I rarely find a Susan Mallery book I don't like, and this one was another winner!
I always love the books, set in California, and the ocean of course. For me though, this one was all about the strong female relationships and how these friends helped each other grow and change and embrace new opportunities in their lives. There were tears, and laughter and love and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The Summer Book Club is the perfect beach or pool read for spring break or this summer. Featuring three friends - Laurel, Paris, and Cassie - all at different stages in life and love - who are uncertain about taking chances, but determined to find happiness. I enjoyed how their stories weaved together and the discussions of the older romance books they were reading. Susan Mallery's books are always a comfort read for me, and this one was no different! I recommend this to fans of contemporary romances where friendships feature as much as falling in love. I received an advanced reading copy of this book, the receipt of which did not impact my review.

Wonderful story for everyone to enjoy. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

The Summer Book Club is a story of friendship, bonding over books, new beginnings, taking chances and romance. Three women; recently divorced Laurel, single Cassie who has moved to California to claim an inheritance and been kicked out of her siblings home, and Paris, a woman who has been divorced for many years and finally learned to deal with her temper and emotions, are in a summer book club. They are reading romance books from the 1980s and decide to follow the heroines in the books by taking chances that may lead to love.

That is all I will say about the plot of this book. I loved these three friends. They are women who had to deal with things in their past to become the women they are by the end of this book. Susan Mallery has created three wonderful characters, ones that I would like to meet and become friends with. They have a great relationship and support each other in many ways. Although Cassie is new to this group, they accept her and invite her in to their group. The secondary characters also play important roles in this book. We have Laurel's girls who are dealing with an absent father and all the feelings that brings up, a team of archaeologists working on Cassie's land and Paris' ex-husband who has returned to take care of his grandmother and his son from his second marriage. The various storylines blend together seamlessly, making this a wonderful story that I recommend.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I liked this story, but it is not one of my favorites by author Susan Mallery. I felt that the title didn't fit the book since they only met once or twice, and it didn't fit into the book as much. I looked at all of the characters but felt like Mallery could have gone into more detail with some parts of the book, like the cave.

Wow loved this book by Susan Mallery. Each of the ladies has found their passion in their work and made careers out of things they are good at. Although issues arose in each of their lives they chose to forge ahead and not look behind. They created businesses where there were none before and stuck together so that they could support each other.
They took in a new member who was feeling thrown out by her family and helped her to realize that we are giving a life to share with others but to do good in our own ways. Not in the ways that only benefit others and not ourselves.

I've read Susan Mallery before, so I was excited for this one. But, ultimately, it was a big let down for me. There was so much potential. Now, I will say, I am not a huge fan 3rd-person writing. But if the story is good, I can easily get past it. This was not the case. There was so much potential here, but it just fell flat in the end This book follows three women struggling with navigating different areas of their lives. One is moving away from everything she's ever known, one is facing her past, and the other is worrying about how her life decisions have ruined her children. Again -- potential. But when you take something that can be so good and keep it monotoned, it loses it's appeal. Mallery flirted with the idea of fake dating, but never actually played into it. She flirted with self-acceptance, but the characters, for the most part, weren't actually learning self-love. It just felt like there was so much depth missing from each of the characters. The title is also quite misleading as the book barely delves into the book club and focuses more so on their individual lives and how they intertwine. I wanted to love this, but I just really missed the raw emotion that was needed here.

You can't go wrong with a Susan Mallery book. This starts out with 2 best friends and ends up with a book club of 5. The guys are likeable., the kids can be a pain but in the end it works outs. Laurel and Paris will always be friends and have each others back.

Three different women with different paths and concerns in life, but they have one thing in common – a love of books.

The book itself doesn't focus on the "summer book club" – there are many other things going on.

While reading this book, I had the feeling that it was real – as if the events were really happening somewhere in a small town in the US.

Laurel & Colton, Paris & Jonah, Cassie & Raphael – these couples were so well written, the development of the women and their backstory was enough to warm my heart on a cold winter evening.

This could be a very cosy family film

I loved this book. The situations felt realistic, and the characters' actions believable. The author writes about the lives of three women: Laurel and Paris, who have been friends since the first grade, and Cassie, a newcomer to town. All three women have baggage that keeps them from moving on with their lives. I loved seeing each woman face their pasts and fears and find hope for the future with each other's help and support.

