From New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis comes a friends-to-frenemies-to-lovers story… Add in a few secrets. Shake. Stir. Then read on a lazy summer day at the beach… attempts to get it right. In search of a place to lick her wounds and get a fresh start, she heads back home to Wildstone.
And then there’s Kinsey Davis, who after battling serious health issues her entire twenty-nine years of life, is tired of hoping for . . . well, anything. She’s fierce, tough, and she’s keeping more than one bombshell of a secret from Brynn — her long-time frenemy.
But then Brynn runs into Kinsey’s best friend, Eli, renewing her childhood crush. The good news: he’s still easy-going and funny and sexy as hell. The bad news: when he gets her to agree to a summer-time deal to trust him to do right by her, no matter what, she never dreams it’ll result in finding a piece of herself she didn’t even know was missing. She could have real connections, possibly love, and a future—if she can only learn to let go of the past.
As the long days of summer wind down, the three of them must discover if forgiveness is enough to grasp the unconditional love that’s right in front of them.
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Classic Shalvis! Loved this story!
Love Jill Shalvis. Easy book to read.
This book was a joy to read on a hot summer afternoon. Shalvis always infuses her warmth and humor into her books, usually about family and friend relationships. Captivating characters and unusually interpersonal relationships are her trademark.
For years. Brynn Turner, Kinsey Davis and Eli Thomas went to summer camp together. Eli and Kinsey were there because their parents didn’t want them, while Brynn was there to have fun, while her lesbian Moms had a vacation of their own, but was miserable because Kensey, one her tent mates, was the mean girl and she was not very coordinated in the outdoor activities. She had very first kiss with Eli, and she never knew that he had a crush on her every since. There is a lot that she didn’t know about Eli and Kinsey, except that they were best friends.
Years later, Brynn comes back to Wildstone after suffering a double blow, she was downsized from her teaching job and her live-in boyfriend was a con man, who stole from her and left her homeless.
She came home to lick her wounds and reassess her future and one of the first persons she runs into is Eli. He bought a large home near the beach and offers to rent her one of the rooms, not telling her that Kensey and his half brother Max leave there too. When her Moms smother her too much, she decides to take him up on the offer and their previous romance starts to reblossom. But Kensy has secrets that she has sworn Eli not to tell Brynn and when they come out, as secrets always do, will the members of the household be able to build a family together, or will the keeping of secrets tear them apart?
This is book #5 in the Wildstone series. This book can be read as a standalone novel. For reader enjoyment, and to understand the series, I recommend reading this series in order.
Brynn comes home after another boyfriend makes her feel less than herself. The bright spot in her life is her Mom’s. They may be in her business but they bring the fun. Also being at home she runs in to Eli. The very Eli with whom she made the summer deal.
Eli has his hands full with Kinsey and her health. With a breath of fresh air, Brynn comes back to town and its like he can breathe again. With his protective attitude, he enjoys being in both women’s lives. Even though he is only best friends with Kinsey, her friendship is more like family.
This story just kind of pounded into my head. I felt like each chapter was a sock to the stomach and was like watching a very loud play. So much action, so much to it, I felt a little overwhelmed. I do not normally say this about this author’s books. This was a hard one to finish. Honestly if it was not an author I love well, I would not have bothered.
***This copy was given in exchange for an honest review by Edelweiss and its publishers.
I LOVED this book… I say that after every Jill Shalvis book I read, but I really loved this book. It gave me all the feels. Her books always make me laugh. I loved everyone in this story.
A sweet summer romance with flaws. The MC’s deal with troubled family issues, bad relationships, life and death. There were parts that flowed well and some that were a bit cheesy and unbelievable. The cheese developed more towards the end. It started out really well for me I really liked where it was going. But, the love was too easy, too fast, to unrealistically understanding. These girls were horrible to the men and the men were all, it’s okay I’m here for you no matter what…I really wished they got a backbone and said NO.
Bottom line: Fun-ish mindless read, no deep thoughts involved, no real connection to the unreal characters.
I absolutely loved this book the characters were great! The setting was brilliant! I loved the Suspense part of the book. I love how this all turn out.
Jill Shalvis has created a story that a lot of us can relate to. Almost every woman, has a Brynn in her past. If you aren’t part of the “in crowd” there is always a “mean girl”. Imagine finding out as an adult that your childhood frenemy is your half sister that you didn’t know existed…and she is in need of a kidney. Ms. Shalvis has captured the emotions perfectly. Her characters are well-developed and believable. The “prologue” is in the form of letters from camp at the beginning of each chapter.
I am a relatively new reader of Jill Shalvis’ books. The Summer Deal is the latest book in the Wildstone Series. It can be read as a standalone, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Just finished reading this wonderful book, it is such a great story and the characters, you will love them all (especially Brynns mom’s). From start to finish, it was so good. (although I would seriously hurt their father, seriously).
Another great story by Jill Shalvis. She writes with so much heart & humor. This story is about family & learning how to accept & become family.
