Some families we’re born into Some we find for ourselves When Serenity Alston swabbed her cheek for 23andMe, she joked about uncovering some dark ancestral scandal. The last thing she expected was to discover two half sisters she didn’t know existed. Suddenly, everything about her loving family is drawn into question. And meeting these newfound sisters might be the only way to get answers. The … only way to get answers.
The women decide to dig into the mystery together at Serenity’s family cabin in Lake Tahoe. With Reagan navigating romantic politics at work and Lorelei staring down the collapse of her marriage, all three women are converging at a crossroads in their lives. Before the summer is over, they’ll have to confront the past and determine how to move forward when everything they previously thought to be true was a lie. But any future is easier to face with family by your side.
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Absolutely fantastic book! Brenda doesn’t disappoint. I hated to see this one end. I loved every moment of reading this superb book. Very well written with fabulous characters. Just what I needed while I was on quarantine. Enjoy!
I did enjoy this book. I thought it was an interesting concept of three sisters who didn’t know they were sisters until a DNA test. I liked that they all come together to meet and to figure out how they were sisters. They of course are all going through somethings each and bring that baggage with them. I personally wanted to know more about the sisters after the book ended. What else is going on? I think I would like another book about them like 5 years from the end of this book but that’s just me. I couldn’t put this book down once I picked it up.
Brenda Novak’s latest book is heartwarming, emotional, and thought-provoking–I thoroughly enjoyed it!
“We missed out on growing up together, but maybe we were meant to find each other at this particular stage of our lives.”
This is a bit different book from others I’ve read by author Novak. I would consider this book to be Women’s Fiction rather than straight Romance, as other stories of hers I’ve read have been. Don’t get me wrong. There is romance intertwined throughout this story but it’s not the main focus.
Three women, after taking DNA tests, discover they are half-sisters – something none of them realized previously. They decide to meet up with each other and try to figure out how they came to be related.
All of the sisters have been going through major upheaval in their lives lately and meeting at a cabin near Lake Tahoe gives each of them a chance to reevaluate their lives, besides meeting their sisters.
The story is a bit convoluted at times and the ending is different than I might have expected but I enjoyed reading about all three women, their problems, and possible solutions.
I’ve always enjoyed Novak’s books in the past and I recommend this one.
I received this book from Harlequin Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
Wow! What an interesting book. Imagine taking a DNA test and finding out that you have siblings. All 3 of these women look like siblings but that is where it ends. Serenity is a novelist, Reagan is in advertising and Lorelei is a stay at home mom. There personal lives are falling apart and they take time out to go Lake Tahoe. This was supposed to be for a week but in the end, they stay for the summer. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. As they start to bond, they rely on each other. The secret charm in all of this is 4 year old Lucy. She is smart and brings out the best in everyone. As summer comes to a close, the mystery is solved. Decisions are made. As they leave to go back home, they know that no matter what, they will be there for each other. They are sisters.
What would you do if a DNA test changed everything you knew about your life? How would you find the answers when your love life and jobs are falling apart. Would you embrace strangers by meeting and living the entire summer together? That’s what three wonderfully deep characters, sisters, do and the surprising answers and twists and turns make this wonderful book worthy of a 5 star rating and a true hope that Brenda will carry these characters and their stories into future books. Another win for Ms Novak!
A DNA test will put three strangers now half sisters together for the summer. Serenity invites Reagan and Lorelie to her family cabin in Lake Tahoe, to figure out the mystery of how they are connected. Each sister comes to the cabin with personal challenges in their own lives, but with the new found sisterhood they will come out stronger.
I read this book in one day, I had such a hard time putting down. Wonderful characters with each of their own struggles but are supportive to each other. Loved the descriptive writing of the surroundings, makes you feel like you were right there. Interesting neighbors of three brothers that are also going through their own changes. I highly recommend this wonderful women’s fiction story.
True crime writer Serenity Alston submits an ancestry DNA test as research for her writing. Imagine her surprise when the test reveals she has two half sisters she never knew about. Serenity, Lorelei, and Reagan agree to meet at Serenity’s family cabin in Lake Tahoe. The three women are strangers to each other, but not only do they resemble each other, they each have complicated love lives they are trying to work through. Each wants to know how they could have sisters they didn’t know existed, how it happened, and wonder if it’s too late for them to become true sisters.
