Thank you to Justine Sha and Harlequin Publishing for the advance reader copy of That Summer In Maine in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions. I am please to be part of this tour!!
What a beautiful novel this turned out to be! The story is told to us by Jane, Hazel’s mom, and Hazel herself. Their dynamic is interesting. Hazel is a 16 year old withdrawn teenage girl living her mom, step dad, and newborn twin brothers. She feels abandoned by her mother and Jane has no clue.
One day out of the blue Hazel gets a message with someone who claims to be her half-sister. She invites her to spend the summer in Maine with her and their father, Silas. Jane hesitantly agrees and goes on a journey within herself and realizes she’s been losing Hazel slowly.
I loved this story. I loved all the characters (even though I wanted to wring the half sister’s neck NUMEROUS times) and loved Silas. I thought there was a LOT of growth with Jane AND Hazel. Jane grew mostly from reading the diary of Susie, the mother of Eve, Hazel’s half sister. She took it upon herself to create her own diary filled with letters her daughter would probably never see to explain herself and the decisions she made. Hazel grew after she realized the life she thought she could have with blood relatives wasn’t quite what it was cracked up to be.
This book had me feeling the lake breeze while mosquitoes buzzed around in the sweet, sticky heat of the summer. I imagined myself sitting next to the fire while the girls and Silas talked. It was so easy to image the scenery, Wolfson did a remarkable job with that!
4 stars. This is a PERFECT summer read that will have you smiling from ear to ear at the end. Sometimes we all need a happy book and this one delivers just that. You won’t be disappointed if you pick this one up to read!
Author Bio: Brianna Wolfson is a New York native living in San Francisco. Her narrative nonfiction has been featured on Medium, Upworthy and The Moth. She buys a lottery ticket every Friday.
Title: That Summer In Maine
Author: Brianna Wolfson
Genre(s): Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: MIRA
Release Date: June 23, 2020
Find it here on Goodreads
Donna's Reading Chair 
I remember reading this. I read it in parts. In between thrillers. Lovely review. ❤️
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Thank you!
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Great review! This sounds like a perfect summer read — and as soon as I saw that cover, it drew me right in.
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Thank you! This is a GREAT summer read!! Lovely, quick read too!
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