Summer on the Island: The Perfect Beach Read

Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak is an amazing and heartwarming tale of three women, Marlow, Aida, and Claire, in need of time to heal, reflect, forgive, and start anew while they spend a refreshing beachfront summer at Marlow’s family home, Seaclusion. Marlow is tired of being a divorce attorney; the endless broken marriages and unhappy families have nearly jaded her to the idea of marriage and family as a whole. She closes her LA practice for the summer and heads to the island of Teach, wanting to spend time with her ailing mother since the recent death of her father, a US Senator, has left her floundering. She also brings her friends Aida and Claire along. Aida has recently endured an unpleasant divorced; Claire has unfortunately lost her home and studio to wildfires. The best friends find the peace, but within it are troubles, doubts and romance. In addition, while helping to settle her father’s estate, Marlow learns a shocking and devastating secret involving him; one that could tarnish his character and reputation. With so many questions and a mystery to solve, Marlow finds time for an exciting yet unexpected relationship with her old frenemy Walker; making for a beautiful love story. The lesson and focus of forgiveness being necessary before love can grow is crucial to this story, for all the characters. Ms. Novak did an amazing job with the family drama, secrets, mystery, romance and the beautiful summer setting making the story come to life. She wrote a story that reaches the soul; the soul of her characters as well the soul of her readers. This wonderful and amazing story was emotional, moving, filled with wonderful dialogue, and endearing characters that is must read. I highly recommend Summer on the Island to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Romance, a little mystery, family drama and a theme of forgiveness and moving forward…this book has everything that lovers of contemporary women’s fiction could want. Marlow returns home to Teach Island for the summer, bringing her friends Claire and Aida with her. Marlow wants to get away from being a divorce lawyer and all of the bad karma that comes from listening to people whose lives have imploded. Aida is recently divorced and Claire lost her yoga studio and her home to the wildfires. Enough drama yet? This is just the introduction! The story is a little complicated and extremely engaging. There are a few twists and plenty of romance, some of it steamier than I like, but I just skimmed over those parts without really losing anything from the central story. I really enjoyed the beach setting and the family beach house named Seaclusion. Perfect! I’m a big fan of believable characters who put their vulnerability out there and aren’t afraid to try to pursue the gold at the end of the rainbow. This book had characters that were easy to love, easy to hate and even a few that I’m still not sure whether I really could ever be friends with them or not. But Marlow became my bestie as I read this book and cheered her own through the devastating personal loss and her finding someone she could trust with her future. The plot was well-paced, with enough action in each chapter to keep me reading long into the night. Since I am a big fan of mysteries, I especially liked that there was something hidden about Marlow’s past that was revealed slowly and at just the right time in the book. Fans of romance and tropical settings will enjoy this book and want to read more about some of the characters. I know I would love to read more about each of the characters and how they are faring in their new lives. Disclaimer Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.” Additional Disclosure: I won an online contest by participating in Brenda Novak’s book challenge, so this book is actually dedicated to me. This fact did not in any way influence my opinions about the book, but it certainly made me eager to get my hands on a copy!

Marlow Madsen has traveled from California to Teach Island off the coast of Florida with her two best friends, Aida Ttrahan and Claire Fernandez. The three friends are hoping that spending the summer at the Madsen's summer house on the island will help them to reset their lives. Marlow lost her dad, US Senator John "Tiller" Madsen one month ago; Aida just finalized her divorce from her cheating husband, Dutton after ten years of marriage and Claire just happened to be the unsuspecting woman who Dutton cheated with. The three think they are going to have a fun, relaxing three months but instead earth-shattering secrets are revealed and everyone's life is in disarray. Marlow ends up finding comfort in the form of Walker Cantwell, the housekeeper's son who always had a crush on her. After all these years Marlow starts to realize what a fool she was to ignore him....deep down Walker really is a great guy. Everything with Walker is going great until a big secret is revealed within Marlow's father's will and everything is blown apart. Along with that, Aida's ex is causing problems.....a big storm is looking to hit the island....and everything that Marlow thought was her life is wrong. It will take a lot of self reflection from a lot people to ever get past this crazy turn of events but once everything passes, everyone's life is looking beautiful. I really loved this second chance at life love story. Marlow spent most of her life being the rich, princess and didn't realize the life going on around her. Once her life was turned upside down, Marlow started to see things in a different life. Then there is Walker.....YUMMY! Walker is the chief of police on Teach Island and an all around good guy. He's hot, handy and so very sweet....any woman would be elated to have him. Together Marlow and Walker sizzled on the pages and I just adored the journey they had taken in order to get to their happy ending. Read this book....you will not be sorry.