Chelsea Taylor
Every once in awhile, you come across an author who's a true storyteller. This book was absolute magic! After her father remarries, Jackie spends what starts out as a picture perfect summer at her folk singer uncles estate called The Sandcastle. Being an only child, meeting her cousin Willa gives Jackie the sister she's always longed for. But when a plan goes awry, one night changes the lives of everyone at The Sandcastle. Told in alternating years of 1979 and 1999, this book truly captures how it must have felt to live in California during the huge folk movement. Due to Doan's magical ability to spin words into vivid pictures, simple things such as a tree house become a shabby chic castle and a waterfall in the woods becomes a striking wooded wonderland. Along with vivid imagery, this book truly captures the relationships between best friends, relationships between spouses, and the reality that sometimes our heroes aren't at all who we think they are. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Easily one of my favorite summer reads of 2021, this book deserves five stars and then some. You'll lose yourself in the summer of 79, and feel a loss when the book is over. Novels like this don't come around very often and this is a definite one that no one should miss. Thank you to Amy Mason Doan, NetGalley, and Harlequin Graydon House publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.