Title: Summer Hours by Amy Mason Doan
Publisher: Graydon House
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: 416 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Commencement meets The Graduate in this sparkling novel about a secret affair, the summer it all unravels, and the reunion a decade later that will be one woman’s happy ending or her biggest mistake.
Becc was the good girl. A dedicated student. Aspiring reporter. Always where she was supposed to be. Until a secret affair with the charming Cal one summer in college cost her everything she held dear: her journalism dreams; her relationship with her best friend, Eric; and her carefully imagined future.
Now, Becc’s past is back front and center as she travels up the scenic California coast to a wedding—with a man she hasn’t seen in a decade. As each mile flies by, Becc can’t help but feel the thrilling push and pull of memories, from infinite nights at beach bonfires and lavish boat parties to secret movie sessions. But the man beside her is not so eager to re-create history. And as the events of that heartbreaking summer come into view, Becc must decide if those dazzling hours they once shared are worth fighting for or if they’re lost forever.
Set in the mid ’90s and 2008, Amy Mason Doan’s Summer Hours is a warmly told novel about the idealism of youth, the seductive power of nostalgia and what happens when you realize you haven’t become the person you’d always promised to be.
Review:
Summer Hours by Amy Mason Doan is a heartfelt novel of friendship, secrets and love.
In the mid 1990s, Rebecca “Becc” Reardon, Eric Logan and Serra Indrijo are best friends who are graduating from high school. Becc has big dreams of becoming a journalist and she is the winner of a prestigious scholarship for Berkeley University. Serra is an artist and she, too, is going to college at Berkeley. Eric is struggling with his parents’ recent divorce and he leaves early for Brown University which is on the east coast. Becc is brokenhearted over a rift between her and Eric but she remains hopeful they can resume their close friendship. She and Serra form a tight bond with their college roommate, Maggie, but they keenly feel Eric’s absence. Despite efforts to reconnect, Becc remains on the outs with Eric and she evidently makes a fateful choice that will continue to reverberate years later.
Fast forward to 2008 and Becc’s life has not exactly gone as she once envisioned. Seizing on an upcoming wedding, she hopes a carefully planned road trip will provide an opportunity to fix a problem she created. Nothing goes as planned and exhausted and frustrated, Becc is a lot more honest than she expected. Will this hurt or harm her chance to mend the pain her long choices has wrought?
Seamlessly moving back and forth in time, Summer Hours is an utterly captivating novel. The characters are realistically and vibrantly developed. The various settings are richly detailed and serve as vivid backdrops for the unfolding story. With a wide variety of movie and music references, Amy Mason Doan creates a perfectly nostalgic vibe that will absolutely charm readers. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this poignant and endearing novel.
