This book focuses on the complicated relationships between four couples and many side characters. In my opinion, the plot was interesting but there were too many characters to keep up with in any meaningful way.

This audio was really hard to listen to because it was hard keeping up with so many characters. I think I would have enjoyed reading more. Because the audio was just confusing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Emma Rosenblum for the audio ARC of this book. This book is set in a chichi community on Fire Island and is filled with gossip, extramarital liaisons, competition both on and off the tennis court, greed and even murder. It is well written with well developed (albeit not particularly likable) characters. The narrator has a pleasant voice and the narration flows very smoothly. This book really kept my attention with it’s various story lines. Highly recommend for readers looking for a light fast moving beach read. This is Emma Rosenblum’s debut novel and, judging from the quality of Bad Summer People, will be the first of many.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

It was a fantastic read.. I could not put this book down it was so good!! I need a physical copy like yesterday!! Beachy summer thriller that I lived!

This was definitely a guilty pleasure read and I was so there for it!! ! It gave me May Cobb vibes and I was very pleased with that similarity. This was Rosenblum’s debut and I can’t wait to read what she puts out next!!


Synopsis:

Welcome to Salcome, Fire Island and exclusive resort for the rich where everyone has something to hide. All of the adults here are rich and behaving badly. But could any of them actually commit murder? Best friends Sam, Jason and Rachel grew up vacationing in Salcombe. Now that Sam and Jason are grown up with their own families they vacation here every summer. Their wives, Jen and Lauren rule the town during the summer and Rachel, who is still single and in love with Sam, is always trying to stay in their good graces while at the same time boeing the town’s biggest gossip.

A new attractive male tennis pro, spices things up this summer and the stakes are even higher for the annual women’s doubles tennis match. Rachel,a diehard tennis player l, would like nothing more than to take the title with her partner Emily. Before there's a winner,, a lot of secrets will be revealed and not everyone will be leaving with their marriage intact or Alive by summer’s end.


This book was FIRE! I had a hard time tearing myself away from it ! I did it as an audiobook, and the narration was spot on! I hightly recommend this as a beach or vacation read,, you will not regret the choice!

I wanted this book to surprise me but ultimately, I think I'm just tired of reading about overprivileged rich people doing bad things. There wasn't anything fresh or new about this story.

I really enjoyed this audiobook! It was entertaining, witty, and also full of deplorable, unlikable, and truly awful characters. It was so fun to get to read about a family who is wealthier and just very different from what I've read in the past.

To sum up this book in a sentence: A lot of rich people behaving very badly.

Not very shocking in the slightest, but it's a great beach read if you want to read some juicy drama! I will say if you don't like keeping track of a lot of characters, regardless of the deets, this may not be the book for you. However, I love a good multiple POV, so this kept me very interested!

This was an easy weekend read, though to be honest, I am already forgetting the details...The characters were all pretty unlikable and the plot predictable, but I wanted something that would entertain and hold my attention, which it did. All in all, it was a decent read, but I can't say it's one I would particularly recommend, I'm sorry to say.

A beachy summer thriller loaded with rich people’s summer drama. None of the characters are particularly likeable and yet it’s still an entertaining read.

I found this just blah! This is about rich summer people at their vacation island…like the Cape. I can’t remember the name of it 🤦🏻‍♀️. Anyway they are all sleeping around with each other, gossiping about each other and just being plain mean. This just was not for me.

Bad Summer People is the perfect beach read - terrible people with too much money, sleeping around, and causing drama. It gave me Big Little Lies in the Hamptons vibes. I shouldn't have liked this book, but damn, I had fun with it.

I wouldn't call this a thriller or a mystery. There are no dramatic, over-the-top twists, which is probably why I liked it. The murder is a minor plot point. It is more like a beachside domestic drama. Despite this, I enjoyed the mystery aspect and found the ending satisfying.

If you hate unlikeable characters, this will not be for you. Rich people behaving badly is not usually a trope I enjoy. However, I found several characters interesting, and it kept me turning the pages. I read this in one day.

The setting is very atmospheric. I could almost feel the sand on my feet and the seaspray on my face.

Bad Summer People is a perfect read if you want something entertaining and binge-able.

January Lavoy is a perfect narrator, as usual. However, I will note that there are several POVS, and it took me a bit to get used to one narrator for all of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A twist you don’t see coming makes this an excellent mystery; the characters are the stereotype of every island vacationer you can imagine. Great Book!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a really great summer read for sure! characters and story kept me engaged and wondering what would happen next! would buy and recommend!

The drama!!! I honestly was not expecting all that drama. I mean I knew from the synopsis that there would have to be some, I mean in rich people behaving badly stories that’s a given. But I wasn’t expecting everyone to be hooking up with each other, the money scandal & murder! Such a fun summer read!

I enjoyed that we got perspectives from all the characters. We weren’t stuck in one person so it gave the narration free range to explore other people. All the characters had some drama to go thru so it made the story move along quickly. I did find at times some of the couples got all mixed up in my mind. Especially the couples who were hooking up vs married. But I’m the end I was able to keep it all together and follow the story line.

