"A captivating tale of family secrets and strong women."
—People Magazine
"Soap-opera twists and turns are tempered with the believable goodness of the characters, the messiness of their journeys, and just a hint of unpredictability as events unfold....Engaging and not too fluffy, an excellent choice for summer vacation reading."—Kirkus Review
"Tuck this soap opera into your beach bag....A light take on life's big questions."—Good Housekeeping
"Just when Marin's engagement and career start unraveling, an at-home genetic test confuses things even more-and clues her in to a family she never knew she had."—Cosmopolitan
"Summer book lovers: start your engines and put this at the top of your Beach Reads list."—Barnes & Noble Reads
"An engaging and emotional read with characters who stay with you, this is a good fit for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, beach reads, and women's stories."—Booklist
"A gem....The perfect read to get you in a summer state of mind"—Popsugar
"It's an emotional rollercoaster ride that will have you addicted and wanting to read more. This book is truly the perfect literary escape for any season."—Redbook
"A satisfying, quick read about family, relationships, forgiveness and discovering strength after loss. Brenner's rich narrative descriptions of Provincetown and its cast of characters has added the Massachusetts town to my list of travel destinations."—Fort Worth Star Telegram
"Full of delicious descriptions of coastal New England and richly imagined characters, The Forever Summer is an emotional, hot-topic page-turner and a summer must-read."—BookBub
"[it] had me racing through the pages".—Brief Take
"THE FOREVER SUMMERsweeps you away with a page turning story that will stay with you long after the sun sets on the beach. Ms. Brenner is a glorious storyteller. She has created a world, richly described and inhabited by a modern, intergenerational family of women who are strong yet flawed. Secrets revealed, love lost and found, and the abiding strength of family fill these pages with a particular wisdom and humor. Put your feet up, sip a cocktail and let Jamie Brenner surprise and delight you with the first great read of summer."—Adriana Trigiani, author of All the Stars in the Heavens
"In THE FOREVER SUMMER, Jamie Brenner has created a witty and memorable tale of love lost and found, secrets hidden and revealed, and the family ties that transcend everything. Whether fans of Brenner's terrific debut The Wedding Sisters or lucky first-time recipients of her amazing talents, readers of Elin Hildebrand and Jane Green should reach for this moving and atmospheric story."—Pam Jenoff, author of The Diplomat's Wife and The Orphan's Tale
"Like finding sea glass in the sand, Brenner's tale of a family drawn together by blood ties but hobbled by secrets captivates. She brings the quirky beach community of Provincetown to delicious life, while the final chapters left me rapt and choking back tears."—Fiona Davis, author of The Dollhouse
"THE FOREVER SUMMER paints a poignant portrait of a family in turmoil, striving to make peace with the past and forge forward into the future. Brenner is a natural storyteller with a gift for creating true-to-life characters. You'll definitely want to curl up with this one!"—Emily Liebert, author of Some Women and You Knew Me When
"With THE FOREVER SUMMER, Brenner has established herself as a must-read summer author. I fell in love with the untraditional families coming together in charming Provincetown and the secrets that ultimately made them stronger. A vacation read that's as essential as sunblock!"—Karin Tanabe, author of The Gilded Years
"Taking us from trendy New York City to breezy Provincetown, Massachusetts, Jamie Brenner's THE FOREVER SUMMER is more than just a light beach read. Brenner draws readers in immediately with newly discovered relatives, broken engagements and hidden affairs, but her story satisfies because of the unexpected ways in which she allows her characters to explore their own identities. There are no stock characters here, but multidimensional individuals, surprising in both diversity and depth. Brenner's writing is crisp and smart. Her strength lies in the masterful way she layers secrets and sentiment in order to create a truly original summer story."—Lynda Loigman, author of The Two-Family House
"I loved THE FOREVER SUMMER by Jamie Brenner. This irresistible story is much like summer itself; you won't want it to end. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand are sure to fall in love with Jamie Brenner's THE FOREVER SUMMER."—Brenda Janowitz, author of The Dinner Party
"Two women on very different paths come together in the most unlikely of circumstances, both tentatively exploring the boundaries of their newfound bond in Jamie Brenner's THE FOREVER SUMMER. Love and relationships are tested in this charming tale of sisterhood and resilience set against the beautiful backdrop of a Cape Cod summer."—Zoe Fishman, author of Inheriting Edith
"This celebration of family in all its traditional and modern varieties is such a pleasure to read that you'll want to make a reservation at the Beach Rose Inn, where happiness and redemption are discovered among the twists and thorns of life."—Nancy Thayer, author of Secrets in Summer
"Filled with memorable characters and with a plot that doesn't let up, THE FOREVER SUMMER is a beautiful exploration of the meaning of family and the many facets of love-a perfect summer read."—Anita Hughes, author of Santorini Sunsets
03/15/2017
Brenner's (The Wedding Sisters) sunny, escapist romp nevertheless takes a spin through several stormy themes: uncovering family secrets via gene mapping, terminal illness, and suicide, to name a few. Marin, a thirtysomething lawyer in New York, has left her businessman fiancé for a handsome partner at her firm, but is devastated when both she and her lover are fired for fraternization. That's when an email from a mysterious person claiming to be her half sister appears in her inbox. Feeling as if she has nothing to lose, Marin agrees to accompany her newfound sibling to sunny Provincetown, MA, where the woman who is their grandmother owns a B&B with her wife on the quirky tourist town's main drag. This intriguing setup blossoms into a whirlwind of romance, family secrets, and tragedy, involving an ever-expanding cast of characters, many of whom are related to the sisters and their grandmother. VERDICT Readers looking for a light, soap-operatic plot with trendy themes in a beach setting will not be disappointed. Most will want to hang on through the drawn-out middle section until they learn the results of Marin's latest genetic test.—Erin O. Romanyshyn, Saskatoon P.L., Sask.
2017-02-05
Four women find themselves in a tangled family web that they work to unravel over a Provincetown summer in this new novel by Brenner (The Wedding Sisters, 2016, etc.).When Marin Bishop breaks off her perfect-seeming engagement to pursue a passionate affair with her boss at a Manhattan law firm, she believes it's the most dramatic thing that will happen to her as the summer begins. But when her firm finds out, she and her lover are summarily fired, right after she learns from her Philadelphia society parents that they're getting a divorce (something her mother, Blythe, is struggling to accept herself). In the wake of all this, Marin is thrown for an additional loop: while she's a daddy's girl at heart, she finds out that she's not her father's biological child. Indeed, she has a half sister neither she nor her mother knew about, a young Californian named Rachel who comes to New York to see Marin before continuing to Provincetown to meet her newly discovered grandmother Amelia. The biological father of both girls, Amelia's son, died many years ago. On a whim, Marin joins Rachel, and, out of desperation, Blythe tags along. They all find themselves at Amelia's beachfront guesthouse—closed for this summer but open to a new, blended family. As the summer unfolds, each of these women must process the information they've gained and the new people they've encountered, relearning how they fit in the world and what it means to be family. Soap-opera twists and turns are tempered with the believable goodness of the characters, the messiness of their journeys, and just a hint of unpredictability as events unfold. Not all the endings are happy, but most are. Engaging and not too fluffy, an excellent choice for summer vacation reading.
