I really enjoyed the atmospheric writing and alternating timeline of The Girls of Summer. Between London and this beautiful Greek island, I could genuinely feel this novel under my skin.
For about the first half, though, I was so frustrated by Rachel (our main character and narrator for both timelines). 17-years-ago Rachel was SO naive, I couldn’t stand how she couldn’t grasp what was going on around her (I’m an old lady now- oh how quickly I forget how young and dumb I was long past the age of 17). Modern day Rachel was living in nostalgia and treating her sweet husband so poorly, I just wanted to shake her.
Then I started acknowledging the traumas Rachel endured during her past-POV. Naive or not, she’d gone through A LOT and her current day actions were definitely the result of blocking out her past and coping.
That said, even with justifications, Rachel frustrated me and this book should come with major trigger warnings. Think Jeffry Epstein. It's a good book, but be warned.

This is definitely not my usual type of story, but the writing was so amazing I continued reading, and am very glad I didn’t miss out. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

A story of a woman struggling to remember if her teenage sun kissed summer in Greece was really what she thought it was.

When I started this book I was completely swept away by Bishop’s evocative descriptions of the Grecian coast. Her atmospheric writing literally had me smelling the sea and feeling the sun warm my face. In my early 20s a few girlfriends and I spent part of our summer on the Croatian coast, and aspects of this novel made me nostalgic for those late nights and carefree days. But then things in the story take a dark turn and I was glad my summer did not end the same way.

This is not a light read by any means so think twice before thinking “light beach read”. It’s thought provoking and well written yet hard to read at times. A slower burn that deals with some sensitive topics like consent, trauma, and sexual assault/exploitation.

I was very impressed that this was a debut novel and look forward to more by @katiebishopwrites!

4.5 stars

Thank you, St Martin's Press, for the gifted copy of Girls of Summer {partner}

Genre: Fiction
Format: 🎧
Audiobook Narration: ☆☆☆☆
Pub Date: 6.6.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆

Reviewing books like The Girls of Summer is challenging because the content is so alarming that I struggled to invest in the storyline fully.

I'm not sure what I expected when I started reading this book, but I had a difficult time reading along as 17-year-old travels to Greece (alone), begins seeing an older man who is so blatantly manipulating her, and ultimately unravels the rest of her life.

However, I did appreciate how the author showed Rachel through the years and how her younger years influenced her adult life. The book is a dual timeline, so the reader can put together the complete picture of Rachel's life. While I didn't love Rachel's choices regarding her husband, I also understood the author's reasoning for having the character make those choices.

Trigger warning: grooming, sexual assault, rape, drug use, adultery, and suicide.

I recommend reading The Girls of Summer if you liked reading My Dark Vanessa.

I had such high hopes. I didn’t love this one, but I am sure there will be plenty of people who will! Dual timelines, Greece setting, unlikeable characters.

The synopsis for The Girls of Summer and taglines piqued my interest. I love supporting debut authors and felt that Annabel Scholey did a wonderful job narrating Rachel and her emotions. However; I could not connect to the plot/ storyline and did not finish this book at 63 percent. I was not interested in finding out what happened.

Rachel and Caroline spend the summer in Greece. Both girls are in high school and so very young. Rachel falls in law with a man 20 years older than she is. Years later she is married and goes back to Greece. This book is told in dual time lines. I didn't enjoy this one as much as I wanted to. I ended up skipping parts. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Full on honesty. I just…. I just didn’t like this one. 🫣

Ok, I read ‘The Girls of Summer’ by Katie Bishop hoping to be transported to a glittering sun soaked Greek island. What I got was cringe. In the beginning I was so interested in where this story was going but then I just wasn’t.

This book goes back and forth between 18 year old Rachel and Rachel in her 30s. She has been in love with Alister (15+ years her senior) since she was a teenager… eeeeeven though she has been married to someone else for awhile now (Don’t even get me started on that part). When Rachel was younger she ran away to Greece, made friends, fell in love… or so she thought. That Alister guy sucked. I mean CLEARLY. DID SHE REALLY NOT KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING?! I’d like to spoil it all, but I won’t. Message me if you’re interested! Either way, I just really didn’t like Rachel.