I absolutely loved the dynamics between the half sisters of Lorelei, Reagan, and Serenity. Each of these women are dealing with life challenges and trying to respect the new found relationships they have as sisters. The relationships between the sisters were wonderful as well the understanding and acceptance behind the secrets of them all being half sisters.
Ms. Novak did an amazing job of describing the setting and the characters in a way that makes them come to life. I was interested in what would happen next for each of sisters and was completely engaged in the story from the very beginning. We are exposed to seeing things from each woman’s point of view which helped us to better know each of them.
Overall, I enjoyed reading One Perfect Summer and recommend it to other readers. I will say that it was an engaging story despite having struggled with parts of the story and that there are still some unanswered questions at the end.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
Loved the book! Great strong female characters you can enjoy. A summer for three strangers to bond and learn about each other and to discover how they are half sisters. Each came with serious life issues, all three wanted to find out the mystery of how they are related. I think you will really enjoy this book. It has love, deception, bonding and mystery. Great beach read. Thank you NetGalley, Brenda Novak and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC this is my honest opinion. I’d buy this book for my friends.
One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak
Three women take a DNA test
Results are returned
Voila – two unknown half-sisters found
Get to know one another online then
Meet in Reno to see what is what
All three facing big issues
All three curious about one another
All three wondering who their common ancestor might be
Summer spent together
Time to share stories of their past
Their secrets come out
They grow closer
Who are they really?
How are they linked?
And what will their futures hold?
What I liked:
* The three women
* The similarities and differences in the lives of all three
* The caring that developed between the sisters
* Their willingness to assist one another in finding solutions to issues they were facing
* That it wasn’t easy for any of them
* The mystery solving of who their common parent was
* The bit of romance in each of their lives
* The growth all three appeared to achieve
* The relationship forged between the women making them as close as the sisters they are genetically
* The positive potential future of the three women
What I did not like:
* The people that created the issues to be solved in the sisters lives
* Not knowing for sure what the future for the three women will end up being.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Mira for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4-5 Stars
When Serenity submits her DNA to be analyzed, she never expected the results she received, and how the author’s mind worked as the pieces of this book fell together!
Can you imagine finding a sister you never knew you had, actually not one, but two, and now these young woman are meeting each other at Lake Tahoe for the first time.
They come with a lot of baggage, but seem to form an instant connection, sisterhood, and a bonus of a four year old niece!
We are kept guessing here, and when the final facts unfold, wow, never ever saw it coming, will you be blindsided like me, or have an idea what happened here?
Loved the epilogue at the end, there is a completion, but we could continue here!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Harlequin, and was not required to give a positive review.
That was an excellent read.
Three sisters that come together, and although they look alike, the differences become more obvious.
We start with Serenity (she was the one who started this all off) she’s a writer, she’s also just finished a messy divorce and a trial from hell.
Lorelei has enough on her plate, without coming out into the middle of nowhere, to meet her sister. She’s also on the brink of a divorce!! Her husband is having an affair with her best friend, and the other woman is pregnant!
Reagan, is dating a married man, it wasn’t meant to happen that way, but she fell in love….
Will the three women be able to become the sisters they all seem to need? Or will jealousy and outside forces pull them apart?
The meeting between the three women who are biological half sisters, is tense, how can it not be, they never knew each other existed. And who is their father? And how did they never know of each other?
Really well written, I felt all the emotion that the sisters had felt. The backstory of each woman is crucial in learning about them.
But did we really need the amount of information that was dumped on us about the brothers that lived next door? We need a little, but not as much as we got. (But I did wonder if they would get a book to tell us their stories.) And some of the other family members got page time, which sometimes took us away from the main story.
So what does the future hold for them? Will they find the truth in the past? Or will they be able to let go and forge a bond that will take them into the future.
And it brings to mind the debate on nurture versus nature, and the sisters definitely had different upbringings. And reading the interaction with Lorelei and her daughter was lovely. The interaction with Serenity and her parents was interesting.