Laurel is a divorced mother of two tween girls, Jagger and Ariana. Her husband left them to "follow his dream" and took all of their savings. It took her a while to get back on her feet using her resale business, but things are looking better now. Unfortunately, her bitterness and anger toward her ex has affected Jagger, who frequently comments about how terrible men are. Laurel is advised to find a good male role model or two - a task easier said than done, especially as she has no interest in another relationship. How she finds that male role model to be friends with is amusing. I loved watching Colton become part of their lives. He's excellent with the girls and the perfect example to show Laurel that not all men are jerks. It's easy to see them grow closer, and Colton's feelings are apparent. But Laurel fights her feelings for him until it's almost too late. Run-ins with her ex complicate their lives.

Paris is also divorced with no children. She runs a successful farm stand, and I loved seeing her marketing creativity. Her divorce happened ten years earlier when her husband could no longer handle her volatile temper. Years of therapy have taught Paris how to handle her emotions, but she still doesn't trust herself, so she has avoided any romantic entanglements. Her life and sense of calm are upended when her ex, Jonah, returns to town with his eight-year-old son, Danny. Jonah holds no grudges against Paris and makes it clear that he would like to be friends. I got a little frustrated with Paris as she frequently mentioned her past treatment of him as a reason he should stay away from her, even though she realizes she still loves him. I loved Jonah's patience and persistence as he helped Paris overcome her guilt and fears.

Cassie is the newcomer to town. The youngest in her family, she was the most affected when their parents died when she was fourteen. She coped by becoming the person who stepped up whenever her older brother or sister needed help, putting her dreams and activities aside. She also tends to form relationships with men/boys who need fixing and then gets dumped when they no longer need her. As the story opens, Cassie's brother and sister sit her down and tell her it's time for her to live her own life. They use a "tough love" method of kicking her out and sending her to California to check on the property she inherited from their uncle. Cassie is hurt, angry, and a little scared, and determined to survive her six-month exile and return to Maine as soon as possible. She doesn't count on making two good friends in Laurel and Paige, discovering a connection with the land she inherited, or finding a man who sees past her insecurities.

I loved the intertwining of Laurel's, Paris's, and Cassie's lives. Paris was there for Laurel when her husband walked out, and Laurel gave Paris the support she needed to confront her anger issues. I loved how they welcomed Cassie into their circle. Each was always ready to back up the others in an emergency - emotional or physical. They were also prepared to call each other out when they avoided the truth of their feelings about the men in their lives or the issues they tried to ignore. With her years of therapy, Paris is especially good at getting to the heart of a problem.

I also liked the realistic depiction of the children's reactions to various things. I ached for Jagger and Ariana as they dealt with their father's desertion. Each girl handled it differently, and I liked seeing the results as the summer progressed. I especially enjoyed seeing the changes in Jagger as she got to know Colton and his parents, Jonah, and Raphael. Jonah's son Danny was a sweet kid who was dealing with his mother's death. I liked his quick connection with Paris. I laughed when his love of Paris's dog, Bandit, resulted in his pestering Jonah for a dog of his own.

I wish there had been an epilogue, as I would love to see how everyone's lives are going a few years later.

Another great book from Susan Mallery. Once you start reading this book you will not want to put it down. There are three main characters Laurel, Paris and Cassie. This story tells how they find love. Their romances are hard for them, to be able to trust someone, when they all three have heartache. They all fall in love.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. The Summer Book Club follows three women. Each facing some type of problem or struggle in their lives and how they lean on each other to get through it. This book was adorable and I loved all the characters and saw similarities in my friendships.

