I've always been a huge fan of Emily Griffin and this book does not disappoint. After facing tragedy in their college years a group of friends have made a pact to always be there for each other and when one of them faces a relationship crisis, the group is called together to take the college trip that they never got to do. Each of them is facing their own crises and are learning how to navigate those while supporting each other. A great read about the power of friendship.

I was waiting all summer to read Emily Giffin's latest summer read, The Summer Pact. I read my first Emily Giffin novel in 2005 and am always looking forward to the next one.

The Summer Pact, is a story of 4 friends who meet at the very beginning of their college journey and instantly become inseparable. Right before they graduate college, tragedy strikes and affects each of them differently as their start their next chapter of their lives as adults. Several years after graduation, they are still best friends and reunite after another unfortunate event happens.

This story is told from 3 different points of view. I found the different POV so similar, I often had trouble remembering whose view I was currently reading. This was a struggle for me. Overall, I enjoyed the story and appreciated some of the heavy topics. However, I feel the story was a little far fetched by having so many different "heavy topics" going on at the same time. I wish the author could have maybe developed the chargers a little more and kept the story around 1 or 2 of these scenarios, instead of jumping around from one to the next.

This was a sold 3 star read and kept my attention.

This is the tale of friendship, love, and loss. It had so much potential, and I did enjoy it but I could have seen it being so much more! It felt like there were too many instances of trying to be relevant that it became cumbersome and irrelevant. Grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

In Emily Giffin's latest book, four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds: Lainey, a California party girl with a flair for drama; Tyson, a brilliant scholar and aspiring lawyer from Washington, D.C.; Summer, an ambitious, recruited athlete from the Midwest; and Hannah, a mild-mannered southerner who is content to quietly fill in the circle of big personalities. These four quickly become friends until a tragedy pushed them apart. Shocked and heartbroken, they make a pact, promising to always be there for one another, no matter how separated they may become.

Ten years later, Hannah is anticipating what should be one of the happiest moments of her life when everything is suddenly turned upside down. Calling on her closest friends, it soon becomes clear that they are all facing their own crossroads. True to their promise, they agree to take a time out from lives headed in wrong directions and embark on a shared journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance. This is a great story of friendship and the bonds that bind us together.

Emily Giffin has some really great stories and some stories that don't really speak to me. This falls into the latter. The idea of the book has been done plenty- a group of friends loses a member of their group through suicide and they form some sort of pact to stay friends and support each other. I've seen it recently in The Celebrants. That automatically makes this book less interesting to me but how it's executed is just too simplistic and neat. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was a lot of emotions. It was a heavy subject/event that tied these friends together for years. When they need each other they just show up. They must be fully present. So history doesn’t repeat itself. But they each have secrets about their final months with their long lost friend that haunts each of them.

After a tragic loss, three friends form a pact to always be there for each other in their hardest times. A simple concept that many in life have promised but these friends follow true. I definitely did not see the catalyst of this pact coming - my jaw literally dropped open when I read it. It threw me off but the rest of the book tried to act like a salve and heal me over. I enjoyed reading about a solid always-there-for-you friendship, because that seems so rare. Capri was where the majority of the book was set and I have always wanted to go to Italy and always enjoy reading books set there. The relationship changes in this book were very predictable and just felt kind of plain. Overall this was a quick read, engaging enough that I kept coming back to it in my spare time, had some shock value, and sweet parts. If you enjoy E.H. books then read this one but otherwise I’m a bit mixed on how well I liked it.

I loved The Summer Pact. It was not exactly what I expected, but it was a super story of friendship, healing, and finding love after tragedy, supported by a beautiful Italian backdrop. Definitely recommend!

Emily Giffen is a good storyteller. She reminded me of how much I love meeting with girlfriends of 30 years - though now we meet online since we live in different parts of the world.

Three very different women track their journey and their friendship over 10 years, through grief, celebration, and surprising revelations that we learn about each other as life unfolds. You'll love this for a beach read, on the commute, or when you need to be reminded that old friends can remain Friends of the heart.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin was a struggle for me to read and even finish. I put this book down many times. Although I understand what Giffin was trying to do with this book, it was not executed well, a far cry from her previous work. Even with the TW, suicide is not something I look for in books, especially when it seems to be taken so… lightly?

