This was an intense book at times. Each chapter is told by a different character. I felt like the story dragged at times or maybe it was just the characters thinking too much.
I really like this author and while I enjoyed the book it just wasn’t my favorite.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

She did it again! No surprise here though. I will read anything Kristy Woodson Harvey writes! I love that these three friends met at camp, and stayed friends through the years. We get to go back in the past to when they first met, and read about their lives in the present time. These friends have been through it all together.

Alternating chapters we read as these women struggle with each other's choices, and how they find their way back to each other. I’m always down for a little romance mixed in, and I would call these second chance romances! You don’t want to miss this one!

Daphne, Lanier, and Mary have been best friends since meeting at summer camp thirty years ago. Camp Holly Springs, owned by Daphne’s Aunt June, is the best part of their year while growing up. They have seen each other through unimaginable tragedy, joy, and sharing each other’s ‘hard things’ along the way. Life has taken them all on different paths, and nearly broken their bonds, but time and again they have chosen, and often demanded, loyalty. Now on the eve of Lanier’s wedding Daphne faces a choice that will either break them or heal old wounds. When they realize June is at risk of losing Camp Holly Springs they can’t imagine letting it go and develop a plan to save it.

This is a beautiful story of what we do for, and ask of, those we love. It’s a look at what we miss when we don’t have all the information, when pain and pride get in the way of making the difficult step of reaching out. It’s about assumptions, examining our own motivations, and giving people grace to grow beyond their past. I’m a big fan of author interviews and Kristy Woodson Harvey’s story of writing this book gives such depth and context. I highly recommend the interview here on IG with Megan @Uplitreads .

Thank you to @gallerybooks for the finished copy and digital advance review copy via @uplitreads and @netgalley

This was my first KWH book, & I absolutely loved every moment. It was a fun story of lifelong friendships with a little romance & tons of nostalgia for summer camp. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I have been a fan of Kristy Woodson Harvey for quite awhile, so I’m always excited to read her latest book. The Summer of Songbirds did not disappoint! The lifelong friendships of Mary Stuart, Lanier, and Daphne provided lots of juicy reading, making me feel all the feels. I laughed, cried, got mad… This is really a perfect summer read. It does have a few spicy parts steam-wise, which is not my fave, but they were very brief. The cameos from some of her her books were a fun surprise! Overall, I really enjoyed this and think it may be my favorite book of hers yet!

If Kristy Woodson Harvey writes a book, I am going to read it!!!

I was riveted to this book right from the beginning!! Camp Holly Springs has been owned by June for almost 30 years. But now, June is in jeopardy of losing the camp. Enter her niece, Daphne and her two best friends, Lanier and Mary Stuart. These three ladies met at Camp Holly Springs and have been friends for a long time. They will join forces with June to try and save the camp. Along the way, many secrets will be revealed that will put these ladies friendship to the rest!!

This beautiful book is as refreshing as an ice cold lemonade on a hot day in the South!! I loved this book and this is now my favorite book by Kristy Woodson Harvey!!

This one is out on 7/11 so get it preordered now!! I received an early digital copy.

The Summer of Songbirds is a great nostalgic summer read about friendship, family, and forgiveness. The storytelling will immerse you in the world of Camp Holly Springs (past and present). It is told from the point of view of Daphne (lawyer, single mom, with a difficult family past and her own personal struggles), Lanier (best friend of Daphne, engaged to be married but finds it hard to let go of her former camp love), and June (Daphne's aunt and the owner of the summer camp). This will make a lovely summer read.

Publishes 7/11/2023

Thank you to the author (Kristy Woodson Harvey), Gallery Books, and Netgalley for the electronic advanced copy.

This was one of my favorite reads. I loved all the characters and the storyline of this book. I did not want to put the book down. I fell in love with each character and all of their problems. I loved the way they all came together to save the camp for themselves and others. This is a must read for the summer. I can’t want to read her next book they just keep getting better and better.

