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.

If you want an easy read, minimal but some spice, one murder, but tons of DRAMA, this is a perfect book for you. It was semi-predicable but a page turner. Affairs, hot tennis instructor, fake appearances... their drama makes me love my simple life where I enjoy my husband, my children and NOT living on the East Coast.

Thanks to #Netgalley and the publishers for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did not expect to love this as much as I did. I love the female character development and the way the author managed to go into different POVs without it being confusing is astounding. I loved it all the way to the end and highly recommend.

Welcome to the small island town of Solcombe, Fire Island! This domestic suspense (maybe a little thriller-ish?) novel is told from multiple POVs. The main characters are New York residents who getaway to their summer homes every summer on Fire Island. This particular summer is filled with drama, cheating, and scandal. Many of the couples on Fire Island are friends…..or so they say to each other. Stories change behind each others’ backs.. At the start of the book, there is a murder that takes place, but it isn’t revealed until how the murder is connected until the end of the book. This was a great juicy read perfect to kick off your summer reading! I listed to this book via audio, and at the start it took some focus to keep up with the multiple POVs and characters. Once I had them straight, I was wrapped up in all of their drama! I didn’t think the plot twist was anything too shocking or unpredictable, but I still enjoyed the book nonetheless. It was almost like reading an Elin Hilderbrand novel, mixed with the Gossip Girl TV show, with an added murder! I really enjoyed the combination, and would definitely read another Emma Rosenblum novel!

Read if you enjoy:
👫 domestic suspense
👯‍♀️ socialite drama
🔀 multiple points of view
🏖️ summer vacation home in an island setting
🎾 tennis action
😏 steamy scenes
☀️ summertime vibes
🫢 unfaithful marriages and scandal

I read this book via audio, courtesy of @NetGalley!

This was a fun rollercoaster ride. It has White Lotus vibes, where we start knowing someone has died, but then back track to find out who and the events that lead up to the death. As the title suggests Bad Summer People, is filled with people being naughty on vacation, and the gossip and intruige that goes with that. I finished this book in a day, wanting to know how it plays out. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator January Lavoy was wonderful.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the advanced reader copy.

Book Title: Bad Summer People
Author: Emma Rosenblum (Debut Author)
Narrator: January LaVoy
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: May 23, 2023
My Rating: 2.2 . Stars
Pages: 384

This title should have been a clue to me. However the reviews are so great I was sure this would indeed be good.
Story starts with the end and then keeps you guessing but the

Setting is Fire Island, a vacation paradise where the wealthy families of Salcombe, return to every summer - play tennis and escape the reality of their unfulfilled lives.
Some have homes that have been passed down for generations while others are new. This is a bit different with the arrival of an attractive tennis coach, with family secrets that have thawed and surfaced with the co

I struggled with this story. But I love narrator January Lavoy so hung in there. True she did a good job in performing the characters but her beautiful voice wasn’t able to save this and make it enjoyable for me. Not a fan of profanity however I have no doubt this language is normal for these nasty mouth unlikeable characters.

Didn’t work for me but I know there are many other readers who will love it. In fact, saw it describes as ‘THE 2023 Summer Read”!

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for granted me this early audio eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 23, 2023

3 stars

Judge this book by its cover; it's a beach read but with highly unlikeable characters (*only*, according to this reader).

I hear "Fire Island" and think I'm going straight to queer paradise, but these folks all have a different idea. They are wealthy and in all other identities very, VERY similar. Their problems are...not so relatable to the average bear. Readers may think, "Move! It'll solve all of your problems!" but then they may also evolve to, "No. Stay right where you are. You all deserve each other."

The upside of this book is that it really does fit the easy read, people behaving badly, engaging listen vibes that one might expect from the cover and title, but readers need to prepare to not necessarily find much to root for here by way of outcomes or specific characters.

Readers looking for a read that is light in required critical thinking, dark in motifs, but still entertaining will be satisfied.

Bad Summer people by Emma Rosenblum is a multi POV character driven narrative about couples on fire Island that are dishonest cheating catty backstabbing interesting people. It mainly focuses around Lauren Jason Jen and Sam Jim and Jason are sleeping together and it’s really a shame because Sam is such a nice guy in until the summer on fire Island Lauren has been faithful to Jason who to me is a jerk. The fire Island yacht club getting new tennis pro to teach the affluent women of Salkum how to play proper tennis something the wives s of the island take very serious especially Rachel who is a gossip and an unwanted social butterfly. She’s also the only unmarried childless person in their group. As soon as Lauren sees the tennis pro Robert she is immediately attracted to him and although cheating isn’t something she’s entertained since being married to Jason it is something she definitely is entertaining now. In the beginning of the book a little boy finds a dead body but who is it and did someone murder them or was it an accident? Throughout the story there are many candidates for the murder victim and I will say in the end it is quite a shock to see who it is I found this book to be so very interesting and it’s something I love a book about catty women who act like they’re not catty at all one in front of each other. Fire Island is just another version of the Hamptons in case you’re wondering with the intrigue cheating double dealing to FaceTime socialites they have an every vacation destiny in the world. This was such an intriguing book and when I couldn’t stop listening to I usually wait until right before the due date to read a book but as soon as I got this one I started listening I didn’t have enough willpower to wait it out I love this book and highly recommend it. I received this book from NetGalley McMillan audio but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Is "meh" a rating. I'm not typically into needing an author to "read the room" but entitled over privileged rich white people getting away with crimes and promoting stereotypes - while also stabbing each other in the back - just isn't hitting the spot. I'm unclear on the role of some characters and feel like the it could have been a much shorter who done it with anything that went below superficial level. There was something about the story line that kept me going, but that almost felt like a betrayal when I realized that no, no I wasn't going to like ANY of the main characters by the end. A bummer because I think the style used for the storytelling is one that could have easily left me craving more, but instead it just left me wanting different.