I understand it’s difficult to write LGBTQ and POC characters, but I also felt that these characters didn’t have much depth, nor did they act like best friends. The lesbian narrative felt surface level and rushed. The suicide narrative also felt rushed and glazed over. Summer’s story wasn’t given what it deserved. It was hard for me to connect or relate to any of the characters because of this.

I think we spend about 25% of the story in Italy. The Summer Pact tried so hard to tackle too many social issues at once. I experience a beautifully written novel about deep friendships and life’s hardships, but I feel like I got a lazy version of what this book was supposed to be. It does have potential to be that book, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review

This one was hard for me to get into, but I overall enjoyed this nice beach read! I will be including this in my beach/summer suggestions to friends for a quick and fun read.

College friends after a tragedy form a pact that if they ever need each other, they will drop everything and come running. This is a summer not to be forgotten ten years later. A summer of self discovery and growth. Told in different POV of the three main characters. Loved how the characters matured through the years. I did listen to the audio version of this book.

A great summer read about people bonded by friendship and tragedy, committed to each other despite how they have grown or changed. Friendship can make a family, especially when real family fails us. Love the friends and settings this story is built around. Love that Hannah finds her true self.

This book explored the themes of friendship love and loss. It was delivered in a way only Emily Giffin can deliver.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this book early!

I wanted to love this book so much, but it fell so flat and just did not mark off a good summer book. I loved the cover of it and was hoping for a fun summer read. This book was very heavy and did not focus on what the story was originally was set for. I feel as though the characters were a little boring and shallow. Some parts felt like they were just thrown into the story just to have words on the page. It felt very rushed and not well put together. I wanted to love this book, but I am sorry it was not a summer book to remember or worth reading again.

I love Emily Giffin which is why I chose this book! I loved her something borrowed and something blue series! So I was excited to read this book.

It wasn’t what I was expecting. From the name I expected a lighter read. This book is about 3 friends who make a pact to be there for each other in hard times. I liked the premise but I just didn’t connect with this book. I don’t know if it was my own fault for not reading the blurb and having inaccurate expectations or if it was the storyline but it was not my favorite of her works. I liked it okay though. I enjoyed the characters connections and the way they supported and pushed each other but I didn’t love it. It was a 3 star read for me but I think if I went into it knowing what it was it might have been a little higher.

I am a huge fan of Emily Giffin’s work throughout the years but this novel just felt like it was missing some of her pizazz and spark that normally comes with it. This book begins with 3 friends that make a pact after loss and their character growth after. But towards halfway through the book it became a little overwhelming when they went to Capri and there were just so many different storylines and plot development that felt random.

I did love the idea behind this book and it was spectacularly written as usual with Emily but the multiple POV really threw me off. There wasn’t a single character that really seemed drawn to and they all seemed so immature for how old they were. Throughout the chapters I often had to go back to see what POV I was in. For a romance book it seemed like the “romance” came so late in the book and I wanted more. Some of the relationships seemed random and almost forced.

Towards the end there were so many things going on at once that it was distracting. There were also a ton of political and other conversations which I understand is common when having BIPOC characters; however, it took pages to get through it and it was very dense and to me pulled away from the overall plot from the book.

Overall, I just felt that this book lacked some of Emily Giffin’s spark. I look forward to reading what comes next for her.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the early eARC of this novel!

The Summer Pact is a thoughtful reflection of friendship, grief and growing up. This book has the hallmark Emily Giffin style of honesty and humor. The adventure was vivid and entertaining and the relationships were captured honestly. I was expecting this to be a bit lighthearted, which it wasn’t. Once I recalibrated, I was pulled into the story. The ending felt too abrupt to me, and wished it had been expanded on. I would have read another 50 pages for more resolution, happily. I loved the three pov approach.

This was just ok. I feel like this could have gone straight to paperback. It is a plot that has been done before and done better.

Another Emily Giffin winner!!

Giffin has the ability to evoke emotion through her characters, no matter if you’ve lived their experiences or not. That’s one of my favorite aspects of her writing, and she does that flawlessly in THE SUMMER PACT. I’ve read nearly all of her books, so I’ve come to expect that emotion, no matter how fun and color my the cover may be.

What I loved most about this one was the focus on found family. I’m 35 years old with three kids of my own, but I’ll always appreciate found family stories because I think they resonate with everyone.

Per usual, if Giffin writes it, I’ll read it. Loved this one!