After years of thinking and dreaming and writing, These Summer Storms is officially a real thing -- early copies available for a giveaway on GoodreadsAfter years of thinking and dreaming and writing, These Summer Storms is officially a real thing -- early copies available for a giveaway on Goodreads real!
Raised on saltwater and sand and the particular force of New England summer storms, it was probably inevitable that my writing would eventually return there, but after a decade of writing about 19th Century London, 21st Century Rhode Island came as a surprise. Sometimes an idea takes hold and refuses to let you go—that’s this book.
In the summer of 2020, my husband, daughter, dog and I packed up our Brooklyn apartment and headed, masks and all, to a tiny, clapboard cottage on Rhode Island's farm coast, all wild thyme and stone walls overlooking the deep blue bay that divides the state in half and boasts a collection of private and uninhabited islands that I’d never known about when I was growing up. The pandemic loomed and those strange islands were a welcome distraction as the ocean churned and the wind blew magnificent summer storms up from the Atlantic.
It wasn’t long before the Storm family blew in, too—chaotic, dysfunctional, sharp tongued and terribly wealthy (terrible and wealthy?)--returned to their private island and massive gothic manor house off the coast of Rhode Island. They are:
- Greta, the eldest daughter desperate for approval - Sam, the only son and boy king - Emily, the youngest daughter, allowed to dabble in crystals and whimsy - Elisabeth, a mother with a cocktail in one hand and control slipping from the other, and - Alice, a daughter in exile—the one who got away. Or did she, now that she's under the watchful eye of her father's too stern, too handsome second in command...
There was never a question that this was a contemporary story, and a departure from what I’d written before—the story of a family in the immediate aftermath of an unexpected loss, having to navigate what happened and what’s to come, but the book made itself mine immediately, all big characters and wild plots: a dead billionaire, an inheritance game, a family with its fill of juicy secrets, and a romance (or two) that match the heat of a Rhode Island summer (it’s still a Sarah MacLean novel, after all).
I hope you'll add These Summer Storms to your TBR, and that it brings you all the joy a delicious summer read can.
I have read this book twice since it came out, because it scratches a lot of itches for me -- rivals to lovers, restaurant wars, podcasting, an absoluI have read this book twice since it came out, because it scratches a lot of itches for me -- rivals to lovers, restaurant wars, podcasting, an absolutely delightful, incredibly funny heroine. I love it....more
Full disclosure -- I love everything that Carrie Ryan writes, since her very very first book. I love it all so much that I've since become friends andFull disclosure -- I love everything that Carrie Ryan writes, since her very very first book. I love it all so much that I've since become friends and critique partners with her (we even wrote a short story together in Dark Duets). So...I might not be the most unbiased of reviewers.
BUT...
This book. THE LOVE I HAVE FOR IT IS REAL, YOU GUYS.
Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a revenge story (ahem -- A Rogue by Any Other Name). Or maybe it's because I adore shipwreck stories. Or maybe it's because I like girls who take lemons and make badass lemonade (ahem -- Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover). Or maybe it's because I like sexy sexy will she forgive him/won't she forgive him romances. I'm not sure. But this book is my favorite of Carrie's from start to finish.
If you're interested in YA romance -- or have someone in your life who is -- or if you're (like me) missing the TV show Revenge -- this is a perfect read for Summer 2015. ...more
Perfect, perfect SEP. Funny, emotional, sexy...with a terrific, quirky heroine and a hero who wouldn't be right for anyone but her. I loved it. Perfect, perfect SEP. Funny, emotional, sexy...with a terrific, quirky heroine and a hero who wouldn't be right for anyone but her. I loved it. ...more
I really really enjoyed this book...I'm a sucker for chef heroes and I *adored* the secondary romance. I really really enjoyed this book...I'm a sucker for chef heroes and I *adored* the secondary romance. ...more
No Blue Eyed Devil...which continues to be my absolute favorite of the three...but really well done. This is not for romance readers who don't enjoy tNo Blue Eyed Devil...which continues to be my absolute favorite of the three...but really well done. This is not for romance readers who don't enjoy the "baby-as-plot-device" story...but those who do will love her modern take on it.
Even a not-my-favorite Lisa Kleypas gets five stars from me...she just does romance at such a high caliber....more
I am so completely amazed and impressed and astounded and proud to have read this stunning, stunning debut. Valerie's voice and her struggle were so vI am so completely amazed and impressed and astounded and proud to have read this stunning, stunning debut. Valerie's voice and her struggle were so vivid--she remains in my head even after I've closed the book...so brave and brilliant.
I can't really articulate what it was about Hate List that I found so powerful--certainly the story (which is so troubling and dark and horrifying and precisely the type of story that deserves to be told because we all hide from school shootings so quickly and never give thought to the lives that were there before and are forever changed afterward), and definitely Brown's writing (flawless flashbacks and clever turns of phrase and heart-wrenching word choices), but I think it is the characters--so nuanced and delicately wrought and perfectly layered so that there isn't a single one who does not inform and enrich the stunning book--that most blew me away. Every one of them was so very human. And Brown's meticulous crafting of them was so very right.