Rachel is in her mid-30's now, employed and married. Her husband is stable and sweet and she likes the life she's built. But a vacation she takes to an island she hasn't been back to in over 10 years sends her stable life tipping because she bumps in to a girl she knew so long ago. The summer she was 17 and freshly turns 18, she's backpacking with a friend and she bumps in to a group of girls. She meets an older man that introduces her to the world of money, drinking and travel.

This story is a bit dark. The age gap of the MC and the man she's seeing is eye-watering. The timeframe jumps between two - the Then and Now. The then being 18 year old Rachel and friends. The Now being adult Rachel, as her life tailspins as she tries to reach Alistair again, after all this time.

The creep factor jumps off the page. The Then chapters are just full of foreboding and are hard to read at times. Knowing this is a book written during the lockdown and Pandemic feels fitting, that feeling of isolation is a constant undercurrent. There's SA in this book, so tread lightly and make sure to check Trigger Warnings so you know what this story holds. I like how it concluded but I found the MC really frustrating at times. I tried to see her POV, her obsession and her struggle but I had a tough time really getting to know her and understand the why. I did find the story compelling and heartbreaking.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I hate admitting this but I wasn't able to connect with this one as much as I hoped.  Even though I didn't connect, I still felt it was a well thought out novel on grooming and the way different people experience trauma and their perspectives on memories.

This book did not disappoint. It was well written and a compelling read. I almost read the entire book in one sitting - I couldn’t put it down. Congratulations Katie on a fabulous debut

DNF @ 37%.

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this one. It felt very repetitive and I just didn’t like the MC very much.
I really wanted to like it because I’ve heard some great things from friends that have read it but it’s turned out to not be for me.

Thank you so much St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for honest thoughts.

Interesting read. At times it moved a little slow but it starts with a group of girls on holiday and one decides to stay in Greece a bit longer. During her stay she is entangled in a world she knows nothing about and 20 years later it’s all catching up to her and seeing things from a different perspective.

***Trigger Warnings***
Sexual assault, sex trafficking, rape, suicide, drug/alcohol use, abortion
While these are not addressed in a descript or graphic manner, they are a large part of this story. Please be aware before you start this book.

Seventeen year old Rachel escapes to a Greek island for vacation with her friend. While she is there, she meets some other girls who are working for Alistair, a handsome man in his 30's. Rachel is immediately taken with Alistair, and finds herself thinking about him and doing what she can to continuously be invited to these VIP-like parties he is hosting. As Rachel becomes even more wrapped up in Alistair, the world around her and her friends is crashing hard and fast. By the end of the summer, nothing is as it seemed in the beginning, and the girls are all faced with hard decisions and consequences as they maneuver through their new realities. Told in alternating timelines of "then" and "now," Rachel recounts her first love and starts to see in a new light the memories she has been holding on to for decades.

This was a challenging book for me to get through. The title makes it seem like it would be a light-hearted, airy, fun read, and this book is anything but that. The content of this book is heavy, and there are several trigger warnings that need to be associated with this title, so please be mindful of that before you start this one.

I did find the story okay overall, but I felt that the writing was repetitive and it is a definite slow burn type of book. It seemed to take a long time (60% or so) to get to the really meaty part of the book, and that was about when I decided I needed to know what would happen to these girls. I felt like there was too much daydreaming about Alistair and a potential future with him that it dragged the book down. That being said, I did like the alternating timelines, and was more invested in the "then" chapters than the "now" chapters.

I was interested in this book because I participated in a study abroad program to Spain when I was in college and I thought this might be something to reignite the feelings and experiences I had as a young lady alone in a foreign country. I am glad to say that my experience was not the same as Rachel's. In fact, I felt that Rachel was extremely naïve and irresponsible throughout this entire book, and I couldn't believe that she couldn't see what was happening right in front of her face. Maybe that's par for the course at seventeen, but even as an adult, I felt Rachel hadn't really matured at all. One of the biggest disconnects for me was the characters, as I didn't really care for any of them. Rachel actually made me want to grab her by the shoulders and shake her and scream in her face "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I am not one for liking the endings of books, and I can't say I liked this one either. I think some of the resolves for the problems were lackluster and a cop out. I also think this book was marketed as a "thriller" and it is definitely not that. This is more of an atmospheric drama than anything.

