What a darling book! There was just so much emotion in this one. I loved the main character and the storyline behind it. Well done!

Midsummer by Maryann D’Agincourt is about two couples who meet while on an overseas trip and continue to travel together. I use the word ‘about’ loosely because really, there was an extreme lack of plot.

It’s split into present day and on overload of background information. The writing style in the present day is absurdly descriptive, clunky, hard to read and connect with. I found the dire lack of contractions in dialogue especially unbelievable and it kept taking me out of the ‘story’.

However, I had a glimmer of hope when we heard Sam’s parents backstory because even though there was no particular reason we should be getting such a lengthy one, and I didn’t care about Sam, it sounded like a different writer. It was engaging, emotive and even enjoyable.

It was alarming when out of the four main characters, none of them felt as real to me as the minor characters. Despite their never ending internal monologues, the four were distant, flat and forgettable. I really wanted to love them but didn’t.

The premise was intriguing and I was excited to read this but it didn’t work for me.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where is the story or the plot in this book? There isn't any. Essentially, this novel is a series of descriptions and potted biographies of a group of characters who connect in some way, either via happenstance encounters or through marriage or familial relationships, but that is all. The narrative journey the reader is made to patiently wait for never actually occurs. There is some backstory of the characters' history but, again, these titbits of jejune, shallow insights into their lives unfortunately do nothing to develop or move on the story 'proper' — probably because there isn't one.

The premise of this novel sounded promising and intrigued me enough to want to read it. But what a disappointment. I'm sorry, once again, this book wasn't for me.

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.