REVIEW: These Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean

 

OUR REVIEW:

Sarah Maclean is one of my favorite historical romance writers and I've read one short work that of hers that was contemporary, so when I saw this novel of hers on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. As with her historical romances, These Summer Storms is intense and detailed and while it felt more women's fiction than romance, in places, it does end with the HEA. 

These Summer Storms centers on Alice Storm and her very dysfunctional family. The novel begins with Alice returning to her family home (on a private island) upon news that her father has died. We learn that she's been estranged from the billionaire family for years, working and living independently from the wealth that she was brought up with, and almost immediately her family reminds her that she's going to have to work her way back into the fold. As the first day home progresses, it becomes clear that the patriarch of the family had plans in mind, upon his death, and those plans appeared to include pushing on the insecurities and wounds that each sibling and his wife had. And as the week progresses, we learn how Alice's one night stand factors in to all of this, as well as why the siblings do what they do and how they feel about what is happening. 

The Summer Storms asks us to imagine what it must be like to live in a family where everyone is jockeying for position, thirsty for the love and attention of their parents, never quite getting what they want, and therefore always feeling a little out of sorts, a little unsatisfied, even when they think they're getting what they want/deserve. It plunges us into a world of refinement, not feelings, and how that philosophy can go terribly awry, resulting in a sibling dynamic that's better for the messiness. And while this novel could've let us cold and bitter, the ending is quite the opposite--warm and satisfactory.

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SYNOPSIS: 

Alice Storm hasn’t been welcome at her family’s magnificent private island off the Rhode Island coast in five years—not since she was cast out and built her life beyond the Storm name, influence, and untold billions. But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything.

Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance.

But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister’s constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother’s cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed.

A smart and tender story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel explores past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.