If you read Jill’s stories this is another great one. If haven’t read Jill’s stories you are really missing out. Run don’t walk to get her books. She has a lot of great series & you can’t go wrong with any of them.
I love the character’s and the story line.
I listened to the audio version of this book. The narration by Erin Mallon pushed it from 4.5 to a solid 5 Stars for me. She does a fantastic job with the male voices as well as the female. Love her!
This is another fantastic novel by Jill Shalvis. She is right at the top of my favorite authors if not at the tip top. She never fails to deliver the drama, the romance and the laughs that I love in her writing. The drama in The Summer Deal revolves around three kids who went to summer camp together. The two girls basically drove each other crazy and the guy was best friends with one and crushing on the other.
Kinsey as well as Brynn’s moms provide most of the laughter in this one. The moms were really great and I for one am happy to see gay couples showing up in Ms. Shalvis’ stories. If you have a problem with it, it is your problem and you don’t have to read it (remembering a review I read from a previous book). They just threw all sorts of love out there in a typical over-the-top mom sort of way.
I really enjoyed the second chance thing going on with Brynn and Eli. Getting to have a relationship with the guy who was her first kiss is just SO sweet! It was also pretty hot that he really, really had the hots for her. Loved the book!
Highly entertaining, heartwarming and real journey filled with relatable and exciting charters, witty dialog, heart racing twists and emotionally thrilling turns. Was a sweetly exciting adventure from beginning to end.
This is another book in the Wildstone series & it was another amazing book!! It centers on Brynn, Eli, Kinsey & Max, along with Deck, Kinsey’s boyfriend. Eli & Max are brothers & Kinsey is like a sister to them and they are each other’s family. Brynn knows Eli & Kinsey from summer camp. Brynn moves in with them when she comes back to Wildstone after a bad breakup. The book shows that they work through their issues & build better, stronger relationships with each other to become better people. It would of been nice to have more of Deck in the story line but Kinsey & him get their HEA along with Brynn & Eli. I didn’t especially like Kinsey despite her health issues that no person should have to go through but she did redeem herself in the end. Love Jill Shalvis & loved this book!! I highly recommend this book & all of Jill’s books!!
Jill Shalvis in back in Wildstone, California with her newest release The Summer Deal. The Summer Deal was a wonderful edition to the Wildstone series. Brynn Turner and Kinsey Davis are both such fun characters, and I loved getting their stories.
Brynn has the unconditional love of her 2 moms, but besides that she really doesn’t feel like she has her life together. When her latest ex-boyfriend steals from her before moving out of their apartment, Brynn decides it is time to head how to Wildstone and maybe just maybe get her life back on track. I loved that Brynn really did look at the world through rose-colored glasses much of the time. She seemed to look for the good in people much of the time…with the exception of her former campmate Kinsey. Kinsey is pretty much the polar opposite of Brynn at first glance. She puts on a really tough front, but the more time with Kinsey, the more I could see she was all about protecting herself and those she loved.
I really enjoyed the romances in this story. Eli and Brynn have both had crushes on one another since summer camp. Kinsey and Deck are basically in a “friends with benefits without being friends” situation, and honestly that made me crack up each time one of them said it. However, I didn’t really feel like either of the romances were the main focus of this story. I felt like it was really Kinsey and Brynn’s story from page one. The little insights about Kinsey and Brynn at the beginning of each chapter gave readers the information needed to see how their relationship had so much animosity even as adults. I will say I loved they acted and argued like sisters long before Kinsey ever found out they were half-sisters. Both characters grew so much during this book, and I loved seeing them each step up for one another like real sisters.
The Summer Deal was a fun story for me. Jill Shalvis gave her readers the humor they have become accustom to with her books, along with situations that totally pull on their heart-strings. While it is the 5th book in the series, The Summer Deal can easily be read as a stand-alone story.
Rating: 4 Stars (B+)
Review copy provided by publisher
My Thoughts:
The Summer Deal was such a great read! Jill Shalvis is a master storyteller, and every time I read a story of hers, I’m reminded of why I love her books so much. Her characters are real, relatable, and likable!
We get the stories of Brynn Turner and Kinsey Davis. The story toggles between the past (in diary entries,) and the present, in which we learn these two attended the same summer camp every year, and did not get along.
Brynn leaves Long Beach for Wildstone when things go south with her boyfriend. She needs a new start, and to have the support and love of her nurturing mothers, Olive and Raina. However, she doesn’t want to live with them, and prefers to have her own space. Unfortunately, rent in Wildstone is too high for this substitute kindergarten school teacher. So when Eli, (her adolescent crush,) offers her a room for rent at a reasonable price in his home, she accepts. What she doesn’t realize is that Eli had a huge crush on her too, and is excited to have her back in Wildstone. Bryn becomes upset when she learns that Kinsey is one of his roommates, and even though she decides she’s going to back out of the arrangement, they convince her to stay.
