The Summer We Started Over

A Novel

By: Nancy Thayer

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Two sisters reconnect and pursue their dreams on the beautiful island of Nantucket, overcoming life’s challenges and finding new love, in this heartwarming and hopeful novel by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer.

Eddie Grant is happy with her life and her work as a personal assistant to Dinah Lavender, one of the most famous and renowned romance authors in the business. But being a spectator to notoriety and glamour isn’t as fulfilling as she once thought. Thankfully, Eddie has the perfect excuse for a vacation: Her hardworking younger sister, Barrett, is opening her gift shop on Memorial Day weekend, and could use all the help she can get.

But going home to the beautiful island of Nantucket means facing the family’s difficult past. Shortly after the death of Eddie and Barrett’s brother, their mother left them and their father made the spontaneous decision to buy a small farm. Eddie stayed there for only a year before her family’s grief threatened to consume her as well, and had been living in Manhattan ever since. Now that she is back, Eddie must face all she left behind: her father’s increased eccentricities, which has led to a house bursting at the seams with books; her sister’s resentment over Eddie’s escape; and a past love connection, one that is still undeniable and complicated, all these years later. But the Grant sisters are nothing if not resilient and capable, opening a used bookstore in their father’s abandoned barn to manage his hoarding, and navigating the discovery of a long-buried family secret that will change all of them forever.

In The Summer We Started Over, beloved storyteller Nancy Thayer transports readers with a moving story about family, courage, and the resiliency of young women.

©2024 Nancy Thayer (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Loved this book!

Just finished listening to the great book and I am so sad it is over. I was so involved with the characters and feel like I could completely visualize them walking around Nantucket. Highly recommend!

Very satisfactory book

This is my second most favorite Nancy Thayer book so far. I love the way everyone's lives become intertwined and they all take such good care of each other. it leaves you feeling in happy ever afters and love conquers all. I enjoyed this very much.

Not my normal Thayer experience

1/2 star, rounded up to 1 star. This is the worst book I have actually finished reading in many years. It breaks my heart to say that because I am a huge Nancy Thayer fan and I believe I have read every book she has written, according to my Goodreads records, except for a couple of the more-recent “Hot Flash” books.

I preordered this book as soon as I heard about it and was so excited to have a new Thayer novel. I was listening to the audiobook and during the first part of the book, I kept thinking my audiobook was somehow messing up and taking me back to something I had already read, but I continued. There were some instances where things just didn’t make sense or were contradictory to something I had read earlier and I thought to go back to confirm, but by that time I just didn’t care.

Some things that happened in the book were so bizarre that I’m not sure how they were even thought of, much less included in the book - one being the email (from Dove) from the coffee shop. IYKYK. Other times, I actually laughed at loud at places I’m pretty sure I was meant to tear up.

It’s like this is a melodramatic satire of a romance novel. I HOPE Nancy Thayer did not actually write it, but if she did, I hope it’s some kind of social experiment in loyalty or gullibility.

If you loved this book - and so many of you did - I know you will hate reading this, and I assure you - I hate writing it!