For a summer beach read I think this is a good time but I don’t think I will remember this book at the end of the year!

5 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for letting me listen to this in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn't want to spend the Summer hanging out with bad people and watching their lives fall apart? The title really fits! There are so many pretty rotten but also extremely interesting people spending the summer in the resort town of Salcombe.

This is a perfect Summer read! I am a huge fan of January LaVoy as a narrator. She never disappoints and she was amazing again.

A group of affluent friends spend every summer together at their summer homes and this year is no different or so they thought. When secrets among friends start to fracture their relationships there appears to be dire consequences. Will they be able to overcome these hardships to remain friends is anyone’s guess.

So I’ve kept my summary of the premises pretty vague as there isn’t a ton to it and what I described is the book in a nutshell. I did enjoy the book and the character development. There is also plenty of spicy scenes to keep you entertained. I felt it took awhile for the story to build up and found myself wondering when is something going to happen. However, the ending does have a hard hitting impact and was not expected. The narrator of the book is fantastic and really easy to listen to and does an excellent job and changing her voice for the different characters. I would happily refer this book to family and friends

Truly! Bad People.
Sun, Tennis, Sex and Murder!
Story moves along quickly as each characters POV is told. Rich People pretending all is good with their Frenemies, life long Friends and Afffair partners. These insecure, Cheating, gossipy, needy, and bored people have problems. Including someone capable of murder.

Bad summer people was a great summer read targeting the rich “summerers” at any bougie summer town.

Affairs, backstabbing, abusing the help….a dead body. Creating personas that are summer only. Desperation and a bit of depravity….it kinda had it all.

There was not a character I found redeeming though. The title didn’t lie.

I liked it and it was great for summer mind candy.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Sam and Jason spent every summer on Fire Island when they were growing up. Sam’s parents owned the house in Salcombe, but Jason went with him every year. Jason wouldn’t have been able to afford it without Sam, and since Sam’s parents were getting divorced, so he could use the friend.

Now they’re adults, living and working in Manhattan most of the year and spending summers in Salcombe. Jason has his own house with his wife Lauren, while Sam has his parents’ house with his wife Jen. They spend summers on the beach, with the kids in camp and the nannies keeping an eye on them the rest of the time so the parents can drink and gossip. Salcombe is a small town, so everyone knows everyone else, and someone always knows the secrets.

It used to be that the most drama Salcombe saw in the summer was the women’s doubles tennis tournament. But this summer is different. Sam is struggling with a situation at work the he doesn’t think he can share with Jen. Jason can barely look at his wife, but Lauren doesn’t mind as she’s looking at someone else.

Add in handsome new tennis pro Robert and Sam’s ex-girlfriend Rachel, and sparks will fly on Fire Island. There is lying and infidelity, cheating and stealing, and someone even ends up dead.. But how did this cozy small summer town become so dangerous?

Bad Summer People is a novel about adults gone wild. All the pent-up stress of the winter months come bursting out as families gather on Fire Island. Author Emma Rosenblum hit the ground running with this debut novel about privilege and power. Told by a multitude of characters in the town, this story comes together like a puzzle, with that last piece not slotting into place until the very end.

I listened to the audio book of Bad Summer People, read to perfection by master narrator January LaVoy. She provided a different voice with each new character and brought these people to life. I will admit to struggling with this book somewhat. I mean. it’s right there in the title that these are bad people. But I was a little surprised at just how bad some of them were. I think I just needed one person to be good, to pin my hopes on, and it was just really hard to find anyone in this book who deserved the lifestyle these people got to enjoy. It is a fun summer read, but I also had to take breaks to remember my humanity. Read with caution, and maybe with cocktails.

A copy of the audio book for Bad Summer People was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.

It’s summertime on Fire Island, where New York’s elite spend the summer season. From memorial til Labor Day, they descend upon the island to get away from their busy lives. With a routine of cocktail parties and tennis matches, the islanders quiet summer turns chaotic when a body is discovered. Who on the island would even be capable of murder?

Bad Summer People is about, you guessed it, rich people behaving badly in the summer. It’s a trainwreck in the best possible way. Barely any of the characters in this book are likable. They all have flaws, secrets, and drama. I love the pettiness of the women and if I’m being honest, would have loved the book to just be from the women’s perspective. The men are all on the border of being charming but are also the absolute worst.

Rachel Woolf, Jen and Sam Weinstein, and Lauren and Jason Parker are our main characters, almost every character we meet narrators some portion of the book. While I loved the extra drama and cattiness, since I primarily listened to the audio, I took me a bit to get the hang of who was who and who was married to who. If you don’t like a ton of narrators, maybe skip this one.

I was addicted to the drama (give me all the scandals) and would have given this 5 stars, but I felt the ending dragged on. This is a perfect summer/ beach read and anyone who loves reality tv drama, this book is for you!


Bad Summer People is out now. Huge thank you to Flatiron Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.