I'm always up for the latest Jane Green novel, as I find her books comforting after a long day. They're relatable, and more often than not, have likable characters that you root for. I unfortunately didn't feel that way about Summer Secrets, and while I like Green's writing style as always, I found parts of the novel just too unrealistic.Cat Coombs has a stressful job as a London based journalist, and she deals with that stress in a most unhealthy way -- plying herself with alcohol. After way too many benders, she finds herself one morning waking up in a strange man's apartment. Jason hadn't taken advantage of her; he simply wanted to make sure she was safe as he too is an alcoholic. Jason begins to take Cat to AA meetings, but all that is interrupted when she goes to Nantucket (!) to meet her long-last father and siblings. Her love of alcohol gets the best of her, and she soon winds up doing something there that she will regret for years to come. The remainder of the novel picks up later in time, but Cat always has that incident in the back of her mind. Time to make amends?
Much of this novel is very far fetched, and I found a lot of cliches that I don't usually find in a Jane Green novel. It's not my favorite, but her novels are still perfect for packing in a beach bag for a long day near the water. It IS called Summer Secrets, after all.
MY RATING - 2
