Everyday, I bloghop multiple times. This means that I scroll through my WordPress reader when I’m on little breaks from work and check out what’s new within the blogosphere. It was during one of these bloghops that I came across a book review for The Summer Daughter by Colleen French. I never heard of this book and therefore didn’t know what to expect. However, the review was very positive, which made me curious. Am I just as positive as my fellow blogger is about this book?

About the book

The Summer Daughter by Colleen French
Published by Kensington on May 31, 2022
Pages: 322
ISBN: 9781496729644
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, General fiction

Summer fiction at its page-turning best for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Holly Chamberlin, and Nancy Thayer! Colleen French, acclaimed author of The Summer I Found Myself, brings readers to Albany Beach, Delaware, where one woman must decide whether to seek out the daughter she gave up for adoption.

Each year, the start of summer brings bustle and much-needed tourist dollars to the little town of Albany Beach, Delaware. For Natalie Sullivan, this season is proving more stressful than others. It’s make-or-break time for the Irish pub her husband, Conor, recently bought with his brothers. Their two children are thriving, but she’s experiencing pangs of loss at the end of her childbearing years.

When sixteen-year-old McKenzie starts gushing about Bella, the new coworker at her summer job, Natalie suddenly finds her past and present in conflict. Bella, two years older than McKenzie, looks so similar that a customer remarks that they could be sisters. And when Natalie learns that Bella was adopted, she is propelled back into a heartbreaking decision. As a college student, Natalie became pregnant and put her baby up for adoption. Now, the more McKenzie talks about Bella, the more Natalie wonders: could Bella be her daughter?

Conor insists it’s a mistake to pursue the matter. Natalie’s child belongs to another family now; that was the agreement in the closed adoption. Still, Natalie can’t resist spending time with Bella. As their bond deepens, McKenzie accuses her mother of caring more for a stranger than for her, and Natalie begins imagining what it would be like to have Bella as a second daughter. What will the impact be if Bella really is her biological child? And if she isn’t, can Natalie embrace the joy and potential in her own family, without always wondering about what could have been?

My review

Expectations

As stated before, I didn’t know this book at all, never heard of both title and author before stumbling on this review. However, the blurb sounded intriguing and the review was positive, which is a recipe for me getting curious and eager to read said book as soon as I could. I expected this to be some kind of queer romance, but this is definitely not true and just an assumption on my side. I have to admit to not be fully convinced by this book and this has nothing to do with the romance. Because, this book is about family and friendship bonds, romance is not a thing at all.

Characters

Even though many characters are introduced in this book, we mainly follow Natalie Sullivan. When she was a teenager, she gave her daughter up for adaption. Fast forward to present time, her now nearly sixteen-year old daughter McKenzie started her summer job. When she keeps gushing about her co-worker Bella, Natalie gets curious. When she meets Bella and notices a lot of similarities with McKenzie, questions are arising whether Bella is her firstborn child. Even customers remark they look like twins. The internal struggles Natalie is dealing with are elaborated well. Besides the lingering question whether Bella might be her biological child, she also has to deal with a lot of other stuff such as their new family business which just has been re-opened. Also, McKenzie is being diffficult and therefore Natalie is under a lot of stress. This obviously is taking its toll on her relationship with both her husband and sister. On the other hand, there’s McKenzie who is also obsessed with Bella, but more as a friend. Because of her obsessive behaviour I believed they were to be a romantic couple, but I don’t know why this crossed my mind in the first place really. Bella is the least likeable character, she gave me the ick so many times with her behavior. This is not healthy and once the story progresses, one of the Sullivan girls finally realizes this too. However, Bella’s backstory would have been interesting to read more about though. All characters are written well, which is a must for a character driven novel.

Writing

Even though the writing is accessible and easy to read, it wasn’t all that engaging. I was able to read good portions of this book in one sitting, but I also was able to put it aside multiple times and forget about it for a bit. However, it was easy to pick the storyline back up once I started reading again. Towards the end, we get a few POV switches between Natalie and McKenzie, which shows Bella’s influence on this family pretty well.

Plot

This is truly a character driven novel, but French still choses to explore more serious themes. This makes the book heavier than expected and not your easy going summer read. Of course, adoption is the main theme, but also family ties and relationships, trust and friendships are discussed. However, a few chapters from Bella’s point of view would have been nice, because she is clearly struggling and this would have provided more insight into her thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, the themes are elaborated well enough. However, I wasn’t fully engaged, as I’ve said before. All events were logic, but I just wasn’t fully intrigued by this book.

Final thoughts

Despite the fact that I wasn’t that intrigued by The Summer Daughter by Colleen French, I still recommend it. The characters are written well and the writing is accessible and easy to follow overall. The plot is fine for a character driven novel, more serious and heavier themes are explored. Why wasn’t I intrigued by this book then? Honestly, I can’t put a finger on it.