The Summer Book Club

De: Susan Mallery

Narrado por: Tanya Eby

Duración: 12 h y 2 m

Resumen del Editor

"A charming, feel-good story of the ways that devoted friends—and great books!—can change our lives with the summer vibes I’m needing right now! There’s a dose of Susan Mallery magic in all her novels; this one just might have an extra scoop!" – Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author

The rules of summer book club are simple:

• No sad books
• No pressure
• Yessssss, wine!

Besties Laurel and Paris are excited to welcome Cassie to the group. This year, the book club is all about fill-your-heart reads, an escape from the chaos of the everyday—running a business, raising a family, juggling a hundred to-dos. Even the dog is demanding (but the bestest boy).

Since Laurel’s divorce, she feels like the Worst Mom Ever. Her skepticism of men may have scarred her vulnerable daughters. Cassie has an unfortunate habit of falling for ridiculous man-boys who dump her once she fixes them. Paris knows good men exist. She’s still reeling after chasing off the only one brave enough—and foolish enough—to marry her.

Inspired by the heroines who risk everything for fulfillment, Laurel, Paris and Cassie begin to take chances—big chances—in life, in love. Facing an unwritten chapter can be terrifying. But it can be exhilarating, too, if only they can find the courage to change.

“Susan Mallery is a maven of heartwarming summer reads! The Summer Book Club is a page-turner about the best things in life: books, friendship, love, and finding the courage to live our best lives.” – Katherine Center, New York Times bestselling author

Get lost in more beach reads by Susan Mallery:

• The Happiness Plan
• The Sister Effect
• The Boardwalk Bookshop
• The Summer Getaway
• The Stepsisters

©2024 Susan Mallery (P)2024 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Really poor narration

The story had no surprises but I did listen to the whole thing. The narrative voices were off. The 8 year old sounded 5 and the 23 year old sounded 10. Really there were no adult voices or actions. Was this a YA book?

Pathetic Women

The narrator was poor - very robotic and when speaking for the women, sounded much like a robot speaking than a conversation. The women in this book were ridiculously sad and pathetic. I gave up on the book 1/2 way through Chapter 22. I don't recommend this book to anyone.

The Summer Book Club

I love how all the characters interacted and grew with each other. I like a happily ever after endings and second chances.

