Summary: Eight years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask: Will she be her maid of honor at the society wedding of the summer? Daphne finds herself powerless, as ever, to resist her friend’s siren song and promises of single men. On a perfect summer night, as generations of Cavanaughs descend on the family beach in Cape Cod, the cute guy materializes and a family feud erupts. When Daphne wakes up the morning of the wedding to find that her crush has vanished and that something terrible has happened to her friend, it’s up to her to dig deep into Drue’s past, unpeel the layers of illusion, and find out the complicated truth about perfect Drue Cavanaugh. (Summary from back of book – Image is mine)
My Review: I found Big Summer sitting on the shelf of my local used bookstore a few years ago with a vivid cover that screamed ‘summer beach read,’ so I gave the back a cursory glance and quickly added it to the pile of books teetering in my arms. In hindsight, I should have left it on the shelf.
Have you ever read a book that was so ‘cringe’ you wanted to stop reading but couldn’t make yourself look away? Big Summer felt a lot like that. What the back of the book fails to mention is that Daphne is a fashion influencer (and it really should have been included because she mentions it constantly). Daphne’s perspective is overburdened with detail at the oddest moments and hyper focused on follower counts, posts, stories, hashtags, and collabs ad nauseum. I wanted to give up early on, but kept reading because I hoped it would lead to something more substantial. Eventually, the plot moves forward (no spoilers) but it happens to contain some fairly impromptu graphic sex, absurdly ‘soapy’ twists, and the rapid descent into a genre that I loathe entirely. It was just so…disappointing.
If Big Summer has any redeeming value at all it comes through the evolution of the protagonist’s defiance in the face of cruelty, her struggle to rewire her own body image, and her attempts to promote body positivity, which will likely resonate with some readers.
My Rating: 1.5 Stars
For the Sensitive Reader: Graphic sex (M/F), swearing, violence. The FMC struggles with a negative body image throughout the book. She is trying to correct these negative thoughts and project positivity, but the story could be triggering for readers who struggle with similar issues. It could also be cathartic. I don’t really know how it will land.
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