After losing both of her adoptive parents, and with a little push from her best friend turned fiancée, Maggie May Wheeler is finally ready to find her birth mother, and that search has taken her to Fire Island. But approaching her biological mom is easier said than done, so Maggie decides to crash the wedding her bio mom is attending, with a little help from a handsome stranger. Maggie's weekend on Fire Island will change a lot of things for Maggie, but is she really ready?

This book was fantastic. It was warm, light, and full of life's complexities related to family, friends, and relationships. The different POVs kept me engaged and I felt deeply invested in the outcome of this story for Maggie. Jane L. Rosen does a great job of pulling at your heartstrings while keeping the story uplifting and hopeful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a lot of fun with this book, i read comments that it didn't feel like it had high stakes but I think this was a breath of fresh air. For a minute it felt like it was going through the miscommunication trope but the author did a great job saving it. I loved the main characters and their chemistry. Overall, it was a great pallet cleanser and a break from the great dramas.

Songs of Summer by Jane L. Rosen – ★★★★☆

Super sweet and wholesome, with an equally adorable cover, Songs of Summer leans more toward women’s fiction with a tender romance subplot. The love story is sweet, heartwarming, and very much fade-to-black. It adds just the right touch without taking over the narrative.

This is the third book in an interconnected standalone series, but I haven’t read the others and never felt lost—it holds up perfectly on its own. Our main character, Maggie, owns a record store, and music is truly woven into the heart of the story. I loved all the music references, and the way each chapter is framed as a “track” with its own song title— it was super creative and a fun touch.

Set on Firefly Island, the story shines with its sense of place: a cozy, picturesque backdrop that enhances the themes of strong relationships, community, and found family. Sweet, charming, and heartfelt—this one’s a great pick if you enjoy stories filled with warmth, music, and second chances.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 🫶🫶

DNF @ 34%

I think this was definitely just a me thing but I just could not connect to the setting or the characters!! The dialogue has been kind of cheesy and I just haven’t found myself invested enough to read

I ended up skimming to the end when I hit 60%. It is not a bad book by any means, I thought the song titles were fun and I liked the writing but it was just too many different perspectives that I feel like I didn’t really get to know anyone. And I was so upset by some of the choices for example being so mad at your sister that you don’t even meet her kids. What the hell!

Once Maggie discovers she is adopted, she ends up crashing a wedding on Fire Island to find her birth mother. How will she react to everything as she starts to peel the layers back on her biological family? This book covered some heavy topics like adoption, friendship, betrayal, and loss, but it was written in a lighthearted and heartfelt manner.

This is the perfect summer read! I enjoyed this one from start to finish.

If Janel Rosen writes it, I am a fan. I loved this book so very much, no one does characters and emotions like this author. I was immediately drawn into the story, became invested in the characters and loved every minute of it. I’m not Jewish, but I loved learning about the traditions, especially the wedding ceremony! Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley, I saved this for the closing of Summer because I was savoring the anticipated read. One of my faves of the Summer!

Book #3 of the Fire Island series is my favorite. Loved the characters, chemistry, banter and the music.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC read.

Songs of Summer by Jane Rosen, the third in her Fire Island trilogy, is a warm, character-driven story that makes you want to visit Fire Island and meet everyone yourself. At its heart is Maggie’s search for her birth mother, layered with an unlikely love story, a dysfunctional family, a wedding, and memories of summers past. It’s the perfect read for fans of women’s fiction and multi-generational characters. I couldn’t put it down and look forward to Jane Rosen's next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley books for the free physical finished copy sent to me to read. All opinions and thoughts of this book are my own!

I have read all 3 books in this trilogy, the first 2 were ones I bought, and then this one. I am super grateful to have been able to finish this series as I don't believe that any of the books can be read alone.

This one also wasn't my favorite - Maggie was 30 but spent the entire book acting as though she had just turned 16. She was wreckless to a point of annoyance, and all of the shenanigans that were caused just felt overly juvenile. What I truly enjoyed about this book was revisiting the island setting - Fire Island is stunning and then getting to revisit my favorite characters from Seven Summer Weekends was really enjoyable.

*Songs of Summer* is a heartfelt story full of family drama, romance, and self-discovery. It follows Maggie, a 30-year-old woman searching for her birth mother on Fire Island during a wedding. Told from multiple points of view, the book explores adoption, forgiveness, and friendship, all set to a music-themed backdrop. Even without reading the first two books in the series, this one stands strong on its own and makes for a great summer read.

This is based on an island of family like history and the branches that have escaped the island and how it calls them all home -- but with all the absurdity of a hilarious reality TV show.
Two friends whose birthdays are the same day and a promise.
Two estranged sisters with some big history to overcome.
One meddlesome dad and stepdad.
One writer who sees all the chaos with clarity and creates a bit more.
One wedding that brings them all together.
And an island that hosts it all.

It was a hilarious read.

This book is a perfect book for summer, with a beautiful setting, a romance at the heart, a wedding, and major family drama? It has all the elements of an incredible beach read! I loved the sense of found family with this one, and I really loved the romance between the Maggie and Matt. And I was so glad that Maggie and Jason didn't end up together just out of convenience. Matt and her definitely had a spark and the way family dynamics were explored in this novel was amazing.