The Summer Book Club By Susan Mallery: An Essay

While a book in this genre may seem unassuming and of no value I would beg to differ. Not just because my friend Watson asked me to write a 3 page essay about this book but for valid reasons as well! Not that writing an essay 10 years after graduating high school for a friend is not a valid reason… but I digress.
This book begins as many romance novels do. Susan Mallery’s cast of characters while unassuming are women struggling with their day to day hardships and romantic lives. First to be introduced is Laurel, the mother of two characters Jager and Ariana. Recently divorced, Laurel was left suddenly by her husband Bo before the story began. While Ariana, the youngest of the sisters is also struggling with feelings of abandonment she is nowhere near as harmed by it as Jager. Jager in class is found to be talking about how “Men cannot be trusted” that they will “Always disappoint you”. This rhetoric has alarmed her teachers and they bring it to Laurel's attention in the first chapter. Asking Laurel to seek out positive male role models for her daughters sake to give her a wider perspective on the opposite sex. Shocked by her daughter's behavior endeavors to do so.
What does this first chapter say about the author? As we see in chapters to come Susan is not a fan of the opposite sex for more than just that, Sex. This first chapter however highlights a want to find the good in men when done wrong by them. That it is important to prove to the ones closest to us that even if you have been wronged by someone that the whole group they belong to is not forsaken. Skipping over some sections and diving deeper into Laurel as a character. In her hunt for thrift store finds, she meets Colden. An upstanding man who just moved to town. While the immediate attraction is evident to all but the characters themselves the two agree to become friends and prove to Jager that not all men are bad.
Paris is introduced not long after. Paris and Laurel are the only two members of the aforementioned Summer Book Club. Paris, struggling with anger management issues, was left by her husband 10 years ago. Getting her life back in order she gets herself into therapy and works through those issues. We meet Paris post therapy. Now a changed woman, she wonders if she is ready for love just as her ex husband returns to his home after his wife died. Newly widowed Jonas attempts to reintegrate into Paris’s life. Proclaiming towards the end of the book that he always loved her. That even while he was with his new wife he had always felt that he was meant to be with Paris.
A complicated situation for Jonas for certain. He remained with his wife despite the lack of love, upon finding out about her cancer diagnosis. This grapples with the question of what is best for someone. Is the truth what people need in their final days? Or is a happy lie something to help soothe the soul in the times before we pass on? To die thinking you are loved but for it to be untrue, Does it really matter? You would have died happy certainly. But to have your opportunity to die with a true love stolen from you. That I believe is more harmful. As the love is not true, its but a facsimile of true love. They will die not feeling the real thing. Never to know what the real thing was or that they were even deceived to begin with.
Paris’s struggle as a character is that of someone recovering from childhood trauma. Manifesting as anger and while Susan portrays her as a main character the far more gripping plot is in her partner Jonas and his actions. Raising much larger questions about truth and lies, what is important to us in our final days. Paris finds love in Jonas again and proves that she can love again and be loved in turn. The exploration of her trauma shows that at some point in all of our trauma cycles we must put the past behind us and learn to trust ourselves.
The last member of the book club to be introduced is by far the most complicated and the one we spend the most time with. Twenty eight year old Cassie. Cassie's parents died when she was just fourteen. Her siblings in their twenties at the time and on their own struggled with their grief in their own way and didn't have time to help cassie through her troubles. Finding her place in being helpful to others in their time of need Cassie has struggled with control in her life. Attempting to control her remaining family members' emotional states when they were down. Transitioning into her later years Cassie's need to control manifests in attempting to “fix” her partners. She would often meet men down on their luck and get them out of debt. Attain for them furniture and expensive gadgets to raise their standard of living. But as Cassie fails to recognize in this book, once the men are “fixed” they have no need for someone who only exists to fix them. I place fixed in quotes because what Cassie does is not fix them. The men remain the same men they were before they met her just with substantially less problems. Finding that their partner Cassie has no role in their lives once the “fixing” is done they in turn leave her.
The fixing is something the book never faces. Cassie upon being dumped, moves to the same city as the other main characters to explore a property left to her by her recently departed uncle. Finding an excavator who previously agreed with the aforementioned uncle to explore the land that Cassie now owns. Cassie strikes a deal to allow him to continue while she decides how to find her place in this new town. Lucky for Cassie's this man is handsome and kind and will make for a good partner. Finding this sudden windfall of a man stops Cassie from doing any internal searching and discovering that she in fact did not need to fix any of these men in her life. That her real dissatisfaction in life was that she sought control in the lives of others.
The author covers, in Cassie's story, that we cannot seek to control the lives of others and that true happiness only comes from within us once we find how to control our own lives. When we feel safe enough to make our own choices and not rely on others to hold us up in this world. Cassie is told to move out of her remaining family members home by her brother and sister to “discover herself” and to “stop trying to fix us”. It is no coincidence that once Cassie does that she finds that she can be happy and not need to “fix” the men she meets. That she can find purpose in her own actions and not the actions of others. She endeavors to repair the property her uncle left for her and turn it into an orchard. This orchard becomes the fruits of her new self. Assisting her in becoming a more rounded person and not as stunted as when we first met her. Cassie’s change is exemplified in her speech. Early in the book she speaks in an almost childlike pleading way. Telling her brother and sister that she will hate them forever for kicking her out and calling them “meanies”. But the cassie we see at the end is a homeowner/Business owner. She gets a call from her sister asking her to return to help out and this new Cassie declines to return as she has a new found purpose in her new life. Not giving up the part of her that cares for others she offers to return for a week or so to be with her sister but insists that she must return to her new purpose.
Cassie’s character holds a magnifying glass to us. Allowing us to explore ourselves in what coping mechanisms we might have instilled in our own lives. It is noteworthy that Cassie does not deal with this issue on her own, but with the urging of her family and friends finds the strength within herself to progress in her life and become better. This book's main goal is clear. To explore a series of characters struggling with some type of change in their life. But Susan Mallery expressly chose to have these characters deal with these changes with friends and family. I believe that it was Susan's direct goal to show how important that people currently in our lives are. To highlight that the friends closest to you are, on many occasions, the instigators of great change.
This was far too much for a simple romance book. I’m extrapolating a lot cause, for real, none of this shit is blankly stated and I think Susan didn’t intend for this deep of a dive.

Great narration

Tanya Eby is a really good narrator. I’ve never listened to a book read by her where I thought she lacked.
I purchased this book from the Daily Deal, so the value was worth it to not wait for the long library wait list. That being said, I haven’t read or listened to a Susan Mallery book in years and I was reminded why while listening to this one. I was a big fan maybe 5 years ago. She weaves the story of several people throughout the book who have had stunted love lives in the past and by the end, all three people get their happily ever after. And that’s what we are here for after all. Me included. I think I just find some of the push and pull tiresome.

Love the characters so much that I wanted to know more

Great book with believable characters and story line. I didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend

Narration needs work

I am not usually picky regarding narration. Some narrators are better than others, of course, but I really had issues throughout this book because of the narration. The narrator has a mechanical sort of voice and although she attempts different voices for different characters, they're fairly difficult to distinguish. I also didn't get the impression that she knew the material very well because it seemed she didn't know what tone to use until she finished a sentence. The story was OK. It was a little predictable and some of the characters were far fetched, but I'm not faulting it too much for that.

Who are you

What a fun book for self reflection. I thought I was like Cassie in the book so where the heck is my Raphael.
The three ladies in the book were so different and all the same.
Not going to lie I wanted some painful disease to visit Beau.
The book was an absolute delight to read and makes you want avocados (giggle)

So unrealistic and predictable

I struggled to get through this and couldn’t finish.
So mundane. “We/he/she washed their hands” was mentioned so many times. Who cares?

when narration ruins a book

the narrator was awful. she always ruins the book for me. should have realized before I bought it.good thing it was a "deal of the day"