I couldn't hit request quick enough when I saw that the latest by Kristy Woodson Harvey was available. She is one of my all time favorite authors, and also a favorite follow on Instagram. This one is a home run. The story of 3 girls who meet at a summer camp when they are 6 travels through the years as we find out more about their stories and lives the storylines get more complex and richer. I loved, loved, loved this book and KWH is one of the authors that I recommend whenever someone asks. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Summer of Songbirds
By Kristy Woodson Harvey
Gallery
Pub date July 11, 2023
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I have read all the books written by this author with this being my favorite by far.
I have enjoyed getting to know the author through the Friends & Fiction podcasts.
This book celebrates the power of friendship and family. The heartbreak of loving and losing someone. I cried along with Huff, and other characters as life happened. I highly recommend this book!
5 stars

I love books about summer camps and this one started off so intriguing and mysterious but the writing style was really hard to push through. Overall, I had to Dnf which makes me sad because I love this author but it felt like it was written by a child :(

Three six year old girls develop a lasting friendship in their first “songbird” year at Holly Springs camp. Daphne is the niece of June, the camp owner, and is delighting in a much needed summer getaway from her addict mother. Lanier and Mary Stuart are her new best friends who will all learn self-confidence, independence and skills during their many camp summers. Fast forward to today. June is in danger of losing the camp and its future as lakeside housing is all but assured. Daphne is a lawyer and single mother who is just reconnecting with Huff, the love of her life. Huff is Lanier’s brother and Lanier is about to marry the wrong man. At Mary Stuart’s wedding, Daphne and Mary Stuart plan a bachelorette camp weekend where they hope to convince Lanier she’s making a mistake. There’s so much more involved including saving the camp, discovering the things that matter most and finding love.

Kristy Woodson Harvey has distilled the essence of friendship into a novel. It’s a beach read, of course, but it is more than that. These women face life changing problems and solve them together. And as always in the novels by this talented author, they find happiness. Isn’t that what we all want? 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Kristy Woodson Harvey for this ARC.

Thanks to Gallery Books for my digital ARC of The Summer of Songbirds! I knew from the first few pages that this was going to be a book for me because I loved going to camp every summer as a teenager. It was where I forged some of my closest friendships and created memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart are used to doing "hard things" for one another ever since they they first met at Holly Springs Sleepaway Camp when they were 6 years old. But the road to adulthood is paved with mistakes and heartache. When Daphne's Aunt June comes perilously close to losing the camp, the friends join forces to help her salvage the place that brought them together all those years ago. As they save their beloved camp, they discover that their friendship with one another is the thing that has saved each of them time and time again.

If you've ever been to sleep away camp, this book will bring you right back to your old bunk bed! This title will release in July which is fitting as it will make for a perfect summer read!

The Summer of Songbirds, by Kristy Woodson Harvey, is a great summer read. The songbirds meet on their first day at summer camp and remain close friends for life. Fun characters, entwined in interesting life events, keep the reader engaged. This is a feel-good kind of read that takes hardships and somehow turns them positive. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This was an excellent book. I highly recommend reading it. The description of the summer camp and the characters pulls you into the story.

I loved this book. This is the second book that I have read by Kristy Woodson Harvey and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was just what I needed to get out of my reading "slump."

It is a perfect beach read, but with more depth.

The main characters were likable, realistically flawed, and endearing. The message that family extends beyond your chosen family is an important one. As is the message that we can overcome hard things, no matter the depths.

Thank you to Uplit Reads, Gallery Books, Net Galley and Kristy Woodson Harvey for the e-ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Ohhhh, when Kristy Woodson Harvey gives you the opportunity to read one of her books early, you take it and run with it! I loved reading this book, and with the recent warm weather in NC, I am ready for summer!!!

This book details the life-long friendship of three women - Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart - who met at summer camp twenty-four years earlier along with details about Daphne's Aunt June who runs the camp. I found myself completely immersed in the story, smiling when the characters were smiling and crying all the tears when they were crying. I really enjoyed all of the characters; I especially liked that they experienced growth and change.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this book to all fans of summer, women's fiction, and stories set in the South.

Three young girls meet at summer camp and stay friends through the years, despite many challenges. Nice story, but I didn't enjoy the "will they or won't they get together" storylines for two of the characters, and I thought the third friend's storyline was underdeveloped.

4.5 stars. The Summer of Songbirds shares the story of relationships formed and developed at summer camp and how they grow and change over the years. The book shares the perspectives of three women—June, Daphne, and Lanier—as they tackle the challenges of saving the camp from financial setbacks, learning to forgive themselves and others, and falling in love. With a wonderful cast of supporting characters, this book displayed the power of family—both by birth and by choice—and the beauty of formative places like camp.

I absolutely adore summer camp, so the sweet, sentimental descriptions of Camp Holly Springs made me nostalgic for my summers spent at camp and reminded me how much of an impact they had on my personal growth. I also loved how it was set in North Carolina, my former home and one of my favorite places!

The characters were realistically flawed yet pleasantly endearing. I will admit that I found Lanier to be maddeningly immature at times, but she experienced a great deal of growth throughout the book. The relationships were tested but (mostly) came out stronger because of it.