I was totally invested in the story and where it was going- so many secrets. BUT Rachel annoyed me so, so very much. I just wasn’t into it. I can’t explain it. I wanted more but also less, if that makes sense.

If you want to travel to Greece through a book… this isn’t the one.

Yikes. I know this isn’t the best review, but if you’d like to form your own opinion ‘The Girls of Summer’ is out June 6th. Thank you to St Martins Press for this early review copy!

Q. Where is your current book taking you? Right now I’m in a quaint cliff side town in the PNW.

🖤🖤🖤

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this! I thought it was such a poignant and heartfelt novel. To find out this way a debut? Blown away. This was so good. I can't recommend it enough!

Have you ever watched a movie trailer and then thought okay, now I feel like I’ve already seen the movie? That’s kinda how I felt with this one… I was wishing for more twists and turns. I felt like the book followed the synopsis. It was mostly quite sad. But, I have never been to Greece, and I have always wanted to, so I love that this book took me there. And I’ve been feeling like I am ready for more summer-y reads, and this one fit the bill for that as well!

At the age of 17, Rachel spent a summer on a Greek Island that was full of alcohol, parties and questionable decisions. That summer she fell in love with a much older man named Alistair. She has harbored this secret love for him for over 15 years. Now, she is reconnecting with others who were part of that summer, other girls who lived and worked on the island. Their stories are of sex, money and power, and ultimately manipulation. She is forced to confront the fact that her past was not what it seemed. She was taken advantage of, etc.

This was an interesting book. I wanted there to be a big twist, but there wasn't. They alluded throughout the book that the girls were possibly doing sex work, whether or not they realized it. Interesting premise. Just didn't knock it out of the park for me

This is a debut novel from this author and I was interested from the get go. Rachel goes backpacking with her best friend, Caroline. They end up on a Greek island. They’re 17, naive, and in a foreign place. Rachel meets Alastair. He’s an older man that seems interested in her. It’s alluring and new. Fast forward 16 years and Rachel starts to think that maybe her memories are romanticized more than she realizes.

Despite the title of this book, it’s actually a pretty dark and hard read. The topics discussed in it aren’t summery, lovey dovey, or light. However, it is written extremely well. Even though it was hard to digest at times, the author does it in a graceful way.

It was actually a pretty heartbreaking story.

TW: Sex trafficking, rape, suicide, drug use, abortion

3.5 stars. This novel was very similar to THE ISLAND OF LOST GIRLS by Alex Marwood, with their sunny Greek locales full of teenagers on holiday or a gap year. But there is a darkness lurking behind the whitewashed buildings and sparkling blue ocean. In THE GIRLS OF SUMMER, barely age 18 Rachel begins an affair with an older man while on vacation that is not exactly what it seems to be. Fast forward 16 years and the memories of that teenaged summer come flooding back when Rachel returns to the island with her husband. This novel was a little slow, with lots of internal dialogue, but it would definitely make for a great summer read.

ᴛʜᴇ ɢɪʀʟs ᴏꜰ sᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ
ᴋᴀᴛɪᴇ ʙɪsʜᴏᴘ
sᴛ. ᴍᴀʀᴛɪɴs ᴘʀᴇss
ᴘᴜʙ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: ᴊᴜɴᴇ 𝟼 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟹
✩✩✩✩✩

Happy weekend! Oh my gosh, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 by debut author @katiebishopwrites was an incredible, heartbreaking, addicting story.

I still can not believe that this is a debut novel because of how perfectly executed this story was. Beautifully written, well flowing plot, heavily character driven, dual timelines and narration changes - this was just brilliant. Also, this was such an atmospheric read- the setting is on a Greek island and the beachy vibes were on point.

