THE GIRLS OF SUMMER review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

🏝️I added this one to my tbr after seeing somebody compare the story to My Dark Vanessa. MDV was one of my top reads of 2022 and I needed to see for myself how similar the stories were. While they are definitely in the same vein, I ultimately preferred My Dark Vanessa. 🤷‍♀️

🏝️Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
As a teenager, Rachel fell hard for an older man (Alistair) while working a summer job in Greece. Even though he was 20 years her senior, Rachel has always felt mature for her age. Now as an adult, Rachel is married to Tom but can’t deny the love she still feels for Alistair. When the opportunity arises for Rachel to revisit the Greek island where it all began, she’s eager to take it. But when she gets there dark secrets from the past are brought to light and Rachel begins to think her summer love might be covering up something sinister…

🏝️I enjoyed this story overall and loved the ending! Parts of the story definitely reminded me of My Dark Vanessa and if you liked that book I’d recommend checking out The Girls of Summer! The pacing of this one was a bit off for me. While I enjoyed this one overall, comparing it to one of my all-time favorite reads makes me a little more harsh in my review than I might be otherwise. I did still really enjoy this one and I’d recommend it, just know that it deals with some heavy content.

Thanks @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for my advanced copy of this one!

3.5 stars out of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review

First off I want to start by saying that I enjoyed the narrator Annabel Scholey. They captured the voice of Rachel very well.

I really was hoping this would be a four star for me but it just wasn't. I loved the idea of this and I assumed that this would give me exactly what I was hoping for in a Summer read. I wanted to feel Greece, the heat, the food and the smell of the ocean but it just didn't hit me in the way I had hoped it would. I do think a lot of the problem for me was that Rachel really needed to have achieved some kind of growth from her 17 year-old self to the adult that she is now and there really was none. She seemed to have not grown.

🎧Song Pairing: The Boys of Summer - The Ataris

💭What I thought would happen:

I thought a fantastic summer thriller obviously. Less fantastic, less thriller..,,

📖What actually happens:

Nothing. Nothing happens.

🗯Thoughts:

If you want encouragement to read this just stop reading my review. This book put me in a slump and I was only listening. No thanks ! Soooo dull and had no point. I just needed it to end.

This could have been a novella or not written at all. I’d have been content either way. I just am bamboozled by its lack of originality and content in general.

The MC was a victim and yet I could not sympathize for her. I must be a terrible person. I just found her very one dimensional. She’s

⚠️ rape, abuse, infidelity, substance abuse

When Rachel and Caroline are 17 they spend the summer traveling before they have to return home to start school. Their last stop is on a Greek island. Rachel falls in love with the island and Alistair, a much older man. Rachel decides to take a gap year and stay on the island while Caroline returns home. Rachel has never had much attention from men before and so the fact that Alistair is paying attention to her brings out feelings Rachel has never had before.

It's hard to say too much without giving away spoilers about the book. There are two timelines, Rachel from 15 years ago on the island and Rachel now. Rachel now is married and getting ready to start a family. However Rachel has problems dealing with her feelings from 15 years ago, although maybe she isn't dealing with the right feelings.

I wasn't crazy about the way the two timelines went back and forth. Sometimes in the current timeline things were exposed that hadn't actually happened yet in the earlier timeline. To me this gave away parts of the story earlier than I would have liked.

The Girls of Summer discusses some difficult subjects that not everyone will want to read. However, the author does a good job of describing Rachel at an earlier age and how she allowed this to happen.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for allowing me to review this book

I didn’t like this book it was way to dark and I’m sorry the age gap of the main character and the love interest nope. Lost me! Sorry I wish I could but that was straight up gross

This was a book that I tried to connect with but didn't, so I requested the audiobook to see if that helped and it didn't. The thrill is just too subtle and slow in the beginning.

Thanks for access to this arc!

Rachel’s life is changed forever after she spends a summer on a Greek island. What was initially supposed to be a short holiday with her best friend turns into an extended stay after she falls in love with an older man. Now an adult, she is struggling in her marriage as her feelings for Alistair never fully went away. When her past resurfaces, she begins to come to the understanding that maybe her love affair wasn’t as romantic as she thought.

I was initially drawn to this book because it was branded as a thriller. This is not a thriller. This is a story surrounding allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate relationships, so please be aware before picking it up. I have seen some people comparing it to My Dark Vanessa. The writing in My Dark Vanessa is far more superb. The writing in this book at times felt plain to me, for such an emotional topic. It has a very slow pace, which makes it difficult to get into. The setting of the story was very well written and easy to picture. Rachel was very hard to like.

