Emily Giffin has been one of my go-to authors for years—actually, make that decades! Her stories always manage to capture my heart, so I couldn’t wait to dive into The Summer Pact. I dove in without even glancing at the synopsis, thinking I was in for a fun, breezy summer romcom. This book is not that, instead, this book took me on an emotional journey about friendship and loss.

At its core, The Summer Pact follows a group of friends who, after the heartbreaking loss of one of their own, make a promise to be there for each other, no questions asked. Fast forward ten years, and the pact is put to the test. I loved how the remaining friends leaned on one another as they navigated some of life’s tough challenges. It’s a powerful reminder of the strength of friendship!

While I adore Emily’s writing and often feel whisked away into her worlds, I found myself wanting more of their backstory. I wanted to know what made their friendship so special, and a better understanding of Summer’s character would have added depth to the story. It felt like I needed a bit more of the “before” to fully grasp the weight of their loss.

In the end, while The Summer Pact was a heartfelt read, it felt a touch rushed and didn’t flow as smoothly as I hoped. I’ll definitely continue to read her future books, as she remains a favourite author of mine. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next!

I love Emily Giffin and I was so excited to read her new book in an ARC! This was a great read - though you expect a fun romcom, it was deeper than that. It has a serious start and background but that helped to connect to the characters and the closeness of the four friends. Friendships are forever. Though I found it to be a tad too long, it was an amazing read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I always love Emily Giffin’s writing, and once again she didn’t disappoint. This one really hooked me, and I wasn’t able to put the book down. 5/5

I read this book within a day. Although the story starts with difficult subject matter (TW: suicide), the novel did shift quite a bit and was a bit quick to wrap everything up. Although I liked this book, I didn’t love it. I will look forward to the next release from Giffin, as I have read all her previous books.
Thanks to NetGalley, and Penguin Random House Canada/Doubleday Canada for this ARC!

I like the overall story line but didn’t enjoy the juvenile voices of the three heroines. .

3.75 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily Giffin, and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read “The Summer Pact” in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start off by saying that overall I did enjoy this book. It did however fall a bit short for me in the sense that I felt like there was a lot going on and a lot of pov’s to follow. Because of this, I found it hard to really sink my teeth into and I felt like some storylines were grazed over a bit.

In saying that, I do enjoy Giffins ability to make reading a book feel like you are watching a movie in your mind. This truly made it a perfect summer read for me.

I’m looking forward to recommending this book to friends, family, and fellow readers.

Tragedy brings friend back together after years apart.

I found this one to be fine, just fine. The characters were well thought out but the story line was just slow and not too exciting, with no big reveals or events.

This is a book about friendship and the story of finding yourself. This book deals with some tough subject matter.

The story of losing a friend and the rest of the group vowing to be there for each other no matter what comes along.

While I love Emily's books I am afraid it just wasn't my favorite. I found it hard to get into and I am not sure if the difference POV's was part of the problem.

Definitely give this book a shot. It's a nice summer read it just wasn't for me

Thanks to NetGalley and double day for this arc!

I am sad to write this but this was not good. I have read most of Giffin's books but they have really declined, this was such a departure from her earlier works. it reads like she has a ghost writer pumping these out for her?

This was a resounding NO for me.

There are so many things I didn't like about this book, where to begin?

Some issues I had:

Summer's character left much too soon. Even with the flashbacks, I didn't feel I really got to know who she was and how strong her friendship was with Tyson, Lainey and Hannah.

Lainey. There was nothing I liked about her character. Everything was 100% with her; the highs, the lows, the drinking, the loyalty. It was just too over the top.

Lainey + Tyson: Why, why did this happen? Earlier on in the book, Tyson and his girlfriend Nicole are discussing her jealousy and they go so far as to talk about the When Harry Met Sally syndrome... how men and women CAN just be friends, and nothing more. So... why? Especially after his short relationship with Summer - is he making the rounds?

Hannah's mother's reaction to her breakup. Once again, it's to the extreme. And let's not forget Hannah's 180 degree relationship turnaround. I'm all for finding love, no matter who what where when or how, but this felt contrived, seeming to be written to make this book more 'relevant'.

Speaking of relevant... name drop much? Kelce, Swift, Eras.... it was too much.