* i was given this book for an honest review, all thoughts are my own*
One Perfect Summer is set at beautiful Lake Tahoe. More specifically, most of the story unfolds at the cabin on the lake owned for decades by Serenity’s family. Serenity grew up in a stable home with a younger brother and two younger sisters. She is a true crime author who has experienced writer’s block for the past eighteen months and missed the deadline for her next book. Her life fell apart when she discovered shocking information about her husband that ended her once-happy marriage just as she and Sean were ready to start a family. As the story opens, Serenity is struggling to regain her equilibrium. Her circumstances have not been helped by learning that she has two half-sisters, both of whom are close to her age.
Reagan, an only child, was raised by her mother — a workaholic — after her father’s death. She has worked hard to establish herself in the advertising industry and a partnership with her prestigious New York firm is now in jeopardy because of a rash mistake. She consummated her longtime flirtation with Drew, one of the partners, and is so ashamed of her behavior that she has fled the workplace. She is convinced that she must resign, but the prospect of starting over with another firm is daunting and disheartening.
Lorelei has flown from Florida to Reno with her four-year-old daughter, Lucy. Like Serenity and Reagan, she needs to make major decisions about her future after discovering that her husband, Mark, betrayed her. Lorelei has no relatives other than her husband, daughter, and Mark’s large family. She grew up in a series of foster homes after being found wandering alone at the age of two. How she came to be lost remains a mystery, along with the identity and fate of her birth parents.
The three women connected on Facebook six months ago. Serenity has not confronted her parents, worried that questioning one or both of them could result in the destruction not only of their long, happy marriage, but her relationships with them and her siblings. Reagan, likewise, has not asked her mother about the test results, fearing her mother’s reaction and confident that she will not be forthcoming, anyway. Serenity’s parents have no idea that she has invited Reagan and Lorelei to the cabin for a week for the purpose of getting acquainted and attempting to untangle the riddle of their familial status.
Novak has crafted an engrossing story about three women who find each other at a crucial time in each of their lives. Ironically, each of them is facing the biggest crisis of her life and confronted with choices that will determine the course of her life. In addition to deciding whether and how to approach her family with the information she has learned, Serenity must get her writing career back on track. And has been actively resisting her feelings for Sean’s stepbrother, Sawyer, who stood by her during the ordeal with Sean at the expense of his relationships with his stepmother and extended family. Reagan must find a way to forgive herself for being reckless and deal with the consequences of her lapse in judgment. And forgiveness is the key theme of Lorelei’s conundrum, as well. She contemplates what her life will be like if she has the capacity to forgive Mark and return to the life they’ve built together in Florida. And dares to ponder what it would be like to move forward an an independent woman for the first time in her life, always with Lucy’s best interests guiding her decision-making.
The pace of the story never slows as Novak injects various romantic and domestic complications. The three women get off to a rocky start, but are soon getting along well enough that they decide to spend not just a week, but the entire summer at the cabin. Part of the impetus is the arrival of Finn and his two brothers who are renting the cabin next door for the summer. Lorelei and Finn are drawn to each other, and Finn’s brother, Davis, is recovering from a devastating and life-changing injury which gives Lorelei a purpose for remaining and risking her husband’s ire.
Novak believably depicts the burgeoning relationships of the three women, including — typical of sisters — their disagreements and frustrations with each other. They decide to have one perfect summer together before they must each make final decisions about their lives and circumstances. As the days pass, they learn to confide in, rely upon, and help each other. And as the summer progresses, their investigation into the identity of their father proceeds, as well. The tragic truth is eventually revealed, but the focus of the book is squarely on the development of sisterhood.
One Perfect Summer illustrates that technology has the power to reveal secrets that were meant to remain hidden. The fallout from such disclosures can be devastating and destructive, or bring people together, creating and expanding families. When, like Serenity, Reagan, and Lorelei, people find the string, tug on it, and unravel their whole history, they choose how to react to and deal with the newly-discovered information. Novak’s One Perfect Summer is a feel-good story. For her characters, finding answers simultaneously brings closure . . . and possibilities. Their journey is both entertaining and satisfying.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
If you have read Brenda Novak books previously, I must tell you that this is not the typical romance or suspense read that you are accustomed to. This novel is very different, in a good way. It is the story of three sisters who discover each other through a DNA test and are seeking the truth about why they are related. It is a story of relationships, those that are broken and may or may not be able to be repaired and those that are new. It is a story of trust, broken trust and the newly formed trust when a new relationship begins. I must say that I was immediately immersed in the stories of Serenity, Lorelei and Reagan. I enjoyed the way that each sister was given her own point of view during the story. I think I got to know them better that way, so it made the whole book much more appealing to me. I was able to identify with each sister in some special way, based on events in their lives, but Lorelei was very special to me. I think that fans of Brenda Novak will thoroughly enjoy this book, and I highly recommend to new readers who are fans of women’s fiction. This book has something for everyone, including romance and a mystery!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Wow, what can I say! Brenda took a topic of today, DNA testing, and made an amazing story around it!
