Kristy Woodson Harvey has done it again. THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS is a beautifully written story that deserves the raves it’s getting. It’s a superb novel of friends, family, and sisterhood. Kristy Woodson Harvey knows how to create characters and stories that will resonate long after you read the last word. I want to be friends with Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart. I love how they have created their own family and that it isn’t perfect, and the relationships have both ups and downs like any family. I wish I had been able to attend a camp like Camp Holly Springs, instead of living vicariously through the characters.
Don’t miss this novel! It belongs in your beach bag, carry on, bedside table, wherever you can sit and dive into it. “Fair winds and following seas!”
Thanks to the author, publisher, and Uplit Reads for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of the novel. All opinions are my own and freely given.
#TheSummerofSongbirds #KristyWoodsonHarvey #UplitReads #GalleryBooks

A stunner! I loved that this was about friendship and the many complications that go along with knowing people since your early memories! The fiance was simply the worst! Truly great writing when I finished this weeks ago and I'm still annoyed with him. :)

This the perfect summer read with female friendship, summer camp and nostalgia. Daphne, Lanier and Mary Stuart met at summer camp when they were little girls and are still friends today. Now they are adults dealing with their own problems but they still turn to each other. Told through multiple POV’s and multiple timelines from the past and present it’s an emotional journey filled with romance, childhood memories and friendship.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This story was all the feels! Summer camp, childhood friendships, adult problems, doused with a sugary sweet syrup of nostalgia. Daphne, Lanier and Mary Stuart met at summer camp when they were kids and their friendship has stood the test of time. Now they're grown adults helping each other work through hard things. This book will make you want to call your friends to say hi, or reconnect.

This was my first book by this author and it will definitely not be my last. It is the perfect summer read for those craving an emotional journey for 3 best friends, featuring a summer camp, some romances, secrets and an epilogue that will make you tear up.

Highly recommend!

June Moore bought Camp Holly Springs, a summertime oasis for young girls years ago, but is in danger of losing it. Her niece, Daphne, like her other family members, have met their best friends there and have special memories of summers by the lake. Now an adult, Daphne has been through a lot, but can still count on Mary Stuart and Lanier, her camp best friends, when she needs them the most. These women band together to save Camp Holly Springs for future generations and in turn, learn more about themselves and what they want out of life. Kristy Woodson Harvey's The Summer of Songbirds is summer nostalgia at its best.

Daphne is a complex character in The Summer of Songbirds. She had a difficult past as she has dealt with addiction and is a single mother, but is now a successful attorney. However, she is having some issues at work that are spilling into her personal life. Plus, her Aunt June could lose Camp Holly Springs, which is not only a place that she loves, but her best friends, too. Aunt June has used the camp as a way to avoid life after a tragedy and feels she needs it in more ways than one. Then there's Lanier who owns a bookstore (!), which is always fun to read about. She is engaged to be married but is having second thoughts, especially when she realizes her fiance is hiding secrets. The third best friend, Mary Stuart, is getting married and in turn, bringing the "songbirds" together again.

The women work together to save the camp, which holds special memories for each person. First loves blossomed at camp, strong friendships, risks taken, adventures ensued, secrets by the campfire, and so much more. The women don't want to lose the camp; in fact, they want to preserve it for future generations to enjoy.

The Summer of Songbirds is filled to the brim with summer memories. While I didn't attend sleepaway camp, I went to a sports camp for the week, it was close enough to appreciate all that a summer camp can offer. The mornings by the lake, the adventures, the close relationships you make with people, the cabins filled with bunk beds, and the nights under the stars all were done well. I enjoyed all the summer memories and nostalgia.

While The Summer of Songbirds wasn't my favorite of Harvey's novels, I still enjoyed all the summer delights captured in this novel. It was truly a cute summer escape filled with strong female friendships.

Have you read The Summer of Songbirds? Are you a fan of Kristy Woodson Harvey? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

What a beautiful walk down the core memory lane for summer camp!

It has all of my favorites for women’s fiction
Multiple POVs
Longtime female friendships
Summer nostalgia
Summer camp

Did you attend summer camp?

I feel like there’s two distinct camps (pun intended) of folks- those that attended camp and those that didn’t.

If you didn’t, SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS, @kristywharvey new release will certainly take you on a walk down memory lane. Thank you @gallerybooks for my copy!