It must be really nice for three friends to go balls to the wall and drop everything, going so far as quitting jobs and taking a leave of absence to travel to Italy, during peak season. Oh and they just happen to find room at a fantastic ($$$) hotel, with a Concierge that can get them reservations at all the best ($$$$) restaurants and clubs on a moment's notice.

There was nothing in the book that worked for me, but perhaps others may feel differently.

2.5 Stars

I love stories about friendship, but this one frequently has me wondering if Emily Giffin has ever met a Black person?

Overall, this book had the makings of a strong emotional arc, but although it is a Perfect Summer Read ™️ - despite the heavy, and rich content, it felt devoid of substance, depth, and personality.

Real issues were touched on, but skated over, so constantly, that it felt more like they were plot filler than character or story development.

In the chapters from Lainey and Hannah’s POVs, they seemed multi-dimensional, and human, and real, with rich inner-lives, and real, human feelings. Tyson on the other hand read as stilted and forced, with a total lack of a personality or dialogue. I thought his parents were also pretty poorly written, and thought it fascinating that somehow every Black person in this book seems to be calling women “females”… Unsure where that came from, but to me it read like a carry over from the author hearing a rap song once? Perhaps that’s unfair, but it was hard to read this book without constantly, jarringly getting taken out of it every time I read one of Tyson’s chapters. I don’t know how else to say it, but nothing about him seemed real. From his supposed passion for social justice; to his “journey” to finding himself, he just read as a flat caricature more than a person.

The rest of the story was, conceptually, really wonderful — friendship stories, pacts, international travel - all make this book catnip for me. And I did read it in one day, but unfortunately, the complete lack of effort or interest in exploring any kind of depth with substance or meaning really threw me off.

You may think that since this book is being published in July that it's about the season but it is about a group of four friends that meet in college - Lainey, Tyson, Hannah and Summer. The four become best friends but before college is done Summer has committed suicide. None of the friends no why - yes there was school pressure and she was an athlete that came with pressures but no one suspected a thing. So as the now group of three friends leave college to start their lives they make a pact - the Summer pact - that if anyone of them ever hits rock bottom they promise to drop everything to help each other through the hard times. Part of the pact too is agreeing to share when those hard times hit too and not to fight though them alone.

Many years later Hannah hits rock bottom when she discovers her fiance in bed with another woman. Tyson and Lainey drop all commitments to rush to Hannah's side. Once Hannah's immediate problems are somewhat resolved the three decide they could all use a break from lift and decide on a trip where each person picks where they are going with no veto options for any of them. The three of them have some soul searching to do and some history to process as they head out on their vacation.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin was a great read with many unexpected twists. I definitely had empathy for all the characters. I enjoyed reading about their time in Italy as well.

Finding out I got approved for this one was definitely a very exciting moment, so continuing the excitement by celebrating it on it's pubday was an obvious choice! I love Emily Giffin's books because they are interesting, cover some difficult topics, and closely examine relationships. The Summer Pact is no exception!

After their friend Summer unexpectedly commits suicide right before their college graduation, Lainey, Tyson and Hannah make a pact to always be there for each other in times of need. So when Hannah calls, Lainey and Tyson drop everything to come to her. Despite being there for Hannah, Lainey and Tyson both begin to realize that they are also at a point in their lives where they could use a break and time away to re-evaluate their careers and relationships so they take a very special trip that changes all of their lives going forward.

I was sucked in from the very beginning. I loved the connection between the four friends and their very different but also complimentary personalities. Giffin's ability to explore human connections and relationships was a really huge part of what made this book special. The writing was as poignant as I expected and the character development was top notch. If you're a Giffin fan, I'm sure you'll enjoy her latest book, and if you've never read one of her books, this would be a great one to start with! And it is officially out now so go grab a copy!

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher, @penguinrandomca for giving me the chance to read this excellent book.

I’ve read every one of Emily Giffin’s books. Some are better than others – although I think it would be challenging to top her first two books, Something Borrowed and Something Blue (she set a super high standard for herself). She is an author I will automatically read and not even look at the description until I need to, so I was pretty excited to get an advanced copy of her new book.
Unfortunately, The Summer Pact just missed the mark for me. From the title, I thought it would be an easy breezy beach read, until I realized that Emily Giffin always has deeper context than that (which I usually love) and that this one was obviously a play on a character’s name. It felt forced to try to kind of trick the reader into thinking the book was about one thing and it was about something else. And it actually does have quite a serious start and background, however it all felt quite rushed to me and I actually had trouble buying the closeness of the four friends because I don’t think the set-up was really there. I thought a lot of the plot points were included just to serve the story the author wanted to tell but they didn’t really fit well or flow smoothly. I know that some people really enjoyed it so hopefully others will like it better than I did. I will definitely continue to read her books.