Perfectly Within Expectations. Susan Mallery has a type of tale, at least over these last few years at minimum. It isn't quite "Hallmarkie" in that it generally features a group of female leads that share the spotlight, but those who enjoy the Hallmarkie type will likely also enjoy this type of book - particularly the women it is clearly catered for. Yes, the male characters can be a bit wooden and one dimensional, but again, Mallery knows her target audience well, is clearly very popular within it, and clearly these benign affronts work within this space for this author - and aren't ever really "offensive" to anyone. They're simply too cardboard to have any real agency or motivations of their own, and mostly exist to affirm whatever the women in their lives are doing in the moment / serve whatever emotional or physical needs the woman they are paired with may have. Again, perfectly in line with what Mallery's audience clearly expects, and a perfectly fine tale within these confines. If this type of casual, non-preachy, female friendship type of tale is what you're after, you've found a great book within that space. If you're looking for something *more*, no matter how you define "more"... you need to look somewhere else. This is one of those books that isn't really going to challenge anyone or anything, it is more of a comfort read. I won't necessarily say "vacation" read and I despise the term "beach read" because not everyone reads any given type of book at the beach and whatever book you may be reading at the beach is by definition a "beach read", and at 400+ pages it would need to be a decently long vacation for anyone to read this book while on vacation. Still, it is that same kind of relaxing type of read that many ascribe to those scenarios, so perhaps for some it will truly be a "beach read". Very much recommended.

Susan Mallery is one of my go to authors because she writes women’s fiction in a very relatable fashion. The stories usually deal with new beginnings, families or female friend struggles, The Summer Book Club tells the story of three women, two already best friends that join a book club and a tight friendship
This was not one of my favorite Mallery books; but if you are looking for a quick read than this one might be for you.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for my ARC.

The Summer Book Club, by Susan Mallory, is a quick-reading women’s lit novel featuring three women with their own personal struggles. They come together during a book club, which is indeed a minor portion of the story, and form a bond. Together they overcome their obstacles and disappointments and move forward in their lives. It’s theme of better together than alone, rings true.

This story of friendship shows how it truly takes just one or two people who believe in you, will listen to your unfiltered honesty, who will stand by your side, and will journey through life with you. This novel showcases the flaws and regrets, the victories and personal triumphs, the ups & downs that come along as you live life. There were a few elements I wasn’t a fan of, which felt like silly oversights and poor judgment, and there is a certain formulaic quality to these kinds of stories, but overall, it was an encouraging, feel-good, easy-to-read story.

Another well-written Women's Fiction with a touch of romance by the wonderful Susan Mallery. The story is about three friends, Paris, Laurel, and Cassidy. They are very likable but flawed in realistic ways. Each of the three women has a heartfelt journey of self-awareness and growth. The book includes several interesting secondary characters to round out the families and romance. Add in a summer book club and what's not to like? I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it's earned a spot on my "keeper" shelf.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

The Summer Book Club follows three women navigating life after losing love and working to keep avoiding it but getting their second chances anyway. Friends since childhood, Laurel and Paris, are in their late thirties, divorced, and trying to keep their businesses running and successful, while late twenties newcomer from the East Coast, Cassie, is fighting being thrown out of the nest for the first time. This leaned a little more towards women's fiction but the romance interests make their appearances around the 25% mark (a little later for Cassie) and flutter in and out enough to give a secondary tag of romance. This was all closed door scenes, they passionately kiss but then are “waking” up in bed after having their world rocked ten/twenty minutes later. I also thought there was an underlying tone of conservative intimacy, the “save it for someone special” idealism that felt a little icky to me but your mileage may vary. The book club aspect wasn't really included, worked to get Cassie in the group and the men later join but it really only added some fun little shout-outs to books of yore, MacKenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard; Knight of Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux; The Endearment by LaVyrle Spencer; and Night into Day by Sandra Canfield.

No more guys, she vowed. No more love. No more being stupid.

Laurel has been divorced for a year after her husband drained their bank accounts and left to start a rafting company in Jamaica. She's been stressed to say the least as she tries to keep her thrifting business, searching for low priced items at Goodwill, estate sales, etc. to up-sale on Ebay, and raise her two pre-teen daughters. She's called into the school where a teacher tells her that her oldest daughter has been saying man hating comments and Laurel realizes that her bitterness has bled over into her daughter and it's time to find some positive male role models for her girls. With some serendipitous help, she keeps running into a sound engineer named Colton and dumps her story on him and he agrees to be “just” friends with her. They, oops, have some of that not shown bedroom mind-blowing but it's back to “just” friends, until Colton's parents are visiting and then a fake-dating situationship happens.

