it.

A captivating book full of family drama. In true Jennifer Weiner fashion this was a wonderful character driven book. It was hard to follow the storyline at first but as I got to know the characters and care about what happened to them the easier it was to follow the storyline. The story itself was told by each character and the house that brings them all together.
The only problem I had was believing the many coincidences that bring these characters together. But then I reminded myself that this is a story of fiction and I needed to just sit back and enjoy it. And once I was done reading, I missed this extremely dysfunctional family that fill the pages of this book.
Overall, this was a fun, entertaining, and scandalous book that I enjoyed. I am extremely grateful to Atria Books for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Another great novel by Jennifer Weiner. I loved all of the characters (per usual) and the storyline was amazing. This is a great summer read! Very quick and I was invested the entire time.

Jennifer Weiner does it again. She is great at writing fun summer reads and there is not one I have not enjoyed and this is no exception.

thank you for the review copy in exchange for a fair review.

I did not finish this book. I usually like Jennifer Weiner as a writer, but I did not like the structure of this book at all. Each chapter for at least the first 20% of the book focuses on a different character and his or her backstory. For me, this was simply too many main characters to follow, and the plot was moving along much too slowly. I can see how the author was trying to create a bit of suspense by structuring the book in this way and closing each chapter with somewhat of a cliffhanger, but that wasn't really enough to keep my attention.

Heart felt book of a dysfunctional family who can’t seem to find it in them to be happy for a love match made during Covid. While so many of this authors marvelous devices and story telling pastiches are there. I was never drawn to any particular characters. and there was a massive amount of backstory or look backs.

It was very appropriate that I read this book while vacationing on the Cape. I love a good family saga, and this one didn't disappoint. I was satisfied with how it all wrapped up, and will definitely continue to read new releases from Jennifer Weiner.

The Summer Place is the third in a loose trilogy of books by Jennifer Weiner, all of which are at least partially set in the same Cape Cod beach house. The house itself is the only carry-over "character" between books, so it's safe to read any of them as standalones or in any order.

The Summer Place opens seeing Sarah Danhauser's twenty two year old daughter Ruby announcing her engagement to her boyfriend Gabe, who like many had their fledgling relationship rushed by the onset of the COVID pandemic. Ruby and Gabe announce they plan to marry in a matter of months, over the summer at Sarah's mother Ronnie's beach house in Cape Cod. Sarah is aghast and irritated with her husband Eli, who has been distant throughout the pandemic and shows little reaction to Ruby's big news.

The lead up to and story of the wedding weekend is told from alternating perspectives of several characters, slowly revealing the secrets that each member of the family is hiding in culminating in the wedding day, where secrets and true selves will be revealed.

While I enjoyed The Summer Place, I am usually absolutely blown away by Jennifer Weiner novels and didn't feel that way about this one. Still very enjoyable and recommended as a 4-star beach read.

Definitely a solid conclusion to the Cape Cod trilogy, and as always, she does not disappoint with her books.