#netgalley #arc #book review

This was a quick, fun summer read! I genuinely enjoyed most of the characters, even though none were very likable, and left with a soft spot for Rachel. However, the epilogue really threw the rest of the book off for me. I would have liked it better without.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review!

My synopsis: Welcome to Salcombe, Fire Island--the alternative to the Hamptons--where the rich play all day. Tennis is viewed as the next Wimbledon tournament, which means the community must hire pro-tennis player, Robert, to give lessons. Robert, who is single, handsome and in a financial runt.

There, he meets Laura and Jason Parker and Jen and Sam Weinstein along with their single friend, Rachel Woolf. Laura and Jen are the community's queen bees and Rachel is just trying to find a husband...regardless if he's married or single.

In this community, anything goes, but just how far will they go to get what they want?


Rating: I rated this book 3 stars. The author wrote this book in everyone's POV which was good and bad. Good, because the readers are able to see live through each character's view. Bad, because there's a lot to keep track of.

I really wanted to give this book an amazing rating because it sounded so good. Unfortunately, it was high school but 30 years later. You have the drama, the cliques, the gossips, the cheaters. It was Desperate Housewives in writing.

I really enjoyed this one! Bad Summer People was just really about a bunch of rich, spoiled adults and what they could get away with. I thought it was a good, quick read. I liked the audio!

Oh my gosh, I am so thankful to have received advanced audiobook access to Bad Summer People, and I’m thanking Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio, Emma Rosenblum, and NetGalley. Bad Summer People publishes on May 23, 2023, and gives me all of the vibes of the love child parented by Jeneva Rose’s One of Us is Lying and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies.

The vacationing elites of Salcombe, Fire Island, are used to their daily routines of tennis lessons, happy hours, galas, picnics, and the correct dosage of gossip and extramarital affairs. Yep, everyone is sleeping with someone they aren’t betrothed to, and that’s just the flow of the summer. All has its purpose until a hot new tennis instructor has been hired at the country club, who has his own intentions of mucking up trouble and starting drama.

Keeping up with everyone’s dirty laundry on audio was a little tricky. Still, I felt like I was listening to an episode of Real Housewives because the scandal was everywhere and highly entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Wow. This one was not at all what I expected and it was not at all for me.
I disliked all characters in it. And it was not at all a thriller even with a murder.
Most of the time I was trying to figure out who was who and who was sleeping with who and who was cheating or stealing money.
Very confusing book that just wasn’t enjoyable at all for me.

Im a beach kid through and through.

If it involves water, sun and sand, you can count me in.

I also tend to gravitate toward both books and movies that take place in the summer. When I saw Emma Rosenbaum, was releasing a new book titled "Bad Summer People" I knew this book was for me.

I received the audiobook yesterday morning. The past two days I have worked diligently while being kept company by "Bad Summer People"

My Oh My

Wait til you folks get your hands on this doozie!

The only thing that could have made this book any better was if I had a Pina Colada in my hand. This book is the PERFECT book to curl up with on the beach .

The amount of deceit that is packed in this book will have you doubting even your closest friends! I can not gush over this book anymore, all I can tell you is that this is a MUST READ. You don't want to forget about this one, so head on over to your favorite bookstore, and pre-order this showstopper.

Teaser:

None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder?

Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he’s the tennis pro—or someone else’s husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other.

Until a body is discovered, face down, off the side of the boardwalk.

Stylish, subversive, and darkly comedic, this is a story of what's lurking under the surface of picture-perfect lives in a place where everyone has something to hide.

Even though this book involves a murder it definitely isn’t a thriller and I really enjoyed that. The story revolves around a small town on Fire Island. The characters are all wealthy and awful. They talk behind each other’s backs and seek out bedmates that are not their own spouses. This is a perfect pool or beach read. The audiobook was quick and well narrated. I will be looking forward to reading other books by Emma!

The title says it all! There was not one likeable character in BAD SUMMER PEOPLE. Everyone was telling lies, cheating on each other and gossiping. I was initially drawn to the mysterious death of a character at the beginning of the story. I did become invested in wanting to know who it was and why it happened. The story held my interest until the end, which I liked. I will caution you to pay close attention when listening to the audiobook since there are a lot of characters. Overall, I thought this was a good debut and I think it will be a great summer read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian for my complimentary audiobook.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.