Member Reviews

This was such a great read! I enjoyed the story about Ava, Madi, and Luke. It was so different from what I expected, but in a good way!

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Ava Howell moved to Idaho, married her soulmate, and published a memoir that quickly became a best seller. This meant she was shocked when her husband reads her memoir and feels betrayed by a secret from her childhood and decides they need a break from each other over the summer. Devastated, Ave heads back home to stay with her grandmother and to spend time with her sister, the only one who experienced the same trauma as her.

After years of healing from the harrowing experience her and her sister went through, Madison Howell is finally happy with her life. She has built a no-kill animal shelter and is living out her dream of helping all kinds of animals. She's also in love with Dr. Luke Gentry, who is the local veterinarian. However, she thinks there is no future for them because his dad died protecting Madison and Ava.

When Ava returns she realizes that her memoir is all the town can talk about and her sister is less than happy about it. It's up to both of them to figure out if they can fully heal from their past and create new and happy futures.

15 Summers Later was a fantastic book about trauma, grief, survivors guilt, etc. Thayne does an incredible job of thoughtfully exploring each of these subjects. It's easy to see both sides to Ava and Madison's story. What happened to them is heartbreaking and would not be easy to come to terms with it.

I really loved every aspect of this book. Watching the sisters work through their issues, how their grandmother was there for them no matter what, the sweet, wonderful Luke who makes the reader swoon, and so on. However, if you want to read this book, I would definitely check the content warnings, because this definitely covers some really hard subjects.

I think one of my favorite things about 15 Summers Later is the fact that Madison is disabled, but doesn't let it stop her from anything. She is so strong and capable, which is incredibly inspiring to read about. I wasn't expecting this aspect to the story and it was such a pleasant surprise.

One last aspect that I loved about 15 Summers Later was all the animal content. I am a huge animal lover and it was a really sweet break from all of the sad things going on.

I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read more from RaeAnne Thayne.

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I love RaeAnne Thayne's writing. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this one. I even tried switching to the audiobook version but still couldn't get into the storyline.

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I thought 15 Summers Later was an enjoyable beach read with a heavy dose of drama throughout. There were some great themes of found family and healing. Wasn't fully expecting a cult to be part of it, but I kind of do wish there was a whole book about their experiences there. It was a good book, i just never really connected with the characters which left me a bit apathetic towards their antics. If you are looking for a low stakes drama though this is the book for you.

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At first glance, I thought this would be your typical summer read. What I got, was so much more. Such an incredible book that I didn’t want to end.

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I loved the dual point of views and the “excerpts” from the story Ghost Lake. It was a good way to propel the story’s forward and provide the background. I felt like the first half of the book was paced well but then it dragged in the end after the scene in the woods rescuing the dogs.

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This novel is such a sweet story told from multiple POV about two sisters finding themselves after a traumatic shared experience. I wanted more of a story about their background and what happened in their past. Otherwise the mix of romance, self discovery and conflict was well balanced and was a good read.


Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and Canary Street Press for the ARC

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This is a wonderful story about 2 sisters who need to reconcile and the men they love. I really enjoyed it and thought the narrator did a wonderful job too. Very family oriented book that is quick and fun to read.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 18 June 2024

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I found this story deeply moving, though some parts were difficult to read due to the sensitive topic of miscarriage. Despite the emotional weight, I was pleased with how it concluded. The depiction of the sisterly bond is particularly poignant; it's something that resonates deeply if you have a sister yourself. The characters' shared history and the challenges they face together highlight the strength of their connection. They navigate significant struggles from their past and confront new obstacles with resilience. Overall, I highly recommend this story for its heartfelt exploration of family and sisterhood.

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This book was so good!! It was filled with los, pain, love, romance, struggle and forgiveness. This book tells about a set of sisters who went through a terrible experience under the hand of their father after their mother’s death. This book is told in multiple povs and I loved getting to read how all the 3 main characters reacted to different situations. The love that Luke has for Maddi is so sweet🥺absolutely adored all the characters. The love Cullen has for Ava made my heart so happy! Animals in a book are always a plussss also! This book made me cry, laugh and smile so much! Love love love this book!

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I really enjoyed this book. I did have a moment where I wasn't sure if I would keep reading, but that was due to me misreading the material.
The characters were relatable, and the writing was well done. I am excited to read more from this author. Perfect Beach Read!

