With summer soon approaching, "Bad Summer People" seemed like the perfect way to jumpstart the lazy, hazy days of summer.

Set in Fire Island, an affluent vacation community frequented by the wealthiest of families, the book began with the discovery of a dead body.

Readers are then treated to scandals, scandals, and more scandals.

Since the book focused on four main couples (8 people) and many side characters (at least 6), one needed a scorecard to keep track of all of the secrets and scandals.

I personally prefer books with fewer characters and more in-depth characterizations and, therefore, this book failed to sizzle like the summer sun.

I listened to the audiobook read by January LaVoy, one of my favorite narrators.

As always, January LaVoy did a flawless job with the narration.

In addition to the narration, I also loved the book's title and book cover.

The book's narration, title, and cover all helped elevate the book's star rating.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. .

Ack. I spent the first half of this book actually enjoying it and thinking it was a good lighthearted book that would be a nice summer escape. But as things continued, it got more and more unrealistic and ridiculous and just went on for too long. The reactions of characters to big revelations were totally unrealistic (it seems like nobody really cares if they're being cheated on by their spouses??) and I felt like the author painted single and/or childless women and aging women as being pathetic. It felt so icky to me.

I should be clear that I generally have no problem with books that feature unlikeable characters- I don't need to like characters to enjoy their stories! But I do need something that feels realistic or at least not overly crazy.

This book does have lots of good reviews and of, course, there's a book for everyone! So, I encourage you to read reviews and decide for yourself if you want to read this one or not. It might be a good summer read for you if you enjoy books about people behaving badly in a not even totally realistic way.

I love the cover of this book. Actually, it might be the best thing about this book. This book was alright but not what I expected. It follows the story of two couples that are friends, but there is trouble in both marriages. There are a lot of extra povs from the other people on the island. Overall, it was just to slow for me. Not much happens.

If you love messy stories about filthy rich white people, this book is for you! There's cheating, lying, stealing, jealousy, heartbreak, all in the backdrop of a bougie summer island full of glamorous 40-somethings hiding behind the veneer of the perfect life they've built for themselves. It's essentially a soap opera in a book, and I'm a sucker for a good soap (RIP One Life to Live).

At first, I wasn't sure if I was a fan of the multiple POVs every chapter, but it quickly grew on me. I enjoyed experiencing some of the same moments from another character's perspective and getting a completely different view on what happened. Sometimes it did get a bit repetitive, but not enough to be uninteresting. The most challenging part of this book is that there are a LOT of characters to keep track of. Since everyone in the entire town is intrinsically linked with one another, there are like 30 different people to keep track of, and I often found myself forgetting who was who, or who's married to who.

Other than that, I thought it was an easy and light read with just enough twists and turns to stay interesting throughout. Thanks NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC!

This debut novel is full of selfish characters, secrets, gossip, and backstabbing among an exclusive community and the local country club. I hated every single character and would have been fine with the author killing the whole island off in the end. In the end, it’s only one character that’s left dead. This novel will not be for everyone. I do recommend it for readers who love reading stories full of drama. The audiobook is well narrated and I believe January LaVoy did an excellent job with it!

Thank you @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC of "Bad Summer People" in exchange for my honest review! Listening to "Bad Summer People" really reminded me of Malibu Rising both within the plot, narration, rotating POV, and the theme where no character is really likeable. 

This novel has it all cheating husbands, rich and entitled people, murder, and constant gossiping. I listened to this book in two days and found it very addictive however I was desperate to root for one character but..... I HATED THEM ALL! 

Overall it was a good read but I did not connect with anyone. I am still giving this 4 stars as the book was still very compelling.

Gossipy and fun--great for a beach read! January LaVoy is perfection, as usual, as narrator. Would recommend!

this book was so addictive, I couldn't get enough of these ridiculous people and how horrible they were to each other. the ending fell a little flat but overall a good story that kept me engaged.

Jen and Lauren are the popular women in the town of Salcombe during the summers when they vacation there. Their husbands, Sam and Jason grew up together and both purchased homes on the island and return every summer. This summer though, there are lots of secrets. A murder, affair, and so much more. Rachel Woolf grew up as friends with Sam and Jason and she has always been in love with Sam. When a new tennis pro starts at the club, she thinks maybe he will be the guy for her. All these people seem to have perfect lives, but do they really?

I was confused because this was listed as a Mystery & Thriller, but I wouldn't really consider it either of those. It was more of a drama. Regardless, I loved it and hearing about the drama filled lives of the people that everyone else thinks are perfect. It kinda gave me Elin Hilderbrand vibes and I love her books so this was a pleasant surprise!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and Emma Rosenblum for this advanced copy! My review will be posted on my instagram @annas.book.reviews later this week.

