I really didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, but it was exactly what I wanted to read lately! I love the beach mystery setting, and I'm fascinated by the lives and scandals of the super wealthy. None of the characters are necessarily likable, but they are all fascinating. I really enjoyed this and would read more books by this author. The audiobook narrator did a great job, as well.

3.6 stars

Great narrator; I wouldn't have been able to paper-read this one but with narration it was easy to listen to while doing chores, etc.

This is definitely NOT a thriller. It's a domestic drama with a sprinkle of suspense. It's an easy, entertaining "vacation" listen. AND FOR ONCE the title is appropriate!

Note: I still find it incredibly hard to believe these types of characters and their "summer towns" exist in the real world. Everything about the town and the people in it feels like a cartoon/literary cliche/stereotype that only exists in books. I also saw how everything was going to play out (including the ending and the twist) from a mile away; but sometimes it's that "popcorn" read your brain wants.

It's the first book I've enjoyed in a while even if there's nothing likable about the story or the characters. It was just nice to be a fly on the wall for someone elsese drama and gossip.

Would recommend if you like "real housewives" type of entertainment.

One aspect of the story I really liked (and this surprised me) was how many narrators there are. There are at least 10, maybe more. I also liked that we got the backstory for each character when they narrated a chapter for the first time.

SUMMARY: Solcumb is a rich, white "tennis town" on Fire Island. The book mainly follows two 40-something couples. The husbands grew up going to Solcumb as kids and now are going back with their own families. Each of them narrates, as well as the one families nanny, Rachel, a childhood friend of the husbands, Robert, the new tennis instructor all the women have the hots for, and Micha, a 21yo who has grown up going to the island and is now the resident bar tender. There are other characters who pop up as well, such as the woman overseeing the tennis tournaments, but these are the "main cast" and the book follows their summer and their problems. For example, multiple people are having affairs, sometimes with each other, someone is stealing money, someone else has been sued for harassment, etc.

At the start of the book the reader finds out someone ends up dead at the end of summer. For the entire book you're wondering how any of this "Drama" could lead to a death, but then eventually you find out who dies and who "snaps" and "why" -- really this "murder mystery" is so minor in the story I forgot about it entirely until part 5 when the person dies.

Thanks netgalley for my ARC/ALC!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for providing this audiobook for my honest review. I loved this “rich people behaving badly” popcorn mystery/thriller. It’s so twisty and full of backstabbing, drama, and gossip. I couldn’t stop listening to it! It is the perfect summer beach read. It’s amazing that this is the author’s debut novel. It’s perfection! I also loved the narrator. There are quite a few characters in this book and the narrator does an excellent job of creating unique voices and accents to help the reader keep track of everyone. I have listened to many of her audiobooks and always enjoy her performances. I loved the audiobook so much, but now I need a physical copy too! I look forward to more from this author. Thank you again for allowing me to review this wonderfully entertaining book.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy of Bad Summer People.
This book was truly my guilty pleasure. I loved all the drama and backstabbing.
Only complaint is that I felt there were too many characters to keep track of.

Perfect summer beach read, especially if you live on Long Island, like I do! This is a twisty, “rich people behaving badly” page turner with a great sense of place. No one is likable but you definitely want to know how it’s all going to come together in the end. Put this on your summer reading list!

Great read. Bad Summer People is a dramatic soap opera like book with a little twist in the end. All the scandals kept my interest through the whole book.

This is a super intriguing story of the intertwined , deceptive lives of the residents in a small costal community. I enjoyed the different perspectives while still moving the story forward at a fast pace.

A listening delight, in Bad Summer People, well dressed and educated, totally charmingly unlikeable people navigate a Fire Island summer full of tennis competition, overserved drinking, fake friendships, lying, stock manipulation, adultery and, finally, murder. I don’t want to give anything away but I could not stop listening this domestic drama, written by Emma Rosenblum and narrated by January LaVoy. Netflix and Amazon, pay attention. Bad Summer People is a series or a movie. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Emma Rosenblum and January LaVoy for this ARC.

If you like high society drama then this book is for you! Usually, when there are so many characters, I get overwhelmed with remembering who is who and there is typically so much drama going on that there isn’t a clear focus. This was not the case with this book! I liked how all of the character’s drama overlapped with an overarching problem, so it was easier to keep track of what was going on. I never felt any true suspense, but it was entertaining to listen to on my drives to and from work.

Anyone who is looking for a beachy suspense novel should pick up this read. This book is full of anti-heroes and starts out to a body being found in a rich neighborhood.

After a body is found the narrator takes us back to the beginning of the summertime when all the families are arriving at the beach. The community is filled with fairly unlikeable characters (in the best way possible if you know what I mean) and messy relationships. Overall, I enjoyed this book but it started to drag a little bit for me because I was waiting to see how all the relationship problems and antics would lead to a death. I think I was expecting a little more action in the middle of the book with such a strong start but this novel is more of a slow burning suspense with us getting a deep insight into what leads to it. Definitely more of a suspense novel than a thriller but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a beachy read with a mystery. Thank you NetGalley for an opportunity to read this story.

