This book is hard to review. I liked the concept and a couple of the characters were fairly well fleshed out but that's about all the good I can say about this particular book. I've read others by Rachel Hauck that I did enjoy more.

The first thing that I didn't like was the misuse and mis-spelling of words. One that really stuck out was using "wit" instead of "whit" which, at one point, made the character sound stupid. Some might call me a grammatic police person but it really spoils a book with glaring errors. Especially when you have to read a sentence over and over. Sometimes the sentence seemed to be in the wrong place totally, or unnecessary altogether.

The second thing I didn't like was that her theology did not align with mine. And for this being Christian fiction, nothing was even mentioned until about halfway through the book. Last, I felt the ending left too much unfinished.

I would not recommend this book. I give it a generous 3 out of 5-star review. I was given the chance to read and review this book through LibraryThing. I am not required to leave a positive review, or one at all.

The Best Summer of our Lives drew me in and took me back to my teen years in the 70s, to the friendships, camp, fun, frustration, and confusion. It's all in there, the life of young women trying to find their way. Then fast-forward twenty years to find the four friends living different lives than they expected. Told through the lens of each friend, Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Snow the story goes through ups and downs, tragedy, and horrific news. But in the end, hope wins. Hauck has written an incredible story that will stick with me for a long time. I especially enjoyed all the 70s references and the chapter titles. If you grew up in that era, you'll love it. Once I started reading the book, I wanted to finish. I read it in two sittings, which never happens. I love how Hauck threads faith and hope through the story and the way she portrays the love of Jesus. Nostalgic and heart-felt, this is a book I'll think about for a while. This was a free to me copy with no expectations.

Interesting story to read for summer. The best summer of our lives follows four best friends in 1977 and we see the story through all of them and we see where they end up twenty years later in 1997. I've talked to many readers who are wondering about this story and I've encourage them to read it.

I absolutely hated the tropes found in this book- accidental pregnancy, lying within marriage, immature conflict resolution! No thank you

I loved this story and how it brought back memories of growing up in the late seventies. I really liked the four seasons. I loved that each of these girls were very different from each other but they were best friends. I loved that this story made me laugh and cry. I recommend having many tissues handy while reading and be willing to stay up late to finish. I really enjoyed how the story went back and forth from the summer of 1977 to 1997. I received a copy of this book from the publisher for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 | 𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙘𝙠 ♡

read if you love:
•summer nostalgia
•dual timelines
•second chance love and friendships
•the movie now and then
•character growth

“𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘪𝘯’𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘚𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯.”

the four seasons — summer, spring, autumn, and snow — what a wild ride these four teenagers/women were! i loved this book. it had all of the teenage angst and drama that i just crave sometimes and it was beautifully woven into a broader story of growth and forgiveness. so much unfolds over the summer of ‘77 for these four best friends. so many life altering secrets — some that were obvious and others that made my jaw drop.

the fallout from that summer had consequences that are still unresolved 20 years later and i enjoyed seeing how the present would play out as the past unfolds. rachel hauck cleverly bounced between ‘77 and ‘97 and constantly had me turning the pages to find out what happened next!

the main focus of this book are the friendships, but there is some sweet romance as well throughout — both past and present. i loved the theme of forgiveness and it’s powerful affect in friendships and other relationships. i loved all of the seasons individually and their unique personalities and voices stood out. my favorite was summer though. she’s tough to love sometimes, but as the story unfolds you understand her more and more. you can’t help but root for her and just want to wrap her up in a hug. this book was truly satisfying from beginning to end.

thank you to bethany house for the book. my thoughts are my own.

This one was not for me, and that’s ok. I was reeled in by the Oklahoma setting because I live there! My husband works in the town the Girl Scout murders occurred so it all felt real in that since. However I just couldn’t get on board with the writing style of this book. The characters appeared immature in both present and past timelines and one of the topics handled was a huge red flag for me. Overall I’ve seen great reviews so I don’t think it’s the author just my personal preferences not being met.

This was really good! I loved the ending, but it felt that it wrapped up a bit quickly, though overall I enjoyed just about everything in this story.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy**

3.5 stars—
I haven’t read any of Rachel Hauck’s books prior to this one, but may start checking some out given the care she provides to the characters in her story. As an Oklahoman, there’s a lot to this story for me and it’s probably the reason it took me a bit longer to read. I had heard about the case discussed in the book and it’s a heartbreaking one. I think Hauck did a great job in handling it, as well as writing each of the individuals that make up the Four Seasons.

Everybody has secrets and ambitions. With four different POVs, it was a little difficult to follow in the beginning. However, they each had something that called me back to the book when I’d set it down.

Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Snow are four best friends who find themselves in a bit of trouble after a prank gone awry to kick off the summer of ‘77. All of a sudden, the “best summer ever” changes from a trip abroad to a summer as camp counselors at the newly revived Camp Tumbleweed. With a dual timeline occasionally switching from ‘77 to ‘97, they are each forced to face decisions they’ve made and feelings they’ve been pushing down in this coming-of-age Christian contemporary story!

n interesting story using a parallel timeline using four best friends. They go through a summer of various struggles the summer after graduation. They've had the motto all for one and one for all and have lived their lives as four best friends for years.

The parallel of the twenty year gap sees how that summer of 1977 changed all four of them in ways you wonder if they will grow stronger or grow apart.

Well done.

Disclaimer: I received a NetGalley copy compliments of the publisher with no expectations in return. The thoughts and comments above are my own I chose to share voluntarily.

I've really enjoyed many of Hauck's books, but this one missed the mark for me in a lot of ways. I was aware that there would be a Christian angle/message, so readers should expect that going in. I struggled with the four POVs. In general, I love multiple POV books, but in this case, the characters were too similar, so it made it more confusing to track throughout the book. Sadly, I didn't find the characters, especially Summer, likeable. I did appreciate the strong friendship between the girls. Some plot points took a bit too long to be mentioned.

What an absolutely beautiful story of redemption and reconciliation…between friends and the Lord.

This story was written so well and the dual timeline flowed flawlessly. I enjoyed getting to meet each of the Four Seasons and coming to understand their differences and similarities…fears and insecurities too!

I’m thankful to have been able to read this book as it really spoke to me. As Rachel writes in her Author’s Note, “We all go through [wilderness seasons]. It’s our choice if we go with Him or without Him.”

I definitely recommend this book and know that you will be blessed and encouraged by it!

Rating: 3.5⭐️

‘The Best Summer of Our Lives’ by Rachel Hauck is a contemporary (somewhat historical?) story set in two timelines, 1977 and 1997. We follow a group of friends, Summer, Spring, Autumn and Snow - The Seasons. The girls spend the summer of ‘77 volunteering at a camp for young girls, after being caught in a prank.

The story is mainly set in the 1977 time period, occasionally switching to 1997 when you see where the girls have ended up 20 years later, and we get to hear from each girls’ perspective.
The girls’ friendship was pretty cute, and reminded a bit of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! If you enjoyed the friendships in those books/movies, I’d recommend this book for you.

This is a Christian fiction book, so there are elements of faith in the story, however more on the subtle side in my opinion, rather than being overly explicit about it. (See spoiler section at the end for more). I think you should give it a go, even if you aren’t a Christian.
The end of the story definitely had me tearing up, and the way that was written was really quite beautiful.

I loved the summer camp vibes. I’ve never enjoyed camping personally but this made me wish I did - it sounded like fun!
The girls are typical teenagers, involved in a bit of drama and hiding secrets from each other. The story also touches on a lot of serious and sad topics that were at times hard to read about but well done.

Unfortunately a few things fell flat for me. A lot of the time I couldn’t tell the characters apart, and would have to go back to remind myself whose perspective I was reading. Later into the story it became easier to tell them apart.
It took me a while to get into the story overall, it wasn’t until about 40% through that I felt invested in the story, but once I was intrigued it was easy to fly through the rest.

The parts of the story that most stood out to me were the friendship and themes of redemption and hope despite heartaches, trials and loss.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy. All opinions are honest and my own.

This is the absolute best summer book read! I love the friendships between the Seasons. I appreciate the mandatory summer camp setting and the dual storyline of past and present. I would highly recommend this book to others!

The Best Summer of Our LIves
Rachel Hauch
June 27, 2023’

They were in elementary school together, the four delightful little girls. They were known as the seasons as their names were Summer, Autumn, Spring and Snow (whose real name was Margaret Snow). Together forever, a favorite slogan. It was when they left high school making plans for college the group pulled a prank at a local event. In light of the punishment, all four headed to a camp in Tumbleweed, OKlahoma. Summer’s mom was the leader and convinced the judge that she needed their help in cleaning cabins and acting as counselors. So much for their trip to Europe backpacking. Each loaded their gear onto the bus and headed to ‘Nowhere’, OK.
Lives past and present are explored by Hauck. At times the girls bickered and pulled out their verbal weapons to strike. Other actions called for friendship and softhearted sympathy.
The Best Summer of Our Lives will be published on June 27, 2023 by Baker Publishing Company. I appreciate their allowing me to read and review Hauck’s latest novel via NetGalley. It was an excellent book although with the complexity of the storyline from 1977 to 1995 I sometimes found their memoirs difficult to follow. It is a worthwhile journey reading The Best Summer of our LIves, I just found myself backtracking to make certain I comprehended the saga. It is a long book that explores years of the women’s lives. Well written and encouraging it is a story that should not be missed.