I was excited to jump into this book. I heard a lot of good things before going into it that had me really anticipating a good summer mystery. Unfortunately, Bad Summer People was a disappointment for me.

The story starts out interesting with a body being found in the town of Salcombe located on Fire Island. Then it goes to the beginning of the summer and follows a group of the worst people. It was all entitled rich people who have no redeeming qualities.

There are affairs, theft, and just annoying people. I understand that it is supposed to be satire but I could not get behind any character. I found myself to be bored throughout the majority of the story. When the murder finally happened there was no shock value to who committed it.

I wanted a great summer read but that’s not what I got from Bad Summer People. As it is now I have a hard time recommending it.

Bad Summer People is described as having murderous intrigue about a bunch of Uber rich people on FireIsland and a body is found.
I was at 55% and I had totally forgotten this was supposed to be a thriller. If it was described as a drama then sure I can get that. The body was mentioned at beginning then it was about the story of many many people in this group of friends and how all are just as the title says bad people hanging out for the summer. The ending made me not feel bad for any of them but was a good wrap up.

This would be a great beach read due to the fun locale and besides trying to keep all the characters straight it was a light story.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Emma Rosenblum for a eARC in exchange for my honest review

I always enjoy a suspenseful story of people, especially women, behaving badly. It's the fascination of not wanting to believe people can actually act like that, but not being able to look away or stop reading. The characters have very little redeeming qualities and I loved getting to know all their secrets. Someone is murdered and it almost could be anyone. The fun is in trying to pick your way through the lies to find the terrible truth. The audiobook was a great way to experience this novel.

Welcome to another episode of rich people don’t know what to do with their time and lives so they ended up hooking up with each other’s husbands and tennis coaches. The only bonus in this story was their midlife crisis cost someone their life. So yeah, title is extremely fitting: no embellishment, no sugarcoating. They were just bad summer people.

Everyone took that first ferry to Fire Island to start their summer. Everyone was ready to talk about themselves incessantly and play tennis as of that was the only mean to establish dominance over other during that specific summer. They were in for flings, adultery, and outright lies. Sleuths were back too to nail down not fitting members of community. While I appreciated there was someone to keep everyone on their toes, so summer did not become a reason to forget civility; sometimes you need to remember where to stop.

At the end bad summer people did bad things, but the ones who were sneaky managed to get away with all they had done without a hitch. Because money… so yeah, it will be a good summer read while frying yourself on the beach

I was hooked on this book from the description. I’m a huge fan of thrillers but this book came of more of a drama and a recap of life. Not much of a thrill with the plot and the characters were very dry and flat. I think this book would be a great summer read and enjoyed by plenty of drama book lovers.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.com.

This was an enjoyable enough novel. It would be good for a summer beach read or a flight-- entertaining enough, with a fine plot and sufficient intrigue, but ultimately not much that will stick with me once I walk away. The book is conducted as a who-gets-it as much as a whodunit, as the prologue introduces a dead body found in a small summer town on Fire Island near the end of the season, and then the rest of the novel flashes back to the start of summer and works its way forward to the death.

In that way, and in its focus on a series of rich, elite couples, it was similar to the book One of us is Dead, which I read earlier this year. However, I found that novel to be more well- executed than this one. Nonetheless, it still gets a thumbs up from me, overall.

An excellent listen. White Lotus meets Succession set on the wealthy and exclusive Fire Island. I enjoyed the narrator and the overlap of each narrative to show multiple perspectives of the same events. Bad Summer People is filled with secrets and lies and even though every character is so easy to hate I was eager to see how each story line would play out. Definitely recommend for a summer read.

January LaVoy has become one of my favorite narrators! She did not disappoint with this audiobook! This book is full of drama and the perfect summer/beach read or listen! I really enjoyed this book! Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

Generally speaking I’m not a fan of books that exist purely on the premise of “here are a terrible bunch of people behaving badly who you will hate.” But this is more clever and nuanced than that, and makes for a fun book that would make a great beach read.

I would have preferred that this have a bit more humor to balance out the petty, boorish stuff, but I thought the characters were well developed and interesting, if not exactly lovable.

The sense of place and setting is also well rendered here, and the multiple POVs worked a lot better here than they do in most domestic suspense novels.

Perfect for reading on your summer vacation.

I had higher hopes for this. It was not a thriller. It was more like a drama book version. Pretty slow and hard to get through.

This was a fun beachy read with some attitude. While it read like a story of friends and family and the drama that happens, it was different in the fact that, as the title states, they all seem to be pretty bad people. It certainly didn't ruin the story though. We learned slowly about all the hidden parts of the people and their true natures through the fact that they each took turns narrating the story. I thoroughly enjoyed listening it and how it all played out. If anything, the fact that I didn't care for many of the characters took away from the stress of what would happen and allowed me to just enjoy the story.
Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.