3.5 Great summer read as these are bad summer people. The story really brings you into the inner circle of the small rich town with secrets galore.

Audio narration was good, I feel like more narrators would have really brought this to life.

I was drawn in by the narrator and the premise. The opening grabbed me, but as soon as the characters started to reveal themselves I couldn't connect.

The book was hard to relate to and came across as trite. I liked the narrator, but the characters were hard to relate to and I lost interest. I think most adult literacy, adult learners, would have a hard time relating. While there was a critique of this privileged and rather loathsome characters, I just couldn't hang in long enough to follow the plot..

This is a fun, engaging beach read, with a character driven plot and great story. I highly recommend.

Definitely more of a tale of domestic entanglement than a thriller, but still quite compelling, and often cinematic (you can really imagine these people trying to evade one another on beach cruisers, for example.)

Thank you so much to NetGalley & MacMillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars

BAD SUMMER PEOPLE falls into the genre I call "rich people problems", and that's not a bad thing! This was an entertaining story of a bunch of rich people in their summer homes on Fire Island. It contained the usual infidelity, embezzlement, fraud, etc. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs of the story and found the ending to be quite the twist!

What brought the rating down for me was expecting the murder mentioned in the synopsis far earlier than it showed up. I found the book to really take the time setting the scene (over half of the book), before the murder and it's mystery unfolded. I think the length of time for the rising action made it hard to keep my attention at times, but overall I enjoyed the story and the narration was extremely well done!

I believe this would make for a great beach read :)

Just in time for vacation season!! This was a great "beach read" in my opinion. I would say people that enjoy the "real Housewives" and mystery would love this book. Although the book opens up with a "mystery" the majority of the book reads more like a fiction novel. The story is based in a small town on Fire Island, "the red-headed step child" of the Hamptons. The book goes through the wealthy inhabitants' lives, and how they are intertwined through the small town, or through the obsession of tennis. Through the story we learn the "lead-up" to the opening mystery, and eventually all of the details to the actual act.

I listened to this book, and I found it easy to follow, and enjoyed the narrator. I will say that the story line at the end seemed forced, but then it came together with the epilogue.

Overall, I would recommend this book for a fun read!

This audiobook was a little hard for me to follow with the many points of view and unlikeable characters. It starts pretty slow but redeems itself as you go along. It’s an easy read with enough suspense to keep you going. I loved the setting. 3.5 stars rounded up! Great narration!!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book!!

It was not what I expected, the mystery didn’t really hit until the end. But it was a really fun, juicy, “gossipy” book. Great summertime read!

The writing style was very light and easy going and the audiobook narrator had a really pleasant voice.

**3.5 stars

This book was a bit of a let down for me. The blurb talks about murderous intent, but so much of the book is background leading up to "the incident." Now, I will say I enjoyed the background, the ending was just not what I was expecting. I feel like so much more could have been done with the ending.

Bad Summer People is told from multiple POVs and I did love that part of the book. And how Robert thought he was better than everyone else and looking down on them and their "petty fights" and tennis obsession, yet he was striving to live a life that put him equal to everyone.

I did have fun trying to figure out who was going to be the one that died. There were so many people who had motive to kill someone else living in Salcombe for the summer. And the people who turned out to have serious issues...not just being vain...it was a shock at first. But as the story progressed, I could see it. And it was ironic. And I really enjoyed the narrator of this audiobook, January LaVoy. She changed the voices of the characters without it sounding unnatural.

I would have rated this book pretty high if the ending hadn't fell flat for me. I still flew through this book and couldn't wait to figure out what happened. So if you're looking for an easy listen, Bad Summer People will be available May 23rd!

Bad Summer People is a fast paced summer read that takes place in an exclusive community called Solcombe on Fire Island. Jen and Lauren have it all but there are secrets lurking under the surface of their picture-perfect lives. The summer that it all falls apart starts like any other. Then a body is found on the board walk. No one in Solcombe claims to be a particularly good person but could one of them be a murderer?

First off, I love the cover and title of this book. I rarely pick a book for its cover but this is one of those occasions. I am ready for all the summer beach reads! The island setting of Bad Summer People makes it a perfect beach or pool side read.

This book is full of complicated and flawed characters. Jen and Lauren are the trophy wives that run the social scene. Jason and Sam are their wealthy husbands and have been best friends since childhood. Rachel Woolf is the lonely single woman who has been in love with Sam since childhood. Robert is the tennis pro that catches the eye of all the women in Solcombe (married or single). They are all pretty bad people but I couldn’t help but like some of them. I also found their obsession with tennis and the yearly tournament like it’s the US Open hilarious.

I wish there was more suspense. This is listed as a thriller but the murder and mystery element doesn’t start until about 70% into the book. I enjoyed the book but would have liked more of this element.

The story is mainly told from the perspective of the main characters but there are quite a few other perspectives as well. Initially this was confusing to me but as the story progressed I enjoyed it. It was interesting to see the story through the eyes of the town. You never know who is watching or what little details they will notice.

Bad Summer People is a fast paced read full of infidelity, back-stabbing and intrigue that is perfect to take to the beach with you this summer!