Tuesday, July 31, 2018

REVIEW of The Summer Sail by Wendy Francis

Paperback, 307 pages
Published May 1st 2018 by Touchstone


 “A great summer read for fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin.” (Library Journal)

A trio of college friends who reunite aboard a cruise ship experience an unforgettable vacation in this compelling novel from the author of The Summer of Good Intentions, which was hailed as “everything a summer read should be” by Elin Hilderbrand.

Three college roommates are celebrating a twentieth wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to Bermuda. As the ship pulls away from the pier, everyone is looking forward to lounging by the pool, sipping sunset cocktails, and reminiscing. Abby, the mother hen of the group, will be celebrating her wedding anniversary in style, even as she and her husband keep a secret from the group. Ambitious career woman Caroline happily anticipates several stress-free days away from her magazine job with her boyfriend, Javier, who may or may not be finally inspired to propose. And single mom Lee (annoyingly gorgeous and irresistibly popular in college) hopes she’ll win back the affections of her formerly sweet daughter Lacey, who after her first year in college, has inexplicably become a little bit of a monster.

As the balmy pink shores of Bermuda come into view, tensions simmer, and old jealousies flare, sending the temperature from soothing to scorching in this engrossing tale of three best friends on a vacation they won’t soon forget—but not for the reasons they expect. 

My Thoughts…

I am new to Wendy Francis.  So when I picked up this book I wasn’t sure what to expect.   Would I fall into this book, connect with the characters, love the setting or would I struggle to enjoy the storyline?    I definitely connected with the characters, loved the setting of the Bermuda cruise, and could not stop turning reading.    

The college roommates who became forever sisters after they graduated are wonderful.   They have each moved on with their lives, looking for love, having children, but have never lost touch.    With this cruise, we learn about the good and the bad in their lives.   The more I read about them the more I connected with them.   They had real-life problems, real-life successes, and real-life reactions to what was happening around them.    Single mom Lee was my favorite only because I could relate to her struggles with her daughter.    Lacey, the daughter, goes away to college and comes home more independent, more in love with her boyfriend who the mom doesn’t really know, and more argumentative with her mother.     I could feel the struggle between them but more than that I could feel their want to be friends and reconnect within these new rules of their life.  

The ending threw me for a loop.   I wanted it to all come together tied up pretty but it didn’t seem to do that.    The story just ended.   There was more to tell, more to share, and I wanted it.    While there wasn’t necessarily a cliffhanger, it just didn’t come together as nicely as I would have liked.     Maybe there is more to come from these characters, maybe it is up to the reader’s imagination to figure out what happens next… I am just not sure.   

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