Daphne, an attorney, is thirty years old and has triumphed after a difficult childhood. Her salvation has been the close friendships she has with Lanier and Mary Stuart. The three women met when they were six years old, the age children could start going to Camp Holly Springs. The youngest campers are called Songbirds. The camp is still owned by Daphne's Aunt June. But after years of thriving, the impact of the pandemic has left the camp with serious financial issues and its future is in jeopardy. After Mary Stuart's wedding, it's Lanier's turn. But as the next wedding is being prepared for, the three women and June work to save their beloved camp. Relationships and friendships become strained but through it all, the women are determined to save the place that means the most to them.

I was thrilled to discover that the talented Kristy Woodson Harvey decided to set her latest book in the world of summer camp and the enduring friendships created there. My summers at camp hold many of my best memories and the friendships made remain today - decades later. The Summer of Songbirds was such an enjoyable book, bringing back many nostalgic feelings about summers past. Yet it is more than a look back as much of the story takes place in the present and the three women are at the stage where they are planning for the future, dealing with life's difficult decisions. Pull up a beach chair and dig in.

Y'all, I loved this book! Woodson Harvey is one of my favorite authors, and her new books are always something I look forward to with so much anticipation. This one did not disappoint! The characters grabbed me right from the beginning - I so enjoyed getting to know all of them. They were so richly drawn - both personality and back story - that they were incredibly easy to relate to and you wanted to root for them. My favorite may have been Finn and maybe at some point in the future he can get his own story... :) I will withhold just a half star in this case as I wanted more of Mary Stewart's perspective! It just felt slightly unbalanced to me that we have a trio of best friends and just two were really the focus of the story. I thought a little more from her would even things out a bit. Overall, it was a wonderfully written story you will have a lot of trouble putting down. Whatever kind of summer experiences you had as a child, I think many people will find themselves in this story somehow. Can't wait to see what Woodson Harvey does next! 4.5 enthusiastic stars.

I enjoyed the friendship dynamic between the three Songbirds throughout this book. The story woven was one of trials, but love and friendship guided them.

Thanks to Uplit Reads and Book Club Favorites for the copies of this book!

The Summer of Songbirds was my first Kristy Woodson Harvey read (I know, I know!) and it was absolutely perfect for summer. This was full of drama with multiple POVs and a slowly unfolding storyline centered around Camp Holly Springs. I loved the overlap of themes in the past and present, and the realizations and growth that happened in all the characters. While there are good romance storylines, there's also a dilemma with attorney/client priviledge, a narrative on trauma and being like your parents, and a single mom storyline. This was complex and engaging, and won't be my last from KWH!

I loved this story, it is a perfect summer book with love, friendship, loss, struggle, triumph. I couldn’t put it down and now I want to find someone to email all of my hard things each week!!! Honestly, it was such a great book…but my goodness Lanier was so unbearable, I just could not root for one bit of happiness for her. I wish that she could’ve been a little more likable to make the trio complete and their undying friendships more believable. I personally felt like her selfishness was unforgivable at points. Thank you @KristyWoodsonHarvey, @NetGalley, and @GalleryBooks for an advanced copy of this book.

The Summer of Songbirds wraps you in a giant hug of your youth. The magic that summer camp brings is put before you, wrapped up perfectly. The never-ending hot summer days, the sails flapping in the wind, water splashing all around you, and the friendships that last a lifetime. This book reminds me of my tight group of friends. Always being there for one another, being able to ask the tough questions, to go through life as a unit. This is what Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart have. They met when they were just six years old, young Songbirds coming into a place they were excited for. Camp Holly Springs stole their hearts, and they would do anything to share this feeling with young girls everywhere.

When the camps very existence is threatened, the three women and June come together to try to save it. June, Daphne's aunt, has done everything in her power to try to push through the years following Covid. She just cannot find the funds to cover everything, and she is sinking deeper and deeper into the red. Once she finally tells the women what is happening, they all come together to save it. They need to. It was Daphne's home and only steady place when she was growing up, with a drug addicted mother and absentee father. She wants other young girls to be able to reach deep down and find the confidence and power that camp brings forth.

