It’s actually happening – I’m writing a new book review. (I’ll hold for applause.) But seriously, it’s been about 7 months since I’ve posted a book review. I have been reading quite a bit during those months, but my life has been kind of crazy recently! I’ve recently moved and I’m still adjusting to life in a new part of the world.
Over the summer, I picked up this book, The Summer House, by Keri Beevis, which was super popular at the time. It was released in March of this year, but you can see that even all these months later, it’s doing pretty well.
Overall Thoughts on the Book
I wanted to see what all the hype was about and I was looking for a casual read to pick up during slow evenings. I read this book over a few evenings and I was surprised that I kept getting pulled in by the story. I read the Kindle version and I found myself pulling out my phone to read it throughout the day too, whenever I could spare a few moments. There is a lot of drama in this book. It did feel like every chapter held a plot twist, so I wasn’t sure at all who was the killer until it was revealed in the end.
The only negative to that is that the twists and turns are so dramatic and so frequent that the book isn’t even close to realistic. I didn’t feel that it was very believable – but it made for good entertainment (and it’s not like I went in thinking it was a non-fiction story.) It kind of reminds me of some of the more outrageous storylines from Law & Order or similar crime shows that need to keep people hanging on through commercial breaks. Not necessarily a bad thing, it is just more fun fiction than a literary masterpiece. For my purpose of trying to find a light read to keep me entertained while our TV was out of commission during the move, it was perfect.
Book Description:
Mead House was once our childhood home.
From Amazon
Despite my fears, I always knew we would have to return to face the demons of our past.
Back to the place where it happened, to where, as carefree teenagers, we lost our elder sister in the most brutal of circumstances.
As executors of our grandmother’s will, my twin brother, Ollie, and I needed to empty the house for resale.
What I didn’t expect to discover was my sister’s secret journal that contained her most private thoughts and shocking dark secrets.
Now I am questioning everything that I saw that night. Did I get it wrong, who I saw?
Did my evidence send an innocent man, my then boyfriend’s brother, to jail for the last 17 years?
I know I have no choice. If I want to find answers, I will have to go back to that fateful night my sister died. When she made her last visit to the summer house.
The Characters
At first, I disliked the characters in this story. They seemed kind of snobby and uptight and they weren’t very relatable. But they really did grow on me, especially the main character and her love interest. By the time we reached the end of the book, I was really rooting for them to give their relationship a second chance and get together.
Some of the characters were annoying, especially the main character’s twin named Ollie. However, he also grew on me by the end of the book. I think all the characters get their chance to shine and we are able to see real character development from them. I almost wished that the book had been a little bit longer so that I could get more of a conclusion on the relationships within the book. That is to say, the reader does get a conclusion (it isn’t left open-ended) but I was pretty invested in the relationships and wanted it to keep going.
The Setting
I really love the setting in this book. An old country home with expansive gardens in coastal England? What’s not to love? The “Summer House” that is described as the place of the murder sounds creepy, albeit cozy. There are a lot of little details about various settings that make the story feel real and overall I really enjoyed them. Even the little art studio in town seemed so cozy. It’s the perfect backdrop for this story.
The Murder
Gruesome as it is, the murder is really at the center of the book, isn’t it? And it’s not a pleasant one. The whole lore around how this young woman is murdered is really sad. I felt terrible for the characters overall because it’s kind of a taboo and strange murder. It’s also really unexpected because the girl is 16 when she dies and it’s … very sexual? I didn’t care for that part and would have preferred something else, but that’s the author’s choice. There are a lot of complicated relationships because of the way she was murdered and it does seem to have a purpose, but it’s also icky.
A Cozy Read That Knows What It’s Selling
The Summer House really seems to get what people are looking for in a cozy mystery. They want twists and turns, interesting relationships, cozy beach towns, and an intriguing mystery and The Summer House delivers on all of those. While some of the plot elements aren’t my taste, it is a well-written book that is worth your time.
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