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This book emotionally destroyed me! Two sisters healing after trauma. This was not a beachy read like the cover makes it seems like. It’s emotional, heart wrenching, and serious.

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Ava and Madi are sisters begrudgingly reunited after Ava's tell-all autobiography is published, revealing and re-igniting their childhood trauma of being forced to live in the Ghost Lake community when they were young girls and adolescents, including their narrow escape from the cult's leaders and the loss of their parents. Their forced reunion brings to light not only their past trauma but also their adult fears, grudges, jealousies, and insecurities. Will this reunion bring them together or force them even farther apart? And will either of them ever be able to find true love and happiness in the wake of all their pain? A truly good read full of family, forgiveness, redemption, and love.

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Although I did enjoy this story, it was definitely not what I was expecting from the cover. The lake view image on the cover gives this book a light breezy beach read vibe, which sadly I didn’t feel it was. The story follows two sisters who escaped a shocking past. One has opened an animal sanctuary and the other has published a best selling novel that tells their story. Madison doesn’t understand how her sister Ava could put everything out in a book for all to read. Turns out there are a few more secrets between the sisters that need to be told. This was a well written story, just don’t go in expecting the light heart summer novel like I did!

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Loved this easy summer read! It’s a great book for the beach or just sitting back and drinking a nice glass of iced tea.

This book is about 2 sisters who escape the unimaginable and how they have managed their lives since. One of the sisters, Ava, writes a best-selling memoir that exposed some of the past and the secrets they had kept buried for so many years. Her husband can’t believe she kept such secrets from him all these years and they separate for a period of time. Ava returns to her grandmother’s house and her sister, Madi, is very unwelcoming to her sister because Ava wrote the memoir, though she hadn’t read it herself. This is a story about the trials and tribulations of keeping a secret and the flood of emotions as the secret is revealed.

This is a great book! I kept having to remind myself that it isn’t based on a true story.

Great job, RaeAnne Thayne.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Raeanne Thayne penned a lovely story with characters that are so believable, and a storyline that was sad, funny, beautiful, and so tender. I couldn’t put it down.

I loved the themes of survival, forgiveness, healing, and the importance of community and family support.

I’ve read several books by this author, and I think this is her best one yet.

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Great story about sisters. Their past, their secrets, their new romantic relationships and their new relationship with each other. An animal rescue as part of the story adds perfection! Nice heartwarming story.

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15 Summers Later is a complex and heartwarming story. Ava and Madison are sisters who survived a traumatic event. 15 years later one sister wrote a book about what happened. There’s tragedy and a romance that happens as well.

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“When you don’t know what to do, just do the next right thing.”

This was such an easy story to sink into. The mystery behind what happened 15 years earlier definitely kept me turning the pages, even though this book is not a mystery or thriller. It was the undercurrent of the tension between the sisters, however, and I was so curious to know what happened. I was very surprised when the situation was revealed.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Read if you like:
Complicated sister relationships
Stories with a cult element
Light romance
Dual POVs
Disability representation


Thank you Uplit Reads and Canary Street Press for the #gifted copy.

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Thank you to my partners, UpLit Reads, Canary Street Press, and NetGalley, and the author. I appreciate the gifted ebook and I am leaving this review voluntarily!

1. 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 - Such a unique story…Ava has written a book about the traumatic events surrounding the childhoods of her and her sister, Madison. Both of them have to grapple with the fall-out due to the book’s release.

2. 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 - Truly terrifying times in their young lives. The things the two sisters experienced are some that no human should have to suffer from. Not only was their time with the cult awful, but their escape and what happened at the end of it - things that many of the characters still deal with several years later.

3. 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 - The sisters never quite seemed to have had a close relationship; however, Ava’s book truly sends it spiraling. Not only that, Ava has to find a way to heal the wounds of her marriage after the truths come out in the book.

4. 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 - This was such a heartwarming part of this story. Luke and Madi have been close friends since the day they met, despite those circumstances. The reader can feel the sparks that have always been there and then gets to see the love blossom.

5. 𝐑𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 - With the events that unfold as the story progresses, the healing that is needed for these characters comes to the surface. This is just a true testament to what real life is like. The ebbs and flows as we move along our paths.

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