This is one of those books where the characters hold you hostage and you feel completely invested and immersed in their story. Main character Rachel will probably live in my brain forever- I loved her and found her relatable and I felt literally every emotion she was going through. Let me just say, I can understand people being frustrated with Rachel and her denials- BUT honestly the minipulation she was subjected too at her age was just bad and she was just totally blinded by her love for Alistair.

I really loved this book! Definitely wouldn’t call it a thriller, more like an emotional, fictional drama. This is not a story for those faint of the heart, the plot is ROUGH and there are a lot of TW- sexual abuse, rape, manipulation, emotional abuse, trafficking, etc.

So many thanks to @netgalley @stmartinspress for the early copy. I can not wait to see what else author @katiebishopwrites has in store for us!

I didn’t enjoy this one, sadly. I was looking forward to it based on the cover (stunning) and description. A story set in a beautiful location, two timelines, lost “love.” But Rachel was not a likeable character, and the man she was pining over and reminiscing about was awful. This was definitely a #metoo themed story. It was a slow burn mystery—not a propulsive thriller, and the ending was lackluster.

Short synopsis: Then: Rachel decides to do a gap year and spend some time on the Greek isles. Now: she’s trying to piece together her past on the Islands, and her relationship with Tom her husband and Alistair her teenage lover.

My thoughts: This was not a blow me away thriller, but I did feel it was more contemporary fiction with mystery elements.

I enjoyed the “then” and “now” time frames as we unravel along with Rachel what exactly happened during her 18th year in Greece. We could see the red flags from a mile away, but I can see how she was manipulated into circumstances she didn’t see coming.

I did a mix of audio and physical of this one and the narrator did a fabulous job.

Read if you love:
- books about the #MeToo movement
- Justice
- Then/now timeframes
- Coming of age
- Finding your truth

There are definitely triggers with this one: rape, abortion, prostitution, coercion, manipulation of power, and suicide so beware of those.

I went into this book blind and I honestly had no idea what to expect. I was expecting a cute summer holiday fiction or romance based on the cover and it was not 100% what I got.

I really enjoyed this on audio. The narration was fabulous. It was easy to follow the then and now timelines and even keeping track of the many characters wasn't hard.

I strongly disliked the now version of the MC due to poor decisions. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and how things played out and that it had such an impactful message throughout the book.

Thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio & St Martin's Press for advance copies in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel is still obsessed with Alistair. She has been since they were a teen. She is married and still wonders.
They had a summer romance when she was seventeen on a remote Greek island. He was much older than her and she was seventeen. She really had no idea how controlling he was. On this island there were situations that were hard to read, and the other girls on the island did not seem to have a care in the world. Something happens which changes Rachel's life.
As an adult she goes back to the island with her husband, and old memories resurface.
The timelines go between then and now, and you will see how Rachel's life is shaped and how young and naïve she was.
Triggers: Abuse, Suicide, Drugs,

I’ve read quite a few “destination thrillers” over the years, and it’s what I was expecting from this book. So the first thing I would say is… this is NOT that kind of book.

The Girls of Summer is told in flashbacks to the summer Rachel spent living and working on a Greek island and fell in love with a much older man. But is she remembering it accurately? Or has she romanticized the events of that summer and the relationships that formed?

This is a darker and heavier book than I was anticipating, and I had to put it down a few times simply because I needed to re-set before continuing to read.

The author does a great job of making you believe the main character… she is difficult to like, but you do believe that SHE truly believes her version of the past. And that makes for a compelling read.

I wasn’t quite sure going into this one if it would be for me or not, but after the first couple of chapters, I couldn’t put it down and read the entire book in a day!
17 year old Rachel and her best friend Caroline are spending the summer before senior year island hopping when they arrive to a new Greek island that Rachel feels drawn to. She meets an older man named Alistair and immediately falls hard for him. He works for a mysterious millionaire and they have to hide the relationship. Before long Rachel gets into some terrible situations that culminate with a death. Spending the next 15 years trying to move on with her life but unable to forget Alistair Rachel finally meets up with another friend from the island and learns things that will destroy everything she’d been clinging to.