Summer of Songbirds includes the lifelong friendships of 3 friends, found family, the lasting memories of first loves, second chances, forgiveness and repairing those relationships that mean the most.

This is truly KWH at her finest. It is a beautiful story, I loved the entire cast of characters.
Daphne, a single mom who is doing life the best she can, despite her worries otherwise. Lanier, Mary Stuart, and Daphne’s Aunt June. I loved the premise they were working together to save their favorite camp, that they have a years’ long pact with each other to do their hard things (what a testimony to friendship).

Loved how the chapters switched from current to the past, as KWH built each character’s back story, so beautifully woven together.

Highly recommend this one- definitely a 5 star read for me.

This is a story of friendship and family and trusting each other with the hard stuff. Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart met at as Songbirds at the summer camp owned by Daphne's Aunt June decades ago. Since that time they have been there for each other but they haven't shared everything. When Aunt June is in danger of having to sell the camp the Songbirds come together to try and save it but the secrets they have been keeping are exposed. Can they figure out how to trust each other again and save the camp? This story keeps you reading and rooting and caring about the characters.

This was a surprisingly deep story of female friendship. I think it will appeal to readers who look back fondly on their camp days.

"Just like each year, every phase of our life had its seasons. Cold ones, windy ones, sunny ones, warm ones. We could not choose which part we were living; we could not predict how our future would play out."

LOVE this quote!

I originally had planned to read this book for my vacation next month in Hawaii. However, it just kept speaking to me and I'm so glad I picked it up. Because this book was exactly what I needed in my life currently!

This story of three childhood best friends going through lives' ups and downs together was beautifully written. I love that they "do hard things" for each other. Everyone needs people in their lives like that. Who doesn't love a Summercamp story to give you all the nostalgia?! I instantly fell in love with the three main characters, and it kept wanting more. And that ending sure gave me all the feels! Quick read, beach read, summer vibes, second chance romance, best friend's brother, found family, ALL the things! Add this to your TBR/beach read list now !

📖 The Summer of Songbirds
🖋️ Kristy Woodson Harvey
✨ Women's Fiction

•What To Expect•
Friendships
Summer Camp
Complicated Relationships

•Rating•
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars
I recommend this book!

•Similar Recommended Reads•
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
Beyond the Point
Winter in Paradise

This was the perfect feel good summer beach read. All about friendship, love and loss. I never went to summer camp but I feel like I sure did miss out! I loved how it was told from different perspectives.

Warm summer nights are the perfect time to curl up with a book about friendship and camp memories.

Kristy Woodson Harvey always writes those characters that you just swear you know in real life. I fall into her stories easily and love following a crew of people, flawed and beautiful. It reminds me about the people in my own life who have helped me do "hard things." The standout in this novel is the core friendships between friends who have been close since childhood because of their connection to a summer camp. It felt breezy and slow, just like the end of summer. The story included tough issues and real life situations that people come across over decades of life and how they handled them all were interesting and relatable. I do believe this is my favorite by this author.

This book is for fans of sultry summer days where you just laze around in the sun and enjoy a good day filled with simple things. This book is for people who have friends who have turned into family, even if you don't speak to them often anymore. This book is for women who do hard things for themselves and others every day.

Thank you Uplit Reads for the gifted copy.

My summer reading is not complete until I read a book by Harvey. This was a great summer read and I am always a sucker for books with a summer camp.
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Daphne, Lanier and Mary Stuart met and became best friends at the summer camp, ran by Daphne’s Aunt June. This camp established their friendship and it’s not just a surface friendship. They become a true family. They become family through good times and bad as they find their place in the world. I love a book that shows the entire character and this book does that. We meet these women as young girls and watch them become adults and eventually mothers.
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I would love to keep following their story in another novel! My favorite thing about this book is how these friends send each other a weekly email titled hard things where they list the hard things they don’t want to do and their friend does it for them! I think this idea is absolutely genius!!

Thank you @gallerybooks @netgalley @simonandschusteraudio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often you read a book that brings you back to your childhood. Kirsty Woodson Harvey’s new summer camp book, Summer of Songbirds, brought me back to my summers at camp but is also the story of the bonds of friendship.

Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart met at Camp Holly Springs as 6-year-olds and have remained inseparable ever since. They have been through unplanned pregnancies and addiction, and have taken on each other’s hard things.