Overall, I gave this one 3 stars. The story was fine when it wasn't repetitive, and this is the author's debut, so I take that into consideration as well. I think the writing was good, aside from the repetition, though I can't be certain that it wasn't on purpose to demonstrate Rachel's obsession with Alistair. The heavy content did have me in my feelings at times, and that deserves some credit too.

Give this one a chance, just don't expect a thriller or light-hearted beach read. I think I didn't read the blurb of this one before I started reading, so maybe that was part of my issue in connecting to the story. I think I was expecting something different.

Rachel Evans is a young impressionable 17 year old girl who goes with her friend the Greece where she meets a man 20 years older than she, and right away I did not like him. Alistair Wright was so manipulative and anyone with any experience in life could see that things were heading the wrong direction. Rachel totally falls for him and is "in love" with Alistair and she is unable at her age to see what is truly going on. Alistair works for a wealthy man who throws parties where young girls drink with the men and more sinister things happen.

The story is told in alternating THEN and NOW chapters which works really well. 17 year old Rachel becomes 34 year old Rachel who is married and lies about serious things to her husband and others. She still has feelings for Alistair and simply cannot see what her friends try to tell her what happened back that summer. She is blind to the truth. But will she remain blind to all that happened or will she finally open her eyes?

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a free audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion which I have given.

I wanted to like this more than I did.

The Girls of Summer follows Rachel, a 17 year old who has moved to a small island in Greece. She meets an older man a mysterious, even older, man. Rachel and several young girls that are also working on the island take up jobs working for these men, entertaining men during parties.

I expected a fun, maybe mysterious storyline that follows young girls having a wild summer in Greece. But this was more of a depressing tale on how older men with bad intentions take advantage of young, vulnerable women.

The story jumps between Rachel at 17, to Rachel as an older, married woman. I didn't actually like either Rachel.

However, I did read the entire book, so it couldn't have been that bad. I think I just kept expecting somethign to happen...

Thank you to #Netgalley and St. Martin's press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not impact my review.

This book was so engrossing, I read it in basically two sittings. (I get interrupted by family and life, ya know?)
The author deals with hard topics in a manner that is just enough to get the point across, but in such a balanced way. I’m definitely recommending the book and looking forward to the next one by Katie Bishop! Well done

TOUGH subject matter, dealing with consent, coming of age, and emotional trauma. Well-written and not as "light" as I thought it would be. I enjoyed the jumps between "Then" and "Now" and how the author unfolded Rachel's story. What I thought would be a perfect summer lighthearted read was really quite different than that. I enjoyed this novel!

I like the cover.
I thought Rachel was a liar and unable to be truthful in any of her relationships with men.
I felt the sorriest for Tom and was glad he got a good ending. But Rachel did to him was just sneaky, dishonest, and I can’t condone it/
It’s an ok read, but I liked the peripheral characters better than the main ones.

3⭐️
- not a light summer read (darker themes)
- started out great with the girls on their backpacking trip before college
- island vibes🙌
- slowed down in the middle and then dragged
- seemed like some of the side characters were too detailed for no reason (Aka the whole storyline w Tom)
- would try another book by this author in the future

Here’s some takeaway from this story… Greece is beautiful, older men like taking advantage of young vulnerable girls, and Rachel (our MC) is not a relatable or likable character.

The Girls of Summer follows Rachel, a 17 year old who has moved to a small island in Greece. She meets an older man, Alistair who works for a mysterious, even older, man. Rachel and several young girls that are also working on the island take up jobs working for Alistair and his boss, entertaining men during lavish parties. What I thought would be more of a storyline that follows young adults having a wild summer in Greece, was actually more of a depressing tale on how older men with bad intentions take advantage of young, vulnerable women.

