Bev’s Imaginary Book Club: Every Summer After, Mansion Beach, Broken Country

In da (bewk) cluuuuuuub! (<–sorry, these things can’t be helped.)

Oh man, do we have some juicy picks today. Drama! Intrigue! Scandal! Summer romance! Family secrets! Here for it all.

I know what you’re thinking. “You picked the older Carley Fortune and not her newest?” Yes, yes I did. Two reasons. 1) This one killed me dead through and through. And 2) her newest, One Golden Summer, I borrowed and gave it back before I could think about including it in this roundup today. Doh! (But loved so much as well. Hold on, we’ll talk about that in a minute.)

Also, does that teeeeeeeny sliver of yellow hardback peeking out of the bottom of the Broken Country jacket almost have you in the stroke sweats? Same. I might just delete this entire thing and start over.

Let’s dive into these three chosen ones, shall we?

Every Summer After – Eeeeeeeee!!!

I think that sums it up. Young, raw, primal, adolescent, explosive and vulnerable love. The first love. The one that hits you in the face as a young teen and is so confusing yet makes perfect sense. We follow two families that live side by side in a small Canadian lake town. One family with two boys (Sam and Charlie) and a single mom as they deal with the death of their father. And a young girl (Percy) and her parents right next door. Quickly Percy and Sam become just that. Sam and Percy. Percy and Sam. They grow up together and navigate complicated feelings and changing bodies, along with a flirty older brother who will not get out of the way. It seems fluff fluff, but it’s not. It’s anything but.

The story toggles between two time periods: one later in life after an unexpected tragedy which takes Percy back to the lake to face a very uncomfortable yet delicious history. And their youth. The story that got them where they are years later. It is a fabulous book. A breeze to get through. A betrayal to inhale. Steamy, scandalous, summery, seductive and satisfying. It will take you 15 minutes to read.

Get in that! And then immediately jump into her newest, One Golden Summer where you’ll read all about Charlie’s side of things. His stance in the world and what ends up happening to him. Both books are exquisite summer experiences and you will absolutely die over them.

Mansion Beach – oh hiiiiii.

Elin Hilderbrand has been raving about this one, and I totally get why. It’s scrumptious! A quintessential summer read. Takes place on Block Island which immediately sold me because do you remember when we had our New England “relocation” back in 2018? And we took the ferry over from New London to Block Island for the entire day and it was amaaaaaazing. ‘Memba that? No? Oh.

Well this book was awesome. Takes you immediately to the vibe of the island, the steep wooden staircase (like a billion steps no kidding) on the Mohegan Bluffs, the quaint downtown strip with its little shops and cute restaurants and knickknack huts. (remember I got that soft tea towel?! no? oh.) We have two stories going on in this book. One being a young woman who’s trying to go public with her blowing-up business. Having come from tragedy and major childhood hardship, she’s doing her best to make it big and prove herself to the world. But . . . at a price.

And then we have another young woman who lives right next door and befriends the entrepreneuer. This girl happens to be the cousin of the man her neighbor’s in love with. DUH DUH DUUUUUH. Also I’m doing a horrible job at selling you on this book. But trust me, it’s a weird love triangle (not with the cousins!) and a DEATH on top of that. You will see. A twist that will have you like, what! No!

In other words, read it.

Broken Country OMGGGGGGGGG.

My favorite book of the year so far. (But I’m reading The Women right now so that might change.) This book is guttingly beautiful. Set between two time periods (the 1960s with flashbacks to the 1950s), you will fall in love with Beth and Gabriel. Beth being a young teen swept up by a flashy, well-to-do boy across the field with his fancy parents and pretty home. Their young love is swift but powerful, ending with an unfortunate miscommunication, taking her life in a completely different direction. To Frank. Her loving, kind, loyal farmer husband (and his brother) to live a humble life of farming and raising their son.

But something happens in the current time period and Beth is thrust back into Gabriel’s life. A whole entire series of well, unfortunate events leads us to a point of a complete breakdown in this book. Both with the characters, and us as a reader. An unthinkable tragedy from early on leads to a thrilling twist that will leave you completely speechless. It has an edge-of-your-seat pace, but laced with burning romance and violent heartbreak. And the biggest secret of all. You will die.

Oh and a death! There’s a death and you will not believe how it all plays out.

I need you to inhale this book right is what I’m saying.

And that’s it! A few standouts from the summer (so far). Tell me if you agree with any of my thoughts or if I’m a complete lunatic.

I have three more in my summer list, but I still need to go hunt them down. Tell me what you’re reading and what I deeeesperately need to add to my shelf.

Your turn, ya book worm!