Cat rushes to her sister's side when the summer camp where they grew up is in trouble. Their family's camp served as their home and business for their childhood and Cat has spent her adult life distancing herself from it. When she rushes back in to save it, she steps into a lot of old memories and old feelings with people she hasn't seen in years.

The best part about this book are all the side characters. While I enjoyed Cat and Ginger's stories, the real joy of this book is in all of the other camp people. As someone who loved summer camp growing up, I can just picture these people. One of the best parts of camp is that is a melting pot for people from all walks of life to come together on common ground with the real world stripped away. These characters exemplify that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of Bummer Camp.

Two sisters scramble to save their family’s legacy in a funny, huge-hearted novel about grandiose plans and summers to remember by the author of I Thought You Said This Would Work.

Cat McCarthy has spent years extricating herself from the family business—an increasingly run-down theater camp—and all the drama contained within it. At thirty-seven, she’s putting the final touches on a new life as she renovates her dream cottage and awaits her first child. Does it worry her that the McCarthy legacy is in the hands of her disastrously irresponsible sister, Ginger? Sure. But the camp’s not Cat’s problem anymore.

Then a series of frantic text messages pulls Cat back to center stage. Ginger has handed the reins to a crackpot motivational speaker, Bob Durand, and his scheming wife, Elaine. The couple’s plan to rebrand the camp as a “rehab” for anxious adults has nearly bankrupted the McCarthys. And now the Durands have skipped town days before investors arrive for a fundraising gala that could determine the camp’s future.

As Cat and Ginger wrangle a cast of lovable misfits and underdogs to save the camp, the sisters rediscover the importance of family, belonging, and holding fast to sweet summer memories.

This was a cute read and I really enjoyed reading through it in the summer months. I meant to update this review a lot earlier, but the day I finished reading it I had a baby so it kind of slipped my mind haha!

Ann Garvin always writes relatable characters. Two sisters with a difficult and complicated relationship, a camp scammed of everything, and true to the synopsis - a bunch of misfits - come together as a family, chosen and by blood, to save the almost-bankrupt camp. While slow to start, I came to love all of the characters in this cast and the ending was well worth the slow start. Some the dialogue was laugh out loud funny.

I received an advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

I was so excited for the concept of this book but I just could not get into it even when things picked up. There were so many characters and I had to reread pages constantly because I was confused by what was going on. I’m not sure if this one just wasn’t for me or if it was the writing, but for the few merits it had, Bummer Camp was, in fact, a bummer. I gave it a chance and finished but I can’t even say I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book had a lot of heart and I did grow to root for this cast of misfits. My issue with this story is the pacing, which is unbelievably slow in the beginning. It took me over a month to finish this book, and I finished the last 40% in the last two days of that. I'm glad I finished it, but it was difficult to get through the beginning.

I have read all of Ann Garvin's books and once again she gives her readers quirky characters who will make them laugh out loud. Plus this is a book about two sisters - very different sisters who approach their lives in totally different ways. They have to decide if they are going to continue being at odds with each other or band together to save a family legacy.

Cat and Ginger grew up at their family summer theater camp. When their parents decided to move on in their lives, they left the management of the camp to Ginger. In her late 30s, Cat had decided that she wanted nothing to do with the camp and asked for her name to be taken off all of the paperwork. Cat had spent her entire life taking care of her younger sister Ginger - a very impetuous woman who didn't think through some of her decisions and was often left with a mess. She decided to hire an inspirational speaker to manage the camp and to make it a camp for adults. When Cat gets some frantic text messages from Ginger's son, she decides that she needs to go to the camp to see if she can help. Her goal is to stay only one day and then get back to her calm settled life but when she sees the mess that the camp is in, she has to stay to help out. Can the two sister reconcile and save their family legacy or will the planned fundraising gala be a bust and cause the camp to go bankrupt?

Cat is the serious sister who has always cleaned up her younger sister's messes and it's no wonder that she wants to continue her quiet organized life away from her sister. Ginger acts first and then thinks later. At times its hard to believe that they were raised by the same parents but when Ginger gets her life into a total mess, Cat is there to save her from herself which doesn't always make Ginger happy. The sisters are both very quirky and at times made me laugh out loud. The funniest part of the book is the fund raising event that will either make or break the camp. This is another great book by Ann Garvin.

Set in Wisconsin at a summer theater camp for kids, I acknowledge that I may have read the synopsis a bit too quickly. But I did it, I pushed through to the end of this odd story. The characters go beyond quirky, and the sisters are stereotypically cast as one who craves order and one who is a flake. Ginger and her son Bard (Shirtless) send out an SOS to Cat when their parents leave the camp in Bob's hands (a d list self-help guru). Is he stealing? Selling? Where are their parents and documents proving ownership? Operation save the camp ensues, complete with a gala for the monied donors, costumes, a tornado, and unauthorized pot baked goods. It was a lot of story all at once.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author and the publisher.