There was a bit of language (a couple s-words, quite a few d-words, one b-word, from my memory) and one short, open-door sex scene as well as other mentions of sex (including losing virginity).

Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

OH my heart. This was the book that I needed to read and at the exact time I needed to read it.

Daphne, Lanier and Mary Stuart- lifelong best friends who met through summer camp. Sisters by choice. They have been through so much together and help eachother out each week to complete the others "hard things". Their beloved summer camp hasn't faired well post pandemic and they work together to help Daphne's aunt June- camp director and lifer try to save their summer camp.

This book had so many amazing facets that I love to read about all rolled into one fantastic novel. There was love, heartbreak, sisterhood, friendship bonds, second chances, and childhood nostalgia. This book took me on such a rollercoaster that Kristy made go on and the depth of the characters was done so well. This is perfect for fans of Firefly Lane, Summer Sisters, and the Divine Secret of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. I cried happy and sad tears during this 24 hour binge and the epilogue was just so beautiful and full of hope that I am still tearing up just thinking about it. I'll certainly be swimming across the lakes this summer in search of Huff. IYKYK.

As winter can sometimes feel melancholier, I really needed this book and am so glad I decided to read it pre summertime.

My only gripe was that the story had to end. But I would LOVE if this continued on into a series!!!

Thank you uplit reads for my e-arc.

Thanks to Gallery Books for an advanced copy of The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey.

Kristy Woodson Harvey is my favorite author. I received a copy of this book and read it in the same day because I love her and her books that much. Plus, this is a book about summer camp and I owe so much of the person I am today to my experiences at summer camp. So if you're a summer camp person, you'll get the magic of the wonderful book.

This book is about friendships, sisterhood and a love letter to the places and people who make us who we are and I loved this book so much. Friends for almost 30 years, since they were six years old and met at Camp Holly Springs in the Songbird cabin -- Daphne, Lanier and Mary Stuart have been there for each other and are inseparable. When June, Daphne's aunt who owns Camp Holly Springs reveals that the camp is struggling they team up to save the camp they love as they work through some love and life issues.

Kristy Woodson Harvey writes friendship in the best way and I felt for each of the women. I loved the cast of main characters and all of the supporting ones. The hard things emails had me cracking up and this book was just wonderful. It will be in my top books of 2023.

I will be sending this to my best friend who I met at summer camp more than 20 years ago!

This book brought back so many memories for me. That first time I dropped my daughter off at sleep away camp was completely captured within these pages. All the heart and feels from the parents and kids' perspective. This story is heartwarming and uplifting as it captures the dynamics of family and friendships. The perfect feel-good book that you didn’t know you needed. While reading the epilogue, it actually made me cry. Happy but emotional tears, and it takes a lot from a book to make me cry. I highly recommend adding this book to your summer reading list.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read The Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey. I am a fan of her previous books so I was very excited to get the opportunity to read her latest before release. I am anxious to share this new novel with my fellow readers and bookclub members. I will also share a review on Facebook and Instagram. This may be one of her best! I LOVED it! Add this to your TBR list and preorder a copy now or request it from the library because I promise you will not want to miss this one. A perfect summer read!!

Kristy Woodson Harvey has written a moving story of four women who come together to save the summer camp that changed their lives and how their experiences shape them into successful adults. The story tells of thirty years of friendship and the difficult times each character has experienced. Kristy Woodson Harvey tackles hard subjects such as addiction, parental loss, pregnancy and betrayal in a very compassionate and believable manner. Second chance love makes this a great love story also!. The story tells of female friendship and sisterhood that lasts through the years. Friends become family.

I always comment on how easy a novel by Kristy Woodson Harvey is to read. As a reader I am immediately hooked and invested in each character. I feel like I know these women and can easily relate. I know this novel will be a huge hit and readers will embrace it and fall in love with the characters.

On a personal note, I especially enjoyed the setting of the story taking place at a camp in North Carolina. I met my husband of 37 years at a camp in the NC mountains. Just like the characters in this novel! I also enjoy interacting with Kristy Woodson Harvey through Facebook and her Friend and Fiction group.

This book makes me want to send my daughter to summer camp :). I loved the stories of the songbirds and the strength of their friendships through the highs and lows of life. I enjoyed how the friends had each other do their hard things too. My favorite characters were Finn, Paola, June, Huff and Steven.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own

Oh my goodness...I absolutely LOVED this book! I've never read a Kristy Woodson Harvey book I didn't love, but this one knocked it out of the park! It's sweet, cute, funny and so endearing. Highly highly recommend!

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange of an honest review.

The author’s best yet! An uplifting story of friendship & chosen families.
Nearly read it in one sitting, was so caught up in this captivating story!
A must-read!

With great thanks to NetGalley & Gallery Books for this e-ARC!

Well, I LOVE KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY! I loved the Peachtree Bluff series. I loved the Wedding Veil. And….I LOVED THIS BOOK! I rooted for June. I rooted for Mary Stuart. I rooted for Lanier. And I rooted for Daphne. I never went to summer camp. But I wish I had! It was a fun read with great story lines and quick chapters. Pre-order this NOW!

This book had so many layers. So many characters to root for. But most of all it had hope that when you mess up your life, you can pick yourself up and start over again. Thank you to .NetGalley and the publisher for the early read.