#BookReview All Our Summers by Holly Chamberlin @HollyChamberlin @KensingtonBooks #AllOursummers Title: All Our Summers

Author: Holly Chamberlin

on Jun. 30, 2020

Genres: Women's Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: Kensington Books, NetGalley

Book Rating: 7/10

Against the picturesque coastal Maine setting that she evokes so well, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin creates a heartfelt story of family bonds and new beginnings . . .
 
It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol’s teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she’ll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenth-century family home on the rocky Maine coast.
 
But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she’s moving back—into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She’s the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie is concerned, Ferndean is part of their heritage—not just another of Carol’s improvement projects, to be torn apart and remade according to her whim.
 
The entire Ascher family is in flux, uncovering secrets that upend their relationships. Carol’s longing to be welcomed home is fueled by a painful truth she’s carried for years. It will take an extraordinary
summer—in a remarkable place—to lead these women back to each other, buoyed by the tides of friendship and forgiveness.


Review:

Nostalgic, tender, and optimistic!

All Our Summers is a compelling, heartfelt tale that sweeps you away to Yorktide, Maine and immerses you into the lives of the Ascher family complete with all the heartbreak, secrets, smiles, tears, strength, loyalty, resentments, and compassion that surround them.

The writing is smooth and light. The characters are complex, hurt, and vulnerable. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into an uplifting tale about life, love, loss, family, friendship, parenthood, infidelity, and the complex relationship that exists between sisters.

All Our Summers is a sentimental, warm, touching, family saga by Chamberlin that drags slightly in parts but overall does a lovely job of reminding us of what’s truly important in life.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

 

Thank you to Kensington Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Holly Chamberlin

Holly Chamberlin was born and raised in New York City. After earning a Master’s degree in English Literature from New York University and working as an editor in the publishing industry for ten years, she moved to Boston, married and became a freelance editor and writer. She and her husband now live in downtown Portland, Maine, in a restored mid-nineteenth-century brick townhouse with Betty, the most athletic, beautiful and intelligent cat in the world.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.