I loved reading about the incredible bond these three have. It makes you want to run down to your friends and attack them in a bear hug. There is so much going on, not just camp issues. Old loves popping up in their lives, marriage, bachelorette parties, fiancées who are making you question who they really are, addiction, family dynamics, and of course the rise and fall of friendships over the years. This is the perfect summer read for one and all. It will transport you back in time to the simpler days. When your parents dropped you off for your week of camp. The laughter, the tears, and the incredible friendships that are formed. Thank you to Kristy Woodson Harvey and Gallery Books for my gifted copy.

This is a heartwarming story of female friendship between three women, spanning from childhood to adulthood. Formed as fellow summer campers when they were six year olds, their friendship is well depicted, exploring the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the fun times and the hard times. The story is centred around the three friends coming together to save the summer camp where they met which is in danger of closing. As they work together, issues from the past, resentments and hurts surface. The novel is nicely rounded out with second chance romances and mother-daughter relationships.

The writing is so easy to read and engaging and the story just flows off the pages. This is a nostalgic feel good female friendship read. The perfect summer read and classic Kristy Woodson Harvey!

Thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

I've been a fan of Kristy Woodson Harvey since starting her Peachtree Bluff series a few years back, and The Summer of Songbirds is officially my new favorite of her books.

"Fair Winds & Following Seas" is the farewell used at Camp Holly Springs in North Carolina, and former campers Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart still use the sign-off in their weekly emails to one another years later. They became best friends after their first summer together in the "songbirds" cabin at camp, and when the story begins, they're trying to make the camp successful again after a few years of setbacks.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

- KWH perfectly embodied the ups and downs of deep, longstanding friendships, as well as the characters' individual battles with uncertainty and self-doubt.
- The conflicts in this plot are authentic and reasonable. I was rooting for these characters, and for awhile I truly could not figure out how they were going to solve everyone's problems!
- There are TWO second chance romance storylines, and they are both realistically complicated and completely swoonworthy.
- I will always adore the Southern settings KWH uses for her stories. I *think* Cape Carolina is a fictional place, but it reminded me of so many of the coastal towns I visited when I lived in North Carolina during my husband's military service.
- There is an epilogue that brought tears to my eyes, as well.

To summarize...preorder this book now so you're ready for more summer reading. And if you don't believe me, take note of the fact that Emily Henry adored this book, too.

I am not the summer camp kind of girl but now I wish I were. I am a little jealous of the lifelong friendship between Daphne, Lanier, and Mary Stuart. I love that they do "hard things" for each other! This story of life's ups and downs and the places and people that we choose to call home is a wonderful read. I feel like I will spend the rest of the year waiting on another book by Kristy Harvey.

This was such a fun summer read, especially if you loved going to summer camp! It's about love, loss, friendship and all with the background of spending glorious summers at camp! I've liked a lot of this author's books in the past and her latest does not disappoint! Put this into your beach bag or bring on your summer vacation and enjoy!!

The Summer of Songbirds comes out next week on July 11, 2023, and you can purchase HERE! Perfect summer read!!

The first day of Camp Holly Springs is like shaking a bottle of soda and taking off the cap: an overflowing, effervescent explosion of sweet, delicious chaos. Girls and their parents, counselors, and staff members fizz over in every direction, campers squealing with joy at being reunited, first-years sobbing with fear, counselors and staff trying to comfort or celebrate, and parents seeking someone with whom to discuss their very specific list of concerns.

I loved this book so much! The Summer of Songbirds was a moving story and I could not stop reading it.
The amazing friendships and how each woman had a unique love story is the authors strength. Kristy Woodson Harvey writes it, and I will read it!

Three best friends come together to save their beloved childhood summer camp along with the owner of the camp.

This was my first book by this popular author and I can see why she is well loved. This was a heartwarming story about friendship among women. While there’s lot of drama and just extra stuff going on, it all comes down to friendship and being there for each other. I always wish I had friendships like these when I read these type books! Bonus points for lovers of camping environment books!

“When the thread of your life is sewn so tightly into someone else’s, creating a new fabric doesn’t mean the old one - durable and strong- disintegrates.”

The Summer of Songbirds comes out 7/11.