Evening Everyone,

Apologies I’ve been absent for a little while. I was away on holiday with some friends for a long weekend and in the run up to that everything was a little manic with work and home life. I’d love to say that the weekend calmed down and I had lots of time to read and relax but it didn’t quite pan out like that. I only managed to get two books read. I’ll start with this review and post the following one later on this week.

Book 📖

Thank you to @jhaleauthor and @bookouture for this advanced copy of An Island Summer in return for an honest review. An Island Summer was published on 9th June 2022 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Meghan Gray is having a bit of a life crisis. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her career and there isn’t much keeping her in New York whilst she mulls it over. The only thing she owns is her Pappy’s cottage on Hatteras Island and so she decides to go back there.

The cottage is exactly how she remembered; on the beach, a porch and shuttered windows. It needs a lot of work but Meghan is just glad to feel close to her Pappy. On the first night on the island Meghan meets Toby and there is an instant connection between them.

Whilst sorting through Pappy’s things, Meghan finds an old photograph of someone she doesn’t recognise. It holds a secret that she sets off to try and find out. She has many questions and some of them could mean that Toby and her become much closer or grow very far apart.

General Thoughts 🤔

This was definitely a laid back book that didn’t require a whole lot of attention to be paid so it’s perfect to read when travelling I think. I think I would have liked to have seen a bit more romance in the story. I felt that it was hinted at early on in the book but then nothing romantic really happened until quite near the end.

I really liked the theme of Meghan trying to discover her past and her legacy via clues left for her by her Pappy. It was like she had been sent on a little adventure and her Pappy knew exactly what to say and what to leave to ensure that she got to the answers she needed.

Characters 👫👭👬

There weren’t many characters in this story which made it very easy to keep track of who was who. I think my favourite character was Meghan’s best friend Tess. She seemed like the kind of friend everyone needs; she had Meghan’s back through anything and she wasn’t afraid to give Meghan a little nudge in the right direction when she needed the encouragement.

I have to be honest and say that I didn’t like Toby. This may be because there was a period during the book where it was implied that he may not be as honest as he said and my opinion may have been tainted, but I just couldn’t warm to him at all.

Writing Style ✍️

This is the first Jenny Hale book that I’ve read so I didn’t know what kind of vibe I was going to get. It was definitely very light and laid back making it easy to follow along with but it also meant there weren’t really any gasp moments or any big emotions drawn from me.

As I mentioned, I would have liked some more romance, whether it be between the obvious characters or others. I think the romances from the past could have been expanded upon and been a really nice touch.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

If you’re in the mood for an easy read that will entertain you for a short time then I would recommend this book. It’s probably not going to blow your socks off, but it will scratch a reading itch.

😍😍😍😩😩