Can friendship really endure all life’s downfalls?

In the summer pact we follow a group of friends through a huge tragedy and deciding to make a pact that when life gets tough to come back together that they’ll always be there for eachother. When that time finally came they all came together again making their bonds and friendship even tighter as they negatived new obstacles together.
Told in three perspectives we get a view into each of the main characters lives, thoughts and feelings and as my go on a trip of a life time. We watch them grow and change.
This book is about friendship, love, loss, grieving, moving on and finding yourself.

There's a reason why Emily Giffin is one of my favorite authors, and to no surprise she does it again. The Summer Pact is about Summer, Tyson, Lainey, and Hannah who met on the first day of University. When Summer tragically commits suicide, the three remaining friends make a pact to always be there for one another. When Hannah discovers her fiancé in bed with another woman she calls Tyson and Lainey to help her get over her pain, and to put their pact to the test. A true tale of friendship, love and loss.
This book doesn't disappoint and I highly recommend it. The only sad part is that I now I have to wait another two years for Emily Giffin to put out a new novel. Can't wait to have this one on my shelf.
The Summer Pact comes out on July 9, 2024. Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, Emily Giffin, and NetGalley for my advnaced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Nice new read from Emily Giffin. Perfect for a summer read. the Summer Pacts tells the story of 3 friends forever linked by the suicide of their college friend and their subsequent pact to always reach out and support each other when feeling low. 10 years after college when Hannah discovers her fiancé is cheating on her she calls upon Lainey and Tyson to support her and they end up embarking on a shared journey where they each learn to grown and forgive.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada | Doubleday Canada in exchange for my honest review

A moving, heartfelt and incredible book about friendship, second chances, dealing with grief and mental health. Four close-knit college friends are devastated when one commits suicide prompting the others to make a pact that they will always be there if any of them is facing a crisis. This leads to a summer road trip/travel adventure ten years later after one catcher her fiance cheating. I really loved this story and thought the characters and message were so well written! Great on audio and HIGHLY recommended! Many thanks to NetGalley and @prhaudio for a digital and complimentary audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I am a huge Emily Giffin fan so when I received this ARC I was over the moon! The novel did not disappoint. It had a bit different of a feel from her other novels but I enjoyed it just the same. The premise of the story was compelling. The tragedy at the beginning of the book introduced to some great characters who grew and matured throughout the book as they discovered themselves. Lainey was my least favourite, but that is just me. The story takes you on adventures including Capri, Italy. The description of Capri made me want to visit There are a couple of plot twists at the end that I felt kept the book from being predictable. Overall, I felt that this book is a great beach read (as most Emily Giffin’s are) but, it had a bit more meat.
Who will enjoy this:
• Fans of Elin Hilderbrand, and of course Emily Giffin
• Someone looking for a beach read
• Someone who enjoys stories about strong friendship bonds
• Fans of jilted love stories
• Multiple points of view
Thank you Net Galley, Emily Giffin and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to preview this title and the opinions expressed are my own.

Emily Giffin continues to excel in delivering elevated beach fiction. Her readers know that she doesn’t shy away from packing an emotional punch; her novels aren't just filled with sunshine and roses. I have read every single one of Emily's books since she first published Something Borrowed.

The Summer Pact begins with a content warning, highlighting that the book addresses a variety of incredibly tough issues that some may find difficult to digest. At its core, it's a love letter to the complexities of friendship and a story about finding oneself in unexpected places. A group of college friends, who survive a shattering tragedy, make a pact to always come together in times of trouble. Throughout this heartbreaking yet heartwarming novel, Giffin takes them on a globe-trotting journey of self-discovery.

It's a true page-turner; I devoured it in one sitting. Despite the tough but realistic moments, Giffin's storytelling shines in the most charming small scenes and snippets of dialogue. My heart ached for all the protagonists, while I adored her enchanting descriptions of Capri. Though the content may be too heavy for your typical beach read, Emily Giffin's novels are the kind you want to savor, reading every page slowly to fully appreciate them.