Rachel Hauck's books are hit or miss for me (my personal style), but this one sounded really intriguing to me, so I requested it. With multiple perspectives and 2 timelines, this one was super tedious to write, I'm sure, but she pulled it off flawlessly, in my opinion. In the summer of 1977, best friends Summer, Spring, Autumn and Snow, otherwise known as the Four Seasons, pull off a prank at their future college and end up sentenced with community service. When Summer's mom pleads with the judge, it is agreed that their service can be spent as camp counselors at Camp Tumbleweed instead of picking up trash alongside the road. Their plan for the "best summer of their lives" is derailed as they pull into the small Oklahoma town. But they come to realize that the best summer doesn't have to be what they planned, but can come from something totally unexpected. This story was a good "coming of age" story along with a story about friendships, romantic relationships, and all of the things that accompany one's transition to adulthood.

At the beginning, I wasn't sure if I would like this book at all as I struggled with liking the characters. But by the end, I was laughing at the banter, sniffling at the emotional moments, and cheering for relational healing. This book was chock-full of character development (so please don't give up if you also don't like the characters at first). I also had to wait quite a bit to get to the faith element of this story, but once it showed up, it became a central theme. Though there is potential difficulty in keeping up with the POV transitions and the time jumps, the author maintained a 3rd person voice throughout, so that made it easier to follow the POV transitions. The jumps between 1977 and 1997 were a bit more abrupt, but as a person who loves dual timeline novels, I didn't have any issue maneuvering back and forth. Chapters and sections were clearly labeled with whose POV we were encountering and which year we were in, so as long as you pay attention to that, you shouldn't have any issue following along. Though I typically enjoy plot-driven novels over character-driven novels, there was enough that happened to move the story along in this character-driven novel for me that I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

All in all, if you enjoy character-development stories with a "coming of age" vibe and a powerful "coming to faith" story along with good relationship stories, this is one I would definitely recommend. Special thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this novel. I was under no obligation to provide a review and the thoughts contained herein are my own.

First, I have to say that I loved the prank and though it went horribly wrong I thought it was the best idea ever. Yes, that's the oneriness in me.

In a dual-time format, Ms. Hauck tells a coming-of-age story of the Seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Snow. Young girls who, met in kindergarten and have been best friends ever since. After their prank at the end of high school at the FSU pool, they are sent packing from Florida to Oklahoma to serve as camp counselors. I went to college from Florida to Oklahoma and agonized with them as they sat on a bus to their summer destiny.

Hauck writes this story in four POVs spanning two decades with all of the angst and tension that comes with teen girlfriends and growing up. Add in all the secrets that come out at camp in Tumbleweed, Oklahoma and you are sure to have a fire or two.

This book is definitely different from her royal wedding series. Yet, I was completely and utterly captivated by Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Snow; with the addition of Baby Season, who's added to the group from their time at camp. She was the only character I didn't jive with. I wished for another season so she wasn't referred to as Baby Season.

Bottom Line: This is the absolute best summer book read! It is full of friendships both good and bad. Ms. Hauck in a very clever and yet perfect way adds in spiritual thread that is not overdone or unnoticeable. I loved how she used the character of "the preacher." I highly recommend this book!

The Best Summer Of Our Lives
By Rachel Hauck

1977 was supposed to be the best summer of her life, but everything started going wrong before it even started. And by the end of summer, Summer Wilde's life was no longer on the long charted course that she and her 3 BFFs had planned together for years.

1997 finds Summer's life once again not where she wants it. Music is the life she wants, but nothing has really worked out for her since her one big hit. At loose ends, Summer heads back to the place where everything went off course.

When offered a choice, would she choose love or fame? Summer is about to discover just where her heart truly lies. Can she make peace with the secrets and hurts of the past and move on to a future she never believed was possible?

I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit different from what I normally read, but it was still the same excellent writing/storytelling one has come to expect from Rachel Hauck. Highly recommend it as a beach read, cozy corner read, or a late into-the-night read.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own.


Be sure to learn more about Rachel Hauck at www.rachelhauck.com

Four friends are sent to a camp in nowhere-ville Oklahoma as punishment during the summer between high school and college. As they seek to have the best summer of their lives, secrets and past hurts rise to the surface. 20 years later, the 4 girls are barely in contact with one another. Is there hope for healing?

20 years, 4 best friends, so many secrets! I loved reading about the 4 seasons, and following their friendship from high-school into adulthood. The dual-timeline helps unfold the story and you learn what really went on during their time at camp. I was really interested in the stories. Parts seemed slow at times.