
AUTHOR: Rachel Hauck
DATE: 2023
PUBLISHER: Bethany House
STARS: ***1/2
From the back cover:
Twenty years ago, the summer of '77 was supposed to be the best summer of Summer Wilde's life. She and her best friends, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--the Four Seasons--had big plans.
But those plans never had a chance. After a teenage prank gone awry, the Seasons found themselves on a bus to Tumbleweed, "Nowhere," Oklahoma, to spend eight weeks as camp counselors. All four of them arrived with hidden secrets and buried fears, and the events that unfolded in those two months forever altered their friendships, their lives, and their futures.
Now, thirtysomething, Summer is at a crossroads. When her latest girl band leaves her in a motel outside Tulsa, she is forced to face the shadows of her past. Returning to the place where everything changed, she soon learns Tumbleweed is more than a town she never wanted to see again. It's a place for healing, for reconciling the past with the present, and for finally listening to love's voice.
My review:
The Best Summer of Our Lives didn’t make it easy for me to review. I’m still not sure what I think of this coming-of-age saga of four tightly knit friends who called themselves the Four Seasons. I couldn’t identify with any of the main characters, but they were certainly interesting, childhood friends who seemed more like sisters as they fought and forgave. Or did they?
The faith aspect of The Best Summer of Our Lives can only be described as unusual. Strange, even. Not bad, but strange. For these reasons, this story earns three and a half stars.
I was given a copy of this book by Baker Publishing Ltd. and Graf Martin Communications.