Blurb: “A young woman crashes the wedding of the summer on Fire Island in search of her birth mother-and gets a whole lot more than she bargained for-in this warm, heart-stopping getaway from Jane L. Rosen Maggie Mae Wheeler is content with her life. At 30, she has grand plans for her vintage record shop in the charming Midwestern town where she grew up, and is soon to be engaged to her childhood best friend. But when she discovers a letter she wrote to herself at thirteen, being content doesn't feel like enough anymore-Maggie needs answers to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Since losing her parents, the only family she has ever known, Maggie decides that finding her birth mother is the best place to start. Her search leads her to Fire Island, an idyllic summer getaway where her birth mother is attending a wedding. As Maggie observes her biological family from a distance, she sees that they come with a lot of... drama. Torn between diving deeper into their world or returning to her peaceful life and cozy relationship, her decision gets more complicated when a handsome local offers to take her to the wedding.

I enjoyed all the characters in this book. I loved Maggie & Matt, I just knew they would have chemistry! The drama in this novel was perfection! Family drama is the most interesting drama! Cute little summer read, I’ll definitely read the other books in the series. Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Romance

I love revisiting Fire Island with Jane Rosen's new releases each year. While Songs of Summer had a little too much going on, it was still an enjoyable read for me and I enjoyed the Jewish representation.

3.5 stars

3.5 ⭐️

On her 30th birthday, Maggie May Wheeler decides it’s time for her to find her birth mother. After doing a DNA test and finding out who she is, Maggie makes a spontaneous decision to follow her to a wedding on Fire Island. Her plan is simple, observe her birth mother from a safe distance and then reveal herself if the time feels right, simple plans don’t always pan out as expected.

This was a really sweet read with a focus on self discovery and stepping out of your comfort zone. Maggie’s world has always been small and she’s been absolutely fine with that, but once she decides to broaden her horizons, she finds so much of what she never knew she was missing. I loved that music played such a huge role in this story, from Maggie owning a record shop to the song names as chapter titles and all of the references along the way. This one will leave you with a smile on your face and a playlist to go along with it!

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the gifted copy of this book!!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted e-copy.

I absolutely love the Fire Island books by this author, and I was so excited to read the third (and final?) book in this series. I think you could read it as a standalone, but there are definitely things mentioned that are in the previous two books that wouldn't make a lot of sense without the background from reading them.

I didn't love this one quite as much as the first two, but I still enjoyed the story of Maggie, Matt, Bea, Veronica, and the rest of the characters we've come to know. I'm not sure how realistic it was with Maggie just showing up and inserting herself onto the island and everything kind of falling into place, but then again, fiction isn't always realistic, is it? There are a few sub plots that go along with Maggie's story, and several POVs that tell the story.

Fire Island itself is still my favorite character in this series. The author does such a great job of describing it and making it somewhere I wish I could spend my summers.

I'm very much looking forward to whatever Jane Rosen comes up with next!

I’m an adoptive Mama and generally love themes of adoption or found family. For some reason this book just did not pull me in. I found it interesting at first and then it seemed to switch gears while relating to the birth mom. This book just wasn’t for me.

This was my first Jane L. Rosen novel. I hoped she would become one of my new favorite contemporary authors. Unfortunately, that is not the case. While this novel was a cozy beach read, the story fell flat for me. My lack of enthusiasm for the novel was due to the writing style, and partially to the fact that I didn’t realize this was the third book in a trilogy when I requested the ARC!

When I think of adult contemporary novels, whether full chick-lit or literary fiction, I envision stories with invocative writing, whether that be setting descriptions or character internal monologue. I also envision stories which have a good balance of introspection/summary, planning, and action moments. This novel did not have any of that. The writing style veered toward telling instead of showing, which made for a clunky reading experience. This feeling was due to the heavy use of introspection/summary, the point-of-view slips, and the overall lack of depth to the writing. The writing style kept me at arm’s length from the characters and didn’t provide an engaging style to read.

The descriptions, whether for the setting or characters, were weak as well. I had a difficult time keeping track of character descriptions and imagining the setting. I wished the setting (Fire Island) felt more like a character to this story. Setting is so important to drawing out the emotions of the characters and giving the reader a backdrop. With Rosen living part-time on Fire Island, I wished I could feel more of her love for that place shining through.

I was not expecting this to be a multiple points-of-view novel. With the way the synopsis is set up, I fully thought we were going to be with Maggie the entire time. Instead, we had approximately eight to ten perspectives to read. First, that was many characters to keep track of (on average, a reader can only keep track of six). Second, the multi-points-of-view made it difficult to invest in a single character. For example, I would have loved to spend more time with Maggie and Matt to see their romance unfold. Instead, since we were jumping around perspectives, their romance ended up feeling more insta-lovey. Other plot resolutions felt quick, too. The end of the feud between Veronica and Bea, for example, resolved over two chapters around the mid-point. The resolution didn’t feel earned at that point. Ultimately, it was too much packed into too few pages.

Overall, this novel wasn’t my cup of tea. I found myself craving the storytelling pieces that make a novel addicting and fun to read. (I also didn’t love the awkward uses of slang, or the reference of a psychologist/therapist being a “shrink.”) In many ways, this novel felt a little outdated. In others, it felt cozy. I truly believe I wasn’t the correct audience for this novel, and that’s okay.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I have loved following this series, and seeing the world within Fire Island. This is the perfect summer novel about “finding yourself”, and your family along the way.