Eli and Kinsey have been best friends since they were young, and bonded over having families that abandoned them. Eli wants to bring Brynn and Kinsey together, because he knows an important secret. So Eli, his fun-loving half-brother Max, Brynn, and Kinsey all end up becoming roommates.
Kinsey is very sick. She has Kidney Disease, and unfortunately transplant rejection has been a problem for her. She has a friends with benefits arrangement with Deck, a single father and nurse at the dialysis center. Kinsey insists on keeping everyone she cares about at arms length, because she has resigned herself to death, and doesn’t want to hurt anyone.
The Summer Deal was a fantastic read! I loved getting to know sweet, sensitive, quirky Brynn. Kinsey was a character with many layers, At times she could appear cold, but she had suffered so much since a young age, and we realize she is trying to protect herself, as much as she’s trying to protect those around her. Eli and Deck were both wonderful love interests that had me swooning! They were patient, kind, caring, and compassionate. They had their work cut out for them with Brynn, (who had major trust issues,) and Kinsey.
I loved so much about this story! I loved how realistic the main characters were. Jill Shalvis brought them to life, and they felt so real to me, that they could have walked right off of the page. They were flawed, like any person is, but had so many great qualities to them as well. Brynn’s mothers and Kindergartner’s charmed me, made me smile, and laugh. My heart broke for the individual hurt and pain they all suffered along their unique journeys. I was rooting the whole way through for Brynn and Kinsey to make peace with one another, and get close. I was holding my breath hoping that Brynn and Kinsey would take a chance on love, and was ecstatic when Ms. Shalvis delivered the perfect ending!
4.5 Stars!
I don’t even know where to begin with this. Brynn is coming home after having heart stomped on, but home is a bit too…smothering for her. So she agrees to rent a room from the man she used to have the worlds biggest crush on when she was younger…only to find out her old enemy from camp lives there too. Brynn’s heart is locked up tight, and it doesn’t matter that Eli gets her and sees her and appreciates her, because she’s done with men…isn’t she? And oh my god, I loved Kinsey, who is prickly and angry and off putting and so dang scared. I loved everything about this book and I totally cried my eyes out.
Back into my favorite town of Wildstone. And the saying you never can go home again is definitely not true in Brynn’s case – much as she might not want to be back in Wildstone. Especially when she runs into one of her former nemesis, Kinsey. Except for Kinsey who doesn’t want pity or anyone to treat her like an invalid. And then there’s Kinsey’s friend Eli that Brynn had a crush on but is feeling so insecure due to her failed relationship. So they each are a hot mess and we get thrown right in the middle of it in pure Jill Shalvis style. And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE IT!
This story will have you laugh, possibly cry and just give you a great escape from the current world. I love the town of Wildstone and all the characters that live there.
In the 5th installment of Jill Shalvis Wildstone series readers are introduced to a new set of characters with a whole new set of issues. Newly single and nursing a wounded heart, Brynn returns home to essentially lick her wounds. Not really wanting to live with her kooky moms, Brynn accepts a room for rent from Eli, a childhood friend and first kiss. Things turn upside when Brynn realizes that one of Eli’s other roommate is non-other than her childhood tormentor, Kinsey. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Kinsey has a secret bombshell that nobody is prepared to drop.
The Summer Deal was one of my favorite books in the series. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I’m pretty sure that one of the reasons is the chemistry and history between all of the characters. From the romance between Brynn and Eli, which was adorable and sweet, to the butting of heads between Brynn and Kinsey. Watching Brynn and Eli grow closer together was almost as fun as watching her butt heads with Kinsey not knowing that they are more alike than they think. The only thing missing from this book, and the rest of the series really, is that there is no connection with the previous characters. Instead of the series being built around the community of Wildstone, each book is usually build around a handful of characters that have a previous history with each other. Honestly, I am missing that community vibe, but I do love the family and close friendships that is moving the series along. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Summer Deal. It had characters that I wanted to spend time with, Jill’s writing style that I’ve come to love, and a whole lot of memorable moments all wrapped in a pretty summer book.
Families can suck.
Brynn Turner has two moms and a childhood crush who she is suddenly living with back in Wildstone. The catch is that her childhood nemesis Kinsey Davis also lives in the same house. And Brynn is having issues with this and some secrets that seem to be just below the surface with Kinsey and Eli.
Kinsey will admit she has some issues and having Brynn living in the house is definitely one of them. Kinsey has some serious health issues and without a kidney transplant soon, her health will fail her. There is someone who can donate a kidney that should be a perfect match for her but Kinsey refuses to talk to this person.
The story is very emotional and makes you stop and think about relationships and the families we are born into and the families we create. The characters are well developed like always when written by Ms. Shalvis. But this story didn’t seem to catch me like the others in the Wildstone series. Perhaps it is the strange times we are living in while I was reading it. I do plan to go back and re-read this novel again in a few months.
I think the thing to take out of this novel is that not all families are perfect and we have to take the bad with the good. And the families we create are never perfect either.
I did receive a copy of this novel in advance from the author in exchange for an unbiased fair review.