Now, with the camp that they love so much in danger of closing, the three women come together to help Daphne’s aunt (and owner of the camp) save their beloved home.

This book touched my heart. I loved every word! This is a real celebration of friendship and chosen family. All the stars.

Adored this book! KWH is one of my favorites! I loved her Peachtree Bluff series and recommend it often and this one falls along the same lines. What a beautiful summer read and testimony to the power of women and female friendships.

Positives:
The camp setting
The positive female characters and friendships, the idea that childhood bonds can last a lifetime, and the positive dynamics between the grown women
The different points of view from three of the female characters
Themes of second chances and redemption
The "Hard things" emails

No negatives: I really just loved this comfortable feel-good read. The perfect summer book!

Kristy Woodson Harvey does it again in another beautifully written novel. A perfect little summer read with a summer camp background and many secrets to share. Her writing style is so beautiful, and she is an auto buy author of mine. Each novel is more brilliant than the last

The perfect summer read. Harvey writes such charming characters that makes me feel right at home. Childhood friends coming together to spend time at the summer camp that made them whole.

Even though I didn’t attend camp as a child I can relate to forming life long friendships through my hobby of ultra running for over a decade. The ups and downs of long term friendships is definitely depicted in this story. Even tho you may not agree with someone’s choices at the end of the day you support your friends. Or at least you should! The story of these 3 camp girls and now women definitely have brier fair share of supporting each other and then at times not so much.

I have enjoyed every book I’ve read by this author. She is a wonderful writer. This was a good book but honestly I couldn’t connect lo these women like I have with Woodson’s other books. Perhaps my expectations were set too high or perhaps it was the camp theme. Having said that I’m sure many other young campers can totally relate to these characters.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I am appreciative of this authors books and look forward to reading all of her future work.

Bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey says that in 2020, she was already “toying with the idea of writing a book about three best friends from summer camp who reconvene to save the place they once loved,” when her son’s trip to Camp Seagull in North Carolina was canceled due to the pandemic. However, when its sister camp, Camp Seafarer, organized a family camp, Harvey and her family leapt at the chance to escape lockdown. One afternoon, with two of her friends, she found herself stranded in a sailboat when the wind died. With no radio or cell phones, they “told camp stories, reminisced about dances and favorite activities, afternoons at the canteen and infirmary stays, talent show mishaps, and, of course, camp crushes.” When Harvey returned home, she brought <em>The Summer of Songbirds</em> to life, including a scene in which her protagonists find themselves adrift for several hours when the wind dies. She aptly calls it “a testament to female friendship, especially the lifelong kind that loves unconditionally, that fights and forgives and knows the nitty gritty, real, dirty truth about the people we are and chooses to show up alongside us anyway.”

The story is presented in three alternating, first-person narratives. Daphne is an attorney who operates her own law firm with the support and assistance of her trusted paralegal, Finn. She is the single mother of adorable four-year-old Henry. She and Steven, Henry’s devoted father, never married and are no longer a couple, but seamlessly co-parent. Daphne lost her mother, Melanie, to addiction when she was just thirteen and had her own struggle with the disease, but she has maintained her sobriety for seven years and considers her unplanned pregnancy “a huge – albeit slightly scary – gift.” She credits Henry with “truly healing me.”

As the story opens, Daphne learns from one of her best clients, the owner of a lighting and flooring company, that Bryce Jenkins, a building contractor, has collected payments from his clients, but failed to compensate his sub-contractors and vendors. Bryce is not just the son of another of Daphne’s clients. Daphne introduced him to Lanier, her best friend, and they are engaged to be married. Soon, Bryce also seeks Daphne’s legal advice, confessing that he became “overextended” and has been “using money from one project to pay for a previous one,” an illegal practice. He is close to a million dollars in debt. Due to conflicts of interest, Daphne cannot represent Bryce. She is also ethically prohibited from revealing what she has learned about his actions to anyone, including Lanier. Daphne is furious when Bryce insists he is not going to tell Lanie about the trouble he is in and threatens to report Daphne to the bar association if she does. Daphne is placed in an agonizingly awkward position that could derail her relationship with Lanier -- who will, of course, eventually find out the truth about the man she is planning to marry in eight weeks -- especially because of their history. "The only thing that has ever come between us is the secrets we have kept.