Rachel is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives on the fringes. Her friends are more popular than she is, and nothing seems to happen. But she agrees to go to Greece for a summer before university and meets Alistair. So what if he's older and wants to keep their relationship a secret. He has her best interest at heart, doesn't he?

This was a heavy read told in a dual-timeline format. But Katie Bishop handles the story beautifully, clearly understanding how vulnerable young women, really girls, are and how trauma can follow them the rest of their lives—a well-told, important read.

☀️ The Girls of Sunmer - Katie Bishop

3 ⭐️- I feel slightly duped by this book. This is a classic “don’t judge a book by its cover” which I definitely did and here we are. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it. It was just okay for me. This one has some major trigger warnings so definitely check those out prior to reading!

Rachel has been in love with Allister for 15 years.. even though she’s married to someone else now. Rachel and Allister met when she was a teenager and he was 20 years older than her. Their love affair began when Rachel takes a trip to a Greek Island where she is drawn to a lifestyle of free-flowing alcohol, drugs, and sex. As secrets of her love affair and dark past start to arise in her current life, Rachel is forced to face the harsh truth about what really happened all those years ago.

This book wasn’t what I was expecting. While it covers a lot of deep, dark, hard to discuss topics, it was written with mystery and suspense that keeps you wanting more. I was given the audio (Thanks Netgalley and MacMillan Audio) which I really enjoyed. The MeToo movement is a big topic of this one and it covers topics about sex, power, consent and trauma, and the drive to take back your own story. I think it was covered and written well, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. This is not a light, fluffy Greek summer book. I recommend if you’re looking for MeToo themes or something heavier and more thought provoking.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, & Macmillan audio for the eARC and ALC copies and the chance to provide my candid review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 (0-5)

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job. I’m such a sucker for an English accent. Her voice and expression are so lovely and enjoyable.
🤩 Summer in the title and Santorini, Greece—that cover! Those two things are what got my attention.
🤩 I went in a bit blind having read the blurb so long ago. I wish I would have paid better attention to the last section of the blurb. It’s a serious book—check trigger warnings.
🤩 Coming-of-age, psychological thriller type book.
🤩 Then and now chapters written in such a way that you need to keep going and want all the answers and details.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 A TBR full of romcoms because this reader can only handle so much of all the other genres.

Trigger Warnings:
🔬 human trafficking
🔬 on-page rape
🔬 off-page death of friend

This book had a lot of my favorite pieces, the most vital one being the structure of the story. I love an alternating perspective timeline. And I love the start at the end of the story and allowing the reader to piece together what happened by hearing a "Now" and a "then" timeline. To me, that perspective is enthralling. The love story that unfolded in its tumultuous and real way was relatable. I enjoyed the setting and the character development. This is a story I look forward to also reading in print to catch even more thrilling details.

Rachel is in Greece vacationing with her husband, but she cannot help but think about the summer she spent in Greece with her friends years ago. This long ago summer Rachel started a secret relationship with an older man, and she still has questions about how that summer fell apart. 

Through dual timelines, we slowly find out what happened that summer and what the repercussions were. Rachel is such a complicated character. She is dealing with past trauma that she has buried deep within her. This book really hits on a sensitive subject but I feel like it was done well. This book felt more like a coming of age, literary fiction genre than thriller/mystery. 

I alternated between the print and the audio. The audio is definitely the way to go on this one. The narrator did a great job of bringing this story to life.

𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 — Dual. We have a “then” and “now” timeline, where our main character, Rachel, is reminiscing on her time in Greece from the moment she gets there at the age of 17, as well as her life now, almost 16 years later.

𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 — Greece and London. The “then” portions of the story take place in Greece and the “now” takes place in London. 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 2019 *

𝑷𝑶𝑽 — Just one, Rachel. Her thoughts and decisions were difficult to read at times and I found myself wanting to slap the teen out of her, but also realizing just how impressionable 17 year olds really are and how grooming can be made to seem like love.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 — This debut novel touches on a lot of heavy themes. We have a fairly somber storyline from start to finish. Despite having a GORGEOUS cover, this is anything but a light summer read. I’m someone who enjoys reading dark and messed up stories but some of the topics in this book aren’t for everyone. For the sake of not ruining the book, if you’d like to know the trigger warnings, please message me and I’d be happy to share!

𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 — 310 pages. Audiobook was 10 hours and 26 minutes. Thank you to @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for the early audio! Narrated by Annabel Scholey. Narrator was fantastic, I enjoyed switching back and forth between physical and audio.

𝑷𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 — This is a sloowww burn. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I went into this novel knowing that and wasn’t disappointed.

𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 — I’m amazed this is a debut novel. Katie’s writing was very straightforward and did a great job in navigating such difficult topics in the way she did.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦!

This is my kind of book: dual timelines, gorgeous setting, tense, raw, intense and surprising. A perfect summer read.

Thank you @stmartinspress for this promo box and gifted copy.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 by @katiebishopwrites releases today June 6, 2023.

Thank you MacMillan audio and netgalley for an advanced listening copy of The Girls of Summer. This one started out a bit slow but as I came to know the characters and got the present and past worked out while listening I did enjoy this book. I think that it might possibly not be for everyone - I caught myself thinking it reminds me a bit of #metoo with a bit of Epstein Island and while not exactly like My Dark Vanessa - it did have some similarities there. I loved the narrator's accent and I think she did an excellent job narrating the book. I did enjoy listening to it while on my drive. Its definitely a book that you need to give your complete focus to while listening. I understand that this is Katie Bishop's debut novel. The writing is excellent and I look forward to reading something else by this author in the future.

Achingly poignant and at times hard to read because of the reality and truths of what so many women experience and live woven into the story. I’m not typically drawn to the thriller type books but the blurb for this one caught my interest.

It is such a heavy, sad story that I know I’ll be thinking another for awhile and is going to take some time to process through after finishing, but it was really well done. So well written and the pacing was just right, giving you just enough to maintain the tension and need to know the full story of what happened, and keep you hooked till the very end.

And the narrator for the audiobook was excellent. Not only did she embody the main character, Rachel, so well but she also captured the whole tone of the story perfectly.

Don't go into Katie Bishop's The Girls of Summer thinking this is a summer beach read. It's so much more than that. It's about desire and control and consent. It's Rachel's story of finally finding her own power and forgiving herself. The Girls of Summer is an emotional, engaging read that is sometimes hard to work through, to know what's happening, to watch all unravel. It's raw, but it's also inspiring.

The narrator for the Girls of Summer was perfect, with the perfect amount of emotion and heft that the story demands.

I wasn’t expecting The Girls of Summer to be such a heavy read. It’s weird to say I “enjoyed” the book based on the content. This is a powerful story filled with intense topics that reminds me of the same vibes as My Dark Vanessa, Before We Were Innocent, and The Ingenue.

Bishop alternates between Rachel’s present day life and the abrupt re-exposure to her past that brings complicated memories hurtling back to her. I loved how these timeline shifts wove together. Each is atmospheric and filled with emotion. The reader is aware of the truth about Rachel’s past before she is and it breaks your heart at times to see the realization arrive. The pacing gives the story a slow burn quality, but the content kept my attention so solidly that I never minded this. Bishop’s writing is propulsive and with each new chapter I was invested in what would happen next.

I highly recommend checking trigger warnings on Storygraph before picking this one up.

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

We follow Rachel as she visits a Greek Island where she used to line as a teenager. Rachel begins to reminisce about her time in the island when she was seventeen and the person whom she was in love with Alistair.

**check content warnings**

This book is very atmospheric and a slow burn. The writing style is easy to consume, however, every time I put this book down, I was not drawn to pick it up and continue. Maybe it was the age gap romance? Maybe the dual timelines? Maybe the lack of maturity in Rachel?

The narration was great! I had the privilege to have the audio and digital ARC for this experience!

I will definitely check out Katie Bishop and her future works!

I’m not sure what I expected going into this book, but it wasn’t what I got! The cover makes it look like a book of summer fun - and it’s definitely not that. I’m impressed that this is a debut women’s fiction novel because it did not read as such. Told in dual timelines, The Girls of Summer follows Rachel both through her summer in Greece at age 17 and when she and her husband return to the same island for vacation many years later. Atmospherically, I was whisked away for a summer in the Greek isles. While reading, I was unfortunately unsurprised by the situations that came up in the book regarding older men taking advantage of young women.
I've seen this compared to My Dark Vanessa - it’s been a while since I read that, but I can see that likeness in terms of their dark sexual themes. This book, on the other hand, left me feeling a bit differently about the main character, as I couldn’t stand her!
I mostly listened to the audiobook, which was excellently narrated by Annabel Scholey. Her narration made the story come to life, especially in the beginning when it was setting the stage for the trauma to come. I found myself following along with the ebook in order to pay attention, which I don’t usually do.
Thanks to the St Martin's Press for the ARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I crushed this on my train home from a busy long weekend in New Jersey - I recommend the audiobook but be aware that this is a darker and heavier story than the cover portrays. It is available today!

Content Warnings: sexual abuse, drug abuse, lack of consent, human trafficking, grooming, abortion