We center around 3 women, Serenity, Lorelei & Reagan, who find out they are half sisters after taking the DNA test. They talk for a few months and then decide to spend a week together in Tahoe at Serenity’s families home. They get to know each other better, and try to work on how they are related.
This was a great story, I loved how the sisters came together, learned to love and protect each other, Brenda, this story deserves a trillion stars! But I can only give it 5 on here, but I will tell you all, make sure you grab this book asap! And sit back and enjoy the ride!
4.5 stars
I have to say, this storyline was unique and instantly drew me into the book. I found each individual story of the sisters interesting, and their story with each other fascinating. There was a lot going on in this story, all of it kept me turning the pages.
I especially loved Lorelei’s story. This book seems to give more insight into her than the other sisters. In fact, that’s my only issue with this book…I felt there were threads that started that didn’t get a good conclusion.
While we know the stories of all the ladies, sometimes things were mentioned in passing that made me more curious. It’s hard to explain. It’s nothing that detracts from the story. I guess I feel that if this would have been a series in 3 parts, each focusing on one sister but still being a story of them all, the author could have delved deeper into the smaller details that left me wanting more.
Don’t misunderstand; this is a wonderful tale of three women discovering their true selves. Not just in the outward manner of DNA and sisterhood, but they all have to dig deep to decide what is truly important to them. They all have to let go of their outer shells in order to find their own true happiness. It’s a beautiful journey for them all.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
A book about a girl who does a DNA test and finds out she has two sisters. They spend the summer to get know each other. I think this is my first book by this author. It was a good story that grabbed my attention from the start. Love the cover too! Definitely recommend. Thanks to the publisher for the early copy
What else can I say but WOW!!! This book was one of her best books ever and believe me when I say I have read probably 55 of her books at least that is saying alot. I found this book heartwrenching at times, it grabbed me for the first paragraph and never let me go. For me a book that can pull me in and tug at all my emotions is hard to find, yet this one certainly did that for me. I recommend this book for everyone to read, it is amazing.
I received an Advanced Readers Copy from NetGalley and the Harlequin- Mira, and this is my fair and honest review.
Serenity’s life is in a tailspin. She’s found out things about her husband which destroyed her marriage and has lead her to this week. After finding she has half sisters she has another boulder thrown at her and now they need to find out about a past they don’t know. They find themselves together so they can find answers while they each deal with their own personal issues. A week becomes the summer and while they find the answers to their questions, they also find their way to heal. It’s a well written story about three dynamic women finding themselves and the love of sisters they didn’t know they had. I loved that the author let them find their strength and direction while making you become invested in their success.
Another 5 Star read from Brenda Novak!
What would you do if you discovered that you have two half sisters that you didn’t know existed? Would you want to get to know them or is this better left alone? This is the challenge of three young women.
Serenity is a writer who took a DNA test as research for a book she was writing. She was surprised to find that she had two half-sisters that she didn’t know existed. What was her mother hiding from her?
Regan is an ad executive who resigned her position after a bad decision involving her boss. Her mother is a workaholic control freak. Regan is afraid to tell her mother that she quit her job. She feels that she let her mother down.
Lorelei has a lot of emotional baggage. She was raised in a series of foster homes. She took a DNA test because she was desperate to to find the family that she didn’t have when she was growing up.
The women and Lorelei’s four year old daughter meet at Serenity’s family’s cabin at Lake Tahoe to get know each other hoping to discover the secret of their connection.
This is a story of three women who are much stronger than they realize finding strength and comfort in family they didn’t know they had.
I recommend One Perfect Summer to anyone who enjoys women’s fiction. The book is filled with emotional highs and lows, laughter and tears. Brenda Novak never disappoints.