Publication Date April 23, 2024
Years ago, when I was fumbling my way through a divorce, a new marriage, family (siblings) issues, and moving to a new place, I stumbled onto a book by Nancy Thayer and found it somehow soothing. It had a happy ending, and it just felt like everyone in the story had found their footing and was going to be fine. I guess the genre was romance, although I wasn’t a fan of the “bodice-ripper” romance novels that seemed to be everywhere back then. So I have periodically picked up a Nancy Thayer book when things seemed bleak…and generally enjoyed them.
Ms. Thayer’s latest Nantucket-based story is “The Summer We Started Over,” and it is categorized “General Fiction/Romance/Women’s Fiction.” Frankly, I have no idea what differentiates women’s fiction from the other two categories, but I have been sinking into darkness lately after ingesting way too much news and true crime, so I was happy to dive in to the book when Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley provided a copy in exchange for my honest review.
Like me, Ms. Thayer lives in a resort town on the ocean, and it sounds much like my home town, which is filled with a mixture of locals/longtime residents as well as summertime vacationers from Silicon Valley as well as tons of people who have made a fortune in tech and can afford to pay millions for a house. “The old money people never wore designer clothing or flashy jewelry, unlike the new money people who wore their wealth like blinking neon signs.”
The family at the center of this new book is the Grants: father is a former professor of literature who has moved his two young adult daughters to Nantucket following the death of the son/brother who has recently been tragically killed, leaving behind a baby and the mom, who had been a childhood friend of the two Grant daughters, Eddie and Barrett. Barrett stayed on the island with their father while Eddie went to New York, living with and working for one of the “most famous and renowned romance authors in the business.” Their mother left the three of them before the whole family drowned in grief. After two years without a day of vacation, Eddie goes back to Nantucket to help her sister launch a new tourist-focused gift shop business and care for their father (who is very able but clearly depressed and lonely, having become a book hoarder.
When she gets back, Eddie finds her sister resentful because Eddie escaped and their father becoming increasingly eccentric. Eddie picks up her old romance with a man she truly loved, Barrett’s gift shop is a huge success, and their father…well, when Eddie invites the famous and glamorous author to come stay with them for the summer, I thought “really? The dad will fall in love with the author, Barrett will find a new love, and Eddie will decide to settle down and they will all become one big happy family.”
I don’t do spoilers, but I’ll just say reading this was like a soothing massage for my brain. When a book is well written, it can be very enjoyable even when the reader knows exactly where it is probably going. Being pretty sure there will be a happy ending for most if not all of the characters doesn’t diminish the enjoyment one bit.
For fans of Nancy Thayer, “beach reads,” family stories without violence , and what I guess must be “women’s fiction,” this one is a solid four stars. For fans of “romance,” I imagine it will be five. Whatever, it was nice to escape for a day or two with a reassuringly pleasant book.