This was probably the most emotional story, but it wasn't to do with the romance, one of Laurel's daughters is hurt and angry about their father abandoning them and them being extremely flaky while the younger daughter loves him and begs and cries for any crumbs from him. It was hurtful to see how this kind of dynamic can hurt family members individually and the family unit.

She wasn’t who she had been.

Paris' story will probably be the one most people have the hardest connecting with, she's been divorced for a little under ten years after her husband walked out without saying a word to her. Paris grew-up with an abusive mom and carried those learned traits into her marriage, letting her anger control her and was not only emotionally abusive, yelling constantly at her husband, but also physical, throwing things at him and slapping him. It was great that Paris didn't excuse her behavior before she got therapy but the keeping of bringing up scenes where she was physically abusive to her husband did kill a lot of the romance genre feelings trying to come through. Her ex comes back to town to help his mother recover from knee surgery and she learns that his wife and mother to his son died of cancer a year ago.

I probably could have made an effort to connect with this story more if the ex-husband had shown any strength in being hurt or mad over how Paris treated him during their marriage, but he pretty much shrugs it all off and thinks more about how it was wrong of him to just walk away and not speak to her. He also shows no concern over leaving his son with her to babysit, saying he “trusts” her. Good, great but she was physically abusive with you and even though she says she went to therapy and seems calm in the two/three limited times you've been around her, should you immediately trust her around a child? This is where the focus on women's fiction hurt this story, the ex was pretty much an empty vessel to just be Paris' second chance and without his character depth, the redemption after she dealt with her anger issues did not feel satisfactory.

Why did she pick loser guys she helped get back on their feet who then left her?

Cassie's story was the most interesting to me but there was some thrown out there little wildness to it. Her parents died when she was fourteen and even though she had two older siblings, her uncle came and took care of her until she was eighteen. She never got to really deal with her grief and as a consequence, she is always focused on keeping everyone around her happy and keeps her relationships light because she thinks they're going to end anyway. Her siblings see that she is stalling her life to help them out and decide to kick her out and get her to go visit the land in California her uncle left her. Cassie's hurt and doesn't want to go but when she arrives, she gets a job at a bookstore and starts to fall in love with the land and small orchard her uncle left her.

This story has a, brought up over and over again, insanely handsome archaeologist that is excavating on Cassie's land because a matriarchal society lived there long ago, cave drawings newly discovered by Cassie (brought up once and never again), gold mine find of hidden cognac barrels, and a random old guy neighbor that knows all about orchards and wants nothing in life more than to help Cassie learn how to bring back to life and take care of her newly inherited one. The insanely handsome archaeologist also has some love of first sight but when he asks out Cassie, she laughs and leaves, thinking there's no way he'd actually be interested in her. Anyway, Cassie learns to live life for herself, not be afraid of some impending doom, and accept love from an insanely handsome archaeologist.

I liked how the women's lives all intertwined with each other but the romances were definitely weaker as the men were all pretty empty vessels who only seemed capable of spouting therapy perfect emotions and relationship conversations.

The Summer Book Club focuses on three women, their friendship, their past and their strengths.
Each is facing a challenge in their life and with the love and support (even tough love) of each other they find a way to overcome their obstacles.
I enjoyed all of the characters and would have enjoyed an epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Canary Street Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Summer Book Club Rules sound perfect to me:
🤎No sad books
💜No pressure
💚Lots of wine

My thoughts:
The story revolves around the journey of three strong women, Laurel, Paris and Cassie. Getting to know them was such fun. They each have so much to overcome which endears them to you even more. They support each other as they navigate all that is thrown at them.
If you are in the mood for a story about friendships, supporting each other no matter what and second chances, this is the book you should read.
This was a book that was hard to put down. And, it is so nice when that happens. Susan Mallery’s writing just pulls you in.
The perfect book to start your summer/beach reading!
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this new book from Susan Mallery. Being able to see the different point of views of each woman, made the book more enjoyable to read. As each lady finds her way, the other friends are there to help and guide. It was great to see each one of them come into their own and grow. The book will make a great beach read. The only thing I wished for was an epilogue.