The story jumps between Rachel at 17, to Rachel as an older, married woman. While I can understand that young Rachel was young and naive, older Rachel is equally as naive and overall an unlikable character.

The storyline is pretty straightforward and predictable. The characters are quite flat with no differences in personality. The plot feels more like a series of events rather than a story. There is a slight buildup towards the end, but ultimately there are no twists or any shocking plot points. The book was written well, but I found it just OK; entertaining enough to keep reading but not super memorable.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this! It’s a slow burn, but I enjoyed the story and seeing it unfold. The obsession was deep and seeing her ignore the red flags was a bit heartbreaking, but also understandable. I felt satisfied at the end and I just enjoyed my time reading it. I would read more from this author!

Now I want to book a trip to Greece!!! Such an interesting read. I wasn't a big fan of Rachel. Her character just wasn't likable to me. And Allistar just seemed to be bad news. But the setting was to die for and the back story was pretty interesting. Definitely didn't give me thriller vibes.

*Thank you @stmartinspress for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Review not posted to Amazon/Goodreads because less than 4 stars or DNF.*

☀️ This story is an unflinching look at how easily vulnerable young girls can be influenced, manipulated, and exploited, and how the consequences of that can have life-long impacts.

☀️ Rachel, the MC, was young, naïve, and super frustrating for me as a reader on the outside looking in. As a teen, she was blinded by what she thought was true love, and her conscious choice to ignore the terrible things that were happening during her time in Greece was really getting to me. I wanted to scream at her to OPEN HER EYES!! This is exactly why predators choose to prey on young girls – because they know they typically do not have enough life experience to understand what is happening and they are easy marks. But even years later as an adult, Rachel was still naïve and still justifying her feelings and everything that happened in Greece. I believe the author was likely providing an example of prolonged trauma response here, but Rachel’s actions in the present still frustrated me.

☀️ Parts of the book were heartbreaking and hard to read. There are trigger events in the story, but they were handled delicately.

☀️ The author did an amazing job setting the scene in Greece. From the landscape to the mood, it was exceptionally done.

☀️ Overall, I thought this story was emotional, heartbreaking, and quite heavy… and impressive for a debut author.

Thank you @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for an eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This book took me a long time to get through - and as a result a long time to review.

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop is a darker read than I usually reach for. It covers the darker sides of beautiful places in the summer and how someone can be manipulated.

Rachel met Allistar (20 years her senior) had a summer love affair over 15 years ago when she was a teenager. For years she has romanticized their summer together and has been in love with him ever since. Now, returning to that island - she is obsessed with re living that amazing time in her life. Unfortunately, when she starts revising the sites that once held fond memories, she realizes that she might have been wrong about the summer that she had so long ago.

I want to emphasis that this book deals with themes of self realization, grooming, and manipulation.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for the arc!

The title of this book makes one expect that it is going to be a breezy summer read; however, that couldn't be farther from the truth. This novel contains some dark and, at times, upsetting content. It begins with a group of high school girls on a trip to Greece, which is quite surprising alone, but there is so much more. The main narrator, Rachel, is looking back to when she was there and became attached to an older man, Alastair, and fell madly in love. The writing captures the setting really well. Some might say it takes too long to pick up speed, but I liked the pace. It gives you time to really feel the sense of foreboding as she also gives a "present day" account of going back to Greece with her current husband, Tom. This structure provides a build-up to discovering what happened back then. As the stories alternate between then and now, we learn shocking details that explain why she still has unresolved issues from that summer.

This is not a thriller. This is an exploration of the predatory behavior by evil men who exploit young vulnerable women. The topic is timely and I feel this author did a good job with a very disturbing subject. I just want to be clear that I would not recommend it for just anyone.

I enjoyed the setting of this book so much. Reading about the vulnerability and exploitation of a 17-year-old girl, not so much. I know this happens; just watch the news, but for me, this wasn't a book I enjoyed. There are sensitive subjects covered and the cover and title of the book was misleading for me. This is not a light read.