This is the third book by this author and so far I gave fair reviews for both of those. Not every author has a perfect book no matter how many they write for readers like me who like their books.

I have to agree with some of the readers that it was slow going at first. As the days wore on, it was a little faster finally. It took me a day longer than usual to read since it was slow going for me in the beginning.

Not sure how I felt about this book overall. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to finish this book even though I was more than halfway through but kept on going I guess to find out how they saved the camp. Was it worth finishing? I think so. To me, the book didn't get really interesting until the last 70 pages or so.

The ending was perfect and worth the read.

One reviewer had the perfect line, since they didn't like it. “Bummer.” That said it all for them.

What a wonderful and sweet book! If you know Ann personally you'll hear her voice shine through in this book and it makes it that much better!

Cat and Ginger, two sisters, who live very different lives, are trying to keep their parents camp alive. Except Cat has left the camp to Ginger to run and Ginger is maybe not the most responsible. A very pregnant, very single Cat finds out the camp is in danger of going under and she goes into action mode. Along the way she starts to understand her sister, finds love and learns to relax a bit.

If you love a good summer camp or summer fun book, you should read this one!

A fun summer camp story with likable characters. A four star read that kept me laughing and has some surprises.

Thanks to Lake Union for a copy of Bummer Camp by Ann Garvin.

I love summer camp and I'm a summer camp person, so that's what excited me about this book but I struggled with Bummer Camp. I wanted to like this book but I just couldn't get behind the two sisters Cat and Ginger.

Such a fun book! Takes me right back to my summer camp days. I wish there were a summer camp for adults..

I was excited about the plot of this book, but it just didn’t do it for me. I felt like the first 65% could have been summarized in just a few pages, while at the same time, it felt like I had missed key plot points and character development and had just been dropped into the story without that information.

I really enjoyed this book. It brought back all sorts of memories of summertime and childhood. There were times I truly felt like I was there. As a sibling, the honesty between sisters was heartfelt and realistic. This book was humorous and had me laughing out loud a few times. While the actual saving of the camp seemed a little far-fetched, the storyline was overall good and enjoyable.

Just an okay read for me. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters and the story seemed a bit predictable. I did enjoy the narrator however, as i alternated between the ebook and the audiobook. To be fair, I don't read much romance, so I might not be the target audience for this book.

I enjoyed this book! It was a bit slow to start but the setting of Summer Camp and their quest to put on a gala to save the camp hooked me. I really enjoyed all of the supporting characters and how they added some zany energy to the story. While I wish Cat and Ginger's relationship and the resolution of their conflict had been fleshed out a bit more, I enjoyed the ending and hearing what happened to all of the characters. This book also had some great twists at the end that kept me on my toes. A good, enjoyable read for sure!

Sisters….gotta love them! Cat is pregnant, thanks to a one night stand, receives an SOS to bail her sister out at the family camp. She rushes to help because that’s what she does. But she gets more than she bargained for.

I love sister stories so had to grab this. I appreciated the Sister dynamics, but found Cat so annoying! I just couldn’t like her, even at the end. This was a mash up of totally quirky characters, some more lovable than others, although I struggled with so many characters and their story lines. I enjoyed the references to The Wizard of Oz and how it all came together. This was definitely a slow burn for me, picking up half way thru but the ending fell flat. I was hoping for more laughs from this. Although this book wasn’t totally for me, I will definitely give this author another try.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this book. This is my honest opinion.

Cute story centered around a family-owned summer camp. One sister has devotedly cared for the camp, another is called back in a bit of an emergency and returns with mixed emotions. Can it succeed as a summer camp for kids, or should they expand and include adults in the fun?

This book is very character driven and the camp is its own character. It delves into relationships, from romantic to friendship to family. I love stories that explore the relationship and dynamics between sisters and how siblings can react so differently to things that happen. I was very frustrated with the sisters, however, and their inability to be honest with each other. Their relationship had so many issues.

There’s a little mystery and a little romance here. The word that keeps coming to mind is “cozy”. Bummer Camp just gives that small town feel, with quirky characters and a unique setting. Its a lighter book. It's not really going to address anything on a deeper level, which is totally fine. Its probably great for people who enjoy things like Hallmark movies.

This was 3 stars for me. The romance wasn't developed at all. There was no chemistry between the characters. It was extremely slow paced for most of the book. Things picked up in the end and I enjoyed the resolution of everything.