June is Daphne’s maternal aunt. Losing her parents and sister, Melanie, Daphne’s mother, was traumatic. But June used funds she inherited from their parents to purchase Camp Holly Springs more than twenty-five years ago, and operated it successfully until the pandemic-forced shutdown. June’s applications for loans were denied and now the camp is no longer a viable business entity. June can no longer absorb the operating losses and is seriously considering accepting a generous offer from a developer for her three hundred fifty acres of pristine land with an unobstructed water view. The prospect of losing Camp Holly Springs is unbearably painful for June, not only because she sunk every penny she had into saving the camp all those years ago when it was also in dangerous of extinction, but because it has been her only home for so many years. During the off-season, June has remained in her cabin on-grounds, rather than moving into town. The camp has always been her refuge, but at the age of fifty, she is beginning to recognize that she has led a solitary life out of fear, sadness, and regret, hiding herself away instead of confronting her problems. Among those issues are Daphne’s simmering resentment and disappointment, and June’s guilt about not raising Daphne after Melanie’s death.

Lanier operates Bookmasters, the local bookstore, and is caught up in wedding planning. In fact, as the story opens, her stylish mother arrives at the store to show Lanier the mockup for the wedding invitations. But first, the third Songbird, Mary Stuart, a public relations expert, is getting married. If Lanier’s brother, Huff, a surgeon, is at the wedding, Daphne and Huff will be reunited. They went through a painful breakup seven years ago.

The three Songbirds are devastated to learn that June may be forced to sell Camp Holly Springs and brainstorm about ways they can help her save it. One is a family camp, and as they work to plan and publicize the event, they find themselves confronting memories of summer days there. It is not only the place where they spent two weeks every summer, eventually becoming teenaged counselors. It is also the place where their lifelong friendship was formed and cemented, secrets were shared, and futures were planned. For Lanier, it is the place where she first found love and participating in the effort to save the camp brings her face-to-face with her first love, Rich. She hurt him deeply and ghosted him all those years ago, but now she has an opportunity to ask forgiveness and bring closure to that chapter of her life. Unless . . . she doesn’t want closure. Even though she does not know the extent of Bryce’s problems, she intuits that something is amiss and cracks in their relationship are appearing, but she tries to ignore and justify them as the wedding date approaches.

When Daphne and Huff are reunited, it is clear that they never stopped loving each other but is it too late to repair their relationship? Daphne now has Henry’s needs to consider, as well as her own. Through Daphne’s recollections, Harvey reveals details about how her mother’s drug addiction impacted her, her relationship with her absentee father, why she was not taken in by June after her mother’s death, and her romance with Finn and the way that secrets contributed to its demise. Daphne vehemently wants Lanier to learn the truth about Bryce so that she will call off the engagement and laments that her professional obligations require her to keep his secrets. But Daphne worked hard for her sobriety, and to complete her education and establish her legal practice. She swore she would never do anything to endanger Henry or his future. How can she risk the shame and financial ruin that disbarment as a result of violating the attorney-client privilege would surely engender? But she also swore she would never let secrets come between her and her very best friend again.

Harvey’s affection for her characters is evident on every page. They are fully developed, empathetic, and likable, despite their flaws. Each of them has arrived at a crossroads, and because their lives are so intertwined, their decisions and actions will have repercussions not just for themselves, but for those they love most. This is especially true, of course, for Daphne, who stands to lose her livelihood and reputation if she decides that her friendship with Lanier must be saved at any personal cost to her. The story moves at a brisk pace as, with each successive chapter, readers learn about the characters’ histories and the choices that have led them to their present conundrums. And yes, the women’s friendships have been tested in the past and survived. But can their bond withstand the stressors currently threatening to tear them apart? And can they really secure the funding needed to save their beloved Camp Holly Springs so that future generations of girls can enjoy spending time in that magical place as much as they did? Harvey’s storytelling prowess makes getting to know her characters and cheering them on an entertaining experience.

Harvey considers The Summer of Songbirds “a love letter to the places who make us who we are, the ones that burrow down deep in our hearts and souls and show us what we’re made of.” And correctly points out that even readers who never went to a camp as a child will be able to relate to the story because it evokes an emotional response to memories of whatever place or places “made you feel happy and loved.” The Summer of Songbirds is a perfect story to get lost in by a pool, on a beach, in a backyard hammock . . . or even with a flashlight in a cabin at summer camp after lights out.